Be careful how hard you push over work or money.

Thursday, Sept. 4, 2008
11:19 pm My dorm room

Welcome Back to the Blog!
I finally got around to starting a new one. And by "got around to" I mean I thought about it for a week and then decided to actually create it when I should have been doing work. Anyone surprised? My friends all went out to Joshua Tree for a big back-to-school shindig, but I thought arriving hungover at my internship tomorrow might not be a great idea. Look at me, being responsible.

I started my internship today, and it went really well. We have our own "intern" room that has a bunch of computers and phones and back issues of magazines. There was only one other intern there today, Lindsay. She's been working there since May, and she helped me out a lot. I learned the proper way to "fact-check" (lots of color-coded highlighting is involved), and spent most of the day working on the huge calendar section they have at the back of the magazine. My boss even let me leave at 2 because it was my first day! I felt so grown up and cool when I got off the T at Arlington to join the masses of business people chatting on their cells, Starbucks in hand, on their way to work. The coolness wore off a little when I realized I was a half hour early. Old habits die hard.

I wore my super cute I-work-for-a-hip-trendy-urban-magazine dress, and my I'm-carrying-a-huge-black-business-bag-so-you-should-probably-take-me-seriously bag. Check out the pic below. No one was around to take my picture, so I had to do it in the mirror.



Don't you love?

Anyway, being back has been great but, you guessed it, stressful. My schedule is quite literally insane. I need to adjust it before I have a mental break down. By the end of my first day of classes on Tuesday, I was already telling myself to take deep breaths. I think I need to buy a self-help book on dealing with stress. No, seriously. Noelle just came into my room to tell me I need to talk to somebody. She was drunk, but still. She's probably right.

Moving on... having a kitchen is something new and exciting for me this semester. I'm living in a suite in the Student Village (*pause to hear the angels singing*). Our apartment is brand spanking new, is air-conditioned, is on the 10th floor, has a gorgeous view of the city and the sun when it sets, and consists of four single bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room, and a kitchen. My dad calls it "The Penthouse."

Needless to say, at the end of one of my hectic days, the last thing I want to do is stir-fry some tofu and create a real meal. So, most of the time I rely on trusty TV-dinners. See below for a typical meal.

Tuesday night's meal consisted of a lovely spinach salad with cherry tomatoes and carrots with my favorite Ken's Italian dressing. I also heated up a "Smart Ones" fettucini alfredo with broccoli, and had a little wine with the hopes of "unwinding" like real adults do. It was gross though, and I ended up dumping it out in favor of water. That's what you get for buying $7 wine, I guess.

Despite the fact that I am a master procrastinator, I have managed to do some work this evening. I'm reading "On Writing Well" by William Zinsser for my Feature Writing class. And it's really written well! Go figure. I'm actually kind of enjoying it. I just read this chapter titled, "The Audience." It's about asking yourself the question, "Who am I writing for?" Apparently, the answer you're supposed to give is "myself." I thought about it, and I found this isn't usually the case. I think it's hard to write for yourself as an intern or a student, when other people are telling you what to write.

But, I have my blog. And I get to write about whatever I want, however I want. This is the first time I've felt moderately relaxed all day. While I love that my friends and family read my blog and give me feedback, sometimes I get nervous about how people are going to interpret what I write. But I've decided I can't let that happen, because in the end, I'm doing this for myself.

Zinsser: Who are you writing for?

ME.