Tina: I'm also eatting my supper right now too
Phoemeister: whatcha havin'?
Tina: ham sandwichs
Phoemeister: mmm
Phoemeister: TINA!
Phoemeister: eat
Phoemeister: the
Phoemeister: ham!
Phoemeister: sorry, I couldn't resist that

Unfortunately, Tina's not seen the pinnacle of cinematic achievement that is Napoleon Dynamite, so she didn't get it.

Yesterday was the second to last day of work at the station for me.

So YAY at not having to work there anymore.

BOO at my impending unemployed slobness.

Since the places I already applied never called me back, I guess I'm going to have to start applying more places, which is just the hugest pain in the ass ever. I hate doing that, and even worse hate job interviews. I wish I could just fast forward to the job.

I also have to decide if I want to go into news at all anymore. And if I think not, I have to see if there's anything else in video prod I can get. And if I can't do that, I have to give in and start applying for other jobs.

The only thing really notable about yesterday was the lecture finally came about denting the van. The news director was fairly cool about it, he didn't yell at me or anything. He seems like a pretty calm guy, actually. I think he needs to be, to deal with that madhouse. Anyway, I took the lecture pretty well except for the part of it that was on how careless I am with station things, and I should try to treat them like my own things. I think part of this was a reference to that incident where I put DB's camera in his cubby, even though there wasn't enough space because of his ginormous bag.

Anyway, that kind of irritated me. Because the dent thing: totally something I can see doing to my own car. It was a moronic mistake, I'm a total idiot, and I feel bad, but it wasn't like I was driving at top speed in the van, or not looking for the hell of it because I just don't care. I am just a very bad driver, mostly because I have HORRIBLE observational skills. Which again, is probably a reason why I shouldn't go into news.

And the camera/ginormous bag thing: Yes, I probably wouldn't do that with my own things. But I wouldn't have done it with the station's things in the first place if DB didn't put the fear of god in me about moving his stuff.

Today, I slacked off.

Though it shows up as tomorrow, since this is two forty a.m.

also, new alternatune

LSEG: that's okay.. when I'm a pizzagna billionaire you can be my trophy wife with the award-winning handlebar moustache
Phoemeister: sweet!
Phoemeister: what kind of awards?
LSEG: hmm, good question
LSEG: just top of your category I guess
Phoemeister: WHAT??? I'm not best in SHOW?

Sui: well yeah.. I have plenty of advice to give in the field of auto-erotic pyromania

Phoemeister: anyway, it sounds like you have experience licking rusty metal asses
Phoemeister: maybe that's how you got strep in the first place
Sui: haha I didn't know you could get strep from rusty metal asses
Sui: those damn robot std's
Phoemeister: LOL
Phoemeister: indeed
Phoemeister: that's your defense to your girlfriend
Phoemeister: "I didn't KNOW you could get strep from rusty metal asses!"
Sui: haha yeah
Sui: the robot tricked me!

Phoemeister: yeah
Phoemeister: I think I've hit the weird TV news trifecta
Phoemeister: I'm cheating on some lady with Ross*
Phoemeister: I caught two jailbreakers**
Sarcasmyst: LOL
Phoemeister: and teenage boys mooned me in the newsvan
Sarcasmyst: eww!

___
* No "It was Rachel" PLEASE. This is a lot classier of a blog than that.

** a long time ago, at TV-10 these two people either cheating on their spouses or on the run from the law totally almost assaulted me because they didn't want to be on TV, though I had already assured them I wasn't getting them on camera.

Looooooooooong day at the TV station.

First off, we do this package that is to be aired at a later date about people buying houses in tiny hick towns because they can get all the amenities there nowadays, but still with all the "down home charm" which basically seems to consist of strangers talking to you when you are at a store.

The reporter I was with made me shoot like a thousand houses. I was getting pretty tired of this as time wore on. We got way more than you'd ever need for a package, something tells me he figures I probably screwed half of the shots up, and he made me shoot so many that he'll still get something out of sheer volume. Anyway, it got annoying because it was like, drive in the van for two blocks, haul everything out and set it up and shoot something, drive in the van for two blocks, do it again.... It took over FOUR HOURS. I just wanted to get the hell out of that town.

But then anchor lady calls us up and wants weather footage, which basically entailed doing the same thing only getting people from a driving range, cows laying around in a field, people flying kites, trees in the wind, grass in the wind, mud.

