another step stepped

last friday I submitted my last assessment for tafe, and within an hour got an email from the lecturer saying I'd passed everything, i.e. that I now have a diploma of conservation and land management (yae!) it was a surprisingly emotional moment, I felt pretty bewildered and teary. the last few months have been hell and I'm not exaggerating when I say that I only barely made it through. tafe became a bit of burden during that time, but also kept me from dropping off the face of the earth. my classmates were all so goddamned beautiful and inspiring and I always left class glad that it was a part of my life

so there was that, but also there's this profoundly satisfying feeling that I've finally put myself on the right path. I floundered around uni for six years and still had no idea who I was or what I actually deeply valued. after only a year at tafe there seems to be very little doubt left. not necessarily because of the course content or anything, but it happily coincided with some big realisations and lifestyle changes, and just fit like a friggen glove

after our farewell party at wappa dam yesterday I know I'm going to miss it a lot, mostly for the company. to be honest there's also a big part of me that hates institutionalised education and is kinda bitter about blowing $11,500 on knowledge I could have easily gained from self-education and the age old process of just hanging out and yappin. but any step in the right direction is valuable, as it seems all too easy to drift off into weird trajectories. so yes, all in all I'm stoked and ready embark on my new career as a feral bushbum. not like I needed a qualification for that tho, just this beast (sry climate change):