The First Day of the Rest of My Life

Thursday, February 27, 2003

Mister Rogers passed away.

I cried when I read this today. I mean, I watched him like any other kid that had a television in the house. Fred Rogers wasn't the thing that got me the most excited about TV (the Muppets and Bob Barker took care of that). But I think I've grown more appreciative for his work in the last few years. I remember a magazine article naming him an American hero, reading about how kids and adults alike glowed in his presence.

In his passing, a part of my childhood (and, indeed, a part of everyone's childhood) is gone forever. It's too bad that I work during the afternoons now. I admit I haven't been back to the Neighborhood in quite some time. I think I'm going to plan a visit there very soon.

It sucks when I want to blog about something REALLY funny that I saw at work, then remember a code of confidentiality that I agreed to as part of my employment.

Sunday, February 23, 2003

this past saturday, i was smacked in the face with every woman's ultimate dilemma.

we all want to be treated properly by men. unfortunately, at my age, there are a select group of men who will in fact treat you properly.

and even more unfortunately, they are dorks.


Even more proof of my status in the dating world.

So life at News 9 officially started for me last Monday. It was mostly a "getting to know you" period: filling out HR forms, meeting everyone from the other departments, learning rules and regulations, etc. We were treated to a lot of cool stuff, including a bus tour around the city, a visit by the current and former mayor of San Antonio, as well as four catered lunches/dinners.

The official training (when we actually get our hands dirty in all the technical stuff) begins Monday. Apparently, the equipment that we'll be using is so high-tech that it's only being used by a select number of news outfits (the major networks and the BBC, to drop just a few names). I just hope I can pick up this stuff quickly enough. During our intro to the equipment, everyone else in my department (all but one person having previous TV experience) started dropping all these terms that I had never heard before (downstream, SOT, etc.).

As far as the people at the station, they're pretty cool. My earlier thoughts about being the youngest person there were pretty much accurate, everyone in my group is between 27-35 years of age. Sarcasm is the preferred language of most of the people there, which means I'll get along just fine. (One other bouns: apparently there are more Longhorns than there are Aggies at the station.) One thought has been floating around my mind, though. It may just be paranoia on my part, but I'm starting to get the feeling that I'm irking my fellow MCOs just a little. I've been in the bad habit of trying to make a joke/sarcastic comment every single chance I can get. Of course, this only results in either: A) pissing people off, or B) being known just as "the funny guy." But it's probably too soon to tell, so I figure this will change in the coming weeks.

So far, a decent start to my first real job. I just hope I can keep it up.

(BTW, to those folks who've dropped comments from News 9, come and introduce yourself if you get the chance...)

Sunday, February 16, 2003

So my compilation of IRL meetings with online friends has increased by two, all in the span of about 24 hours.

I went to Austin yesterday to visit Suzanne again. She really wanted me to come visit on Friday, but I couldn't make it, so I went yesterday. (If nothing else, I had to get a camera and flash that I had left at her place.) So, on my way in, I figured I'd see about dropping in on my favorite Catholic virgin. Lo and behold, she just happened to be working at the unique and inexpensive coffee house where she is employed. We had a nice little chat for just a few minutes (which, now that I think about it, pretty much describes the AOL chats we've had up to now...)

Today, after leaving Austin, I stopped of in San Marcos to meet another online buddy. Funny thing was, we ended up meeting in a McDonald's parking lot, since she had a pressing engagment. So our meeting was just as brief (if not more so) than the one with Teri yesterday.

I tell you, since my first time doing this back in the summer of 1996, I always seem to be surprised at what happens when I meet someone from cyberspace in the flesh. Some meetings have really deepened friendships (Exhibit A: Amy). Others, I've met once, and never seen them again. (This has happened more than a few times.) But the surroundings have always been interesting. A storefront non-denominational church (leading to a pool hall). A mall restaurant (leading to carrying bags during a shopping spree). A children's clothing store, in front of the Texas Union, on the Drag... all the locales have been different. The results have been different, but I've enjoyed them all. I've found that I really do enjoy meeting new people. I know what you're thinking... "Who doesn't?"

But these meetings always seem to hold an element of surprise. Take my meeting with Teri. She was really pleasant, a lot more than I thought (only because the StorTrooper on her blog looks so pissed off). But she was really nice. A little worried at first when I asked if she was indeed Teri (not that I could blame her). If this meeting leads to hanging out over coffee-based drinks, great. If not, I'm fine with that too.

Speaking of meeting new people, tomorrow is my big first day at News 9 San Antonio. I have a strong feeling that I'll end up being one of the youngest people there, but we shall see. I'm real excited, nervous, etc. I'll definitely let everyone (read: all 3 people who still read this thing) how it goes.

One last thing. A real cool blog of note. Back in December, I made a mention of a certain blog titled More Than Donuts. The creator's new blog, Inside The Donut is really good. I love the way she writes so personally and eloquently (as opposed to the unpoetic rambling of this blog...) I guess donuts really are good for the body, as well as the mind.

Wednesday, February 12, 2003

Post #60.

Been writing in this thing for eight months now. Not that I ever thought this would be a tool of self-discovery or self-improvement, but in looking over my archives, I see that I really don't learn much from my past mistakes.

I went to Austin on Monday to help celebrate Suzanne's birthday. I got into town during the afternoon, so I decided to drop in on a friend of mine. We talked, we watched some TV, she watched me eat a Sonic burger... and we kissed. All while I told her about my grand plan to avoid doing anything with Suzanne so as to not lead her on.

I left my friend's apartment, hung out at one of my old hanuts for a while, then went to Suzanne's place. We went to dinner at one of 6th Street's snazzier eateries, walked around for a bit, then went back to her place to watch UT beat OU. We talked a little bit about the status of our friendship, among other things, then retired to her room.

And then my grand plan to avoid doing anything with Suzanne fell apart. I won't get too graphic, but let's just say a Wahl Massager was involved.

I keep doing stuff like this, I keep expressing remorse for it, and then I keep doing it again. Why? I don't know. Hopefully the answers will come to me soon...

Why I Consider Myself Fucked Up When It Comes To Sex

About an hour after receiving forgiveness from a friend of mine for not being able to control my hormones, I watched a woman have 10 vibrators put to her body on the Howard Stern show.

Sunday, February 09, 2003

Stuff to blog about when I have time:
-Trip to Austin for Suzanne's birthday
-Actually meeting cute women in real life
-A surprise from a friend of mine
-"Fight Club"
-An almost-unhealthy want of sex
-Snow in Texas
-George Clooney's ass (for another friend of mine)
-My approaching start with News9

Monday, February 03, 2003

I tell you... after seeing this and this, I'm REALLY starting to think about joining up with match.com.

Saturday, February 01, 2003

So I got ANOTHER surprise in the mail today.

After getting home from work, I saw an evelope addressed by me sent to... me. And this is what was inside. (Man, I love eBay...)

I was at work most of the day today, so I really couldn't keep up with all the stuff about Columbia. A damn shame. I really don't even know what to say. I heard a reporter bring up the idea of terrorism, since one of the astronauts was Israeli. If that ends up being the case, I'm all of a sudden not feeling so secure in the homeland.

Here's hoping the families find some comfort in all this.