May 17: Towerlight Farewell

At the end of each semester The Towerlight has a dinner and party to bring an official end to that particular period of the paper’s life. Tonight was that night. Everyone convened at Glory Days for the meal which as per tradition involved everyone ordering enough to feed  pretty much every third world country for 17 or so years (since the check picked up by the paper). Afterwards me and J.D.’s apartment played host to the after dinner party.

Everyone seemed to have a good enough time (including Rusty who has probably never been around that many people before in his entire life). But as the the night hours ticked away I realized that I had to finish packing. Tomorrow I fly out to Birmingham for Jordan’s wedding. My flight is at 1:50 in the afternoon, but being that I haven’t flown in about 14 years I plan on giving myself plenty of time at the airport to insure that I don’t end up on a flight to Singapore (which wouldn’t be all that bad, now that I think about it).

Anyways, it’s late. I’m worn out. Things are dying down here (it’s 2:42 a.m.). And I’ve got a fairly early morning.

I have one minor concern about this weekend. Access to a computer. I will try my darndest to keep the blog rolling through Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. If not, know that it’s because there are no computers in Alabama.

Thanks to all who came by tonight. And for everyone who gave me a graduation gift or card. It means a lot.

*Editor’s Note: Pat and Lauren mentioned my saving of the life of a cat tonight. That is a slight overstatement. The guy who actually saved the cat (its owner) was about 30 feet up in the tree. I climbed a solid 20 to give him a hand, but in actuallity I did next to nothing. I appreciate the shot out. But it wasn’t me who grabbed the cat off of the branch and tossed it 25 feet (during which it smacked a branch with its head). It was the owner. But it was pretty fun.

May 15: Done and Done

I’m finished.

Today I had my final class as a college student, and maybe my last class ever.

Still hasn’t hit me. But you know what has? The effects of my recent sleep deprivation. Tomorrow I have absolutely nothing to do. I should be back in full effect.

Brief look ahead:

Towerlight end of the year dinner and party on Thursday.

Jordan Conn’s Wedding on Sunday (May 20). I will be flying out Friday afternoon (my first flight in about 12 or 14 years).

Graduation May 24.

*Pictured: Stephens Hall after my Mass Media Graphics class this afternoon. I had some cooler pictures, but I thought it was appropriate to show something from campus being that today brought an unofficial end to my college career. Weird. Also, today’s title: I’ve always heard this phrase, but never knew its origin. This should shed a bit of light.

May 12: Bittersweet

Another long day. Another short post. Just allow me to get through this weekend and I promise I’ll back to my usual form (again, got that Presidential post coming up…I’ll give you a hint–Taft’s term marked the end of an era).

Anyways, today was the official farewell to WMJF. Tonight we had our annual end of the year Gala, which featured blooper reels for each of the shows and senior packages (I believe there were 14, maybe 15 this year…way above average). I was fortunate enough to have one (thanks Tony Robinson–up front to the left with the silky cream suit coat on).

As part of the proceedings the annual General Manager’s awards were handed out. The GM being Doc MacKerron (up front, all the way to the left). Usually only one gets handed out. This year, with the huge class we had, there were six. Congrats to Chris Taydus, Ryan Dooley, Josh Eisenberg, Joe Achard, Diego Torres, and Tony Robinson.

And of course, thanks, maybe for the last time (on this blog, at least) to WMJF and all its members. If I try to put into words how much the station has meant to me through the years, I might not finishing posting until after 5 a.m. again (for the record t’s 3:10 a.m. right now).

Justin and Chris were still in Towson today. We hit the town again tonight. And they peace out tomorrow.

One last thing. It’s not really like me to make a big deal out of stuff like this. And I won’t get into the details. But I walked away tonight with a bit of a chip on my shoulder and some added motivation. Both of which should ultimately be a good thing.

It’s about time I find my next employer.

It’s how you deal with failure that determines how you achieve success.

-David Feherty

It’s not the situation, but whether we react (negative) or respond (positive) to the situation that’s important.

-Zig Ziglar

Promise yourself to be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.

