Adventures to Places such as "Wally World"

If I don't see another Walmart for a while I may be too happy.

You see the thing is I need to learn to deny myself. Walmart and I don't get along. Even if I go in with a list, I come out with things that weren't on the list. On ocassion when I get home I get mad at myself because I may really have something I don't need.

You see I insisted upon accompayning the roommates to Walmart for food runs. We hadn't yet worked out a plan to share food. Well we did Sunday, we'll all contribute 10 bucks and add to the list. If it ain't on the list, or over budget it does not enter the cart. Any personal extras are paid for by the individual. I'm a little leery even now cause I'm 1) all about mine 2) territorial 3) independent 4)private 5) a tad selfish. I'd much rather be responsible for me, my, and mine. Besides they eat more than me one, and I don't want to be paying for stuff I don't eat.

The plus side to it as long as I don't starve, it may still reduce the amount I spend, and also teach me to share with others. It seems it life, it never heart to learn to share.

Anywho I'm tired of "Wally World" which is quite possibly the most interesting place here. I think outside the station it's the place where I see other interns the most.

T: Don't tell me they call it Wally World?
Me: Thy do.
Laughs.
T: Oh lawd. Oh no. You out there....in the straight up country.

A little later.

T: It's not the club, but they treat it like one.

I spiced it up last night with a visit to the video store. I rented "The Queen" and watched it on my break. I'm fascinated by things such as traditions and customs. Ha, maybe cause I'm still searching for my queen.

Off to watch the production of the "live show".

Then back to the video store.

Isn't it exciting work, eating, sleeping, trips to Walmart and video stores.

Tagged

The Rules.... You are to write six revealing, strange/quirky things about yourself. Then tag 6 other people.

1. I can talk and talk and talk or go for periods of extended silence.

2. I am most often a sectional eater, eating all of one thing before moving onto the next.

3. I generally have to multitask, because I get "bored" easily, but need my entire being to be somehow engaged. (NOTE: I often say great minds don't get bored)

4. I usually watch T.V. with the captions on.

5. I ABSOLUTELY do not write in books, even if I do own them text books included, if I take notes I do it on separate pieces of paper.

6. Along the same lines as #5, I do not know how to properly highlight cause when I read I think so much is important, I'd highlight 3/4 of an entire page.

I tag whoever wants to complete the survey.

Wise Words

Sunday-Desire, ask, believe, receive. -Stella Terrill Man

Monday- I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts.-John Locke

Tuesday- Worry a little bit every day and in a lifetime you will lose a couple of years. If something is wrong, fix it if you can. But train yourself not to worry. Worry never fixes anything. -Mary Hemmingway

Wednesday -Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn't.-Mark Twain

Thursday- Getting ahead in a difficult profession requires avid faith in yourself. That is why some people with mediocre talent, but with great inner drive, go much further than people with vastly superior talent. -Sophia Loren

Friday- I want to work with great people. Great people really make you better.-Dennis Quaid

Saturday- Many times I wondered whether my achievement was worth the loneliness I experienced, but now I realize the price was small. -Gordon Parks

Making it in T.V. Land

Hi Guys:

I'm STILL here in east central Illinois.

The last time I checked the video of the day they had
me co-anchoring the story which was the video of the
day.

http://www.jg-tc.com/

Scroll down and you'll see a video box which says
JG-TC & WEIU video of the day.

and if you don't see it there

http://www.weiu.net/newswatch.asp

Click on Illinois Teen Driving Law.

I also helped shoot the story called Lake Shelbyville

First Time Out

All this week the interns are working on content positions and production positions on mock shows or dry runs. Since many of us have never worked a number of the positions, its basically hands on training.

So far this week I served as a videographer and editor (mmmmm), I worked studio camera, I worked chyrons (did better than I thought for a first time), I will work chyrons again and I will also report and edit.

My first time out as a co-anchor was a little rough.

On a scale of 1-10, I'd give myself a 6.5-7.

There is a lot for me to learn.

