And indeed it was, and you might have noticed no posts since Wednesday.

That’s because on Thursday I had classes, then had to finish editing a package, do an editorial for News 22, and finally set up for our celebrity edition of Eastern Expedition.

You may be thinking, “Celebrity, you say? What celebrity goes to a college game show?” Anyone ever watch Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego as a kid? Remember the house band Rockapella? Well, three of its original members (including that era Rockapella’s lead man Sean Altman) have formed a new group since then called the Groovebarbers. They came to play the show, and give a bit of a performance.

It was a pretty awesome show, and destined to be long. It was the first time we nearly ran out of tape for both shows. That’s never happened as long as I can remember. Ought to be fun for those editing it, though! Haha…

My friend Adam came up on Thursday to see the news, and then to guest host one of the two shows we taped on Friday. After the shows, we went down to the local pub and had a couple drinks. It was a good time.

Then today was boring. Slept in late, and then watched some Stargate, but not much else.

I’m happy that this week is over, but how quickly it went is now only showcasing to me how quickly this semester, year, and my college career is coming to an end. I really don’t want it to end, but I do know the time is coming to move on.

And we move on and on…

I would like to take a moment to quote that oft-quoted quote: “Hindsight is 20/20.”

In this case, it’s about college choices. Lets go back to the beginning:

In my Freshman year, my first ever political science teacher made the suggestion that I consider double majoring in the subject along with communications. I did consider it for a little while, but eventually came to the conclusion that it was more work than I was willing to put myself through. I reasoned that if failed to live up to the major, that would suck. Plus, at the time, I had a goal of getting out of college in four years, a goal I have now more or less achieved (knock on wood Spring semester classes!). So since halfway through my Sophomore year, political science has been my minor.

Fast forward three and a half years to tonight. I took a break in my studies for my Communication Theory class, and waltzed over to the student information website, which displays all sorts of details about my history at college, including what classes I’ve taken.

Well, I already knew I’d completed most of my requirements, except that lagging Writing Portfolio, which was handed in on Tuesday; it’s just waiting for a grade. The “Degree Evaluation” program is a wonder; it lets you know what you’ve done, what still needs to be done, and all the classes you’ve taken.

On the other hand, it’s not perfect. For example, some classes that are clearly part of my communication major are not listed under that section. It says I have 36 credits done; it’s more like 48. For some reason, it counts some of them only under electives, even though in other sections of the DE, it double dips on the counting.

For my political science minor, some classes are listed as completing General Education Requirements, because apparently those classes are not exclusive to the minor you’re taking, like the major ones are. Still, a couple classes are still not listed in the minor section. Well, I decided to count up all the minor-related classes I’ve taken, including the ones counted as GERs.

It turns out that at this point in time I am one class short of completing the political science major. I have all of the following requirements completed:

1. The two introductory courses, American Government and Politics and International Relations.
2. The five political science electives (I actually have six).
3. Three “skills courses.”

The only course I don’t have is the “Political Research Methods” course.

That sort of sucks. Three and a half years after deciding not to double major, I have almost all the requirements to do it. At this point, I’m unsure if changing the minor into a major would affect much. According to the website, six of the 36 credits can be used to satisfy GERs. Currently, six of my credits do this. However, the website does have discrepancies in other areas, including stating in the introductory paragraph that four skills courses are required compared to the three used elsewhere, and an initial statement of requiring 36 credits for the minor, then saying 24 in the very next sentence.

There’s another problem I currently have. I believe that in most majors at my school, a C or better is required to avoid needing to re-take a class. In one of my skills courses, I didn’t do so hot, so I might of had to re-take it, had I double majored.

