It was an exhausting, exhilarating, and refreshing trip.

G… had his Northwestern Law School interview this past Friday at 10am. We left Mississippi at 7pm on Thursday and arrived in Chicago at 6am on Friday. We thought that MS was chilly during the winter. Confused were we. The thirty degrees we thought was cold did not compare to the minus whatever it was in Chicago. We stayed with some friends and cooked a huge breakfast upon arrival. G… showered and paced preparing for his interview; I crashed on the couch for a handful of hours.

We ate Indian food, saw some live jazz, walked around downtown and along the lake front, went to the aquarium, and ate some deep dish.

The pivotal moment of the trip took place while we were sitting at the Green Mill jazz club, apparently an old hang out of Al Capone. I was intermittently dozing off due to the bizarre sleep schedule I was experiencing, but otherwise I was actively listening and watching these five musicians wail on their instruments making them sing and speak in unconventional ways. As they improvised, whipped and turned sound over and under I was caught in a trance. I got lost in the idea of passions and interests. I left the club and Chicago mentally refreshed and prepared to tackle the future, that large expanse of unknown. Since college, or for the first time in three years, I have no plan.

The future once again is an unpainted canvas and I am unafraid of the unknown, in fact I am excited. I know that I cannot compromise my passions and interests for cash and prestige. To be happy I must find a career that satisfies the convergence of my interests or at least propagates the attainment of these interests. Eighty hours a week in an office is not going to accomplish this goal, neither is making six figures when earning the six figures takes up too much of the time needed to participate in the things I love doing. This is what ran through my mind as the musicians created beauty out of a seemingly uncoordinated clatter of sounds. I believe that the seemingly uncoordinated path I will choose will create a picture of beauty and while not immediately recognizable, upon reflection I believe an agreeable landscape will have been painted upon that canvas.

We left Chicago at 9pm on Saturday after devouring the meanest deep dish in town. We arrived in Shelby, MS at 8am Sunday morning. Yaaaawwwwwn! Very tired, I slept from 9am-3pm and now am trying to groove back into reality. 20 plus hours of time in the car during a 60-hour period was cleansing. I feel good. Four more weeks until spring break.