I was reminded not to take myself too seriously.

At the very least I knew well enough to laugh at myself.



The biggest mistake I made today not taking my time, and not clearly pronouncing and enunciating words.

The highest compliment I was paid, "Smile because when you smile it's infectious." That came from the News Director.

BRIGHT SPOTS

Bright Spots
I figured that I better look for some bright spots in my experience or the next ten weeks will be extremely long.

So here are this week's bright spots:

1) My best friend was able to check on our friends condition. She had a less invasive surgery to stop the bleeding from her kidney. She's been discharged, and will hopefully really begin to heal. Ideally she won't need a more invasive surgery.

2) I will likely have split shifts during the week. This means I'll alternate long days and short days. For example Monday I worked 9:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Today I went in at 3:00 and was out by 7:30.

Tomorrow I work from 1p.m. to 7:30 p.m. I will write stories for the 5 minute live show. I will co-anchor the 30 minute rehearsal show.

3) I got to watch reruns. I spent most of the morning watching reruns on Oxygen. First up it was Queen Latifah, Kim Fields, Erika Alexander, and Kim Coles in "Living Single." Then there was Jasmine Guy, Kadeem Hardison, and others in "A Different World". Really good T.V., a good book, and good food can satisfy me. I'm a rather simple creature.

4) I didn't f up too badly at work haha. That's always a bright spot.

5) I was able to do something good for one of my best friends. I offered to buy him a plane ticket home in August. I ain't a baller, but I try my best to help out people who have helped me.

This led my cousin to relay this experience. She sits on the board of a non-profit and talks to potential grant seekers. In our hometown of Bmore the people she encounter normally have stories of overcoming, or stories which show the importance of lifting others up.

One lady said: "Some of ya'll miss a mortgage payment to help somebody pay their rent."

I don't know if I'm that generous a spirit, LoL.

I think I read it in Reverend Run's "Words of Wisdom" or heard him say "Life gives to the giver, and takes from the taker."

* BONUS BRIGHT SPOT: I HAD A PRETTY GOOD DINNER, GRILLED CHEESE, & SALAD. I MADE THE GRILLED CHEESE MYSELF !

I'M ALSO LEARNING TO SHARE AND NOT BE SELFISH. LIKE I LET MY ROOMIE BORROW MY COMP TO DO WORK, ATLEAST I THINK HE'S FINISHING UP COURSE WORK.

On a lighter note. This was so funny to me,well that last line, the rest isn't so funny.

Lady 1: Some of ya'll when a family member passes away are those who have to make the funeral arrangements.

Lady 2: Yep, $14,000

Boy 1: Boy, that's how much it costs to die these days.

Forgive me if it's too harsh of humor. I laughed so hard at that dude.

Words of the Week

Sunday- Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Monday- What I am actually saying is that we need to be willing to let our intuition guide us, and then be willing to follow that guidance directly and fearlessly. -Shakti Gawain

Tuesday- What I dream of is an art of balance. -Henri Mattise

Wednesday- Charm is the quality in others that makes us more satisfied with ourselves. -Henri-Frederic Amiel

Thursday- Politeness and consideration for others is like investing pennies and getting dollars back. -Thomas Sowell

Friday- Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards. -Vernon Sanders Law

Saturday- What you risk reveals what you value. -Jeanette Winterson

Almost Done with Week One

It wasn't until this week that I realized just how long it's been, since I have been in a TV newsroom. My last two years I have been writing, reporting, and anchoring for radio.

This week has been so busy learning in some detail about all the positions at the station. Some of these things I knew about, but never in such detail. I've had to relearn all the newsroom positions from assignment editor to producer. I've also had to learn production positions from prompter to studio camera.

Today I ran prompter for the five minute live news update at 5:30. It was so bad, on my part. To have 50 million people yelling in your ear tells you you're doing it wrong. "Speed it up Chris, slow it down Chris. Keep the arrow where she's reading."

Tomorrow we continue training. This will teach me about producing.