All that aside, there are three possible options, depending on certain circumstances:

1. Assuming that I didn’t have to substitute any GERs, and that I didn’t have to re-take the skills course, I could see if the Research Methods course is offered during the summer. Of course, this would require $900 I just don’t have and already used for my internship last summer; money gone to waste for never seeing my adviser in person.
2. Take another semester. This might be my preferred option between this and the first, since it would cost less for me if I got financial aid. Not having filled out a FAFSA this year might makes things difficult, though. Still, assuming I could get financial aid, I would get the chance to be part of the TV club for one more semester. On the other hand, getting financial aid would also mean having to take at least 12 credits, and I’m not sure if I could actually find any courses at this point. Everybody’s already registered. So, while #2 is the preferred option, it’s highly unachievable at this late in the game.
3. Do nothing, and graduate in May. Of all three options, this is probably the one I like the most, yet the one I’m most torn about. I’m happy to move on from the academic side of things, but don’t want to leave the club, which is what’s appealing about option #2. Still, between not having $900, and the unlikeliness of getting financial aid, #3 is the most realistic option at this point.

If I had foreseen three and a half years ago that at this point in my college career, I’d be one course away from getting two degrees this May, I probably would have gone for it. It would have required significantly more work, but I think I could have done it.

Yet, here I am, with 20/20 hindsight hitting me hard. Still, I’m not very disappointed about my decision to go with a minor back then instead of a major. Since halfway through my Sophomore year of high school, I felt pretty confident I knew where my future lie. And in the almost six and a half years since then, I haven’t felt wrong about it once. On the other hand, the thought of knowing I could have gotten two degrees in May will live with me for a long time.

Here’s to the future…

Well, I know one sign that my cold/allergies/upper respiratory infection is more or less gone.  More productivity!

Last week and the week before were pretty much marked by a general unwillingness to do stuff.  Sure, I got stuff done – a rough draft of a PSA I’m working on for a competition, among other things – but the two weeks just felt like a real lull.  I was tired, fatigued, and felt burnt out every night.

Compare to this week.  I shot a package yesterday, got the VOs done today, got halfway done with a video resume last night, more or less completed major work on the PSA today, handed in my writing portfolio today.  Heck, I even sat through two hours of a class that I took last semester, just because I wanted to hear critiques of the PSA (a member of the team is working on it for the class).

Then I came back here, wrote readers, a VO, and an intro and tag and emailed them, changed my sheets, and folded my clothes.  I’d claim reading 98 blog posts in my productivity list, but I actually just skimmed through a lot of them, and only read ones that got my attention.  Can’t win them all, I guess.

I don’t know what it is.  Some of it is that I know I needed to get some stuff done.  Like the Writing Portfolio.  It’s a school requirement that everybody has to do, major independent.  With my trip to Vegas coming up, that’d be a whole week gone without doing it.  Then I’d come back and be caught up with planning for the next Eastern Expedition.  Under the circumstances, I guess this is the best week to do it.

Stuff to get done:

1. Finish editing the package, including capturing the VOs (tomorrow)
2. Finish editing the video resume, and get some opinions on it.
3. Do a one-over of my resume for next week, and make a generalized cover letter.
4. Prepare for phone interview.
5. Get letter from gastro doctor (tomorrow I hope).
6. Pack for Vegas (Friday & the weekend)

Quite a bit to before Monday, but I know it’ll get done.

I’d continue maintaining that my lack of posting here was due to my sickness, and although it’s partially true, I could at least get a few words in, I think.

In any case, the first part of my entry title is true.  They always say that sickness or medical injuries get worse before they get better, and so that seems to be the case here. Yesterday, I could barely speak, mostly likely due to my throat being blocked up from phlegm (I love that word).  I’ve been able to clear some of it out, via both the physiological way (love those throat muscles) and the medicinal way (I love Robitussin CF so much).  The result is that I can speak closer to my normal pitch again, rather than sounding like some kind of tenor.

I’m still hacking like a lifetime smoker, but that’s usually the case with this allergy/sinus/cold/whatever I get at this time of year, so I know what to expect.  I’m hopeful that on this day next weekend, I’ll be able to report that all is back to normal with my health (as normal as it can be for someone with asthma and Crohn’s).  Perhaps I can make that report before then.  We shall see.

