Doesn't that sound familiar? Oh, yeah! It is. Because that is my major and my main minor.
This idiot person came to college with a plan to have a career in alternate energy. He took classes in his chosen field. He did a LOT of work in that field. He almost thought he was going to fail out because the work was "too hard." Maybe if he'd focused on what he was doing, instead of taking a jillion music electives, he could've had more time for physics. Maybe if he'd been committed to physics, he would not have had this problem.
Mike blamed the physics career path on his parents. He said that he wanted to make them proud. Mike has major daddy issues. He went home that summer and had some huge heart-to-heart with his parents, who (I guess?) allowed him to switch to music. Mike pays his own college tuition. Why he feels he needs his parent's approval is beyond me, but we are talking about a 20 year old who won't get a tattoo in a hidden spot because his mother cried at the suggestion.
Mike also loves to brag and go on about how much he knows about music. One of his favourite pastimes is demanding that I name five Bob Dylan songs whenever I wear my Bob Dylan shirt, and calling me a poser for wearing the shirt without going to the concert. (It is not a tour shirt. I had a ticket to the concert but had to work.) He also enjoys demanding I name the album a song came off of if I mention I like it. He is an unbelievable music snob, and instead of bonding with someone over their love of a band he likes, he makes them go through a gauntlet of questions to determine their "true" fandom before he accepts it.
He also enjoys discussing how he grew up around music, so he knows everything about amps and guitars and drums and mics and whatever. That's all well and good. He insists he is going to become a rock star. That's fine too. He is currently in about five bands, several of which are school-related and thus will cease to exist when the semester's over.
How are you going to accomplish anything, Mike, if you don't commit? Commit to one band and drop out of college. If you insist on taking the industry major to learn the business and better improve your chances of making it, that's a smart move, but you're wasting precious time getting your name out there and getting gigs. You're also wasting a lot of money that could be going towards gear, gas, or recording sessions.
And why take the recording minor? Are you going to tell the engineer how to do his or her job when you go into the studio? I'd kick an artist out of my studio if they tried to tell me how to do my job. Do you think you're going to spend money on thousands of dollars of equipment to record your own albums? Who's going to distribute them? Who's going to produce them? Where are you going to get all this money?
Mike really irks me because I feel like he's copying me and stealing my thunder. I have had a plan since eighth grade to go to school for exactly this. He likes to tell me that my group is a bunch of potheads who won't do anything, and I should've picked better groupmates, but ultimately "it's your grade." He also likes to tell me I need to figure out what I want to do, because if (as a first semester freshman, taking exactly one major class) I don't know the difference between a producer and an engineer, I'm way behind. This from a kid who is taking a major pretty much for funsies, with no idea of what he'll do after college.
I think that Mike missed the memo where college is a place to begin your career. College is a place to learn your trade. What you do here determines your job. If he didn't like physics, fine. But don't drop into a major you aren't planning to get work in. College is about commitment. I am committed to my major. I know exactly where I want to go and how to get there. I am doing exactly what I need to be doing to get there. If Mike wants to be in a band, drop out of college and work on your band. I want a job behind the scenes. I'm putting in the work to do just that.
And, by the way, Mike, Jello Biafra is producer, engineer, and owner of Alternative Tentacles. So back the fuck up, I know what I want to do and where I'm going. Mind your own business.
