I just finished my first semester as an 'art student.' It has been a huge change, but I think I might just be able to pull it off.
When I was a Jr. Tatiyana (Probably around age 12-13) I saw the movie Silence of the Lambs. It changed my life. It spoke to me that this woman, Clarice Starling, could be so smart and beautiful and brave, and totally kick butt at catching bad guys. I wanted to be her more than anything. This was also around the time Forensic Files and 'real-life' forensics shows were huge. CSI was either not around, or just starting.
But I knew... at that age I just knew how the rest of my life would be. I would graduate high-school, go to college for forensic psychology, and end up at Quantico. I would spend my days catching bad guys, and that would be my life.
That lasted up until high school, when my knee decided to go. I realized that I could never pass the physical, and the doctors couldn't figure out how to fix my knee, so that dream was lost.
Next I thought about computers. "Maybe," an older and wiser (or so I thought), me said, "just maybe I could be a computer programmer." I liked computers well enough, and could dismantle and put back together a PC with no trouble, so the thought made sense.
Then I had my first computer science class. The teacher was so horrendous, so lazy, so unhelpful that it made me take a good hard look at my major. I realized that I didn't want to sit in front of a computer all day, staring at lines of code (beautiful as they may be). I wanted to do something more tangible.
So I looked into Graphic Design. I knew it was going to be tough, and in fact, if I do not have a presentable portfolio at the end of the program I will not get my degree. It scared me. With technology classes there is very little interaction with other students, you could even take most of the classes online. I could have stayed in my comfortable little hole, and never interacted with another human the whole degree process.
Art classes are different. You can't just sit back, mute, through the whole class. You have to interact. It has brought out a new me. A better me. It has added at least +5 to my Charisma stat (to put in in more comfortable terms).
I now have a job where I have to interact with people all day, and while it exhausts me, I totally love it.
While it is not chasing bad guys, I love making people happy, whether with my art, or with my job. I feel like a new me. A better me.
I think I have leveled up. I am now a Level 1 Art Student.
