Stories from an ordinary life

Update time!

I haven't been able to write in a while because my lovely computer goes through phases where it won't work at all and then it will be completely normal for a few hours. So, here's a quick summary of the last two weeks:

First, I finished up at 14 without getting too emotional or dramatic and headed to D.C. for a long weekend to clear my head. I must thank my hot firefighter-esque guide KP for accompanying me to the Smithsonian so I could see the Muppets. He gets serious props for doing something he wasn't thrilled about just for me. The trip would have been the perfect mini-vacation if we'd been about to tear up the town one night, but work and sleep must take priority. Hopefully he'll be more up to a challenge when he visits Charlotte in August. Anyhow, here's a few snapshots of the coolest museum display ever!

So, almost exactly a week ago I started my job at 9. I'm still not sure what I think of it. Basically I'm going to be cramming 12 hours of work into 10 hours a day. That means I'll pretty much always work through lunch, I get there 2 hours before I had to be at 14 and I only leave like 45 minutes earlier. I'm sad because all my favorite places to eat are too far away from this station, and the people who eat at the same time as me have yet to invite me to do lunch with them. It's quite an adjustment. I went from a station where I knew and loved everyone to a place where I see a new face every day and I can't tell you the name of a single photographer. It's a whole new world. Plus I don't really work closely with anyone. I'm kinda isolated at a little corner desk in the newsroom so it's lonely.

Ok, only one more complaint on this rant: the job is seriously video-focused rather than word focused, the latter of which I think makes the news more accessible to people because not everyone has a computer that plays video well. (It's a big change to go from a place that was news-driven to a place that is ratings and ad-driven -- the videos of course have ads, so we have to direct them to the videos!) I had hoped my writing skills could improve the quality of the site as it is right now, but it looks like I won't have the time or resources. Adding images and video to news stories takes 10 more steps than it took at 14, and thus a lot more time, and the information is inaccessible. Few stories have scripts and even the most basic info on an important story is hard to come by. I pretty much have to memorize a few facts while copying video during the 12, 5, 5:30 and 6 p.m. broadcasts and write 3-4 bare bones sentences just to have something to attach the video to. I feel a little bit like my Carolina education is going to waste and I'm getting paid the big bucks to be a minutia laborer. I think I may have sold my soul for the next three years. Pray for me!

Maybe once I get established I can start giving my suggestions to the newsroom to improve the site. Right now I don't feel like I have a voice because I've only been there 5 days. But there is one huge beautiful benefit -- I get real weekends! That will come in handy this weekend when I have to head to Greenville for the internment of my grandmother's ashes. What the hell do you wear to this kinda of thing? Black seems like the obvious answer, but she died two years ago and I don't think she'd want everyone still in mourning-wear. I think I really deserve that stiff drink that I'll be having tomorrow at the Gin Mill.

posted by This one time . . . @ 8:15 PM