Oh, the lovely J-school (sarcasm dripping)

Hmmm. . . so much (and yet less than nothing) has happened. Right now I can't even remember half the things I meant to post on here, and so much of that is obsolete already anyway. Let's see. . .

This week has been the j-school-takeover-of-my-life-week. In addition to regularly scheduled classes, we were sent on TWO fieldtrips. Class meets MWF, but we were made to clear our schedules on Tuesday from 3-5 and Thursday from 5-7 (not including traveling time), drop everything else, and go running at the j-school's beck and call. Not to mention that a) they expected us to get to these places ourselves b) didn't deign to give us directions, and c) told us to find our own transportation. GRRRR! I know several classmates who had to get out of other classes twice in the same week (wince) just to make it to the stupid visits to the Missourian and KOMU. What's more, our teacher showed up, left a sheet for attendance, and then went to his own classes! (he's a grad student) It's so insane!

The Missourian visit was completely pointless anyway. Almost all of us (if not all) had already had the tour when we visit campus, and the people were too busy trying to actually put out the newspaper to really show us around. We sat in on their budget meeting (what stories are going where), which was way too small of a room to accommodate us anyway. Then we were shoved from one student guide to another, most of which were only two happy to find someone else to take care of us. All in all a pointless waste of time and general disaster.

The visit to KOMU (the campus owned NBC affiliate TV station) went a little better (but not much). Kate and I decided to carpool, and headed off (with her driving, thank goodness) in what we assumed was the right direction. Thankfully we found it, but as soon as we saw the station we turned too soon, and ended up on a one lane road with cows. We had to turn around, go across the highway again, and take the next turn. Once again our teacher announced that he had somewhere to be, and left. Only two of the class were broadcast students, so for most of us it was pointless anyway. Our student guide (poor guy) had never given a tour before, so overall he did a good job. Only none of us cared to be there, and he kept asking if we had any questions, as we looked at him bleary eyed and wished to go home. We got there at 5, and were going to sit in on the 6 o'clock news, so he had an hour to kill. Unfortunately there was not that much to say. So we someone new came in halfway through he decided to start all over again (groan).

Sitting in on the actual news was interesting--for the first five minutes. The newsroom is actually very small; the anchor's desk is really tiny, and the weather stuff is all in this side corner and parallel wall. It's like four mini corner rooms in one. The three cameras-robot things are fully automated; they move around by themselves for each shoot. So one just takes off and moves across the room when it's time for weather. We (the 20 of us) were all given those plastic lawn chairs and sat (mostly) out of the way. Some people had to move when the sports section was up, because that's on the back wall close to where we were sitting. They didn't even bother to tell us to be quiet, just assumed we knew it (foolish on their part, I say). The red light just goes on, and then all you can hear is the anchors' talking. We they cut to a video clip or commercial, that's heard and shown on a TV, but it's weird because you can see the anchors, in person and on the screen, but only hear the sound from their actual voices. I'm not making any sense, am I? Anyhow, the whole time I was terrified that I'd drop something or sneeze. Not to mention being hungry and tired. And now, I was going to go home this weekend, but nooooo. We have to do a video interview with a partner, and they gave us the cameras on Friday and want them back Monday. And all this is for one three hour class!!!!! It's insane, I tell you.

Dark M&Ms and Zombie Nights

I have just made ( to use one of Kaelen's words) the most splendiferous discovery. I was at the Mizzou bookstore, looking at the candy isle (it was an island, after all) when I saw a purple wrapper on the bottom shelf. Looking closer, it proved to be (drum roll please)--DARK CHOCOLATE M&MS!!!!!!!! Aaaahhhh, heaven. I can't ever begin to describe how ecstatic I was (then again, if you know me you can probably guess). Mmmmm. Needless to say, I have had the most delicious week.

Last Tuesday was Lukas' birthday, and to celebrate that evening we played one of his new boardgames, Mall of Horror, and watched The Mummy, which Luke D. and Lindsay had never seen before. The game was actually quite fun, despite the gruesome cover and slogan "chop till you drop." Each player has 3 characters, and you are all stuck in a mall with Zombies attacking. The game ends when only 4 characters are left (or six in a six player game). Whichever player's characters are worth the most wins. So basically you want to put yourself in a position where the Zombies won't get you but instead will get the other players. We played it again twice last night (by "we" I mean Lukas, Luke, Marcus, Mark, Jason, and myself). I won both times (slightly superior smirk). The second time I had all three of my characters left! (Of course, that could be because Luke and Lukas formed a powerful alliance which eventually made us so mad that everyone obliterated them).

Right now I'm trying to steel myself to write a lovely journalism paper that is due tomorrow. >:( I so dislike the J-school.

Illusions

Well, my obsession of the past two weeks has been the movie The Illusionist, about which all I can say is GO SEE IT and don't read any reviews of it first. Trust me on this one. :) On a similar note, I've been thinking about some of the illusions I've had that have been shattered already this year.

Illusion #1: Dining hall food may not be great, but at least it's edible
Reality: One of my friends found a bug in her noodles. Ugh! So much for "decent."

Illusion #2: It's the beginning of the 4th week of class, and there hasn't been a fire alarm drill. Maybe I missed it!
Reality: The siren will go off two minutes after you get back Sunday night.

Illusion #3: Doing your work ahead of time pays off
Reality: You'll go to find that paper you wrote two weeks ago, only to open the document and find only the title and first sentence. Because you wrote it two weeks ago, you can't even look it up "recent documents" for any other drafts. You also returned the textbook and the bookstore is closed. Panicking, you'll email your T.A., and then find the search bar on your computer, bringing up the real document, which somehow ended up with a journalism name for a history paper. Seriously. Working ahead isn't worth the drama.

Illusion #4: It's a good idea to clean out your refrigerator.
Reality: My mom cleaned out the refrigerator this past Thursday, and Lukas and I were completely shocked by a) the shininess b) the cleanness and c) the emptiness. "Wait! There's no FOOD!" we wailed. But the real lesson was still to come. My parents, Lukas, and I were all in the dining room playing Princes of Florence, when Clara waltzes in proclaiming, "Guess what? I climbed in the refrigerator and closed the door!" We stared openmouthed for a second, alternating between shock, worry, fear, and hilarity. "How'd you get in?" "And how in the world did you get out?" "Wait, you fit in there?" "Oh great, now I've got to sanitize the whole thing." Aaargh. The joy of little sisters. Honestly, that girl scares me to death. My mom and I agreed that we'd count it as a success if we manage to just keep Clara alive. So, beware: don't clean out your refrigerator.