4/17/2011

Now What: Filling a 20 Hour Weekly Void

If they only had a Brain. Now- he's gone from the Center of Illinois Broadcasting and looking for stuff to do.

What a great past couple of days to wrap up my time at school. Social events with my classmates bookended between a graduation where the school's dyslexia was in full display in the above picture (name and internship both messed up). Today was a good recovery/rest day from all of the excitement and madness that has ensued from the past week/month. But when Tuesday comes around, what will I do with the 20+ hours that I will now have to myself?

Sports: There's been some amazing basketball being played right now, which should fill some of the void. I've missed out on the majority of weekday sports since starting school. Luckily, during that time, I did pick up a CrackBerry, which allowed me to follow the scores of the games I was most interested in (i.e. the games I bet on). I had a brief early season buzz with the White Sox, but I am more interested in the NBA playoffs at this point. I'm sure I'll go to close to a dozen ball games this summer with my friends. I thought about doing the Ozzie Plan with the partial season ticket plan, but I don't like the idea of going to a baseball game with one other person for 13 games (I'd rather go to 13 games with 3-4 people). However, I don't have the cash to throw down on 39-52 tickets with the risk that I can't sell some of the tickets. Hopefully, sports will fill some of the void.

Bars/Drinks: To watch sports, I will likely go out every now and then to watch the big games and just to get out of the house. I already know of one bar having Summer Shandy on tap (Olivers), so that may be my bar for the summer. I need to go to Wild Wings more. My boneless wing craving has not been met enough this year. The question with the bars/drinks option is: Will I be able to get anyone to go out with me on a somewhat regular basis? That is the $20K question.

Bowling Leagues: More bowling leagues you say? Yes- much needed in my summer life. Last year's summer league was the highlight of what was otherwise a dull/depressing summer. And with the main league about to end in a few weeks, I'll need to keep sharp in the summer. I may look to bowl two summer leagues.

Job Searching: With school now over, it's time to put this education to use better than I did with my previous degree. I have been given some websites to use for job leads in the video editing field. I'm gonna take a week or two to myself before I start looking.  Then it'll be time to start cranking out resumes and sending out my video editing demo in hopes of securing a gig. I'd like to get a part-time video editing gig to start if possible so I can keep my current job- which I do enjoy. If I do secure a part-time gig, I could see myself being a video editor at home- which means I'll need to score me a Mac and the new Final Cut program, which comes out in June.

Trips: A trip to Vegas is already set in stone, with a trip to Minnesota and Nashville, among others, on the horizon of being planned. These trips will help fill some of this downtime that comes from the ending of school.

I'm sure there's other things I'm forgetting, but luckily, it seems like I'll have a lot of potential outlets to kill the 20+ hours I will gain from not having school any more.

While it is bittersweet that we had to say goodbye to each other, it will be worth it for all of us ICBers in the end for the experience we went through together. It will make the future "Hellos" all the more sweet.