I’ve been listening to a podcast that does daily writing prompts. Today’s was “Subjective” and to be about my college experience. He’d said 50-100 words, but I ramble…
Overall, I think my college experience was a good one. It started off well enough, involving a music scholarship to my local junior college, I only had to take out a small loan to cover the rest of my tuition, luckily, I got the best help from companies like https://www.sofi.com/refinance-student-loan/. But then I got freaked out over how I was going to make a living as a musician and switched to Accounting, thus losing my music scholarship. In my second semester of accounting, I knew I’d made a mistake. At that point, I just wanted out so changed to Liberal Arts (it was the only degree that would use both my music classes AND accounting classes). As far as life goes, I don’t really recall doing much while at Darton. I was working as a runner for a law firm at first, but was at Lowe’s by the time I graduated. It wasn’t until I went off to Georgia College (1992) that things got truly interesting. I turned 21 the day I moved in. My dorm was upper class only and you had to maintain a 3.0 GPA to stay there. In other words, I was around people who knew how to juggle having a life and keeping up with studies.
Sometime during that first year, it was announced that the dorm was going to become co-ed. I decided NOT to tell my parents this until it was too late to make any other plans. The guys were on the first floor, women on the 2nd and 3rd floors (I was on the 3rd). Staying out until 2am was normal. One of the top ten reasons to live in Terrell Hall was “Get drunk, arrested, and go to jail – all in one block!†Thankfully, I never got arrested or went to jail. I didn’t really do frat parties (or sorority parties either for that matter). I mostly hung out at a place called The Brick. They had awesome calzones and some beverages I liked. They also occasionally had live music. While there, I went to my first Van Halen concert and my first (and only) Pink Floyd concert. I had the opportunity to go to a Grateful Dead concert but had to back out. Then Jerry Garcia died.
Early 1994, someone introduced me to this thing called the “internet†and that’s where I eventually met Brian. I initially met him on SkyNet BBS (based in Holland with a windmill ascii art opening screen). My handle was Freak of Nature because, over the previous summer, I had worked at Lowe’s and one of the guys in the garden center would always say, “Liz, you’re a freak of nature…†Coming from him, that was a term of endearment. Side note that should not be too surprising coming from a guy who considered “freak of nature†a term of endearment: he also introduced me to pot. I didn’t use it long, but it was long enough that it was a bitch to quit. I recalled reading in one of my classes that it was a psychological addiction. That sounded pretty innocuous. Yeah, no. Music that we listened to while smoking… I couldn’t listen to it for a good year or more without it triggering cravings. Sometimes I’d imagine I smelled it and the cravings would hit. Twas not an easy thing to overcome, but I had good motivation. Brian had a zero tolerance policy and since I had decided he was a keeper, I did what I knew I needed to do.
How did I know he was a keeper? We talked on three different BBS’s: ISCA, SkyNet, and Shadow. When I had first gotten online, I was a typical newbie and put all my contact information in my profile. I eventually wised up and removed it. One night, while we were having a particularly good conversation, my connection died (2400 baud modem. It happened. A lot). A few hours later, my phone rang and it was him. He had hunted through all the BBS’s he knew I was on and had been on until he found the one on which I’d forgotten to remove my phone number (Even then he had some mad stalking skillz. Which he only uses for good). When we had decided to meet in person, he said, “By the way, I’m going to church Sunday morning.†I said, “That’s fine. What church and can I join you?†When he said, “St. Stephen’s EPISCOPAL†I about screamed. See, I was born and raised in the Episcopal church. I loved it and had no desire to leave it. In fact, I was a little worried about what I would do if my significant other wasn’t Episcopalian or even a denomination closely related to it. Considering I was in South Georgia, that was a legitimate concern. This was huge.
That summer, I told my parents I was going to roam around Georgia between the end of Spring semester and the beginning of Summer semester. I had lied. I actually drove to Huntsville, AL to meet this person I had been talking to online for the last 3-4 months. We met in the Toys R Us parking lot on University Blvd and from there I followed him to the mall where we met up with a group of his friends. I even met his parents on that trip and hit it off really well with his mom. His dad took a good year to warm up, though. I think he was concerned with what this older woman was wanting with his son (he had just turned 19 and I was 22 at the time). I also later learned that Brian had a female friend his dad really liked – he was hoping she and Brian would get together. (They’re still friends. I consider her a friend myself. She’s in Louisiana married to a DA. Oh, and she does roller derby!). When I realized that I wasn’t going to make it home when I’d told mom I would, I called her at work (my logic was that it was safer that way…).
Me: Are you where we can talk?
Her: Yes….
Me: I’m not in Georgia.
Her: I didn’t think you were. So, where are you?
I love my mother. I told her about Brian and his parents and gave her the information on when I’d actually be home. I did one other “wild and crazy†thing at that point. While home, I decided on a tattoo I wanted and found the place I wanted to do it. And I did it! It was a butterfly. My mom saw it when it was an hour old… and touched it (OUCH!). She liked it, though admitted she wouldn’t have done it. My dad saw it shortly after and was not happy in the least little bit. Come to find out, he was fussing about it to her and she finally said, “And we were never young and never did anything foolish…†I still have it. It didn’t get infected or any of the things dad had feared would happen. In fact, when I turned 40, I had it touched up and added to, but that’s a different post.
In 1996, when I finished at Georgia College, I moved home for a few months then moved up to Huntsville, AL to be near my boyfriend. We had dated long distance for 2 years. It was time (and it worked out – we’ve been married since 1999). I lined up a couple of odd jobs beforehand but had turned them both down by the time I actually moved. The reading that first Sunday was Jesus walking on water and Peter having faith to step out of the boat. My mom and I were both in tears. I worked for multiple temporary agencies and though I enjoyed it, I felt I needed to get back in school. At Georgia College, I’d gotten my bachelor degree in music therapy and minored in psychology. I hadn’t been able to find work in that field, so thought I’d broaden things out and get a graduate degree in Psychology. During a class on career counseling, I saw a chart that talked about “myths in career counseling.†One of them said, “When I get this next degree, everything will fall into place.†I thought, “Well shit…†and went and got some career counseling of my own. I decided I was where I needed to be. Clerical work may have started as a fall back position, but I really did like it and I was actually quite good at it. Almost 20 years later, I’m still doing it and my positions and responsibilities have grown over time.
I still use my music and I’m still a creative. I had always said that if I could find a place to work that would pay me to go to school, I’d be there. I found that employer but I wasn’t at a place in my life where I could take advantage of it. I’m finally there and am working on a second bachelor degree, this one in English (professional writing and public discourse). I’m planning on applying to the graduate school once that’s completed. What do I want to do with it? I am honestly not exactly sure. Right now, I’m learning and I love learning so that’s enough for me.