Then, anchor lady takes me aside. And though I've mentioned her before as one of the more unpleasant people, she didn't seem to be in "put down" mode today, but it was still a depressing conversation. Because 1) she said that she didn't think I took away as much from the experience as a lot of the interns the station has. That while I'm technically proficient with a camera, I don't seem to have the journalistic skills needed, like standing up for myself and interviewing people etc. 2) she also said to be in this business, you need to love it, because otherwise it beats you down. That people don't have time to ask for things nicely all the time. And everything's rush rush rush, and that it can get to you if you don't start out loving it.

And it got me thinking, do I love it? I DID love it, at TV-10. When I did 1 story a shift, two shifts a week. With people I liked. And I didn't have to drive anywhere. And there was no real pressure.

But it WAS a pain today. I was dying to get out of that stupid town we were doing the package on. And I have been hating it lately because of all the driving. Not only does it suck to not be able to find things, but I really am a poor driver, as the dent incident and the blood sucking money grubbing whores I bumped with the newsvan incident illustrate. And I had to drive all the way to bloomington normal and back for the story afterwards, which was a gigantic pain. I have a headache every day after work because of all the driving. Is this a career I really should be in?

But what should I be in if not this? I really liked it. I want to do something creative with my life. But you can't do any other video prod, it seems, without paying your dues in news first. So I guess it's lame horrible cubicle job for me, yay. I get to live out dilbert! Whee.

Then I actually did have fun on the last story, except for all the driving. ISU got this new fancy pants electronic organ for the center of performing arts. I interviewed the dude that installed it, and he was awesome. And I could find everything, because I know ISU. And then I got to listen to organ music!

And this is something that happened while I was interviewing the guy who installed the organ, as related later in an IM conver:

Phoemeister: oh, here's something goofy: someone called the company phone I had and was all, "who is this?" and I'm like, "Phoe," thinking it's someone from work who doesn't know me that well or something, though I have my name on the board by the phone when I check it out, anyway, they're like yammering on at me and finally I'm like, "I think you called the wrong number." and they're like, "No, you called ME awhile ago! You left a message for Ross!" and I'm like, "I don't know anyone named ross!" and they start to yell at me but I hang up on them
Phoemeister: So I think ross is cheating on this lady
Phoemeister: and now she thinks it was with me

SIX, I mean. I forgot to upload Funnel Cake Trailer earlier.

FIVE NEW COMICS PEOPLE! Production is at an all time high!

Though I do feel compelled to admit that "stewardess in pantyhose" and "monkey gots a hockey stick" I drew a long time ago but forgot to put up.

And I'm not saying production is at all time quality high... because it isn't.

But you gotta take what I give ya, so here, once again is the link to my comics, the new ones are the last five on the page.

Oh, and I wrote a new Alternatune a few days ago, while I'm blatantly self-promoting here.

Deeeepressing day.

First off: today was rainy and 20 or 30 degrees colder than it has been lately. And my one story, I actually had to stand around out in the middle of it. Eesh.

Second: I toootally mentioned I had colitis, because they were talking about some guest that was going to be on the show from the Colitis & Crohn's foundation. And this one guy asked "How bad." And I said really bad, but was going to explain that I meant that it's not that bad (scale from 1 to 10 I've been told I'm a 2) but that nothing I've ever taken has done that much good except for steroids, and they didn't even put me into remission.

Well, the guy has 2 kids, both with colitis. Or one with colitis, one with crohns. One's 9 and one's 13. Which in my opinion is REALLY the suck for those poor kids, I was pretty pissed at how young I was when I got it, and I was 18. For some reason, I guess I thought it was a later onset disease, my grandma started having her problems with crohns when my mom was in college. ANYhoo, he started quizzing me on what drugs I've taken and what I've had done, and it's obvious that mine's not NEAR as bad as the 13 year old's and somewhat better than the 9 year old's. So I look like this jerk for being like, "wah wah wah I poop a lot, it's REALLY bad" when his daughter's stomach "is just scars, she doesn't even have a bellybutton anymore." and his nine year old's been under the knife at least once.

