Mmmk… It has been a whirlwind of a past couple of weeks. I drudged through fall term finals, poked my head up for breath in the first few days of winter break, and am again slammed with busyness.

• I began my two-and-a-half-ish weeks of seasonal employment back at the Tualatin Haggen Service Deli. It wasn’t difficult or terribly stressful coming back to work after two-and-a-half months of absence. Though, after completion of my first shift, I was really having withdrawals from my winter break freedoms. I was kind of bummed – I kept wondering if it was a mistake to return to the working world, if only for a couple of weeks. I kept touching base on the idea that this is my vacation from school – the biggest break of the school year… and I’m working my butt off? Yeah. I would love to go on vacation somewhere – anywhere, but the best choice is to earn as much money as I can to pay off rent and utilities. I’m feeling better now, and seeing more of the positives rather than the negatives in this process.
• Change in academic plans? A bit. I’m beginning to see more and more how difficult the broadcast/journalism industry currently stands as. First of all, you’re lucky to even get a job. Second of all, your starting pay likely sucks. Third and finally, you could get canned unexpectedly. This is why I’m starting to take some time to consider alternatives in the technology/media/writing/communications options. What could I do in this world that would pay well and be my ideal job? I was thinking about technology and communications in health systems – like how hospitals operate their databases and communicate from organization to organization. Maybe there’s a need out there for them to enhance in the digital world… I keep coming back to the likings of Twitter. There’s something about Twitter than leads me to believe a greater, more efficient, more powerful form of “new media” is out there – where I will be at the head of the game and be skilled and informed very well enough to be a solid asset to a company. I am left with this question… “What technological form of communication is on the forefront, and how is it a perfect match for health systems?”
• By the way, Twitter was hacked the other day. Our world’s involvement with new media communications is definitely evolving.
• Charles Gibson signed off one last time on ABC’s World News. He is retiring, and my fascination with news media was a bit damaged as I was at work and could not watch it on television. Other signs of my broadcast love: KATU, 9/11 coverage, YouTube’ing old ABC promo packages, Wikipedia’ing journalists, and Peter Jennings’ passing away. There’s a love for the news, but I just don’t know if I can act upon it. Diane Sawyer, another one of my idolized journalist, begins hosting World News on Monday. Watch out Katy Couric.
• In other news… My diet and weight loss is in a holding pattern. I eat Mom’s cooking – again props for how amazing and delicious it is – and how thankful I am for her love and care. But I need to counterbalance this new level of food ingestion. I never ate like this in Corvallis. I eat just enough to get me by – and healthy items at that. I come home to an Italian-style home of cooking. Dangerous. I got a free 21-day guest pass at 24 Hour Fitness. In my first few days of winter break, I could easily take advantage of its 8am-8pm workout time restrictions. But now with work, I find it so difficult to visit the club. But the weight has only risen slightly, something that I know I will get back down ASAP.