-Christian Larson

May 11: On a Whim

Disclaimer: Today’s post (I use the term ‘today’ very loosely) is the latest (5:03 a.m.), and will be the shortest. These things are in many ways related. Enjoy

Today involved:

• Final Faceoff episode, and final official WMJF appearance
• Towerlight capsules
• Two Red Bulls
• Pasta Mista
• Impromptu visit from old buddy Justin Warren, and his boy Chris Dove
• The prom
• Federal Hill
• Young professionals
• Woodchuck
• Boli’s Pizza
• A phone call from Justin’s brother saying he met a friend of mine from Towson, the infamous Shyvonne Sanganoo at a bar in New York (both their stomping grounds)
• Avoiding a sobriety checkpoint on 83 (we were all sober…but not in the mood to sit in traffic for an hour and a half…the cop seemed to understand)
• Prom after party
• Matt Laumann being money
• Mini Pocket Bike

Sorry for the brief post. Again, it’s pretty late (sorry Mom). Rest assured, I have a sweet post planned on a particular physical quality of past and future U.S. Presidents.

Oh, and the picture was taken by Louis Jay of the Towerlight. We had the show projected on a huge screen in the studio. This is what we do when we’re bored and waiting for the show to get started. The line ‘You are so incapable of doing anything right’ stems from a running joke at the station my freshman year.

That’s all. Now might be a good time to catch a few hours of sleep.

May 9: Sleep?

Sleep bores me.

That’s the complete, honest truth. I see it as a waste of time, unless I’m having some enthralling dream (Like the one from a nap a couple days ago where I was with my dad at my last high school basketball game, which was being played at a gym that looked like Loyola College’s. Except I was just watching the game with him until I decided I would go and suit up for the second half. I never did. Instead I just wandered down to the first row of stands where I was getting job advice from various print and broadcast journalists, one of which I think was WBAL Radio’s Steve Davis, who spoke to my Sportscasting class a couple weeks ago. I ended up with a sweet freelance writing gig, but forgot to ever get in the game. The only plus was that my coach in the dream was Pat Kennedy. Gotta love that).

All I’m saying is, if it wasn’t necessary for our well-being, I probably wouldn’t sleep. Think about it.

Anyways, I often complain about being tired because I would much rather watch Planet Earth or youtube videos, than call it a night. In other words it is sometimes my fault that I am generally sleep deprived 90% of the time.

For instance, last night I was beat at around 12:30 and could have easily called it a night. Instead I stayed up watching youtube clips of this kid who apparently is a Dallas Cowboys, L.A. Lakers, and NY Yankees fan (where I’m from we call people like this a disgrace–and the reason global hunger still exists). Basically he gives analysis on the play or personnel moves, primarily of the Cowboys and Lakers. That is fine in and of itself. In this day of age you might as well take advantage of the many available mediums through which you can get yourself and your views out there. I ain’t knockin’ his hustle. But this kid starts and ends his posts by plugging message boards, and sits in a dark room whispering through his six-minute clips. WHISPERING. This is not an exaggeration. I keep expecting to see a library monitor walk past in the background. Anyways, say what you want about this kid’s legitimacy as a sports fan (Cowboys, Lakers, and Yankees…this kid better be from Anchorage) but the fact is that the videos are just flat out weird. Anyways, instead of sleeping I watched all of his videos, while writing a script with former Towerlight sports editor Joey Flyntz. I then proceeded to shoot my own barely-audible 7-minute video. Joey thinks it turned out nicely. Anyways, because of that I was tired for the majority of the day.

In other instances, like tonight, well…it’s still my fault. I should be working on my numerous journal entries that are due tomorrow at my 3:30 Mass Media Graphics class, or the Individualized Fitness mini-exam I have tomorrow morning, but instead I’m blogging (Editor’s note: It was going on 2 a.m. at this point). Great.

Now there’s no question my mom is going to read this and get semi-pissed. And there is an outside chance my Mass Media Graphics professor, Sharyn Sousa, will read this at some point (I told her about this little project). Which is why I’m happy about today’s picture. The adorable little girl is Carley Badorf, daughter of Steven Badorf, the Reformed University Fellowship leader here at Towson. Mom, Sharyn, if you feel the even a bit perturbed, just look at the picture…better now?.

Time for an all-nighter.