The First Day of the Rest of My Life

This post doesn’t really have anything to do with photography, but rather as just a personal entry for me to look back on in the future. I want to remember this day and what it felt like exactly so I thought I would write it down on here, because – hey, that’s what I use this for!

I just got my final grade back for the last (and most difficult) class of my college career. (I passed, of course.) I’ve just finished a semester-long international finance course condensed into a 6-week summer session. I’m not a math guy, but I know that with that kind of schedule, it wouldn’t equate to anything very fun. And it wasn’t. This was the class from hell. The teacher spoke broken english and made about 90 powerpoint slides for each chapter. There were 8 chapters for the 6 week class, so I guess I’ve gone through and studied about 560 powerpoint slides to make it through the tests.

But it’s over now. And I can’t tell you HOW MUCH OF A RELIEF it is to finally be done with everything.

At the same time, it’s kind of a vulnerable feeling. I don’t have any class schedule interfering with my work, and I have no excuses now to move on with my professional life. While it’s exciting to finally be able to concentrate on work, it’s also pretty scary thinking about the REST OF MY LIFE. While a lot of my peers are getting settled into 8-5 corporate jobs and planning out their futures, I just don’t think that lifestyle fits for me.

While it’s scary thinking about job security, health insurance, taxes, and everything else included with owning my own business, I don’t think I’d have it any other way. Business has never been better for me, and I’m booking more of the type of work I like. I know that with everything, life is going to be more like a roller-coaster with several ups & downs but in the end, I’m along for the ride.

As a little “graduation gift” to myself, I bought a JetBlue “All-you-can-jet” pass to travel over the next month. I tried getting some buddies on board, but before they were able to get to it, the promotion sold out. So that’s it – I’m gonna be flying solo to a lot of places all over the US, Costa Rica, and a little splash in the Caribbean. I can’t tell you how excited I am for this trip, and I have a feeling it’s going to be awesome.

Since posts are always better with a picture, here’s a photo from Newport beach while I was visiting my dad when he was in town last week.