August was here, and the end of my new journey was coming to an end. There was only one week of school left before graduation, but it went by extremely quick due to finals everyday. As much as me and my classmates loved the school too, due to all the trouble we had in July with the project staff guy, plus just wanting to move on with our lives (since all of us would rather work then go to school), we were surprisingly looking very forward to school being over. Ultimately though when the last day came, I think the fact that we would all be leaving each other sank in, and at least for me it was very upsetting! I had finally begun making some really good bonds with my classmates, and finally spending more time with them outside of school, and now we were all going our separate ways. No one even really knew what to say since we were all happy we were getting on with our lives, but still, the friends we made and the time we spent at the school was a very emotional experience that would...

Thankfully, the last two entries wrapped up all the craziness that involved school, but life outside wasn’t exactly sitting still either. Fortunately, nothing as crazy as the events at my school happened, but still quite some big events happened.

Foremost on my mind was the job hunt. Last month I had applied to over 40 game studios, and had been waiting anxiously to hear back, since we did only a few more weeks of school left after all, and we were required to complete an internship immediately after our classes were over. I had made some backup plans, planning to go to California to do post production work (outsourced audio work for film, TV, games, etc) but I was dead set on trying to get a in house audio job at the game studios. Things were not looking good though.

Of the 40+ places I applied, I only had heard back from about 8 or 9 of them. A few said I was not qualified enough, a few said they did not take internships, and a few said they would love...

Continuing from last blog, school craziness was not over in July quite yet. Apparently I was not the only one having issues with the two project staff bosses. One classmate’s wife came to visit from Switzerland and they would not allow her on campus because they said her ID was not valid. My classmate even showed them their handbook where it said that out of state IDs were valid, but the second project staff boss said that the handbook was wrong, and would not allow her in. He got pissed off, but did the smart thing and ended up leaving. He is still extremely bitter about it to this day, and I really can’t blame him. I mean, his wife only did just visit from 2500 some miles away.... and they had no reason to let her on campus, but yet they said their own handbook was wrong.... WTF.

This was the other project staff boss though, and not the guy I had dealt with. After my incident, one of my classmate’s ended up getting into even a worse situation then mine with him....

Decided to continue my Arizona memoirs already before I forget. Essentially, I would like to do this with my months in Illinois well, in fact making it a weekly recap instead of monthly as too much often happen in a month. Anyway, let’s get into it, because July was an insanely crazy month.

Lot’s of big things happened this month, but most of it involved around school. I found myself now spending almost every free moment I had at school, literally being there 7 days and nights a week. Honestly, most of the time is was because of weekend classes or reviews/certifications, but being that we had almost full access to everything in the school, I was using the school’s high end equipment whenever I got a chance. The school’s surround sound room was hardly ever used, so I found myself spending many nights in their mixing music on the glorious monitors.

It was extremely busy with work and what not, and we always had tests and projects going on almost constantly....

June was a very uneventful month for me, with nothing really noteworthy happening. Mostly, this month just consisted of school, school, and more school.

Things were really in fact getting crazy with school, with countless tests, quizzes, and weekend classes to take tests or work on project. This whole entire month, I did not have a single weekend off, and pretty much went to school for about 21 days straight till finally having off a Sunday towards the end of the month. On top of all the tests and projects that I found myself doing, I myself was spending almost all of my free time at the school. Last month I was maybe going to school at night about 3 or 4 days a week, but this month I was at school at least 6 nights a week for about 4-8 hours at a time. I was really putting my dues in.

It was mostly certifications and tests. I think during this month, I took about 7 certification tests, all of which I fortunately passed the first time. Then there was just...

I will make a huge disclaimer about this blog right now. I DID NOT go to Phoenix comic con (regrettably) so if you were looking to read about my experience there, move along. As to find out my thoughts on it and why I didn’t go, as well as how the rest of my month went in May, read on.

That being said, I guess I will talk about the Phoenix Comic Con situation first. As told from the previous blogs, I didn’t originally know about it, but I had met 3 of the guys that ran in who happened to be in my bowling league. We hit it off well (geekiness ftw) and considering they were working on Comic Con stuff at bowling every week (including floor plans, events, and new brochures) they got me very interested in going. Hell, not only that, but going to a large video game convention was always something I wanted to do. Hell, it wasn’t video games, but it was certainly quite large (approx 20,000 people), geeky to the max, and there was going to actually be quite a lot of...

