myOtaku.com: SomeGuy

myO Still <3's You

Vitals

Birthday
• 1983-08-05
Gender
• Male
Location
• Vancouver, BC
Member Since
• 2003-08-02
Occupation
• Writer; Part-Time Hero
Real Name
• James

Personal

Achievements
• Visiting eight different myO friends in person thus far
Anime Fan Since
• Winter 2001
Favorite Anime
• Neon Genesis Evangelion, .hack//SIGN, Naruto, Bleach, Beck, Peacemaker Kurogane, Ranma 1/2 (the guilty pleasure)
Goals
• Visit the myO friends I've missed thus far; complete a cosplay from 300
Hobbies
• Writing, Gaming, Kung Fu, Movies, Acting somewhat strange in general
Talents
• Can recognise most quotes from almost any movie/show on first listen; Can recite the entire 12 days of Christmas by memory

myOtaku.com: SomeGuy

Tuesday, February 10, 2004

Another nail in the board . . . . . (this'll be ranty, gomen ne . . .)
So this morning I hung out for a couple hours with one of my biochem friends (the fact that I have multiple biochem friends does scare me, though). She had a midterm to study for, so I did my Latin homework. Well, one thing of discussion led to another, and then she said it:

"I still can't believe you went into English! I mean, it seems wasted on you . . ."

I think from my previous band experience she had hoped I would go into music or something? I dunno . . . in any case, she became the third person to say something like this to me in the past week or so.

Previously, there was my mother . . .
"You know, if you want to go into law you'd have to take [this or that] courses, then you would have to take the LSAT . . ."
All I could think was, "so . . . I'm going into law now? When did this happen?"

A day or two after that there was my stepdad:
"Having an English degree will definitely get you started off well for something like business or commerce. Good writing is important for that - and I've seen some of your work, you are good - but I'm just afraid that you might not be able to find more stable work with that . . ."

These aren't new arguments. I knew I was going to be defending them the moment I enrolled in the Faculty of Arts 2-3 years ago; I've never stopped defending it since. I find it kinda funny, actually . . . my mom, she'll talk to her friends or relatives or whatever, and go, "yes, he's studying English, and he really enjoys it," and then everyone else'll go "oh, that's great! I bet he'll really enjoy that." Hell, when I tell them myself the first thing they say is "oh that's great!" Every time . . . . . and yet, every time I've known that's not what they're really thinking . . .

A year or two ago, driving in the car with my mom - just out of the blue:
"You know, I bet you could make a really nice living in business. You've seen your uncle, he's doing really well . . ."

And hey, let's take my uncle . . . my awesome, awesome uncle . . . . .
"There are you things you can become with an English degree: a teacher . . . or a bum."
(That was a little over a year ago, word for word, I swear.)

Let's face it: I accept that the Bachelor of Arts isn't exactly the most prestigious of degrees; it's not business . . . it's not mathematics . . . it's definitely not biochemistry . . . . . but ya know, there honestly are a lot of things one can do with the BA. Granted, I can't exactly remember any of them (and hence, the argument goes 'flush' . . .) . . . but they are out there. They really are.

I think it's this sense of unfocus that worries people around me. They see me, shooting for this odd little degree, completely unsure of what I'm going to do with my future . . . and ya know, I appreciate it, I really do. But every time they question my choice in career, well, it chips away at me a little each time, ya know? Now, I'll continue to defend it if I have to - and I will have to - but hey, obviously I'd rather not . . . . .

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not exactly the most serious-minded of people (heh, surprise surprise, right?). I mean, I'll be the first to quickly feign ignorance, saying, "I'm an arts student, how the hell should I know thos?" or whatever. And when my friends rib me for it, I take it in stride and stuff no sweat. Thing is, with most of them, they still accept that I'm doing what I want to do, and they wish me all the luck in it - and for that, I'll ever be grateful to them . . .

So what am I actually going to do with my Bachelor's of English Literature? I have no idea. Maybe I'll take more school, and study journalism; maybe I'll take up writing or something; maybe I'll travel the country, solving mysteries . . . . . the point is, I'm not worried about my future - I'll get by. Maybe I have some standards set on me, being a middle-child, who knows? But ya know what? My older brother is living proof that people can do whatever they want with their lives . . .

In 2000, he graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Kinesiology (friggin' hard science to get into for his school, might I add). Three years later, do you wanna know what he's doing? He's a police officer in the city of Vancouver! Even he gets to defend himself sometimes (I mean, about his career choice, among other things). People ask him, "if you just became a cop, why did you get a Kinesiology degree? When do you use that?"

My brother replies,
"I use it every day."
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