After I graduated from Columbia College in May with a BA in Contemporary and Urban Popular Music (where my CUP did indeed runneth over with the limitless artistry of some of Chicago's finest teachers and students), I found myself, at 51, suddenly unmoored from the relative safety of student life, unhindered by my previous indenture to the UK Government Legal Department and metaphorically bobbing about on Lake Michigan with not a care (or a job offer) in the world.