"The Dog Days Are Over...The Dog Days Are Gone The Horses Are Coming So You Better Run..."
I may not be interpreting the words of this song exactly right, but I feel like the "dog days" signify the times I have had at school, while the "horses" represent the ever-impending doom of real life. The horses are coming towards me faster and faster and my times at school are fading into the distance. Over the past week while I was home, my friend pointed out to me that I needed to experience more during my last year in college (eek!) and at first I was a little put off by the comment. I mean...I lived in London for a year and got to travel all of the continent doing things that I never thought I would do (like paragliding off a f*cking Alp!). Who was he to judge the experiences I have already had? But then after some thought, I figured that he was right. I looked back on my junior year and figured that I couldn't have had as much fun as I could have had. My dog days very boring...very dog-like. I decided that this year -- my senior year -- I was going to have more fun, make new friends, and make some mistakes. It could help me grow as a person and help me figure out what I like and what I don't. I decided to make a Senior Year Bucket List. Here it is...and keep in mind that it is a work in progress.
Attend a Pepperdine Water Polo match -- Going into my freshman year I said that I would go to a lot of them...and then never did. That ends this year.
Hike to the Hollywood sign -- Because that seems like the cool thing to do and I could say I've done it.
Go to more clubs -- Preferably ones in West Hollywood because they are mostly filled with gay guys who won't harass me.
Do hot yoga -- I have heard from a lot of people that it is a good work out, and I think it would be good for me to spend some "me" time
Go to an Oaks Christian HS football game -- They are amazing at football, and since Pepperdine is lame and doesn't have a team, this a pretty fair alternative. Plus Will Smith's kid plays there.
Take a tequila shot -- My friend Shannon is obsessed with them (not in an alcoholic sort of way) but I never took them with her because I didn't really like tequila and I was too chicken to take shots for fear of throwing up. But, last night, I took my very first one at a bar we were at, and it actually wasn't that bad aside from the initial burn haha.
Malibu Wine Tasting Tour -- Apparently Malibu does do wine tasting tours, so I thought it was be interesting to see if their piss wine can compare to the stuff we have in Washington.
Do feel free to add things I should try to my Bucket List in the comments section. Suggestions are always welcome.
After what seemed like many, many weeks, my new apartment is finally unpacked and decorated. I have a give a big deal of thanks to my parentals Jorge and Gail for helping me set up my apartment. I love them so much. They are definitely my favorite parents hahaha. And now, for some pictures...
I just got the keys to my new apartment today and I am super excited about moving in and making it my own. Here are some pictures from the empty place just so you can get a feel for what it looks like.
I am finally on summer vacation which means that I am done with my two internships and now have absolutely nothing planned for the next however many days until I come home for a week before school starts. It's a little daunting to know that I now have four extra days in my week to fill now that I'm not spending a lot of those days either working at KCAL or the Foxy. Hmmm...what to do?
Well, here is a little retrospect on my last days as a sport production intern at KCAL and as a web intern for Fox News Channel. I had a blast at both of my internships and I learned lots of valuable information and met a lot of cool people. First, let me reflect on KCAL...
KCAL
On my last day, my producer was nice enough to let me go out into the field again to help out with some live shots at the Dodger game that would be on the news. I was more than happy to do that since going out to a Dodger game is better than watching the game on a television in the newsroom and since my last experience at going out in the field didn't quite go as planned (if you missed that story, read this entry). My producer said I had to be at the stadium by 3:30 to help set up. I left my house at 1:30 (because, again, you never know with LA traffic) and got to Dodger Stadium at 2:30...ugh. At least I brought a book with me this time.