It makes me wonder how good my specialist is, though. Because I always thought he was awesome (I mean, my general doctor was a moron who thought I had acid reflux disease, so obviously he looks like a genius compared to that), but I've heard from many people, and this guy with the messed up kids agrees, that diet helps, but my guy doesn't really seem to care what I eat. And I'd never heard of a couple of the drugs he mentioned that his kids have taken. On the other hand, my specialist has said before he doesn't want to put me on certain drugs he could put me on, because their side effects can really screw you up and if your colitis is only a 2 it's not worth it. Whereas obviously it WOULD be worth it to this poor bastard's kids.

Lastly, the biggest problem: I totally dented a newsvan. I was at a gas station, and I stupidly pulled in so that I didn't have any pumps on the side of the van where the little gas hatch is. So basically I'm doing some manuvering, and I smack RIGHT into one of those huge concrete things they kind of have on either end of a block of pumps. I totally didn't see it, because it's too short to see if you're as close to it as I was, but of course, it's certainly tall enough to fuck things up. So basically I'm screwed, there's a huge dent in the van because I'm a moron who doesn't pay attention. I wrote a note to the news director, (thankfully he wasn't there, I'd have no idea how to say it. Because I feel HUGELY sorry, and want to say sorry, but usually sorry annoys people, because sorry isn't exactly going to fix it. So basically in the note I left I just said that I did it, which van it was, how I did it).

Really, I'm wondering even more if I should give up this business because of the driving. I do stupid things all the time while I'm driving, but the thing about it is that 90% of the time, if it involves another driver, they're smart enough to save their own skin and get out of the way. I TOTALLY accidently cut someone off today. And have a million incidents like that all the time. And I hate driving, I end up with huge headaches at the end of the day, today I had a DOOZY because I spent the whole day, nearly, in a van. I really, really, wish there was a way to get into corporate video or a production company without paying your dues in news a year or two first. But as it is... I might just have to punk out and get a regular job, which kind of worries me.

The two places I applied for didn't ever reply. Finally, I sent each of them an e-mail that was kind of like, "heh, did my resume ever get there?" when I really meant, "HIRE ME, DAMMIT!" And I'll be darned if the one station didn't send me back an e-mail that they actually HADN'T gotten the resume. So... I think I'll probably send them another one. And then if they and the other station don't want me, give in and sell out. I guess I owe it to myself to try with the one station, to see if it's any better at a different place. *sigh*

Oh, other than that my day was pretty good. I had a story at the ballpark, a story at a regular park, and then one at the peoria library. 2 out of 3 stories being outside on a beautiful day is not too shabby. Hell, having three stories at all is pretty big for me.

Just when you think it's safe to breathe again...

Life SCREWS YOU!

I can't remember whether I posted it or not, but basically I had a fender bender a couple weeks ago, where I bumped into the back of a car while I was in one of the newsvans. It really wasn't a big deal, a cop came in like 2 seconds and didn't even bother with a report because there was no damage.

So I didn't tell the station. Or my parents. I was really freaking out about it, I really don't want to get in trouble with the station over anything, and I figured not telling them was the best option, especially since there was no damage.

Well, guess who called up my mom while I was at work today? Yeah, the people I ran into. I don't even know their name, we were supposed to exchange info, but I just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible, so I didnt' really catch their names or numbers, though I did give them my number.

So my mom's paranoid about everything and is convinced these people are making it up to like, steal my identity or bilk us out of thousands of dollars or something. So she was pretty mean to the lady and all, "Well, if it happened in the company car (which is about the only info the lady had) call up the company!" which is true, it would be the station's insurance on this. But I specifically gave them my home number so that I could head this off before it got to the station if anything ever happened, though I don't know what good that would do if they were really determined to make a claim.

So I'm deathly afraid they'll call up the station and make me look bad. Especially since my mom was so rude to them. But on the other hand, my mom said all this happened this afternoon, and I was there this afternoon, so if they remembered where I worked (which I don't know how they COULDN'T, our call letters are all OVER that van, not to mention several gigantic NBC peacocks) they probably would've called then, right? Except I would've thought they would've called us earlier in general if they had a claim.

Anyway, they're TOTAL BASTARDS if they try to get money out of us or the station. Because seriously, there was NO damage to either vehicle. And the cop even said so. And the bump I gave them isn't enough for even whiplash. And there's no way in hell they even will get money out of anyone, considering that there's no way they can pin any significant damage on that little bump. But what they CAN do is make a claim at the station to make me look like an incompetant driver and a liar for not telling the station. And then I'm blackballed for any photog job in the state. And they don't get any money anyways.

