I'm finally done. I have finally walked out of my last class. It's only taken 18 years, but I've finally finished school. I'll never have to go back again (if I don't want to, and I DON'T want to). It's hard to believe that I started all this back in 1991. When I had to leave school in 1998 and start working full time, I never thought I was ever going to go back and get a degree, let alone a Bachelor of Fine Arts. That was back in a day when artists hired other artists. They didn't care what school you went to. All they cared about was whether you could do the work. After I was laid off from my ad agency job in 2002, something changed. Artists weren't the ones responsible for hiring other artists anymore. Human resources departments were and I've found that they don't seem to really care if you can do the work. All they seem to care about is if you have a degree. Having that be a barring factor to finding work has been a rough thing. But now it's finally done. I have the piece of paper. And boy am I happy.

Now the big question, "What's next?"

Well, after a pile of research and pondering, I think it's going to be SoCal again this time. From all the places I've looked, Cali has many more Art Director/Graphic Designer positions available. There sure aren't any here in Utah for an "old timer" like me. There's been little out in the Chicagoland area either. SO, it's looking like I'll be making a return to the sunny shores of the West Coast. How that's going to work yet, I don't know. It's looking more and more that I'm going to have to play the "take a chance" game again and just head out there and try to find work. Granted, this time I'll have help with freelance and contract stuff until there's full-time work, but I know that there's little way that I'll survive if I stay in Utah.

Heck, the $400 in student loan payments will be starting come January of next year. Having a full-time job will be very helpful. And having benefits isn't a bad thing either.

Anyone looking for a good graphic designer in the SoCal area?