Finally the photographer showed up and I helped him unload the camera equipment and bring it down onto the field. The photographer, named Rodney, is one cool dude. He's half black, half Cuban and he looks as if he could punch your lights out no problem. We set up the camera and such down by the third base line as some of the players come out to warm up. They haven't even set up batting practice yet, that's how early we are. After sitting on our butts for while and watching Rodney talk to some of the Dodgers like they're old frat buddies, it was time to get sound of Coach Torre's pregame comments. We were the only tv camera crew there, everyone else in the dugout were newspaper or radio people. I look around and there are a bunch of old, fat guys sitting around that have probably reported on the Dodgers since the beginning of mankind. Two of the oldest of old-timers sat in their usual spot, on the dugout bench right next to Torre, a clear sign of their seniority. I was even a little excited to take part in this pregame interview because I saw that one of my favorite sports columnists Bill Plaschke was there. I watch him all the time on ESPN's Around the Horn...and he even follows me on twitter! For a second while Torre was talking, I thought that Plaschke was looking at me, trying to think of where he has seen me (either that or he's just a perv.)
After Torre's comments, Rodney and I busted out of there and saw that our KCAL sideline reporter Jaime was there, as well as LA sports broadcasting "legend" Jim Hill. The other photographer, Glenn, was there too as he was replacing Rodney after the live shots were done. Now, we sat around even more, waiting for the times during the news when we were going to do the cut-ins. This was great for me because I got to ask sideline reporter Jaime a ton of questions about the broadcasting biz (i.e. How she got started, how she ended up at KCAL, so on and so forth) and I got a ton of great info.
After the live shots, we had to pack things up then Glenn, Jaime and I headed up to the press box to watch the game. Nearly three hours and a ton of free food later, us three had to head to the clubhouse for some postgame comments from the players. Unfortunately I did not get to see anyone's bare butt. Damn! After the clubhouse, we had to go back on to the field to do a live cut-in for KCAL's 10:45pm sports show. Since the game ended rather early, we had quite a bit of time to kill. I watched as Glenn did his camera thing and Jaime prepared what she was going to say on air. It was really cool to be out there on the field because the stadium was completely empty expect for the grounds and cleaning crews getting the place all spruced up. Finally we got the live shot done and could get along on our merry way. It was a lot of fun seeing yet another aspect of the career that I want to enter, and I enjoyed it a lot. I was just bummed that I didn't get to do it and meet these cool people earlier on in my internship. Oh well. At least I have their email so I can keep in touch.
Foxy
I was definitely a little bummed out that yesterday was my last day interning at Fox News, affectionately known this summer as "The Foxy." I met some awesome people, mainly Producer Matt and Entertainment Reporter/Bite-Sized Australian Hollie, who are probably some of the coolest people I have ever met. I learned a lot about web news (considering I knew NOTHING about web news going into this internship, I would say I learned a lot) and I plan on taking my knowledge with me while I try to take Pepperdine's Newswaves to new technological heights. I'm going to miss my Foxy peeps.
I'm REALLY going to miss seeing this face everyday
On this last day, I did my usual Beck and Special Report transcript and then Producer Matt took me out to lunch so he could dispense some of his infinite wisdom to me one last time. We went to a (literally) hole-in-the-wall sushi place that was actually really good. Matt's words of wisdom were insightful as always, like "Get an internship your last semester senior year because that will most likely get you a job", "even if it seems like a really crappy job, take it!", and "protect your reputation because it really is the only thing you have, at least in this business". Thanks, Matt! I also found out that Producer Matt went to Georgetown (of course he did) and was an English major (of COURSE he was).
After coming back from my free lunch, I got to take part in Foxy's "Internfest", a meeting they have for all the interns where reporters, producers, and the like come together to tell all the youngsters how life really is in the broadcast business. I found this meeting to be really informative and also slightly depressing. While it was great to know how to get started, what to put on my first demo reel and resume, and what employers are looking for, it was pretty deflating to be told that if you work in broadcast news (though more accurately broadcast NETWORK news) that you will never have time for your family, will most likely never find a boyfriend, and if you happen to get married and have children, you will never be around to raise them. Wow...sounds awesome (sarcasm...check)! But I figured that all hope was not lost, considering all of the older people talking to us were married or at the very least engaged. So I guess it is possible to have a boyfriend...woot.