Hopefully I can get off shooting and editing, and onto producing. I'm assigned to do videography Monday and I'm already scared. These cameras are high tech, they have a hard drive on the cameras which = expensive. I've also never edited especially in Avid.

So far this week it's made me feel as though I'm at TV Camp, not band camp, not cheer camp, TV Camp.

The apartments are okay. We have two bedrooms (I have a single yesssssssss!), a kitchen, a living/dining room, bathroom, and a balcony. I finally got Internet access today.

I have been so beat that my bedtime is around 10:30pm central time.

The people are cool. One roomie is from New Jersey, and the other is from the St. Louis metro (but the Illinois side), cause you know they are separated by the river.

This experience will be like life, it's all about taking what you can use and forgetting the rest.

My mother always says, "Look at what's being brought to you, not whose bringing it."

It's all about the lessons I'll learn.

TTYS.

Safely in the Midwest

I am safely in east Central Illinois in the Champaign, Decatur area.

Luckily my mother has two loving siblings who chauffeured her, and her baby boy on a 12 hour plus drive here from Maryland.

My aunt and uncle tag teamed driving, my 18 year old cousin helped me load and unload the car, and my aunt's deranged puppy "Millie" terrorized me the entire time. I do not do pets, especially dogs.

Anyway, I've traded asphalt and concrete for corn fields. I'll be completing a T.V. internship. I know I'll learn a great deal about production, but I also hope to report again too. I'll be here until August.

Unfortunately we don't have Internet access in our apartment yet, so I'm writing this from the school's library. Ideally I'll update a few times a week.

I just wanted to let you all know that I am safe.

Pray this experience will be only a positive one for me.

Thanks.

-CNEL

Nervous Feelings

Yesterday one of my mentors and I decided to pay a visit to my injured friend Loryn. She's been home about a week recovering from the accident. My mentor had been sick, and got well enough or pretended to be well enough for us to visit. She only did it because she knew I really wanted to visit Loryn. I kind of promised knowing full well that I don't drive. I also, suggested the meeting time between 5 and 6, rush hour. I'm still learning about this whole life with traffic situation and even more pressing life with Maryland drivers. I note what out of towners say about us, and some of us cannot drive. NOTE: I drove home from school (10-15 min) and drove home from Kmart (less than 5 min), so baby steps lol. My parking has me not running up on curbs, always a delight :-).

I had to meet my mentor up at my alma mater to do the trip. It turned out to be "Headmaster's Day" a ceremony where they give out awards to seniors, and underclassmen who had excelled at academics, leadership, and citizenship. I didn't know this or I atleast would have worn khakis whereas I had on jeans and a tee. As I stood on the hill watching as our retiring headmaster announced awards my chest swelled with pride, and I smiled. Some of "my babies" were getting awards. I'm like big brother, uncle, cousin, protector, adviser to most of the black students still at my alma mater. I headed the Black Awareness Club (Black Student Union) for 1.5 years back in high school. I reinstituted the Big Brother/Big Sister mentoring program, so am still de facto mentor. An administrator noted that "these are your babies. You helped raise them." I've always made myself available via e-mail, cell phone, and by being there for them in person when I can. So I'm going to miss some, especially 3LW, three little women who had lunch with me almost every day of their freshman year, my senior year. I'm going to miss "my mentee" who tried to outdo me with all things diversity, I'm going to miss my other "little brothers" and "little sisters", and my real-life cousin. I don't know my summers without them.

Then I think to even stronger bonds. I'm leaving my mother the day before mother's day, leaving my twin sister and we'll spend our 21st birthday apart NOTE: We haven't celebrated our birthdays together in years, but still its going to be different without her, going to miss my aunts, going to miss my cousins. I'm also going to miss my granddad. I heard him telling the matinenace man today all about me he goes to Loyola, went to that school out there in Owings Mills, went to the training program in Italy, now he's going out there to Chicago.

