THIS is how I feel tonight.

My head is everywhere tonight. I’m feelin’ Nashville. I’m thinking about L.A. I’m watching Sportscenter. Photoshop and Illustrator are open, and I’ve got a stylus plugged into my USB port ready to draw…but I’m typing in Word knowing that I’ll copy and paste it into my blog when I’m done.

Amanda is to my left and I’ve got a glass of wine to my right and even though I’ve got more work due in the next two weeks than I’ve had in a while, things are GOOD.

My first semester of grad school will be DONE in two weeks, and I’m pretty psyched about that, but I need to light a fire under my brain’s ass to get more onto my assignments. Thanksgiving break was great and much needed, but it was nothing but a TEASE of how things will be when the semester is over. It was the calm before the storm of finals, and the last quarter at the bottom of my pocket at the arcade that’s discovered as the continue screen ticks down to zero.

I learned all of this as an undergrad. Thanksgiving is a breather, but “Drew, you can’t get comfortable yet.” Doesn’t matter. I fell for this trick five times before, and I fell for it again over this past long weekend. My head is bouncing between how much we’ve done this semester and what I’m gonna do after May without focusing on the NOW…which I desperately NEED to pay attention to.

But May is only six months away. In fact, six months from TODAY, I’ll be 11 days removed from graduation. Again. And honestly, I think I was more secure in this position as an undergrad, because, HEY, worse case scenario if I don’t find a job for a while: GO TO GRAD SCHOOL.

But what about after GRAD SCHOOL? Whew. Working on that one, and thinking about places I could see myself when I’m done, job (hopefully), internship (OK), or no job (SHIT!)…

Three years ago, as I had six months left of undergrad, I said, NEW YORK. I had it all planned out. I was gonna go to New York and I was gonna MAKE IT!

Instead, I went to Colorado for a month, met some amazing people, and toured the east coast following Mayer and hangin’ with friends for a few months before I settled into my parents’ house, started dating an amazing girl, and began working at a great restaurant.

School started up again after two years, and now that I’m in the hypothetical “Where do you wanna go?” stage again, the locations have changed a bit, but I’ve narrowed it down to three:

Austin. Nashville. Los Angeles.

I could see myself in any one of the three, and I feel like my vibes would TOTALLY match up with them. Austin and L.A. are hotbeds for my major, and Nashville is just amazing in its own way. I’d be happy in any of these places, and I’d feel like I was at least SHOOTING at my dream job[s] (whatever they are, exactly)…

But bring the daydreaming back to right NOW, and I’ve got finals coming up. And then another semester. Can’t really measure it in time, because it flies and it’s never concrete. Good days soar, bad ones are like swimming through jelly.

So we’ll measure it in METAPHOR. I’ve got two mountains to climb before May. I’m SURE more will pop up between now and then, but the biggest and tallest are FINALS (in the next two weeks) and SPRING SEMESTER. Whatever else comes up will seem like a walk in the woods, and I’ll get through it…even if I need a lil oxygen in the end.

So between now and Austin or LA or Nashville or WHEREVER, I’ll keep truckin’.

You know I always do.

D.