Enter: The Real World

So I've recently graduated from college and a question I frequently encounter is: what are you gonna do, now that you're in the "real world"? I'm perfectly aware that i'm only being asked what my plans for the future are, but I can't help but wonder why so many people apply the phrase "real world" to the daily grind that so many of our lives become. It does seem to be used in such a cynical way, too, as though everything prior was just a happy little dream, but now you must wake and face the desperation you thought you'd escaped.

Maybe I'm just reading too much into it?

Whatever the case, I'm determined not to be indoctrinated into reality, if reality means I must give up my dream. Dreams are so much more interesting anyway.

I don't have an image to accompany that little monologue (yet), but here's an early rough of an illo i did for class, and what it turned into. I'll have better stuff later, hopefully.