Interview

This is an interview I conducted on myself earlier today. I hope you enjoy it.

Josh the Interviewer: So, I've heard that you moved to Sacramento--

Josh the Answerer: Yep, I've moved to our state's capital, or as I prefer to call it the "cowcity." I figure that if where I was before was a cowtown, why can't this be a cowcity? I ask you, why? If you're gonna answer me, I'll need three good reasons for why this can't be a cowcity, and "because I think it's stupid" isn't a good reason.

I lived in Davis for two years of my life, but I didn't really care for it and now I'm in Sacramento, the big city by Davis. I can't say that I'll like it here anymore than I liked it there. I'm not a big city person. Sure, they're nice to visit, but I don't like living there. It's too crowded. Too many people. Too many buildings. Too many cars. There's just too much crammed into one place.

I probably don't like it because I'm not really a people person. I don't like people. They say that man's a social animal, but I'm not. I don't like most people that I've met and I don't going to large parties with people I've never met and I don't want to make lots of friend when I like the one's I've got very well, thank you very much.

But, overall, I think that moving to this cowcity will be good for me. Maybe I'll like more people. Or maybe I'll win the lottery and move into a cave in the mountain where I'll be left alone and my only human contact will be through the internet and that frightened child who'll bring groceries to my cave's entrance each week. At least I'll be able to see some good movies, even if the other things don't happen.

JtI: Okay... Well... You moved to continue to go to school, why--

JtA: That's right. I felt like there wasn't enough offered where I was. It was a good school, don't get me wrong, I liked it a lot, but there was no where that I could really go. I was stuck. I wanted to do this graphic design thing, but they didn't offer anything more than the basics, and I had nearly finished those. So, I didn't take any Photoshop courses, big deal. I know Illustrator inside-and-almost-out. I know InDesign, and that's going to challenge the industry standard of Quark. And I started to teach myself how to use the Flash animation, with some less than stellar results, but I'm trying, none the less.

The school I'm currently attending, my first class was today, American River College, which was named years before September 11th, is a decent one. I had my first class today, which is and will continue to be the fundamentals of design. I have to take it because everyone has to, who's interested in graphic design. What I really want to get into is the animation stuff. They offer a class that's on Flash animation and a 3D animation class. I can't wait. If I'm good enough, I should be able to start that stuff next fall, but I have to work over one of the counselors first, try to shmooze my way around some prerequisites and into the classes. Will it work? I dunno, but I hope it does.

I'm really looking forward to that animation stuff, you know? I've always wanted to be involved, but I'm not so good at the drawing by hand. I can draw something, but it'll never look remotely the same when I try to draw it again, unless it's a straight line, that is, and even then I have some problems, lots of problems actually. I don't know what's wrong. I like art. I enjoy going to museums. I want to be able to do that sort of thing, but I can't. I'm told that practice makes perfect in art and that everyone can do it, but that's really a load of crap. You need some innate ability to do it well and lots of that ability truly be one of the greats, even if you never sell a painting in your life time....

Sorry, I got a little off topic. What was the questions again?

JtI: I wanted to know why you are still going to school--

JtA: Didn't I just answer that?

JtI: Yes and no. That wasn't my whole question.

JtA: Oh.

Pause

JtA: You can finish you're question if you'd like because I'd really like to answer it.

JtI: Okay. I wanted to know why you're going to school, at a junior college, when you already have a BA in English?

JtA: Is that all? Well, there are a three reasons.

The first is financial. I don't want to pay my loans and as long as I'm in school at least half time, I don't have to. I don't have the money to really start paying those suckers off, so I don't want to. If paying 600ish dollars a school year keeps me from paying 80 dollars a month for the next twenty years, or whatever it is, then I'll do it.

The second has to do with work, which, I suppose, is sort of financial, if you want to pick at nits. Like you said, I graduated with a degree in English and while I love the stuff I learned about I have to ask, what the fuck can you do with an English degree? Teach? Well, I talked to some teachers and even the advisor for the education department at Stan State and in the end we came up with the fact that I wouldn't be so good at teaching high school because I have very little patience for people who don't want to be there and in a high school English class, that's like 90% of the students, if I was one of the lucky ones. I could go into journalism, but I took a couple of classes in that, and while I was told that my writing was strong, my interviews tended to be haphazard and unfocused. And I don't think that interviewing is something that a person should learn on the job. Part of me feels bad that I don't think I can do it, but if I don't think I can then I won't, right?

And the third reason is that I like this graphic design stuff. I like to take an idea and try to distill it down then slap it on paper. I liked making this logo and still enjoy looking at it. Do I want to do this the rest of my life? I'm not sure. Hell, I'm not sure that I'll even finish the program here. Maybe I'll actually start writing my novel, or go to grad school, or get married. Who knows? For now, though, I'm sticking to school because it's here and pretty safe.

JtI: Well, that it for this interview. If you have any more questions for Josh then put them in the thing below, he'll do his best to provide you with an answer that may or may not actually answer you're question.

Oh, and if you’re reading this, Dani, be sure to keep your pictures, Josh likes to see the things you draw. Thanks.

(This interview was written under the influence of, what I like to call, the Sweat Pants of Writing. I have yet to purchase a pair of Sweat Pants of Good Writing. Keep your fingers crossed.)