Graduaring from the Ringling School of Art & Design would be one of the happiest days of my life, and an accomplishment that I would be most proud of. - still am.

Four years added to the two years I had already completed out-west might not seem that hard. If I didnt have a full-time job or have to commute 130 miles a day - sometimes changing clothes in the car if i was running behind and many all-nighters that would forever corrupt my sleep habits, it wouldnt have been so bad. In my third year right before the break after the first semester I think I had a nervous breakdown....I was physically exhausted, yet I refused to stop. Make no mistake, for me, those 4-years were very taxing and took its toll on me.

Ringling is a profesional art school instructing its students how to excell in the field of illustration and media arts. I would leave Ringling 6 years after I started college with a Bachelor degree of Fine Arts and a 3.6 GPA. A degree most would consider useless, and a grade point average most would scoff at, I mean, lets be honest...they were pretty much all art classes. How hard can that be?

You'd think anyone who can draw or who is talented can walk right in there and pretty much expect an A, but it doesnt work that way. A's are very rare and extremely hard to obtain. Talent is a big part of it, but without hard work and spending 10 to 15 hours on a painting or illustration, no matter how talented you are, you would receive the very common C grade. You can't cheat good work, you can't 'Kram' and hope no one will tell it took only an hour. The harder you worked and more time you put into an illustraiton, the better the outcome, and the better the grade.

Could I have gotten a degree from somewhere else? sure. But, would I want a degree from somewhere else? No.

As hard as it was for me to take on a full load of courses and my full load of employment, I learned alot, and am glad for the useful training and guidence i received from the instructors.

That day I walked with my class -(most of whom I barely knew since I never associated with them socially out of class) to obtain my diploma, was pure joy and I felt the tight vise and dark cloud that plagued me pass me by.

It was finished. - I was done. Let the games begin.