I wonder if it's over "emotional distress" or some shit. Because my mom said the lady called (it was a lady and a guy), and I remember the guy was pretty cool about it but the woman kept freaking out and yapping at him in whatever their native language is and wouldn't speak to me at all. Whereas the guy kept saying stuff like, "It's okay, no damage, just a little scare" and when he said the little scare bit he openly gestured to his freaking-out wife. And I was totally nice to them, I said I was sorry about a thousand times.

I'm really freaking out about this. I hope they either forgot the station's name or decide not to be bastards about the whole thing.

Work wasn't too bad today. I had to come in early, but my story was on some "peace tree" these aging hippies planted. I know I'm cynical, but I doubt the peace tree is going to really do all that much.

On the other hand, it was the most beautiful weather ever. And the peace tree was flowering really prettily. It was a really good assignment. It also involved a lot of driving (it was an hour's drive away from the station). Which, I'm not a fan of driving. Especially around peoria, where I can get lost and there's all this construction, and tons of other cars around to keep track of. But I spent most of it on the freeway, so it was oddly relaxing. But yet far more interesting than sitting around doing nothing, like my time probably would've been occupied with otherwise.

New Alternatune

Phoemeister: people are losers
Sui: I thought you knew that already
Phoemeister: yeah, but I hate getting re-confronted with it

(This was on the subject of a guy who felt the need to wave and say, "Hi mom!" to my camera.)

Gah. Stupid George Lucas. I hate the prequels. So much so in fact that my dad brought home the dvd of some cartoon that's supposed to bridge the gap between 2 & 3 and I actually wanted to avoid watching it, though I did anyway.

What have you done, George Lucas? I used to LOVE star wars, but you've turned me into someone who would AVOID it? You suck. I'm going to see 3 because I can't not see 3. But I'm sure it's going to suck. I had high hopes for 1, and it sucked. Everyone TOLD me 2 was going to be way better, but it sucked. And now everyone's telling me 3 is going to be better but it's going to be crap too.

The cartoon: eh. Anakin was SUCH a whiney bitch I want to hurt him. But he always is like that, so I can't really blame the cartoon people. He sucks at being a good guy and he sucks at being a bad guy. I know everyone else hates Jar-Jar. And it's not like I love Jar-Jar. But I would take Jar Jar a million times over stupid Anakin. He drives me nuts.

Other than that, it actually reminded me of this book I read once that drived me nuts. It had all these aliens and stuff that just really could kick a regular human's ass. So the author started putting in other stuff to make the human protagonists fancier and fancier to beat them. But then like, these humans trained from birth could kill all sorts of crazy crap, but they weren't enhanced at all other than training. It was just stupid. And that's how this was, things would just start mowing down the clone troopers like gangbusters, then ONE jedi would come along and kick it's ass, while busting up about a thousand droids at the same time. Lame.

Gah, even with dead guys I have no luck! I took the dead celebrity compatibility test and my top result was James Baldwin, who, according to the profile, was gay as they come.

I'm such a loser even dead people turn me down and say they're gay to protect my feelings only you know they secretly aren't gay. I bet Oscar Wilde TOTALLY put James Baldwin up to this!

So, I finnally got my new CD's in the mail, YAY. More about this in Alternatune

And here's yet another one of my wacky convers:

Phoemeister: I also think Billy Idol somehow freeze dried his hair
Phoemeister: so that it will look the same forever
Sui: haha that's the 80's for you
Sui: all that aquanet
Phoemeister: true
Phoemeister: maybe he used so much back then that even if he wanted to
Phoemeister: he couldn't get it to do other things now
Sui: haha
Sui: so he jsut stayed a punkrock star forever?
Phoemeister: yes
Phoemeister: he tried to become an accountant
Phoemeister: but the hair wouldn't let him
Sui: haha
Sui: must... deny.. the hair's... wishes
Phoemeister: LOL
Phoemeister: "...can't....hair...too...strong"
Sui: haha
Sui: must... resist... spikes...
Phoemeister: "...can't...hair...too...strong" :P
Phoemeister: "and too... bleached... blonde... AHHH, I CAN'T TAKE IT, I HAVE TO GO AND DANCE WITH MYSELF!"

