Two interesting things happened in the last 24 hours

The Blog has been getting a bit boring and is getting heavy on a lot of Byron-centric stuff. If you indulge me tonight, I'll write something a bit better tomorrow, something that isn't about me or Aly or a bunch of people you don't know.

First off, tonight I went to the Art Institute of New England. Not sure why, but I decided just swing by and see what was going on. I walked in hoping to get a couple of pamphlets and look the place over. An hour later, I'm seriously thinking of taking night courses.

I know what you might be thinking, and no, I wasn't talked into anything. As you know, the job I'm working at now is OK, but it doesn't really stimulate me. There are some interesting aspects, but I feel like a drone. I need something with a bit more creativity. That is where the Art Institute comes in.

I spoke to a guy by the name of Curt Karl, and despite my prejudices of people with two first names, he was really cool. Apparently, they don't get a lot of college graduates in there because after he read my application, he seemed to be pretty impressed. We talked for a bit, he was trying to get a handle of what the hell I was doing in there and I was doing my best to tell him what I wanted to do with my life.

He provided me with two options:

1. Take night courses and become very proficient in web design and digital graphic design. The end result would leave me as a certified designer.

Or

2. Quit my job and pretty much become a full-time student for the next year and a half with the end result in me getting my Bachelor's degree in design.

With the wedding and other things coming up in the near future, option one is probably what I'd do. I can't take a year and a half off to be a student, as much as I'd love to, I just couldn't do it.

For the night classes, the price isn't too bad. And the time factor isn't too bad either, one night a week for 50 weeks. There are a few wrinkles though, the classes start in June, so if I'm going to do this, I have to do it now. The other is I'm nervous of the unknown.

Obviously I'm not wild about my job, but in my back pocket, I've always had this art thing sort of like a security blanket. If I take the leap and find out in a few years that I hate what I'm doing, what then? On the other hand, in two or three years if I'm still doing what I'm doing now, I will really hate it. So it comes downt to choosing the devil you know or the one that you don't.

Next week I have to give Curt a call. He wants Aly and I to come down and check the place out, answer any questions I have and really go over my career path. I am really excited about this opportunity, I really am. I don't know what I'm going to do and while that is scary, the unknown is usually like that.

The other thing that I wanted to write about is the guy that I bumped into yesterday as I was walking in Brookline Village. It was a really nice day yesterday, and on my way from the parking garage I guess I had a smile on my face because this guy just stopped me. He wasn't a bum, actually I thought he was just looking for directions, and he began this diatribe against Brookline. He wasn't violent or malicious in his actions, he had sort of a wry smile, but he was definitely disturbed about something.

"I just hate this place. The people here are evil. They're all witches. They give me dirty, witchy looks. Know what I mean? They're hypocrites. They're materialistic and shallow. This one kid, this one kid had shoes with no laces and he gave me this really mean, witchy look. Just looked me up and down. Evil look. I live in Boston and people are nice. Here, they're mean and witchy."

He went on like that for about five minutes. If I didn't have to take a piss so bad (and if he didn't have a weird growth on his lip) I could've listened to him all day. But he just railed on and on about Brookline, and though he might be right about some things, the words "evil" and "witchy" sort of stuck out. I don't understand what he meant by that.

The people of Brookline might be a lot of things, but witchy and evil aren't two words that I'd think of. Sheltered? Spoiled? A little egotistical? Sure. But the paranoia that this guy had of this town was more disturbing than anything else. Am I not seeing something in this town, he told me not to look for it, to feel it. This person, who by all accounts looked like a regular dude, albeit with dirty blonde shaggy hair and two days facial growth, was really freaked about something.

I hope that I see him again so I can find out what exactly it is. BTW, I didn't want to forget anything so I called myself up and left a message about the encounter.