The first week or so of April was pretty much the same as March in some ways as I was still pretty depressed, but was getting over it at this time. I felt better by the second week of April, and started doing much stuff again. Due to my failings with the online dating scene, and being rejected the second time by that Mexican chick who said she was waiting for me to ask her out and now didn’t want to go out with me anymore since I waited too long, I pretty much threw in the towel on the online dating thing. I was also becoming more busy with school, and considering I was halfway through the program at this point, for some reason I felt that pursuing any further relationships at this point would be useless. I figured what was the point of starting a relationship now when I’m going to be moving in about 3 or 4 months. Looking back, it was a pretty stupid conclusion, but in the end it allowed me to focus more so on my work and education.

Speaking of school, we continued...

At first when I was trying to think back on what I did in March, I couldn’t really think of anything in particular that actually stood out. After further thought, I soon realized March was probably my most important month here. It was the month were many transitions were occurring, including those that involved me becoming more at peace with myself, and it also the month I really began to find my niche within my school and my living. Not only that, but thinking harder, there were also some noteworthy events that did happen.

First off, we had our last rain in late February, and as of writing this, we haven’t had rain at all since then. Just a handful of cloudy days, but the desert weather was starting to come. It was really beautiful everyday. Clear skies, and temperatures around the 70s and 80s that just felt perfect. There was no humidity as well so that made it even more comfortable. I was totally loving it.

Bowling was also going very well and some...

February was a rather bland month for me. I was getting into the scheme of school more, but falling out of working out and had pretty much completely stopped hanging out. That included hanging out with the one kid whom I said was out there, as it was just getting to be too much for me to bother me, plus it seriously was a hassle to go out anywhere with him. I recall one instance where we kept trying new asian food places each week, as we both were into the asian culture. Anyway, first time we went, at the end, he offered to pay the whole check. I said no, let’s split it, but he insisted, so I let him pay. Then came the next time we went out and at the end, he said, “ok, its your turn to pay” I was like...... WHAT?.... Hell no i said. I never wanted him to pay the first time. We talked about it, and he said he doesn’t like splitting bills because it doesn’t look good. I was like... yea.... similar and even more awkward situations like this eventually had me cut the ties. ...

January was here. I would be starting school, and I was once again getting antsy about the whole thing now that it was closer then ever. As you all recall, I’ve tended to always feel you had to have some innate knowledge in some field in order to be good at it. Many have told me how stupid this was, and that that was what school was for and that you could do anything you set your mind and time too. Looking back, they were always right, but I’m upset it took me so long to realize that.

After my New Year alcohol and drug romp, I found myself starting to question my actions. It was true that one of my goals was to become more social, and oh trust me, I was. I was going out almost every night, and doing more and more stuff I have never done before. Still in the end, I really began to felt it wasn’t worth my time, and that it was just so stupid. It was interesting for a few nights, but my taste of that extroverted lifestyle was really taking it’s toll on me. It’s common...

Going to be moving in just a few weeks, and it’s hard to believe I spent the last 8 months in Arizona. Time has just gone by so fast and it almost feels like yesterday I was still sitting in my room in Pennsylvania not doing anything with my life. Lots of lessons have been learned, and my time in Arizona has been of the most life changing times for me ever. I’ve grown and matured as an individual, and learned some important things about myself. This series of blogs will just be to look back on the time I spent here, and the memories I’ve made. I will also make a blog at the end summing up my likes and dislikes of my living here. Enjoy.

I got to Arizona in mid December. I remember being extremely nervous as this was the first time I was moving out on my own, plus the furthest I have ever been away from home. My plane flight had gotten delayed back about 6 hours as well, so we didn’t get in the Phoenix airport until about 10PM. I remember coming in on the plane that...

Well my blog readers... its been some time from my last blog, probably 6 months! Not that I have lost an interest in writing, but just that I have been extremely busy. As you may last recall, I had made a gigantic move from Pennsylvania to Arizona to attend a 1 year technical school for audio engineering. I had been very nervous about the move, but after now living in Arizona for 7 months, and only going to be here for 2 more months, I can say it was the best decision in my life.

If you recall, I always was in fear of if one with no prior experience in something could ever amount to something. For example, i always thought if you wanted to do something good in life (career wise) you had to have a natural born talent or inclination for it. Despite countless people telling me otherwise, saying how you could do anything you set your mind to, or that's what school is for, or no one is great from the beginning, I never believed them even though there words had meaning. I...