Then came the realization that my two best friends in the world. I won't be seeing them. My best friend from middle school, our fellow blogger Epsi is headed to Texas for field school with the aspiring anthropologists. The other best friend Kenny is headed home after graduating from WashU and preparing for med school either Emory, UPenn, or the University of Maryland. Not being able to see Eps until Thanksgiving, and not sharing in Kenny's graduation will be hard.

Most of all I'm getting these nervous feelings. Yes, its fear. While I believe in that line I once heard on "Charmed", "Fear is the only thing which makes us live." I can't help but wonder if I'm in over my head. There's so many reasons why I should remain in Baltimore, most of all the people I love respect and cherish, most of them will be here.

I guess come 6:00am its time to push nervousness aside.

Words of the Week

Sunday- "The essential conditions of everything you do must be choice, love, and passion." - Nadia Boulanger

Monday- "Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose." -Helen Keller

Tuesday- "Make your life a mission --- not an intermission." - Arnold H. Glasgow

Wednesday- "Pleasing yourself will draw you much closer to your goals than pleasing everybody else."
-Dennis Kimbro

Thursday- "The thing that makes you exceptional, if you are at all, is inevitably that which must also make you lonely." -Lorraine Hansberry

Friday- "Life is actually simple. Ask yourself the secret to your success. Listen to your answer and practice it." -Rev. Run

Saturday- "Loosen up. You are never too old, too professional, or too accomplished to laugh and be silly. Allow yourself to play." -a Tavis Smiley Empowerment Card

I GOT A COMPANION

Reading: Ace of Spades

Listening: Musiq's Luvanmusiq

Her name is

Toshiba Satellite.

If you're like what the?

Chill out.

It is a comp, hence the Toshiba, a Toshia Satellite T2080 Notebook, it's Mist Gray.

I been wanting two things for forever a laptop, and a car. So maybe my car is coming soon.

But back to the reason for this post.

I got a companion.

Toshiba and I will be putting in work, on our first trip together. Illinois is on in about 7 days.

Thanks to Epsi's great post about our friendship I am now becoming scared as hell.

This trip seems like it's right for me. I hope it will be.

People keep saying I'll be fine. I hope I can hang.

-CNEL

* NOTE: THAT TOSHIBA MESS IS SUPPOSED TO BE FUNNY. HE HE HAW HAW

Time Flies...

* This is post number 400.

It's like whoa. Do I write that much? I guess so.

I cannot believe the end of the school year is upon me. I have two papers to do and then I'll be free. I'll be better than free, I will be able to say I made it through yet another year of college. I can say that I'm a senior in college. Better than that, I'm on schedule. Four years, and I'm out baby.

So much has happened since last year:

The month spent living in Italy

Being part of the NPR Next Generation Radio Project in St. Louis

Being on the faculty of the Student Diversity Leadership Conference in Seattle

Being a presenter at the Student Diversity Leadership Conference at My School

Almost Pledging

Becoming an Resident Assistant

Deciding to run for Student Representative for the Association

Deciding to move to Illinois for the summer to do the T.V. internship

Being Selected for the President's Council at My School

I've been blessed.

I had one of those moments of clarity where I got a dreaded e-mail, and listened to a dreaded voicemail message. My bestfriend from high school (the other besty not Epsi) telling me that a friend of ours had been in an ATV accident while at a retreat. Her roommate was driving, they hit a rock, and she flew off. She hit her face on a rock, and hit her side, breaking her kidney (her mom's a doctor and that's still what she said), breaking her wrist, and possibly tearing ligaments in her knee and leg. She is doing better, and was able to talk to me twice once Monday, and once today. But this reminded me that life is about relationships, about the people whose lives we are able to share. Thankfully my incessant talking was able to help cure my friends boredom, to reassure her, and cheer her up during this time in her life. She's been through a lot since we started college. So I still want to be her rock. I have to remember to be that rock in moderation, as not to outdo her boyfriend. That'd so be a bad look. Those lives we touch, and those lives which touch us are so invaluable.