As my senior year of high school is rapidly nearing a close and I prepare to make that lovely leap forward into that world we call college, I find myself thinking about where I've been and where I'm going. I've been a furry for a year now, an actor since third grade, and bisexual for the past 9 months. I am comfortable enough with my identity to proudly wear my cat ears and collar to school, but I realize that life doesn't necessarily get easier from this point forward.

People can and probably will be cruel to me for my identity. I have accepted this fact, but the truth is there's nothing really out there that can prepare us for the verbal slings of others. I leave behind my trusted group of friends when I leave high school, most of whom I've been in school with since 9th, 6th, or even 3rd grade. I will make new friends and keep in touch with the old, of course, but it's sort of a scary thought.

I have discovered my passion in life. I don't particularly care whether I'm working in film, theater, or doing voiceover work (that would be pretty amazing though, admittedly :3), I just want to act. Between my musical theater class 1st trimester of this year, my theater classes 2nd and this current trimester, and the out-of-school theater conservatory I've been attending every Tuesday, I have been acting essentially five days a week for this entire school year. It's a pretty cool thought, but the real work begins next year as I step into a four-year program that will test me and my commitment to the craft. Hopefully I can step up to the challenge.

I began writing this as a sort of musing, a reflection on my time in high school, but now in its closing sentences its become an almost cathartic piece for me. I will be done with high school in a little less than a month. College starts at the end of August. After that? Well, I'll have to wait and see.