| | I'm sitting on my bed in the middle of a room cluttered with clothes and paper. There are probably over a hundred pieces of paper that I can see where I'm sitting, all with line after line of black text. On the foot of my bed. On my floor. On my desk. On my pillow. The good news is, as soon as I get done writing this, I'm going to stand up and throw most of them away.
There's this song playing from an epic album called "Freedom." At various moments of my life when it seems most appropriate, I break out this music and listen to the swelling cello and the trumpet and the beautiful piano melodies. This is one of those times, because now I am free. From school, specifically. At ten this morning, I drove away from Northwestern College, with no homework to do, no classes to dread, no projects to plan. Until August, my mind is free.
And it has been... an epic year. These past three months, especially, have seemed very difficult. As school projects grew and escalated, so my work schedule increased. Add to that the final months of wedding planning and the fact that most of the time I just wanted to be with Sarah, and well... there were many, many days that I found it very difficult to do homework or muster the energy to attend class. But now it's over for this year. And with that comes a very, very real sense of freedom. Not only from the time I had devoted to classes and homework, but from the immense mental and emotional pressure that had weighed so heavily on me recently.
Some people say that it's hard to believe how fast the time has gone. I'm not sure I really feel that way. It has been a good year, but long. When I first came to Northwestern last fall, I entered as a Graphic Design major. After three months in the Art Department, I knew that wasn't for me. I knew it wasn't something I could put my heart and passion into. So over Christmas break, I switched my major to Electronic Communication Arts. That is, film.
Though this has been a long and difficult semester for me, I know that this is what my heat wants to do. I was shooting some video the other day and a group of students asked what I was working on. "Finals", I said. "If you were a film major, you could do this instead of exams too."
Two of the classes had films as the final project. Working in a two- or three-person team, we did both an original short film and a documentary. There's something so cool about working on a project like that, and then seeing it on the screen, and knowing that you did well. Like it's what you're meant to do. The film is called "Thirst", and though it was the last think I did this semester, it seems to be the best moment of all. It end the year on a happy note for me. The weeks of planning and organizing and storyboarding, then two days behind a camera, scrambling and stressing and filming and sweating but knowing that what was happening was very beautiful. Then 25 hours in the basement of Mel Johnson last weekend, editing. It's worth it when people watch it and get chills. Or cry. It's worth it when you know that you did something good, because it's what you were created to do.
A lot of people, I suppose, have bittersweet feelings about the end of the school year, goodbye to their friends and all that. Not so much, for me. I don't have to pack up and move out. I just have to clean my room, and knuckle down on final wedding plans. I don't have to worry about not seeing my friends all summer, because I'm going to be in Ireland all summer on my honeymoon with my best friend. On the other hand, it has been nice to get to know some people at school, if only just a few. Strange, how the random people can become the closest friends. And it seems like only in the last few weeks those friendships have really grown, mostly through working on "Thirst". I'm grateful for that. I won't feel so lost going into school next fall.
I said that I'm done with school for this year, and that's true. I'm free. But I do return to the campus of Northwestern College soon. Exactly forty-four days and one hour, I will be standing at the front of Nazareth Chapel waiting for Sarah to walk down the aisle so I can marry her. Wow, that's exciting!
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| | Posted 5/13/2009 11:58 AM - 119 Views - 8 eProps - 4 comments
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