TV-10 tonight: not so cool. We got off to a late start--we were going to do a story on adopt a child for (buying christmas gifts specifically for a needy child for the baby fold) and couldn't get a hold of the lady in charge.

First off, the story was going to be great because we were going to make the reporter ride this tiny tricycle made for a three year old in his stand up, a nice cap off to the many goofy standups we've done together this semester. Secondly, it was going to be nice because it was the first story I'd gotten to do indoors for quite some time as well. I was happy, despite the late start.

But then these three enormous concrete slabs they were using to build a parking garage fell on this poor construction worker and killed him. Now I don't want to be whine, whine, whine, my evening was ruined, oh, by the way some guy died. But really, this blog IS all about me. And I AM self-absorbed. So while I AM sorry that the poor guy had to die, and if I could pick either his death to go away or my horrible evening to go away, I'd definately pick the former, I am going to go ahead and whine about my evening.

We were, of course, called away from the happy story to cover the accident. But so was this other photographer. So I really was redundant. There was no reason for me not to pack up and go home. But I waited a couple hours, because I didn't want to be a jerk and run off. And then I finally got fed up and told them I was going to leave. And the other photographer's like, "No, I have to leave. I have to go to my job." Which pissed me off. Why, then, couldn't he have just left earlier anyway? And actually let me do something instead of have me bore my mind out standing around doing nothing.

And, though generally I like and get along with this photog, he was such a jerk about it. He could tell I wanted to just leave (because by then it was way late) and he gave me this lecture on responsibility. He's all guilting me, "Well, you couuuld leave if you really wanted to. But the production director did ask us to do this, and if it were a real job, you would have to do this... etc etc." Yeah, well if this were a real job, I would be paid for being here. AND if this were a real job and I were being paid for this, they wouldn't be stupid and send two of us, and I wouldn't have been standing around out here with my thumb up my butt for hours bored out of my mind. AND, this lecture was all triggered by an annoyed look I gave him. I hadn't even demonstrably complained about being there. The look wasn't even about being there. The look was because I'd been nice and put away his tripod for him because he was going around with it on his shoulder, and all of a sudden he decided he wanted the tripod back, which getting out again was a pain.

Anyway, I did get a little satisfaction. Mr. Holier Than Thou HAD made a mistake in camera filters because the light changes when the sun goes down, and all this happened at about dusk, and he forgot to adjust for that. And after he left, I did get to go up on a roof and get some interesting shots.

We got harrassed by some people at McDonalds for trying to get a witness reaction. But really, we're not vultures. We're the media. It's our job to get people this information. You know you want it. Or at least, the 80 people who stopped to ask me what was going on as they walked by did. If something blew up (which is what we all thought happened until we got more information) and the media didn't investigate and give you more info, you would totally think we dropped the ball. So quit complaining. We're just doing our job.

The good thing: I didn't have to stick around and edit. If I did, I'd have been there all night. Which would've sucked, since I'd have had to be back at 7:30 since I have a morning shift at TV-10.

This is one of the reasons I worry about my chosen career. I like the unpredictability. Because I don't want to be stuck in a cube, doing the same thing every day. But I do like to know that if I'm supposed to go home at 6:00, I'll go home at 6:00. Oh, I don't mind a half hour give or take, whatever. But it would just kill me if it's 5:50, and there's some huge breaking news story and I have to go out and I know it's going to take forever and I've already worked a whole shift and I just want to go home, and they send me out there for some huge indeterminable amount of time, even if I do get paid.

With the birds I'll share this lonely view

--"Scar Tissue," Red Hot Chili Peppers