a tip

To the public, or at least the small public who reads my blog:

Don't call a newspaper with really stupid questions. I'm talking about like, really stupid. Whoever you are talking with in editorial will, 99 percent of the time, hang up and make fun of you to the rest of the staff.


[Better quality blogging to come, I promise. Photos are almost all edited.]

front pager

woot!

All you ever wanted to know about bridge.

And the dictionary.com word of the day is...

harbinger \HAR-bin-juhr\, noun:

1. (Archaic) One who provides lodgings; especially, the officer of the English royal household who formerly preceded the court when traveling, to provide and prepare lodgings.

2. A forerunner; a precursor; one that presages or foreshadows what is to come.

3. To signal the approach of; to presage; to be a harbinger of.

Comets have been mistakenly interpreted by humans in times past as harbingers of doom, foretelling famine, plague, and destruction. - Walter Alvarez, T. Rex and the Crater of Doom

More than the steamboat, more than anything else, the railroads were the harbinger of the future, and the future was the Industrial Revolution. - Stephen E. Ambrose, Nothing Like It In the World

The airy draughts felt to him like the undoing of everything, the unfastening of ties, a harbinger of chaos. - Pauline Melville, The Ventriloquist's Tale

Harbinger, which originally signified a person sent ahead to arrange lodgings, derives from Middle English herbergeour, "one who supplies lodgings," from Old French herbergeor, from herbergier, "to provide lodging for," from herberge, "a lodging, an inn" (cp. modern French auberge), ultimately of Germanic origin.

good day

If you're an avid reader, you know about how at work, they tell me if I'm leaving late, to get a security escort out to my car. (creepy).

Today I went to work to finish up a story for tomorrow, and it was completely dead, there was barely anyone there compared to weekdays. I left about 6:30, and I was going to walk up a couple blocks to drop off some mail at the post office downtown before heading to my car. So, about a block up, I cross the street and meet this security guard that is walking on the other side of the road. He all the sudden tells me that he's with the Eagle, and wasn't sure if I needed an escort but was following me anyway. He asks if I'm headed to my car. haha. So, he laughed, but walked me to the post office and then backtracked with me to my car.

He was a really nice man, he talked to me about how he was born and raised in Reading, and this was his first week on the job. Last year he was mugged walking home late one night by a large group of guys and girls, but all they took was the roasted chicken lunch his wife sent with him in a brown paper bag. Lucky him! Apparently it changed his life, and now he's much more aware. He says they're supposed to walk people out to their car even in the daytime, if they want. But even if people say no thanks, he just keeps a half a block behind them, just to be safe. We talked about the crime in Reading and how he has a daughter who is also 22 and named Lauren. Small world. He watched me get in my car and drive away, only after asking if I had called my dad today. (I did).

Something about him just really brightened my day, and made me want to be more optimistic about life.

I also went on a really nice walk today. Sidebar.

currently reading and listening to...

Good so far, I'm quickly getting hooked. Anyone else read it?
























Death Cab for Cutie, Narrow Stairs

I wasn't sure at first, but it's growing on me really fast. Tracks to try:
I will possess your heart (album version)
Cath... (album version)
You can do better than me (album version)

quarter life crises, anyone?

I like my internship, but my only complaint is that it's a little slow moving. It kind of seems like things here just move slower. Deadlines are all a week before a run date, and the desk only produces one piece of original content per day. Maybe two, but rarely. Pretty much everything else is wire, or a quick hit Q&A or something.

Combine that with about five or six lifestyle reporters (a combination of part time, full time and me), and there's really just not that much to do. Yesterday I asked to do a couple more stories, and those have to be fit into the budget for a couple weeks out. So, speed wise, I've pretty much maxed out. But that's okay, because it gives me good reason to take my time and make every story stellar.

So imagine my excitement when yesterday, a weekend editor came up and pitched a story for "someone" to do with a quick turn around - like, three days. I jumped on it. They looked at me like there was no way I could do it - "Are you sure?" they asked. Heck yes, I'm sure. It's community theatre, there's a press release with a phone number already on it. They only need 15 inches, maximum. Psh.

So, I'm out to prove to them that a good feature can be done in a couple of days. My first story ran today, but I didn't really like it. I'm not sure what else I could have done with it though. Hm.

I'm starting to see myself doing more than just writing in my future. I think I'm starting to realize that it's not enough for me. I really like it, but I don't love it so much that I'd be willing to write stories and stories for years and years until I can get into an editing role, which I think is ultimately where I want to be.

When I think back on my experience and what I liked to do most, it was definitely management. I liked being responsible for lots of things at once, coordinating different aspects of a project and getting to use different skills every day.

With that in mind, I found a great PR job in Tulsa that I really want. Weird, huh? It's a risky move, but I figure, if I really wanted to get back into reporting sometime down the road, it would have to be because I was just so passionate about it that I wouldn't mind taking a pay cut or relocating. And if it was possible for me to feel that passionate in the future, wouldn't I already feel that way about it?

But maybe it's not the writing I'm tired of, maybe it's just the 9-5, "adult" environment. Maybe I'm just not challenging myself enough. Maybe it's just because it's not the right job. But how long would I have to work as a reporter to get the "right" job? It could be a while.

I honestly don't know the answer to these questions. I think a lot of my colleagues of the same age and time in life are feeling the same way. How do you really figure out what you want to do without taking too much time to soul search? I know it's better to do something rather than nothing while you figure it out, and even the bad experiences are meaningful, but how do you avoid a decision that might take you down a path that is difficult to back track?

Seriously, anyone have any advice?

RED-ing

fear in the form of anger

This is amazing.

I think it's ridiculous that so many people give the reason: "How will I explain it to my kids that two women are kissing?"

Really? That's your biggest concern?

I don't know about everybody else, but I fully intend on teaching my children about other sexual orientations than just heterosexuality... is that so wrong? Furthermore, it doesn't even matter what you think is wrong or right, it's just a reality. Why wouldn't you want your kids to know? By not educating them, you're only teaching them that it's wrong or shameful.

Gah.

life, careers, decisions

Last night was a thoughtful one, full of perspective. This whole transitional time is awfully important, and the pressure of the important decisions is weighing on me a little.

But, I came to some good conclusions. Everything is a learning experience, sometimes especially the bad experiences. Jobs aren't permanent, so it's better to do something than spend time soul searching. And most of all, keep your eye on the goal, know what you're working toward and realize your first job isn't your dream job.

Kelsey and I were spending some quality time complaining together about the draining environment of the 9-5 "adult" working world, and this post made me feel a little better. This blog has become a recent bookmark of mine. I found it once on accident and keep going back to it - it's got some good advice.

philly

Zach and I spent Sunday in Philly before he flew out Monday morning. It was a good time, we did the tourist thing for a couple hours before being bums in our super nice hotel room.

Prepare yourself for LOTS of photos...