The one thing that I will definitely take away from "Internfest" is I need to stay in contact with the people that I have met on during my internships. I think that every one of the Fox employees' stories mentioned something about how they got a certain job because of someone from an internship or college that they had kept in touch with. Needless to say, I am going to be emailing these Foxy people as often as I can without being annoying about it, because these peeps could find me a job someday. Hey, gotta do what you gotta do.
After the meeting, it was time for me to leave. I can't say that I was on the verge of tears, but I was sad about leaving. It almost had a "end of high school" feeling to it, where people were telling me to have a nice life and to "never change". Once I said my goodbyes and got some business cards from people, I walked out of the Foxy. Hopefully I'll be back there someday, though if I do I hope it's because someone found me a job haha. Now that the "intern" chapter of my life has ended, I embark on my last year in school (depressing) and then finally the real world as I fight for those entry level jobs into this cut-throat business. At least I'm heading out there knowing a little bit more about web news/sports production than the next person, which could be ultra-valuable in a field like this.
And now, I final note and a nod to Producer Matt. I didn't know there were people out there who could spend their day watching YouTube videos and still manage to get their work done. These two video are in homage to you...
I've been a little moody lately, usually when it comes to my impending graduation and thrust into the real world. As a broadcast news major, knowing that in just 9 short months I'm going to have to find a job, most realistically in a Podunk small-market town like Pasco, Washington or Fargo, North Dakota, is a tiny bit stressful and slightly depressing. Once I get a job there, it might be a year to 18 months before I can move on to a medium-sized market and another year or two before I can find myself working in a larger market like Seattle, which is where I would ultimately like to win. That's quite a bit of years of busting my butt in god-forsaken places (sorry if you're from Pasco or Fargo) before I get to where I actually want to work. Since I'm a kind of person that likes to get to their ultimate goal as quickly as possible, all of this is kind of starting to erk me. (But don't get me wrong, if I have to take this convoluted route to my dream job then I will be more than happy to do it) A couple days ago, I started -- and finished -- reading the memoir Eat Pray Loveby Elizabeth Gilbert. For those of you that haven't heard of this book and know that the movie based on the book is coming out next week (of which I can't wait!), Eat Pray Love is about Gilbert traveling for a year through Italy, India and Indonesia to essentially "find herself" through eating (Italy), praying (India) and, yes, loving (Indonesia). After finishing the book, all I could think of was how much I wanted this woman's life. Well, not so much Gilbert's whole utter desperation before her travels, but mainly all of her traveling and the finding of herself. The thought of traveling for a whole year sounds even more appealing than I would have ever thought.
I wouldn't even have to travel for a whole year...maybe just three or four months. And I wouldn't have to go to three different places -- mainly just one...SPAIN (for those of you that know me, this should be more than obvious). How fulfilling would it be live and travel around SPAIN, rubbing elbows with the locals and getting to try all the delicious food? Mmmmmm...so fulfilling. However, when people hear that I want to live in SPAIN for four months to travel and eat and gain 20 lbs (from all the traveling and eating), they say two things. The first thing is: But you already lived in London for a year and got to travel around Europe every weekend. Yes, that is true, but living in London in a house with 40 other people and only staying in European cities for about two days is not the same as getting to experience a country with an extended stay and getting around by yourself. They second thing they say is: Why don't you go abroad? You're young, you're free, blah, blah, blah. Well, I am young but I'm not exactly sure that I am as free to travel as one would think I am. Once I graduate, I need to find a job. Like, seriously, NEED to find a job. I can't just not do some kind of reporting for four months and expect to get hired somewhere (this is another reason why graduation/job finding makes me moody). Also, I have no money in which I would need to travel, period. I'm sure that one day I will get my chance to go on an extended vacation to wherever I please. It might be when I'm 65 and retired but whatever. I guess until then, I need to buck up and hope that whatever job I find will let me go on assignment to some exotic and exciting destination...most likely to cover some sporting event. Ugh.
I'm a writer/production assistant at Northwest Cable News in Seattle and a recent Broadcast News grad from Pepperdine University. I'm living the effing dream!!!
