Awkward ...

I imagine this is what it feels like to run into the girl from a month-and-a-half ago, the one-night stand, after having tried to avoid her and having not returned her phone calls. Sure, there are excuses, but none of them are really worthy of being spoken. Or true, for that matter.

So let me recap the last few months:

-Weekend Workshop: Very cool, lots of fun, very busy, met some really nice folks in the business, including one Walt Stricklin, who offered me an internship with the Birmingham News in Birmingham, Alabama.

-Got a 6-month Internship: Again, very cool. Again, with the B-ham News. I'll start on June 30th, and I'm headed down to 'Bama to check out some possible accommodations tomorrow with Chana. Who is, by the by, quite pissed that I'm "leaving her forever." She knows I'm not actually leaving forever, and that I'll be back in Athens come January, but she's still not too happy.

-Got 2 B's, 2 A's: Big surprise, the same grades I always get.

-Completed a Final Project for JOUR5990 (in 20 hours): I was sick at the beginning of the week, finally felt well enough to get some work done on Thursday morning, spent most of the day dealing with class stuff/bureaucratic BS/gathering materials, and editing and created this between the hours of midnight and 5:30 am Friday morning. I didn't sleep, and the day was long and funny. In the "haha" sense. Everything was amusing.

-Had to Drop Out of the Rome Internship: I really wanted to do both, but Jim Alred at the Rome News-Tribune felt that seven weeks at his wouldn't be enough. Sigh ... I still feel guilty about it, and I got some (seemingly) joking ribbing from Billy Weeks of the Chattanooga Times-Free Press, but most folks have just said, "hey, that's business." Still, sorry Jim.

-Picked up a 3 Week "Internship" at the Calhoun Times: Initially, I was just offering myself and my little camera up for some freelancing, but they called me a week later (as I was about to take Chana hiking) and asked me to come in for a meeting. Before I really knew what was going on, they were hiring me on for at least 20 hours a week with their GPA internship money. So, cool, I'll have another internship for my resume, and they're paying me. Gnarly. So far, I've been to a meet-and-greet with some local officials (shot stills for print), toured the local jail (stills for print and an online gallery), watched high school cheerleaders babysit little girls (stills for print and gallery), met most of the local Kiwanis Club (...uhm, we ate lunch together), and drove to Fairmount to watch them replant the park (stills for print and gallery, and video for the 'net). I'm none too happy about the online gallery the Times uses, but hey, small town newspaper, whatever.

That's been the most of it. Folks got back from Alaska with stories and pictures and whatnot, but I've mostly filled my time with yardwork, reading, running one of the dogs and moving my crap out of Athens.

Whoo -- not so awkward now. So, uh, can I buy you a drink? ...