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📓 Monday, January 26, 2026 — 7:46 p.m.
I’m sitting here watching Sons of Anarchy Season 1 on Blu-ray. I’m a physical media collector, so I bought Season 1 on Blu-ray. It was only $21.
I never watched the show during its original run. So here I am, in my bluish chair in front of the TV, feet on the ottoman like usual.
Today I got news I didn’t expect.
Some would call it “good news.”
I call it liberation.
Back in 2006, I made a decision I thought would improve my life. I enrolled in a school called FIDM (Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising) here in Los Angeles.
How the hell did I land there?
I wasn’t trying to do fashion. My girlfriend at the time was. I was just trying to pursue something artistic—I can’t even remember what the degree was supposed to be. I just remember some of the classes: Typography, Final Cut, 3D modeling… stuff like that.
The moment the slavery started was the moment I agreed to the terms: I had to take out a loan for $11,500 on top of my FAFSA money.
That loan had an interest rate close to 15%. Growing by the second.
And it was only for an Associate’s degree.
Years passed. The school changed hands after COVID years. And my “beautiful” loan ballooned from $11,500 to $45,000.
I tried to stay on top of payments. I went back to school from 2015–2019 at community college, then 2019–2022 at university. Two degrees later, trying to get a job as an artist.
And no—I’m not an artist yet.
I sell plastic bags, and now paper bags too, thanks to Governor Newsom.
So today my bankruptcy lawyer called me and said:
“I have good news. Your loan has been dismissed.”
I thanked him.
Now I’m sitting here watching Sons of Anarchy and thinking: I carried this thing for almost twenty years. Bad decision after bad decision. Half of those years trying my ass off.
And now… it’s gone.
Reader question: What’s one weight (debt, regret, a label) you’ve been carrying—and what would “freedom” look like for you?
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