Chalk It Up To Experience

If I’ve learned anything in the past year or so, it’s the following:

1. It’s good to know people in high places, and;
2. Volunteering is never as much fun as you think it’s going to be.

Remember that time I nearly froze to death trying to hand out pamphlets for the Pinstripe Bowl? And that time I lost my body weight in sweat picking up like three javelins at a track meet? Well, today was right along those lines.



I worked (or “worked”) my first event for the field experience program today – the Florida Panthers Rookie Camp. The shift started at 8 am, and we had to be there a half an hour before that, and the iceplex is about an hour away. Do the math yet? That means leaving at at LEAST 6:30 am. The guy I got a ride with (who I thought was a girl before I met him, by the way – his name is Rayeez. How was I supposed to know?!) came at 6:15 though, just in case. So I had to drag myself out of bed at 5:30 am.

Wanna know the last time I was up that early? When I hiked Masada at sunrise. But when I woke up this morning, it wasn’t sunrise. Not even close. I was thinking wistfully of sunrise. I didn’t want to turn on a light, so I got dressed and ready by the light of the bathroom and my phone. (This was after a very interesting night, too. I’d been woken up at 2:30 am by my loud, obnoxious, drunken neighbors that I HATE WITH A PASSION getting into a shouting match in the hall, and then at like 4 am by my suitemates being loud in the bathroom. Yay.)

…And, as if on cue, the neighbors are being loud again. Have I mentioned how much I hate them? Because I really, REALLY do.

But anyway, my breakfast was a yogurt that I ate on the way to the iceplex. Rayeez was nice, as is Chloe, the other girl he drove. We got there super early (like, before Dr. Scott, the director of the program), so we sat around being cold in the lobby. We had to dress “business professional,” which would’ve been GREAT to know over the summer (like we were supposed to) so I could’ve bought a jacket to wear. I just had a cardigan, which not only toed the not-quite-business-professional line, but didn’t really keep me warm.

People finally started getting there as 8 got closer, and we got our assignments. Another girl and I were assigned to “TV/Video.” I was afraid they’d make us actually do video things – I’m kind of a print girl, and I was totally unprepared. But just as I psyched myself up and was ready to learn some things, I found out that we’d just be helping out the TV crews that would be there, just for general assistance stuff.

Okay. Cool. I can totally live with that.

Dr. Scott was saying how there’d definitely be media there today, because it was the first official day of the rookie camp, and that TV people are very needy, so we’d definitely be doing things. I was all “YES! LET’S DO STUFF!”

By now it’s after 9, and from the makeshift media room behind the rink I see a guy with a TV camera. The shift manager, Sasha, talks to him to show me what I should be doing; she basically just introduced herself and said to find one of us if he needed anything.

So I’m like ‘cool. I got this.’

Well, in the next few hours one other TV guy shows up. ONE.

ONE.



And he just went straight into the media room, so I didn’t even talk to him. I just loitered awkwardly with some other volunteers for a while. And then I went back into the media room and loitered awkwardly some more, standing up, because I felt like I should be ready to do something should the chance arise.

The chance never did arise, though, and I ended up sitting down next to a girl working on a story. YEAH, THAT’S RIGHT. There were people that got to write stories, while an editor of The Hurricane got to loiter.

Okay, I’m just bitter. I know everyone there was probably perfectly qualified to write good stories, but REALLY? I know Dr. Scott doesn’t know me, but didn’t she read my application? Most of the people working were public relations majors, whereas writing is kind of what I do. And at one point, Sasha was trying to edit the story the girl next to me was writing as it was being written, and she wanted to change a sentence that was perfectly fine. I was like NOOOO, let the former assistant sports editor edit the sports stories, plz!

So, all in all, it was NOT what I expected the day to be. I ended up just hanging around until Reeyaz was done with what he was working on, and then leaving at like 12:30-ish (even though the shift technically ended at 2). But Sasha talked to Dr. Scott about/for me, and hopefully I’ll get to write next Saturday. Today was just a practice day for the team’s rookie prospects, but next week there’ll be the whole Panthers team, plus the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Nashville Predators. That means lots more athletes and lots more cool story opportunities!

I did get something out of the day, though. I haven’t done any actual stories in awhile, being opinion now, and I haven’t done sports in ages either. But being in the media room and around all these athletes and journalists working on stories got me so excited to do it! I’d been kinda thinking that maybe I didn’t miss sports writing that much, but I was itching to get back to it today.

Look at me, finding a silver lining! Since when have I become an optimist? :)

(Since being a pessimist became meaning I’d be depressed all the time. Necessity ftw!)

On a completely unrelated note…

Study abroad. I’M SO FICKLE, it’s ridiculous. I’m now basically set on going to London <3. I really do want to go somewhere new, but the Olympics are going to be there in August. If there’s a snowball’s chance in hell that I could get an internship with LOCOG this spring, I’d be absolutely insane not to jump on that. I’ve already emailed everyone Olympics-related that I know about possibly having a contact over there, and my mom’s found some potential goldmines for me (again! Yaaaay!). The only unfortunate thing is that it’d have to be not for credit, since apparently Queen Mary (my potential future university) doesn’t do internships for credit. So it wouldn’t count towards my major, but DUDE WHO CARES? I’d totally do it for free on my own time anyway!



Basically, this is me asking for favors again. If anyone reading my humble little blog knows anyone that may be able to get me in touch with some Olympics folks in London, please let me know! I would love you forever and ever and ever!

Oh, and I made myself a tumblr. http://you-should-be-writing.tumblr.com/, because when I’m on it I need to be reminding myself that I’m most likely procrastinating and should probably be writing. It’s full of Remus/Tonks, other assorted Harry Potter things, and Castle. I’m doing a blow-by-blow of my camping out experience for the NYC premiere of Deathly Hallows, too, so that’s kinda fun. Yeah. Shameless self-promotion.

I feel like this entry is really garbled and tangent-y (and that’s not even a word), but I woke up at 5:30 this morning, so I’m not quite functioning at 100%.

Bedtime. Zzzzzzzzzzzzz.