NYC: i just want to get laser surgery and be done with contacts
Phoemeister: that would be sweet
NYC: it's a shame it costs money
Phoemeister: yeah
NYC: i figure i'll just wait until i'm rich beyond belief, then get it
Phoemeister: sweet
Phoemeister: when you're rich beyond belief will you hook me up too?
NYC: eh, we'll see what kind of mood i'm in
Phoemeister: well I'd think it'd be a good mood, seeing as how you'd be rich beyond belief
NYC: you make a valid point
Phoemeister: why thank you
Phoemeister: I like to think of myself as the type of person who can put together a well thought out arguement on why people should buy me eye surgery

Me trying to dissuade LSEG yet again, and pasting the results over to Tina:


Phoemeister: LSEG: *huggles*
Phoemeister: I have pink eye

Tina: spread the germs
Phoemeister: oh yess
Phoemeister: I want to rub my eye all over his naked body
Phoemeister: maybe that's how I got pink eye in the first place

Also, I'm thinking that would make a great catchphrase, "Well maybe that's how I got pink eye in the first place!" If you heard that out of context, you'd have to wonder how the person got pink eye.

And I DO have pink eye, I don't know if I mentioned it before, but I had it last week or the week before or something, and it came back. It sucks, I just want it to go away so I can wear my contacts again. My mom is just saying to see if it goes away again. Which, seems to be her go-to solution for every medical problem, next to, "foist random medications at least a decade old on family members."

As for other news about my day, I don't feel like typing it out again, so here's another AIM snippet:

Tina: so how'd your day go?
Phoemeister: Eh... I editted a lot of stuff from the network feed the first half of work, which I like because it's easy, I don't have to drive anywhere and tend not to make so many mistakes since it's so simple. It gets old if you do it all the time, but I hadn't in awhile. So it was nice.
Phoemeister: The second half, I don't know if you've heard of this show, but it's about these guys who build custom motorcycles for people, and it's sort of funny or whatever because of the family dynamic etc. etc., anyway, they made one for a local company, and it was unveiled in this baseball field and I had to wait like, 2 hours for them to actually bring out the motorcycle, which was boring. Then when I was editting it, I accidently timed something wrong, and the interview I got earlier was no good. I don't know what's wrong with me, I used to almost never make mistakes at TV-10, but I make them left and right at the station, and then I feel like a complete idiot and feel like the people there think that.

A conversation with a photog from work:

Photog: (talking about a traffic accident) ...and they were kind of worried about letting us photograph it because the corpse was all mangled and crap.
Me: Gee, with YOUR sensitivity, I can't believe they would worry about how you would present it!

Actually, he's not that bad of a guy. In fact, the only person at WEEK I'm really friends with. But I found that conver amusing. And sad.

In general work was not that bad. Nothing particularly good, but nothing particularly bad. I shot a school dedication and a fundraiser for a no kill pet shelter. I just kind of miss feeling competant.

Also, new Alternatune

So today was pretty decent for a work day. First off, no DB. Maybe I assumed wrong when I thought I was going to have to get his gear every day. Though, now that I said that, I bet it goes back to the way it was and I DO have to get his gear every day because I jinxed it by saying that on here.

First off I helped with a liveshot, which actually didn't happen, because the station wasn't recieving the signal. Yet another pope thing. AND since the "real" photographer was so busy trying to get the signal to work, I actually got to shoot the ceremony. I didn't get to edit it, but my parents saw it and they say it's good. Though, that means nothing to me professionally, because they can't tell what's good or not in news. Which makes me think, since the audience for news has no idea what's good or not, I don't know why we go to all the bother of making these elaborate rules about what's good or not that make our work harder without really being appreciated by whoever it's targeted at. But hey, maybe they notice subconciously...

Then afterwards, I had a story at Bradley University, they have this thing called 24 hours of music, which they put on a 24 hour show of various different musical acts, and a certain percentage of the profits they make goes to some VH1 charity that helps save school music programs. It was a lot of fun. I think it's amazing when people, such as the organizers of the thing tonight, thank me and thank me and thank me to come to something like this, when I actually LOVE being there. I would SO rather be there than a boring old town council meeting or something. Or worse, back at the newsroom doing nothing at all. Anyway, I'm going to put more up about the show at Alternatune, if anyone's interested.

