September 28, 2005

the memories of me will seem more like bad dreams

I've been thinking lately about what is going to happen after this year of school. I've been thinking about it a lot. Here are the places you might be able to find me in a year:

1. Milwaukee or St. Louis or someplace like that working for a newspaper.
2. Missoula, Montana, Iowa City, New York or somewhere like that for grad school.
3. Somewhere in the developing world with the Peace Corps.
4. In Chicago, maybe freelancing or doing something else cool.
5. On the couch at 704 E. LeMoyne Ave. Lombard, IL watching the seventh season of Seinfeld (I'm guessing that's where they'll be by then) on DVD because I don't have a job.

Something else I've been thinking about is what's going to happen to all my friends after we finish school. The sad reality is that we're probably all going to start going our separate ways. People are already making plans to leave the state and the country, applying for jobs across the country and world. Really we've already started to separate. We spend less time together than we did a year ago because we're all a lot busier and because some people just have formed completely different priorities. I don't expect anyone to follow me to the Wild West of Missoula, Montana if I get into grad school there and decide to go. I don't expect anyone to uproot from their life and go to Milwaukee with me if the Journal Sentinnel decides to give me a job. Because I'm a single guy, whatever move I make will most likely be made on my own. It's just weird to think about the people who I've relied on so much for the past 3 years - and in many cases the last 7 or 8 years or longer - not being around. I know I've managed to keep contact with friends at other schools, but not as much I was would have liked. How likely is it that that will continue when people are busier with careers and relationships and are even more displaced geographically? There are people who I've spent a lot of time with during certain periods of the last 3 years that I hardly ever talk to anymore. It's a pretty sure thing, at least in my mind, that I'll rarely, if ever, talk to them once I'm done with school. It's sad. It's like the end of Rent when Angel dies and everyone goes their separate way. Except, thankfully, none of us are dying of AIDS. I know there are people that will always be there no matter how far across the globe we are from each other, and that's a little reassuring.

SONG OF THE MOMENT:

I Will Follow You into the Dark - Death Cab for Cutie

(They were on Conan last night and it was awesome. If you haven't heard Plans yet, check it out. I'm super excited to be seeing them here in a couple weeks.)

Posted by dpetrella at 11:45 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

September 14, 2005

stop and smell the smoke

This semester so far has been insanely busy. I won't spend too long talking about it because I hate when people bitch and bitch about how busy they are. It's college. We're all very busy, or at least those of us who take it the least bit seriously. Suffice it to say, I feel like I've had a meeting or something to go to like every night since the semester started.
I'm working a couple jobs for the Illini Media Company now in addition to my job at Loomis. I'm copy editing for the Buzz (a weekly entertainment magazine) and have just started reporting to the Daily Illini. ( Check out my first story.) Copy editing might be one of the most boring jobs in the world. But you know what? I get paid to read and look things up in a dictionary, so I'm not complaining.
One of the things I'm most excited about so far this semester is that I decided to do an independent study in poetry with a guy named Steve Davenport who was one of my advisors and is now associate director of the creative writing program. His first book of poetry is coming out early next year. I'm going to be working with him one on one throughout the semester and hopefully writing some kick ass new poems that vary a little from what I've done before. We're trying to challenge the aesthetic I've developed through my own reading and writing and through my work with my previous instructors, Kate Mauer and Michael Van Walleghen. I've developed this pattern of short lines that according to Steve very much identifies me as a student of Van Walleghen. Hopefully I'll put together a portfolio this semester that is worthy of attaching to grad school applications should I choose to go that route. So anyway, look for new poems this semester on the other blog. I unfortunately had to drop the fiction class I was taking to make room for the independent study, which really sucks becaues the teacher seemed really good. I've got a few story ideas anyway, so I'm going to try to write a few of those this semester as well.
That's all for now. Works over and it's time for lunch.

SONG OF THE MOMENT:
Mass Pike - The Get Up Kids

Posted by dpetrella at 11:56 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack