Belated, yes. But better late than never?

I fear I forgot to post a blog for last week, so hopefully, a Spring Break blog will suffice.

A few times during each year really pound home to me the whole “I’m supposed to be a journalist” thing. It’s during winter and spring breaks, when I’m not too terribly concerned about my classes and have no major stories to work on (with this break being an exception…oh web shells), that I realize just how deeply the reporting bug has burrowed into my skin.

It doesn’t matter what I’m doing. I’ll be waiting tables, driving around the city, talking to my mom about how worthless the student health center is (warning: take my story idea, and I’ll kill you)…and I constantly find myself saying: man, that’d be a great story.

With all the stress this semester has brought, I’m pretty constantly at work. I’m on campus from about 9-6 almost daily. After that, I’m either at my job or toiling away on homework or stories for the paper. I have no social life anymore. It’s enough to make anyone whine.

On a quick trip home for Easter this weekend, I had a conversation with my dad.

“God, I’ll be glad when I’m out of school, and when the end of the day comes, you’re done with work,” I said. “I can’t handle constantly being busy much longer.”

“I don’t know,” he said. “You absolutely work all the time, but you don’t seem all that unhappy. You always seem like you’re at your most content when you’re working on an article.”

“And,” he added, “keep this in mind. If you’re really going to be a reporter, your work is never done. I’m sure you know that. You’ll constantly be rooting out a story, even when you’re relaxing. It’s the nature of the job.”

Good old Dad. He always has a way of condensing my thoughts into perfectly formed statements. He’s completely right: sure, I’m insanely busy this semester, but I’m never happier than I am when I’m reporting a story. So it’s not so much that I dream of a day when I have a job from 9-5 Monday through Friday. I dream of a day when all I have to do is concentrate on what I love: journalism.

Sure, this is a meandering blog, but I think it’s appropriate for Spring Break. The moral of the story? I’m not sure, but I think it’s this: no matter how insane stress drives me, and no matter how much I crave free time, I’ll always love journalism. Sometimes, it just takes a little break and time to breathe to remember.

Progress Report: Still thinking about how to “make sewers sexy” for the Growth shell, and I’m running out of time — fast. As for grabbing information for developments to the Southwest of the city, Justin and I divided and conquered, taking one locale each. I picked the Thornbrook subdivision and already have most of the basic information I need, although I have to call the developer for a few more answers tomorrow. As a side story to cover what’s unique about Thornbrook, I’m planning to synthesize the history of the debate and compromise between city and state about fire protection for the subdivision. I’m working double shifts almost every day for the remainder of the break because I’m dirt poor, but with some luck, I’ll be able to get it all done. Sigh.