Only downside is I got lost. Peoria, for those who don't know, has the Illinois river running through it, so to get to the west side (which of course most things are in the west side) I have to go over a bridge. Which, I used to mostly get there using 74 via the Murray-Baker bridge. Which, of course, is closed. So the choices are the McLuggage Bridge (yeah, I'm sure I butchered the spelling on that), the something that starts with C bridge, whatever bridge the 474 bypass goes over, and the Bob Michel bridge.

The McLuggage bridge I've done surprisingly well on, I haven't gotten lost on any of the 2 or 3 missions I've been sent over it. And the C bridge, I've not even gone on enough to know what the actual name is, though I managed to find my way on that one. But the Bob Michel bridge is the DEVIL. This is the second time I've gotten horrendously lost because of a route going over it. Somehow I made it to the music thing, even though I was lost, by just tooling around town until I hit the road I knew I needed to be on by pure accident. It did NOT cross paths with the road it was supposed to, according to my directions. I took like 4 or 5 turns to get to it. And then I got worse lost on the way back, because I couldn't remember what I did. And also, I don't think you can get back on 74 from the place you get off of it to get to the Bob Michel bridge anyway.... Both times I've gotten terribly lost because of Bob Michel I end up accidently driving all the way to a 474 access point (which takes a lot of time, it's not exactly close) and getting back to the station that way. Anyway, that whole rant probably means nothing to you, but it means I dread driving anywhere on the stupid Bob Michel bridge. And looked like a nimrod again to the people at the station.

So anyway, since I shot two things and did a helluva lot of driving, my day was pretty busy, so I liked it.

Phoemeister: I'm whiney
Sui: hehe it's okay
Phoemeister: thanks
Sui: now don't be vain, and don't be whiney
Sui: or else, my brother, I might have to get midevil on your hiney
Phoemeister: lol... You have to love weird al
Phoemeister: Seriously, that's going to be my policy when I am God-Emperor

(my parents are discussing which Baby Einstein video to show the 'phew. Baby Einstein, for those who don't know, is a line of Disney DVD's for kids who can't talk yet)

Mom: I want to watch the new one, "Baby Mozart"
Dad: "Baby Gallileo" is pretty good...
Me: I want to watch "Baby Diehard."

Seriously though, I doubt the kid could tell the difference. And who doesn't love Diehard?

More complaining: DAMN YOU AMAZON. Or possibly Idlewild, for not releasing things in the US so they're imports so not only do I have to pay more for them, but they take forever in getting here. These CD's I ordered (including Idlewild) to cheer myself up because I hate the internship aren't going to arrive until April 27-May 6, which is NOT HELPFUL as it ends on April 30. What am I going to do for cheeryness in the face of black depression in the form of awful internship until then? Bastards, all of you!

Gah. I hate the station. They asked me if I wanted to come in and help with election coverage. I said yes. They even paid me. And still.... I came in and did nothing. It sucked SO much. I was there 7 and a half hours, and ALL I did was press one button four times. That is all I did all night.

It was so boring, I stood around a room with nothing to do. A crowded room which was loud as most crowded rooms are and gave me a horrible headache.

The only thing that kept me sane was repeating to myself that I was getting paid. But really, the forty or so bucks I'm assuming I'm making: not worth it.

And earlier today I was dubbing some of my old TV-10 work for resume tapes for photographer jobs. And every one of the stories... I just remember having a good time making. I was friends with the reporters, all the strangers were nice, I was proud of my work... I can't even imagine having one story go like that at the station I work at now, not to mention every day like at TV-10. I miss it so much. And I hate the fact that I decided to base my entire career on the experience and then it turns out that it SUCKS to work at a real TV station.

Oh, and the capper to the night: I thought I lost my wallet. Which... I am the most neurotic person on earth, I blow losing things way out of proportion. I think part of it is because I lose so many things and part of it is the way my mom acts like I murdered someone, but seriously, when I lose something I just go nuts. And I thought I lost my wallet... it turns out I'd never brought it. But I convinced the station people that I'm careless with my things, absentminded and then neurotic about it, which I'm sure just looks great. I have to say I am grateful to have not lost that wallet, on top of the night I had... I wish I weren't so absentminded, it's the bane of my existance. And I wish I weren't so neurotic. God, I can't wait till April 30th when this internship ends. If only there was a date I could look forward to that marked the end of me being absentminded and crazy.

