"Don't Be Afraid To Commit"

So today is the first day of my 10 day spring break. Yay!! Term 1 ended yesterday, and on Tuesday, I got to see my first Sound Design graduation. It was pretty cool looking at the 6 students' final projects and knowing I'd be working at that level in just 10 months. Crazy! I think one of their projects is being submitted into film festivals. I'm not sure which one, but my guess was that it was a 3-D animated short called "After Oz" about a Tin Man giving his mechanical heart to a Tin Woman. It was pretty cute. And it was nice finishing up a term by seeing where things are leading. It wasn't a typical graduation other than a few comments by faculty and the class representative (who is quite the character). I mean, the graduating sond designers just sat on stage after showing their work and people asked questions. They were nearly falling asleep though as they admitted to not sleeping much in finishing their projects for this deadline. At least they were comfy in bluejeans and no formal attire.

Other than the work itself, one thing hit me the most. Our program president, Bob Grieve, made an almost passive comment saying "Don't be afraid to commit". I guess that's something that should be obvious when following one's dreams, but it sort of hit me a little stronger. I know my biggest fear in most things I've done is committing to it. Once I do, it usually works out, but I'm the worst decision maker. Hemming and hawing until the last possible minute. It was hard to commit to leaving Florida, to going back to school, to getting to Vancouver. And it's been hard to commit to graphic design in the past, and sound design now. But I wonder why? I mean, what gets me the most is that, if I go for this...a bad day being creative, well, I think is much better than the best day working at a completely unfullfiling or completely uncreative job. So why be afraid to commit to it?

We have lots of reasons in life to be afraid of committing...from jobs to friends to family to relationships. And even if the fear is always there, hopefully we can still go forward. I'm still afraid of this coming year in terms of hard work and producing great work. But I'm excited for the potential, and I do remember that being in school is always a very unique situation in one's life. The guys who graduated mentioned how seeing their same classmates day in and day out for a year was hard at times, but quite rewarding, and they have an incredibly strong bond. My classmates and I have talked about how even if we never see each other after this, hopefully we are always industry contacts. I think there's a good chance that'll work out. The guys and I went for drinks after classes ended yesterday (I had Coke because I just don't like beer!), and it was a pretty good time. Even being the only girl. One guy did give me props for putting up with the very male-centric behavior, so yeah...I think we just might be able to pull this year off. Here's hoping! (of course hooray for spring break! I'm going to see my friends in Florida now!)