College Daze

Today, I am sitting in a cafe at Collin College at the Spring Creek Campus. Stacy has math class at this campus on Tuesdays and Thursdays. While Steve was out of work, he took her, but now, much to our delight, he is at his new job so now I am her transport to and from the Spring Creek Campus.  Today, I started out in the library, which is much quieter than the cafe and a better atmosphere to work on Photoshop CS5 with the on-line tutor. The only problem is that I couldn't find a desk by an outlet. I was on my computer for a little while, but after about two lessons, the low battery warning started beeping. My computer is great, but suffers from a condition known as 'wimpy battery.' I moved down to the cafe and fortunately, there was a table by an outlet.

I feel kind of out-of-place; everyone here is my daughter's age or younger. The cafe reminds me of the cafe I used to hang out with at Capital University when I was in college.  It was a little cafe at a corner of the student union, just off to the right as you came in the front door. Capital University is a small private college in the midst of Bexley, Ohio, which is surrounded by the city of Columbus. I didn't have money for a car.  Usually, my dad dropped me off at school on his way to work and I would hang out at the school all day until my classes were done with, then I would take the bus to my grandma's apartment and my mom would pick my brother and I there up on her way home from work. While waiting for classes, I hung out with my artist friends at that cafe. That's where I met my good friend, Kerry. An artist friend of mine introduced us. Kerry has been very special friend of mine. She was matron of honor at my wedding and I still stay in touch with her through e-mail and facebook. 

The cafe was a nice place to hang out between classes and they made great grilled-cheese sandwiches. There was a jukebox in there and somebody who hung out there really liked 'Yellow Brick Road' by Elton John because they played it every day, several times a day. This person also played 'Don't Fear The Reaper' by the Blue Oyster Cult often which is funny because that song makes me think of my son nowadays because that's the ringtone I use for him on my cell phone. Back then, I never would have thought that song would become an indication of a telephone ringing and would never have guessed that I would have associated it with my grown son.There were about 2 or 3 songs this person in the cafe played over and over again every day but luckily, they were good songs and added to the atmosphere of the place. I liked, hanging out with my artist friends there. I could fit in with a group of  artists, I couldn't easily fit in just anywhere, but I could fit in with artists.

I was an art major when I started at Capital. Art is what I'm good at and what I like to do. I got credit for a basic college art course by showing the head of the art department at Capital University my portfolio.The only problem with art is finding away to apply it to some way of making a living. You can teach art, but I saw all of the crap my wonderful high school art teacher had to put up with and didn't want to do that. There was the fact that I hated public school with a passion. Also, I heard that teachers don't get paid very well, aren't appreciated and the art teachers are the first to get laid off when there's cut backs.

 I also didn't like being in front of an audience. I tend to get scared and blank out in front of a group of people. In school, I was about as popular as an angry skunk and rude people would like to take advantage of situations where I was speaking to a group.  Even to this day, I have trouble being in front of any kind of audience, except when I'm holding a large snake while doing an animal talk. People tend not to give you a hard time when you're holding a large snake even though you're being professional and the snake is totally laid back and nonvenomous.I also tried teaching a craft class at a summer camp I was a counselor at. It was fine for a week, but I didn't want to spend the rest of my life doing that.

For a while, I had thought of going into art therapy. Again, there was the problem of being with large groups of people and unstable ones at that. I also wanted to be the one doing the artwork, not just watching somebody else do it. I just didn't feel certain that I wanted to get into art therapy, I wasn't sure I had the patience, it's not something I have a lot of.

I decided to use my art in the field of advertising. It seemed to be a way to get a job and I could be the one doing the artwork. The main problem was there wasn't a program at the time where I could mix art and advertising. You had to either major in art or major in business in marketing. These days there are lots of programs for developing such a career but not back then. I decided to change my major to marketing. I had to get a degree in business and that meant taking courses like economics and accounting and I wasn't looking forward to that. Ohio was in another recession and jobs were few and far between. (Seriously!? When are they NOT in a recession!?) I felt like I had a better chance at a job if I got a business degree.

The first thing I discovered was that Capital University had only one marketing professor and I didn't really like him. I didn't think he was that great of a teacher. Capital University is expensive and the only reason I was able to go there was because my parents had some money saved for college. I didn't think I would get my money's worth with that guy being the only marketing professor. I wanted go go to school where there was a bigger marketing department. So, I transferred to Ohio State University. Go Bucks!