So today started out good:

1) I'm coming into the station tomorrow (yeah, I'm a glutton for punishment) because they need extra people for the elections. I hate it there, but I want to look like I have initiative and do want to come in extra, so that these people like me, so when I try to get a job with non-jerks, they'll give me a good reccomendation. Anyway, the news director told me today I'm going to get PAID for coming in tomorrow, because it's not for my internship. And I have to say, getting paid for something you were going to do anyway for free ROCKS.

2) Then I ended up picking up some cell phones they had rented from somewhere for tomorrow because they want extras for election night. I liked this because it was a no-hurry sort of thing, so no pressure, and they gave me TONS of directions before I left, more than I even needed, really. Some of the people there actually are nice, I have to say. I didn't even ask for directions and two people just gave me, like I said, very detailed directions before I left. And then, the weather was beautiful, and since I couldn't use the interstate, I could drive around with my windows all the way down (doing it on the interstate is too loud). Windows down and music are the two things that take a painful chore like driving and actually make it relaxing and fun for me.

But... here's the bad bit: I'm on my way back, I'm on the home stretch, and I look down at my directions one more time to make sure I'm on the right track (I'm paranoid like that) and.... I don't brake like I should at this stop sign. And I bump into this Asian couple's car. No damage to my van, no damage to their car... but still, bad. I suck. I totally wasn't paying attention. This is the first thing that's happened at the station that I can't shift the blame to anyone else, I AM a crappy driver and it probably should've caught up with me before now. Anyway, they said there was no damage so I think it'll blow over without even the station knowing, but they DID make me wait around for the cops. I hate that. If there's no damage, I see no reason whatsoever to just linger around in other traffic's way. I suppose the upside is the cop didn't take very long to get there OR let us go. I have to say, when I had that REAL wreck a couple years ago, it took the cop over an hour to get to us. AND it was freezing cold out then. And then he took forever after that filling out the police report. Whereas this guy took both our licenses and insurance and wrote them down or something and then let us go on our way.

Oh and speaking of my whole "I just don't see why cops have to be brought into it" thing, that reminds me of the first time I ever had anything like that happen, in the parking lot of my high school. And the person I hit didn't care and left, but the parking lot attendant stopped me before I could leave and wanted to call the cops and I was freaking out because I didn't know people always called the cops for tiny accidents like that and was crying and hyperventilating and they wouldn't let me talk to my parents, which they said was because they thought it would freak them out if I was on the phone that upset with them, but it only made me more and more and more upset that they were calling cops and not even letting me talk to my parents until finally they did call my parents and they calmed me down and told the stupid principal that there was no friggin' reason to call the cops if the other car had left already! Anyway, that was greatly traumatizing and I had flashbacks of it today.

So work just was...bad today. I'm beginning to think I'm not going to get out of there without a complimentary reccomendation, I'm pissing off more and more people there.

Anchor lady sends me out to shoot a house fire. Gives me the address and then gets horribly upset when I ask about directions. Okay, I could see why me asking directions gets old, except for this tidbit: I-74, which is what I use EVERY time I go out on a story AND what Mapquest advises if you ask for directions from them, closed down yesterday. And it's not like I'm from peoria. So I thought I might get some help with the directions. Instead, I get reamed out. "You'll have to find things yourself one day, you know! You're never going to make it in this business, you loser!" Oh, and I do have a map of peoria, except I never bring it in because I don't have a desk or anywhere to put it so I know I'd lose it if I ever did. So I'm really up a creek on finding this on my own.

But I AM trying to, maybe seeing if mapquest could somehow navigate me somewhere without 74, and she just lays into me for not being fast enough! Okay... you want me to find directions on my own, but you somehow want me to do it instantly? Finally she does give me some directions, and is still angry that I take the time to write them down. Okay, dude, do you want me to spend 30 seconds writing them down, or 20 minutes driving around peoria with no idea where I am because I didn't write down the damn directions!?!?

To make matters worse, they were very, very, shitty directions. She tells me to turn left on Main... but neglects to tell me that Main is called "Western" at that one point. So I'm totally lost and too scared to call up the station to ask what went wrong. So I call my mom, who doesn't know Peoria anymore than I do, but has a map. She gets me to the right road. But, of course, it's one of those roads that doesn't go all the way through. Who invented those? Seriously. Making a road not connect all the way is the dumbest possible thing ever. I can see the reason behind one way roads, and sort of roads that are named one thing one place but have a different name after awhile. But roads that don't go all the way through are the DEVIL.

