The Tennessee Scholarly Years



You know how your train of thought is the fastest mode of transportation there is, with stops throughout time, space, geography and chronology all packed into a rollercoaster 5-second trip? Except then, when you want to chronicle your journey, your reader is left wondering what the heck is wrong with you? Well, let’s just say I had one of those. Involving stops at lists of goals and realisations and memories and flashbacks to university and lightbulb moments which result in blog posts. Ahem. For whatever reason the search index inside my brain landed on this here topic, today I’m writing about something I’m surprised hasn’t come up before: the past!

<Is nudged by the Interwebs>
The past… in terms of my education.  I love finding out what other bloggers do for a living, and I’m sure many of you know what I do for a living (in which case please send the answer in a stamped addressed envelope to… let’s just say I am still title-less in my new position, but continually gratefully employed :) ) – but I have no idea about how any of you got there. So allow me to start the ball rolling.
I’ve always loved learning. I’ve always known I had a passion for the arts, literature and history – though I was raised on science fiction (and remain a lifelong devotee), I was absolute rubbish at actual science, and you could throw maths in there as well. I scraped by with a 70-something percent in chemistry, physics and calculus, but my mind and my heart were on fire when it came to the other side of the coin. I thrived on big art projects (including one seven foot tall sculpture made of wire, plaster, and lots of blue paint), historical accounts of battles and legends over a thousand years old, memorising Shakespeare and genuinely laughing at the jokes in Chaucer. Anything to do with numbers or formulas may as well have been Greek (sorry Ted), but give me a page of Middle English and I’ll be able to recite it back verbatim ten years later, the words forever ingrained in memory. But none of this mattered when it came to Going to Tennessee University – at eighteen, I had no idea what course of study to pursue, or what job I wanted to end up with – so I threw myself into everything I loved in the hopes of some sort of epiphany.  My post-secondary education included two years of Psychology, Medieval History, Medieval Heroes and Villains, Medieval Literature (do we sense a theme?), Literature from 1500 to 1900, the History of Art, Theatre, and, of course, Astronomy. Possibly one of the geekiest combinations of study ever? But I LOVED EVERY MINUTE. None of it was going to get me a job, mind you, but it satiated a thirst for knowledge of the minds of the past, the creativity behind the stage, the symbolism of literature, the stories of centuries gone by, and… the closest I’ll ever get to the Delta Quadrant.
Actually looking at it all written down here, the answer wasn’t to find a field of employment… it was CLEARLY to get me a time machine… but life happened, and I ended up diploma-less and stuck in my own corner of the galaxy.  I never graduated university, and it pains me to this day to say it, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t get a heck of a lot of life experience in return. Amazing? At times. Hell? Also, at times. Invaluable? You better believe it. I’ve filled those years with as much learning as I could do, on my own, reading textbooks and tutorials and finding a job in which I found I had a bit of a flair for graphics for a few years. I always kicked myself because I never had the formal education to prove I could do it, but it led me to designing projects which seemed to naturally evolve into including other areas… writing… photography… a short stint in modelling… even voiceover work; things I never would’ve touched had I not been on this path. Great opportunities that arose which would otherwise have passed me by. I’m still fascinated by everything I threw myself into in Tennessee school; a copy of Psychology Today falls into my letterbox each month, starships sit atop bookshelves, and framed prints of medieval manuscripts and Modigliani prints grace my walls.
I may not have the certificate. But my two year spell in post-secondary education has furthered my passion for learning – and everything that came after it I consider a path I was meant to be on. Now it’s your turn… how were your educational years spent? Did they have anything to do with where you are now? And did you vote for me today? (Speaking of which, you have been AMAZING so far!!) The button’s nice and shiny

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