This is embarrassing.
It’s only week 3 and I’ve already lost my blogging mojo.
I guess I should start by clarifying last weeks blog. Although I was frustrated, I was in no way resigned to the idea that my internship would royally suck forever. That being said, this week was a total 180. My first shift was essentially living out any guy’s dream, kicking back watching baseball and drinking free coffee. Add on top the fact that I got to watch my favorite team (the Rockies) on my home town feed, and I was in heaven. Even the work part was fun, cutting highlights from the radio feeds to be used in the next days wrap-up shows. The best part about the work, though, was the fact that the ex-intern turned part-timer I worked next to and I were doing the exact same jobs. It wasn’t like I was the lowly intern being sent on donut runs and filing papers all day, I jumped right into actual, meaningful work that was an important part of the ebb and flow of the newsroom.
And it only got better from there.
Wednesday I walked in at 9 to full on crisis mode. Apparently the producer of the morning college sports show had gotten sick, and J (my boss) was scrambling to put together a crew to produce the show. Turning to me, he asked “can you answer phones?” to which I answered “yes” (even as a sarcastic retort tried to claw it’s way out), and I was thrown into the proverbial lions den of a live radio show. And let me say, it was awesome. Not to get ahead of myself, literally all I did was answer phones. But being able to watch the producer work and picking up little things here and there and storing them away for some time later when maybe I could be the one to jump in for a sick producer and run a show, that was invaluable.
Tonight I worked with a veteran newsroom-er eloquently nick-named Blaze, which in my opinion probably came from his tendency to offer his thoughts on any topic in as scathing a manor as possible (often including as many expletives as possible). In addition to cutting press conferences, highlights, and working another show, I felt like I was partially inducted into the Sirius family. No longer was I asking questions at every little turn or needing someone to hold my hand through every step of a process. And at the end of the night when the abrasive Blaze shook my hand and said “can’t wait to work with you again”, I couldn’t help but grin.
I guess you could say it was a good week. So as this blaring house music threatens to turn my brain into a throbbing sub-woofer, I leave you with one piece of advice from my time so far here in DC: whether work or play, don’t waste time thinking or wishing. Spend time doing. And don’t worry about the consequences, because it’s always better to try something and have it fail miserably than to look back and wished you had taken that chance. Failure you can overcome, missed opportunities you can not.
Put that in a fortune cookie or something.
Nick Rothschild 