Dude, Where's My Summer? - Part 4

Just where exactly has summer been hiding? Very few days in the 80s so far does not make me a happy camper.

So far this summer I have been working. That's pretty much it. I've booked trips to New Orleans and California this summer, in addition to doing some planning for Key West in December. Does that count for anything? Haha.

I need to get an internship for spring semester, so I've started looking at possible places. I also want to plan my spring semester schedule which only requires 13 credit hours. On top of this, I get to worry about looking for a job post-graduation, hurray. Still hoping the economy improves. I need to start working on more audio clips, perhaps a small documentary this summer that I could get broadcast? One can hope.

On a random side note, Loyola had its first orientation for freshmen this week. I walked through campus and felt really old. I can't believe 3 years ago I was there. Man, how time flies and things change. They're worried about getting adjusted and making college friends while I worry about getting a job.


Did I mention how weird it is seeing Loyola Chicago '13 on Facebook? Freaky.

Multiple Showings - Part 3

Want to know the best advantage of working in the law library?

The law.

My landlord called me yesterday at 9pm and explained that my current apartment will be shown to prospective renters. That seems reasonable, right? She told me it's at 9am, the next day. I rushed home after finishing my paper and went into a whirlwind of cleanliness. I finished cleaning and reorganizing my room by 3am. Awesome.

Today rolls around. I go to my classes and get back to my apartment at 2:30pm. I get another call from my landlord. The people never arrived for the showing, but there's another showing. Guess what? It's for 6pm, that night. Another success. I accept because, well, I figure I have to.

Fast forward to just a few moments ago. I receive a call from my landlord at work. I check my voice mail after I leave the bathroom and find out that we have another showing for tomorrow at 2:30pm. Great, another time I won't be in the apartment I'm paying for still. The landlord also says the cleaner it is kept the faster they can rent it and stop scheduling showings. Alright.

I mention this to my boss and we look up the City of Chicago Municipal Code to find out if the landlord really needs to give me more notice. Turns out a minimum of two days notice is require by law except in emergencies or when repairs effect the entire building. Now to call my landlord tomorrow and nicely ask her if she will give us more notice.

Knowing the law rocks. But, it doesn't rock hard enough for me to choose pursuing anything related to it.

-Chris

Reading Does Not Equal Understanding - Part 2

Let me start off with a quote from someone I know all too well.

According to M. Gillespie, nihilism as a personal ideology and as a metaphysical justification for "no-limits" can lead to totalitarian politics. Using examples from his book, explain how this happens. Rely on at least one literary contrast which he uses to illustrate the appeal of the demonic.

Yep, that's what I'm supposed to be writing about now. While I completely understand what the author means, I have no idea how to translate that from the reading. I created an outline for myself that makes perfect sense, but I am at a loss on where to start. I'd rather be writing a million different news lead for a story about snails than write this.

Spring break is over, which means it's time to interview for internships. There is one that I really want, so I'm hoping it comes through and works out. I can't believe that, not counting this week, there are only FIVE weeks left of classes! I don't know where the time went.

This week was spring break which means I worked for about 20-30 hours. Oh, and this happened. Also, the cost of oil went up. Awesome. Now you have no money and will pay more at the pump. This year keeps getting better. I used to hate that I wasn't going to graduate this year because I was so ready to work after my summer internship. Now I'm jumping for joy that I have a year to let this economy improve, hopefully.

Random side note, Cake Wrecks is awesome. Some of these are ridiculous, my personal favorites are the ones where the person writing what you want on the cake includes your directions, on the cake. For example:

A: Hi, I'd like a white cake that says, 'Happy Birthday' in big letters.

B: No problem.

A receives said cake with this on it: 'Happy Birthday In Big Letters'

-Chris

Age - Part 1

While I sat in the Information Commons (IC) distracted from writing a research paper, my friend mentioned something that really struck me. She commented how the students in a junior high class she observes for her Education major don't really understand September 11, 2001.

You're normally 12 in 6th grade, the class she observed, and 9/11 happened eight years ago. Most of those kids were four. They weren't aware of what was happening when it happened. That really struck me hard. How could these kids not know the emotion that 9/11 had? How could they not actively live that moment?

This brought on the topic of other things that these kids, Generation Z as they are called, did not grow up with. They don't know grunge of the early and mid 90s or the boy band pop phenomenon of the late 90s. They don't know what life was like before computers were a household item. Everyone always had a cellphone and slow 56k internet connections were ancient history. They only know the World Trade Center from pictures and they don't know how crazy people became over Y2K.

They only know President Clinton as a historical figure. They don't know who Princess Diana was. They only know shows like Full House, Family Matters, NYPD Blue and Legends of the Hidden Temple from reruns. They have no idea who Joe Camel is. They don't know what it was like to go past airport security without a boarding pass. They don't know what Zaire is and only know the Rwandan genocide through a movie. They don't know that McDonald's ever had non-white meat chicken nuggets.

Both of us the realized when these kids are our age, we'll be around 30. We of course dropped the conversation and then went back to studying.

Side note: Kid Cudi is a pretty darn good



Day 'N' Night (Crookers Remix) has to be one of my favorite songs of the moment. Did I mention his hometown is about 10 minutes away from where I'm from?

-Chris

Weather - Part 0

Ice. Snow. Cold.

These three things represent the bane of my existence.

Honestly, I really can't stand the winter anywhere in the Midwest. I grew up with bitter cold all my life, the negative temperatures should be second nature. Yet all the time I find myself cursing the weather once the holiday afterglow ends in January.


Or maybe I'm just taking this for granted.

As the temperature progressively warms (which included a very nice day or two of 60 degree temperatures several days ago), I can't wait for summer to start. Warm temperatures, street festivals and late night trips to Lake Michigan in the early morning hours with friends are just the start of what I love about summer in the city. This summer will be different though, I'll be living with one of my best friends, more people will be staying and I'll be a senior. Being a senior? What a scary thought...

Ideally I'll intern again, hopefully in television this time. Time to send off those resumes and hope for the best.

Of course another trip to California will have to happen. After how ridiculous it was last time, I don't know what I would do if I didn't go again. Hopefully I can plan another trip somewhere else too, since Spring Break will consist of work, work and more work.

But I'm probably jumping ahead of myself. I still have to get through midterms and finals. This includes a grand total of two research papers, six regular papers, seven one page responses, two interview transcripts and one debate. Something else is probably missing, but I can't bring myself to try to find out.

Let's see if I can actually keep updating this. Despite blogging since 2001 (Yep, that's 7th grade. LiveJournal anyone?), I've found it harder to keep up as I get older. Here's hoping this works.

-Chris