The Joys of Clarity

Well blog, I apologize for neglecting you for so long. I neglect things a lot, which is a key reason I don't have any children, or pets, or living plants...

Anyway a lot as happened since my last post. I completed my first semester of graduate school! I'm at Temple University pursuing my Masters of Journalism. Believe me, it was hard, I bitched a lot, I cried, had panic attacks, walked around with crazy eyes but somehow managed to not only successfully complete my first semester but get A's in both my classes as well!

During my final presentation for my Critical Perspectives of Journalism class, I made a 2 minute movie to introduce my presentation: (it was on comparative news coverage of Turkey's recent earthquake and Haiti's devastating one). As the intro ran, I saw my professor exchange looks with one of the Ph.D students in our class. I stood there in the corner, smiling. At the end of my presentation, my friend says "I think you have a future in this field." We all laughed. My professor loved the intro and asked if I put it together on my own - Yes I did. It was a great moment.

Now, I didn't know I was carrying a 4.0 GPA until right before Christmas. I re-checked my grades to see if there were any updates and low and behold I had a 4.0. Then over Christmas break I went to a Chinese restaurant with my parents and received a fortune cookie which read "you are headed in the right direction." Well, that is always a good thing.

Once accepted into grad school, I didn't feel so certain about anything since I joined the RMC program. I love looking back to see how I ended up where I am today. William and Mary Graduate, volunteers for a year and lives with Catholic nuns, works full time for free, gets hired and a decent salaried job, lives in Center City Philadelphia and goes on to Graduate School for Journalism. It all seems like a grand master plan and I'm happy to be going along with it.

Christmas break was nice, short but nice. I like sleeping oh so much. haha I got an Ipad for Christmas and well...I'd addicted to it. I feel the need to hold it just a few minutes each day when I'm not even playing on it. I think at one point I was watching a movie with my mom and I was clutching the Ipad like it was some sort of memorable keepsake. Its awesome, and its going to be even more awesome using it for school.

This semester I'm taking Editing the News and Leadership in Communications Management. I heard Editing is a doozy, so I'm nervous. Way to set the bar so damn high I might not be able to reach it again. The pressure I put on myself to achieve is insane. I haven't cared so much about school/grades since high school! I'll admit it, I could have been in to the top ranks of my class at William and Mary had I actually tried.

As for the New Year, I guess I'm going to redo my bucket list and try to be healthier. I'm not going to say "I wanna lose 10 lbs!" That just sets you up for failure. I just want to be healthier, more active and more cultured. I also want to travel more around the East Coast when I get the chance.

That is about it! 2011, you were pretty awesome. I liked you a lot.

Until next time...