week two

[insert photo of some snow-covered street as i am beginning to understand i will be completely obsessed with the weather until summer]

so starting week two of classes. it has been a whirlwind, i suspect mainly because of how many people have told me that this year will be the craziest of my life (versus it actually being that crazy quite yet). last monday was our orientation, all eight hours of it. by the time the reception rolled around at 5 pm, i went immediately to the bar, procured booze, then bee-lined to a chair and sat in it for a few minutes without speaking or making eye contact. i was completely drained.

day two was our editing class, four hours of grammar and punctuation. it will be a useful and painful weekly occurrence.

the rest of the week was/is spent in newswriting. this class is all-day and intensive. i can't manage to put together strings of words to describe it other than my assigned projects will force me to learn how to present news in formats including written features, audio, video, written investigative reporting, written hard news reporting, and such. so far it has proved interesting, if a bit unwieldy, time-wise.

i am learning that journalists like very much to talk (about themselves, about their experiences, about people they know, about you, about people you know, about your experiences, about dude next to you, his experiences, his opinion on the kindle and how digital readers will impact the industry) and don't seem to give much of a fig about efficiency. it doesn't seem to bother most of the class, but it does bother me some. i think that at nearly 32 years old (about 10 years older than everyone else, sort of joking but not entirely) and having had a career where business processes are constantly being evaluated for efficiency... it's difficult to sit in a classroom for six hours when we could have covered the material, the assignment, and a fair amount of bullshit in three. but... that's not a big complaint. i rate the faculty as excellent so far. i've met a few people and they seem cool and interesting and funny. i like the administration. the cafeteria options are pretty shitty, but that's to be expected. i like my apartment. i ordered a new backpack because i didn't own one with a laptop sleeve (that's how long i've been out of school) and i like my new backpack. i am close to school and i like that.

so we shall proceed and see what comes next.