It’s important that I get better, for as I noted in my last entry, I will be attending the back-to-back (and actually slightly overlapping) National Association of Broadcasters and Broadcast Education Association conventions in Las Vegas, NV in mid-April.  For those who don’t know, the NAB convention, one of the biggest in the world, is the place for everybody who is anybody in broadcasting to come and show all their latest and greatest stuff.  I’m talking mobile control rooms perfectly built into RVs, news helicopters (they actually have some there), video cameras, audio equipment, and so much more.  There’s also video servers, routers, amplifiers; you name it, somebody is showing it off there.  There are also training sessions for Avid, Apple, Adobe, and other major video products.

BEA is maybe a bit more boring for someone my age, and who holds more of an interest in the technical side of things, but it is interesting none-the-less.  There are more training sessions, discussion panels, demonstrations of papers by both students and professors, radio and video festivals (alas none of my school’s entries won anything), and most importantly to me, a career fair.  So, it is a lot more academic in nature, but we’re students, right?  So, nothing wrong with that.

Finally, there are some side events that take place at the same time.  The one that I definitely plan to attend is the Final Cut Pro Users Group meeting.  Affiliate groups from all around the country come out to hear from the big boys in video production (Adobe, Apple, etc) on what is new and great in their products.  More fun, though, are raffle prizes!  When I last went to the meeting (April, 2005), I won a Steady Tracker.  It’s a kind of handheld version of a SteadyCam device, that allows one to make moving shots with ease and without shakiness.  There were two available, a lighter version and a heavier version, and guess who got the latter one.  Ooh, the envy eminating through the audience was so thick, it could have been cut with a knife.  Then, the next year, one of the attending members won a very nice video camera.  I’m talking a camera worth about $5000.  So, that’ll be fun.

But, alas!  I digress from the true purpose of this part of my entry.  It is important that I get better, so I can feel good when I go, so I can bring all of you updates!  That’s right.  Foregoing any terrible circumstances to its operation, I will be bringing along my laptop.  I hope to bring everyone some daily updates as to what I’ve seen, along with plenty of pictures!  However, I cannot commit to that entirely, since I’m not sure of our entire itinerary, which really is probably not going to be made until we get there.  Sure, there will be a few things planned out, but outside planned meetings, it’ll all probably be up-in-the-air.  So, I’ll do my best to bring you what I can, but do I promise something everyday?  Well, given my past track record, I cannot do that.  But, expect several entries at least!

Well, I have to get ready for a shoot I’m doing in an hour, so I’m off.  I wanted to do a pre-review of WordPress 2.5, given what I’ve seen so far from their site, but it must wait!  Until next time…

Wonderfully poetic, isn’t it?

Anyway, I’ve been sick during about the past 2 weeks or so.  It started as a sore throat, but that’s more or less gone away and been replaced with congestion, sneezing, coughing, and stuffed up and runny nose (yes, both).  Add on post-nasal drip, and yea, it’s bad.

I’d consider sleeping through tomorrow if I didn’t have work at 1pm, and a class at 12pm I really can’t miss since I’ll be missing four meetings next month due to my NAB/BEA convention trip.  So, in the meanwhile, I trudge through the day, trying my best not to pass it around.  As if; I got this from something that’s going around, and it’ll likely keep itself going until everyone’s got it.

That’s it for me; going to hang on for a bit, and get some pancakes over at the Student Center.

Monday’s entry will be the next IC 2008 entry. Then, hopefully, all this weekend and next week I’ll have one per day. Here’s why:

Spring Break! Ahh, it feels good to have a break every once in a while, and this upcoming week will be no exception. Nothing special going on, unfortunately, but the rest will be nice.

