Every road has a beginning...

...And this is mine:

Hey All,
I'm Peter, a student at the University of Southern California. I'm in my junior year studying International Relations (after a long mire of finding what I wanted to study, but more on that later). Without too much personal history, there are certain things in life that I want to do, with everything else being means to doing them: travel, learn, teach, cook, write (music, books, scripts, etc.), have a family, live life. I always like having a plan, which until last semester was set for me for at least four years after college (I was previously in Air Force ROTC). Since I left that program, I have been feeling a growing anxiety about what I want to do with my life. I've been told that I need to not worry about it, and enjoy being in college. But I know that I want to minimize the time between graduation and starting life. And to avoid taking a few months to decide what to do, I wanted to have a plan, which I have:

I am going to move to New York City after graduation and pursue a culinary education.

I need to get off the West Coast for a while (I've never had a chance to miss it). I need to do something to be self sufficient. I have a tentative plan (which will undoubtably change) with what I believe to be a solid first step. After some research and some overbudgeting, I've estimated that to start a life in NYC, I need some $17,000 dollars. Later, I'll clue you in to how I came up with this ridiculous amount. But for now, I've got to make a sandwich and head over to Open Mic Night at Ground Zero Cafe. I hope you enjoy my chronicling of my quest to start my life, and maybe participate in some of the discussions that are sure to ensue.
Cheers,

-Peter