Franklinville is an interesting place. There's one stoplight, two dollar stores, and about 400 churches. There were 79 kids in my graduating class, and if I walked into the high school today, all of my teachers would remember me. The benefits of growing up in a small town are huge, but since leaving I've always felt the need to come back and "fix" it. It's a town full of so many people that, for lack of a better description, belong in a small town. There's so much beauty and potential that will never be utilized. All of the businesses that set up shop are almost guaranteed to fail. All of the restaurants have the same maroon and dark green color scheme and serve the same thing. It is a town full of people that survive on Walmart by necessity. And I love it like no other, so I will always suppress the need to change it.
A small town is a healthy thing for people like me to have. I love change, and I thrive on it, but it's a relief to have one little corner of the world that will continue to be exactly what it has always been.
^ This is my parents backyard (and THAT is a brewing thunderstorm)
Do you know how I got to where I am right now? It's like...The Total Asshole's Guide To A Lucky Life. I went to a college that I only chose because it was where my high school band director went and I admired him so much. When I decided I hated my English major after only one semester, I switched to Music Business because learning about contracts and record labels sounded cool, and it would require that I take some basic music classes that I knew I'd love. I didn't take it seriously, especially not the business classes. I got a 49 on my accounting final (Hi Mom!) and I assure you, I am not a stupid girl. I never studied and did almost every paper the night before it was due. I hated college with the exception of the music classes.
The spring semester of my junior year found me taking a student record label class that made me reach out to artists that I'd want to sign. A friend named Kenny had a link to Grace Potter and the Nocturnals in his AIM info and I fell so deeply in love with their latest album (which was then Nothing But The Water) but didn't feel like trying to use them for my record label project. I still sent them a MySpace message and asked them if they needed help with anything. It took one day to hear back from them, and a week later I was on the phone with their manager, talking about managing a street team and doing marketing. A week after that I was on the phone with a man who offered me an internship and, after a full senior year spent working on managing the street team and working on a viral marketing campaign (which I took seriously, unlike college itself), offered me a job in LA immediately after I graduated. I started full-time work the Monday after I graduated, and moved to LA 2 months later.
It had nothing to do with my education. It had nothing to do with college at all other than the fact that I spent too much time looking at people's AIM info. Being a lazy ass literally is the reason that I'm in LA. Even though I've worked incredibly hard and taken a lot of chances, that first step was pretty much just handed to me.
The funniest part is that I remember sitting at my desk during my Junior year and thinking to myself, "Whatever, I'm just going to put everything off because everything I want usually just falls into my lap without me trying anyway." I AM AN ASSHOLE.
And my life still works that way. If I want something bad enough, it will happen.
The band has taken quite a turn from their original sound, and it's not one that I like (so much pop, so little blues), but I still love them by default. How can I ever stop loving the one thing that changed my entire life? I can't.
I am fucking lucky, you guys. I'm lucky and I'm thankful every day.
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