There was no entry yesterday, simply because it was a long day. I was more or less going from 11-11 that day. First, getting ready for an exam, then taking the exam. Then, went to a meeting to try to get some club money transferred into our budget account. Turns out I only need to fill out some form. That’s doable.

Then I had work, followed by setup for the news. We did something pretty awesome last night. We’ve been going live for a while, but have never done an actual live shot. You’ve see them all the time. A reporter is on location at a courthouse, a farm, a business, whatever. We’ve never done one, though. One of our newer members suggested doing it, found out how to do it, and then we set it up and did it. It went off very nicely, I must say.

Then, I went out for a bit with some fellow club members, then waited to find out whether we were or were not a go for a PSA shoot very late. Like, 2am late. See, the PSA we’re doing is about underage drinking, and having parents talk to their kids. Our location is a hospital. So, we can only do it when the emergency room isn’t busy. That means checking out that night to see what’s up. Unfortunately, our contact at the hospital found out it was busy last night, so it was no go. Hopefully we’ll have better luck on Monday night, though.

Today, had a class, then work. Our prop room was a mess, so me and my fellow lab assistant re-arranged it. Now it looks pretty and sparkling. Well, perhaps not sparkling, but it’s prettier than it used to be. You can walk in it, now, for instance, and not fear tripping over a chair.

Well, that’s it. Haven’t done a personal life entry in a while, so it was good to do. Now to work on the next IC 2008 entry…

I don’t know. I guess I did pretty good on most of my finals. Even with the cheatsheet we were allowed, I know I pretty much blew my Macro final, which was to be expected. Hopefully I’ll have done well enough to at least pass the class.

My Native Americans final I was able to study more for, and hopefully I’ll get a B on it like I did my last exam in that class. I’d be much more happy to get a 90 or above, but at this point, I’ll take a B.

I expect nothing more or less for ever person in my Avid Editing class to get an A for our final grade, never mind the final. That’s where I was after midterms, and I honestly don’t expect much to have changed. Our final wasn’t so much a final as it was a final editing session. I should be alright there.

I studied for and had a cheat sheet for my Communication Research final today, and felt the test was rather simple. I had to second guess on a couple, but feel that my second choices ended up being the right ones. This is the test I most feel (even more than Native Americans) that I passed with really good marks.

So, even though I know I did pretty well or really well on the latter three tests, all this week I just had a really dull feeling. I didn’t really want to do them. I studied for, and did them, but didn’t want to. I know nobody ever really wants to take their finals, but I just didn’t like them more than usual this week. I think it’s because I’m just ready to move on in life. I’ve been doing some form of schooling since age three. Pre-school, Head Start, Kindergarten, grades 1-12, and now four years of college. That’s nineteen years of schooling.

I can’t imagine doing any more, which is why, at least for the moment, I have no intention of going for a Masters degree. Besides the fact that I’m not sure it’d really help me for what I want to do, I just don’t want to do any more schooling right now. I’m really ready to move on, and get a job doing what I love. No more classes, no more exams, I just want to do TV production, and get on with my life.
One more semester…

I kind of cheated last week by uploading the previous week’s video for Dymersion Video, and then never making a new one last week.  Hopefully the same problem won’t occur this week, but I do have good news.  This week’s Dymersion Video, on the subject of the WGA strike, will again be coming to you in quasi-professional form from my school’s TV studio!

In other news, I haven’t had a whole lot of time to put up entries this week because I’ve been so involved in other video work.  I’ve also been sick, so that’s a contributing factor to the lack of entries.  It kind of sucks, since there is much I want to talk about, but am having trouble finding the time to do it.

I would also like to get at least two more new questions uploaded for the CNN/YouTube Republican debate happening in two weeks, and only have like a week left to do it.  So, hopefully sometime this weekend I can get to that.  Who knows, you all may be in for two episodes of Dymersion Video this week.  Aren’t you all just so lucky?

Now time for a nap before I have to get back to work.