Month: October 2007

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I think I’m beginning to feel how my friend Jess feels. She’s the producer of the newscast in the club I’m in. I’m the producer of the game show. Both of our shows will be taped within two days of each other, so any stress we might be feeling is somewhat similar in strength, only separated by two days.

Most of the stuff I have to do pertains to printing out various pieces of paper, which I know I can do. Others pertain to getting things, which I also know I can do. I’ve got a pretty decent schedule lined up, so as long as I follow that, everything on it will get done with plenty of time to spare.

Here’s what’s different…talent. I’ve got my host and co-host, and she’s got her anchors, all people who are very reliable and hard working. However, I’ve also got three additional wild cards to look after. I call them wild cards because I don’t have any names or faces to put to them yet. They are the contestants for the show, and right up until before we start our actual shoot, I don’t know if they’ll show up. It’s happened before; a set of contestants got drunk the previous night, and decided they’d have hangovers rather than acting responsible. And there’s been others.

Most contestants we’ve had are reliable people. They show up, play the game, and enjoy the free food. But there’s been the unreliable ones. What’s worse is that right now we have nobody on the roster, so that’s getting to me a bit. If I don’t find someone by Wednesday, I’m going to have to really go looking for people. Maybe not even Wednesday, because that day, I have class until around 6:30pm, but which time dinner at the dining hall is only on for another 45 minutes. If it comes to that, though, I’ll just suck it up and go looking there.

I hope not, though. Between the beginning of the semester and now, we’ve had plenty sign up. Though, three can’t do it this weekend, since they all want to play together. So, I think there’s still more than enough on the list, but if they can’t do it, or not enough, then we’ve gotta search.

Then once I have them, they actually have to show up. Not only that, but I’ve got two other things to worry about on game day: making sure everything looks good, and then (for this show), I’ve got to direct it.

I’m pretty good now, but as the week goes on, I expect my stress level to rise. This is my first one without any help at all, so yea, it’s stressful.

Off to plan!

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As I’ve referred to in profiles of myself on various sites (Facebook, LJ, MySpace, etc.), I’ve never been a huge partier. I’m not a fan of crowded spaces, though I’ll go to them if there’s a need or want. I love visiting Manhattan, for instance, which isn’t exactly a quiet place. My ideal situation is something with 6-12 people that I know well. Call it being shy (which might not be far off the mark), or whatever you want, it’s just my thing. To this extent, I’ve never been to many parties in my college career.

I’m not alone in this. One of my roommates also doesn’t seem to go to many parties. My aunt didn’t go to many in her college years. And I’m sure there’s many others. There are several reasons for this, and “being shy” is only one of them.

I tend to have a great fear of doing the wrong thing. I remember that I was highly angry at myself when I received my first and only detention in seventh grade for not handing in homework at time. And so I began my college career with a rather anti-underage drinking view. I changed my view somewhat after the first year, but continued only going to parties myself only occasionally over the next two years.

Now I’m in my Senior year, and I’ve probably been to more parties, or to the bar, in the last month than I ever did in the previous three years. A lot of people I know have noticed this, and here’s the two reasons why:

1) It’s my last year here, and I know that while I’ll be able to hang out with people whenever the occasion occurs, I’ll never have the chance to do it again during my college years. You can hang out in a lot of places, but parties are one way to do it.

2) I’m 21 now, and thus that “getting caught” fear is now more or less gone. You’ll probably be hard-pressed to get me to a dorm party, but off campus? Fair game.

Still, I prefer the less crowded atmosphere, even though I know many people thrive in it. Even last night, though I enjoyed being where I was, I was more comfortable when most of the people had left, and there was less of a crowd. I don’t know how to explain it. It’s just me.

So, if anyone was wondering why my sudden increase in appearances at parties and at the bar (though I could never go before this year, so it may be a moot point), that’s why.

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You might remember how I griped about my university’s student employment office last month.  Well, we’ve gone from A New Hope (when I finally got hired this semester) to The Empire Strikes Back, because of an email I received today.  It let me know that I’m going to lose my work study because apparently I don’t have a job!

Is everyone who works in that office an idiot?  Not only can I not make more in an hour than last year – this, despite the fact that no matter how much I receive per hour, it will never affect how much I can get in a semester – but they can’t even keep organized!  It is amazing that in this day in age with computers that they can’t keep simple records of who’s employed.

I blame their lack of notification to my supervisor before the semester began of the issue they had with my pay rate.   I would have been perfectly fine with an explanation then.  A little disappointed perhaps, but mostly okay.  But no.  That was that second time in two years they waited until I was back at school to tell me these things.

I think overall that things will be fine.  I’ll go to my boss tomorrow, and he’ll call them, and things will be straightened out.  They haven’t taken my money yet (so says the eweb system), so there’s probably a grace period for those who might want to get a job before losing it.  I’ll tell you though, if it does disappear, or if it had disappeared right away, there’d be hell to pay.  Because I know if it does go away, I’ll never see it again, since I’m sure their excuse will be that “we have no more money to spend on it.”  In that’d case, I’d want an operating fund job, or I go straight to the President of the university.

I’m sick of dealing with these people, and am glad I’ll no have to do so once I’m out of here.  Hopefully real HR departments are better, but I don’t know.  Experiences, anyone?