The Halfway Point, or, 6 Months Later

What can you learn in 6 months?

If you asked me that this time last year, from July to December, I would say another handful of book knowledge, gleaned from reading Shakespeare and art history textbooks. And a realization that I am definitely not the friends-with-benefits type (though that is another story).

Yet compare last year to this year, or even, just June, when I graduated from UCLA, to December, 6 months (and halfway) into graduate school, then the expanse is wide, the knowledge base denser and the miles...well, it's endless. It's one end of the country to the next.

On Sunday, my program friends and I sat around my coffee table and decorate Christmas cookies, while all around outside the house, the world was covered in snow. I had my first fall, and the plethora of colors that it's represented. I walked as the snow fell and caught a flake in my tongue. 6 months and it's been a wealth of new experiences, of making a new home for myself away from the familiar Southern California air.

Yet experiences are aplenty and you only need to go pursue them. It's been more than experiences. It's also been knowledge. I've learned how to shoot video, how to edit it, the peculiarities of Adobe PhotoShop, read and learned from writers who were better than me, and I took those lessons and applied that to my own work. I maintained this blog, which now boosts more posts than my Europe blog.

Over-exerted myself to the point where I stopped looking forward weeks in advanced, instead I concentrated on the day at hand, and did what I love (write, read and learn) so much that nothing was really met with dread.

There was a two week period where I cried consistently, but at the end of it, I came out with a magnificent (for me) piece of writing and a multimedia package that I can honestly say justified all of that work and frustration.

Yet other than that, with my to-do list as it was, and the weekly commute to intern in New York City (I dedicated 9 hours every week to sitting on a bus), a friend in my program, Lily, asked me how I could stand splitting my time up like that. And the answer was simple, "I don't let it get to me," I said.

That's something that the Diep of 6 months ago would never say, because she let almost everything get to her, and that usually led to frustrations and resentment. Not now.

Because it's been 6 months, the halfway point. But really, it's been a lifetime, both in mentality and experiences. And because I'm secure with where I am, what I'm doing, and most of all, I'm happy and satisfied with it. Who knows if the feeling will last in another 6 months. But for now, I'm content.

Here's the most current feature article, the last one I wrote for "Back Stage" and for class. I am really proud of it. Now here's looking forward to more improvements.

"Getting Stage Flight"