"Why Do You Round Everything Up?"

Listening: "Debarge Interlude" (Live From Stanford, CA), Teedra Moses, Live From The Jungle Vol. 2

I used to think about immature things
you know like do you love me, do you want me, are you gonna
call me like you said you would, is this really your real phone number
But you know I'm a man now baby a grown man and I came a long way
and experience taught me one thing... taught me to hold on to my love

-From El DeBarge, "I Call Your Name"

It's been a year and a half since I graduated from college and began my career in television news. For so long I was just happy just to be a working journalist. For the first six months I was a broadcast apprentice pretty much learning everything there was to learn about various jobs in the newsroom: assignment editor, web producer, news writer, and field producer. When my apprenticeship ended I was flattered that I was asked to stay on as a news writer and then fill-in as a web producer when two of my colleagues were out on maternity leave at the same time.

Lately, I've begun feeling like I've hit a brick wall, that I've stopped growing, and stopped having fun. That led me to have a conversation with our weekend morning anchor this morning. One of the first things she asked me was how old I was? 23 One of the next questions she asked was the longest I'd been away from home? Three months. She rounded my age up to 24 and equated my internship in Illinois to summer camp. She went on to challenge me to evaluate what I really want to do, know where I want to be, and develop a plan of action to get there.

When I asked her "why do you round everything up?" She said because you have to think about the future. She's right, I can't go back in time and unring any bells, or undo anything I've done. I can plan, be aggressive, and move forward. So my mines fine tuned and fixed on the future.

Checking In

Hello all, I know it's it's been a minute.

I don't know why after nearly four years of blogging my posts have become so sporadic.

But anyway I decided it was about time for me to check in.

Life these last few weeks has mostly revolved around work and my volunteer duties.

I think I've talked about it before but my apprenticeship ended in February after seven months, when it should have been six (I got an extra work due to the time I took off for volunteer board service).

My supervisors asked me to stay on as a freelancer and work as a fill-in web producer while two of my colleagues were on maternity leave.

Well one of my colleagues delivered a week and a half ago and the other is set to go in for a c-section tomorrow. Also we have a gay couple at work who adopted a baby boy last week. Talk about a baby factory.

It's great though that I'll be filling in for the ladies while they're out. I'll get more hours and have an opportunity to make money to save up to maybe get an apartment, have money for the journo conference later this summer, and possibly pursue graduate school.

Lately the idea of going to law school has been floating around in my head. Before I got the journalism bug I always said I wanted to be a lawyer. Growing up I idolized Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, in part because like me he's from Baltimore.

I jokingly still tell people that I'm still deciding what I'll be what I grow up. Truthfully, I'm grown up, but I'm also still deciding which path to take.

Not Monotonous

My only goal for this weekend was my newfound goal in life for it not to be montonous, boring, mundane, or pedictable. Okay maybe that's too much to ask for one weekend.

So on Friday I had planned to take my mother and my aunt/godmother to the movies. My mother begged off, so I met my aunt/godmother at the movies. She was late about fifteen minutes late partly because the only time she's on time is to work because she can get written up, and partly because it was raining really badly and it was hard to find parking. Finally we went in and saw "The Family That Preys." In my estimation it was good because much like the last Tyler Perry movie I saw "Why Did I Get Married" it wasn't overly preachy, and wasn't too formulaic. Though you know Tyler Perry's movies will have a happy ending, it's how people triumph over their adversities which makes his works interesting. After the movie we went home I talked on the phone and chilled.

On Saturday I woke up to go see a friend of mine speak to some young kids about journalism. It was cool he and a co-worker both reporters for the local paper in town did a great job. They did a breakdown of what they do from note taking, writing articles, and interviewing. They even handed the kids fake press passes, reporters notebooks, and gave them snacks. There were atleast maybe 30 kids and parents in the room on a Saturday at noon.

After seeing them speak I went to my old college and met up with one of my friends. Mikey and I used to always get together and just chill. I'd either ride with her as she drove the campus shuttle because she's a student shuttle driver, and we'd grab food and chat. Or we would randomly venture off campus. Yesterday we went to Panera Bread, one of our fav spots. Then we went across the street to Lee's/The Fractured Prune. It's a ice cream and donut shop all in one. Do you realize how dangerous that is? You can get ice cream, ice cream cones, sundaes (we both had the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup sundaes), or you can get your uniquely flavored donuts. I brought half a dozen Reese's donuts to take home to my family.

Then we went back to campus where I ran into five or six people in a span of thirty minutes. Then Mikey, and two of our friends Carl and Leon went to the movies. That was an adventure. Mikey is bi, Carl and Leon are two flamboyantly gay boys. And they are over the top. Mikey is chill but not Leon and Carl. Walking with them I felt like we were putting on a show.

Everything they did was in a phrase extra. We missed the first movie, the second show was sold out, so we had to get tickets for the 9:30 show.


While waiting for the movie to start we went to Old Navy for them to peruse. Then we wen to my haven Barnes and Nobles. I renewed my membership card and picked up "Letters to a Young Sister" by Hill Harper (a book Ill probably read and pass on) a book of advice and words of wisdom offered by prominent celebrities from Gabrielle Union to Jada Pinkett Smith and similar folks geared towards young black girls; then there's "One Drop" by Bliss Broyard about her father's life as a Creole man who passed and lived as a white man; then there's "Brother I'm Dying" by one of my favorite writers Edwidge Danticat about the lives and relationship of her father and uncle, and "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" by Junot Diaz a story about a ghetto nerd's coming of age. I wanted the last one because I read an interview with Diaz in Vibe and he seemed so raw and real. I also believe he just picked up a Pulitzer for the book.
As for today it was a chill day. I just chilled in the house, watched T.V..
I'm off work tomorrow and Tuesday. I work Wednesday through Sunday next week. It sucks because you know my friends are all busy with work or school Monday and Tuesday, I have to work Saturday and I was supposed to go to the local chapter meeting of the National Association of Black Journalists. I've never been at the station on a Saturday and Sunday and never really wanted to know what weekends at the station felt like LoL, truth be told.

Tomorrow I'll probably try to clean and read. One co-worker keeps asking me if I've finished Sidney Poitier's book and I have maybe a hundred and twenty five pages to go.

Then Tuesday I'll probably try to have lunch with one of my fave teachers from middle school and maybe visit the middle school (and my alma mater) where the best friend teaches. That'd probably be fun.