So I give up and call the station and I get the nice weekend anchor guy, and he tells me how to get there, and I do, and there's no fire. And it's not like I missed it, there is NO fire there. There's nothing black, there's not even a smell. I either have the wrong address or... there's no fire. THEN I have to call the station again to get back because I have no idea how to get back to where I started from after all that mess. And even with the instructions I still end up somewhere weird.

I went straight to something else (in Eureka. God bless Eureka for being small and not having I 74 blocked) and when I came back no one yelled at me, so I'm thinking nice anchor guy might've covered for me with anchor lady? It sucked, though. I was crying on the phone to my mom. You really don't want to call and ask for directions when before you left you were given this self righteous lecture on how you should not need directions. It's the worst feeling in the world. Well... not the absolute worst. I think the real low point of this internship was when I went up to a car accident and had to ask if anyone died. And second lowest was when DB chewed me out about stuffing his camera in his cubby with his ginormous bag. But this is definately in the top 3.

Nu (I'd totally do an umlaut only this keyboard doesn't do it even if you type out the codes, what kind of gyp is that?) post at Alternatune, if you're bored and care what I think about music videos.

So I saw Sin City today. Far more gore & T & A than I expected. Which... was quite a bit. So a bit creepy to be watching it with my dad. Also, I know I'm an incredible dork, but I have to wonder how the economy of Sin City works, because all the women do is hook, and all the men do is kill people. There were like 3 people in the entire movie who seemed to have a real job, other than the many cops that swarmed around pointlessly not stopping any crime. And I'm sure you're like, "Well, the economy is based on hooking!" but think, how do the men get the money to pay the hookers? Only one guy in the entire movie seems to actually get paid for all the people he kills. Otherwise, the movie's decent. Witty lines, awesome look, so many celebrities you couldn't swing a cat without hitting one, the whole 9 yards. I was also really excited at the trailer for Hitchiker's Guide To the Galaxy, though I only saw half of it because we came late.

In other news, I dubbed a bunch of resume tapes a couple days ago, and it turns out that I screwed up and am going to have to do it all over again, which irritates me no end.

Also, I have some observational humor for you! Has anyone seen the ads for the Mork & Mindy made for TV movie? I love them. Really.... The ad's going along being all, "Robin Williams is awesome blah blah blah" and then suddenly the voice drops ten octaves, "But there was a side no one knew about.." and Don't Fear the Reaper starts playing. That is just.... so incredibly cheesy that I HAVE to love it. Also, there's a clip where the guy playing Robin grabs his crotch and says, "I got your nanoo nanoo right here!" Tell me that doesn't say quality television!

Also, my parents and I went out to cracker barrel today (or as I like to call it, Honkey Barrel) and they were pushing this e-mail newsletter called "The Front Porch." Okay.... HILARIOUS when self-conciously Old Timey restaurants try to contact you by e-mail, doubly so when they give it an old timey name like the front porch, like you're just stopping by their front porch to find out what your neighbor's been up to with his cow bessie. Also hilarious because it represents another paradox: if you really like Cracker Barrel enough to be wanting e-mail updates about Cracker Barrel, you probably eat there often enough that you don't need e-mail updates because you already know what's going on with Cracker Barrel.

Ah-thank you, ah-thank you. I'll be here all week. Try the veal! And please, tip your waitresses.

Work was a drag today. No DB, thankfully, but I did absolutely nothing all day. And I think they think I'm lazy, the assignment giver lady was like, "Start asking producer guy if he has something for you to do every half hour." Which.... he never does have anything for me, so I'm assuming this is going to get fairly annoying for him. And I hate doing it, I hate talking to anyone there unless I have to, because I am nervous.

Gah, blogger is being crazy. For some reason it isn't liking my links though I've typed them out 80 times.

So, I'm just going to write the url out and you're going to have to do the arduous labor of copying and pasting to see the two new comics.

70's porn hermaphrodite
http://www.geocities.com/tribble80/hermaprodite2.jpg

What does the Japanese world Hanakah mean?
http://www.geocities.com/tribble80/hanaka.jpg

Two new comics of the disturbing search request variety: 70's Porn Hermaphrodite and What does the japanese word Hanakah mean?