Tales of a new reporter: Part 1

As I was checking my email this morning, I came across a discussion on LinkedIn about creating an audience for yourself and blogging. It mentioned the "good bloggers" to do so frequently and often blog within a certain topic or theme in mind.

Well, I realized I don't do either of those.

I pretty  much blog whenever I think about it or have a free minute and don't tend to link my posts.

Since I feel like I made it clear in my last post about how boring my life is and how I don't do much everyday, I decided to blog about what I actually do: gather information and write stories.

A journalists' job and day-to-day duties aren't typical of most professions. I mean I pretty much make up my own schedule and am my own boss, or so it seems.

I spend the first, small portion of my day checking email, social networks and catching up on local and national news.

My work is contingent on everyone else's life,  returned phone calls and an abundance of clear and concise information. But it's never that easy or readily available.

As per the school beat, I've noticed my story options have gotten limited with the onset of summer.
I now spend half of my day trying to track down a story idea or sources for a potential story for the day. What this all translates into is: downtime.

Waiting for a return call can be the worst feeling and that's initially what prompted me to start writing this blog. It's like when every channel seems to be on  a commercial, it seems like everyone avoids a reporter's phone call on cue.

Me waiting for my line to ring...

So far today, I've made a few phone calls, sent a few emails and have gotten no response in return.

I've tried to start figuring out how redistricting has affected Fort Scott and the area I'm reporting on.

But all I have discovered is that the dingo did in fact eat the baby and the whole Kansas redistricting topic is confusing!, and if you do a Twitter search on "McNaughton" a lot of random stuff comes up. Like the fact that there are a lot of McNaughton's in Canada, it seems, and their is a McNaughton Collection at the UNC library. Oh, and McNaughton Ave was closed today in Canada.

So, in essence this is what my day has consisted of.

As I tackle other stories and topics, I'm going to try my best to regularly post about it to continue the series. I missed out on the opportunity when I covered the Joplin High School graduation. That would have been a day to write about in terms of emotions and the experience of going through security and being in the same room as the president. Let's just say my morning consisted of a lot of nerves, several outfit changes, and my practicing of questions I would ask the president after I got my exclusive scoop before being swept away by the Associated Press or the Huffington Post.

Unfortunately, It didn't quite happen like that but it was still fun to pretend.

Still waiting for returned called myself but what have you done today?

Being an adult is boring, or is it?

At 25, I'd like to think of myself as fairly mature and ready for the next, grown-up chapters of my life.

I've been on my own since I was basically 17 and have had at least some form of a job since I was around 13-years-old.

"Bills" was a word I became familiar with at a fairly young age. After getting my first part-time job at 15, I began regularly paying my cell phone bill and have done so ever since.

For more than 7 years I have fed, clothed and taken care of myself and continue to do so now.

I got my first full-time, 40-hour-a-week job in February and am almost four months into my first stint.

Like I said, I've always worked but this was different.

When I applied for the job, I felt this unfamiliar urgency to grow-up, lose my student status I had held most of my life, and enter the "real world"- be an adult!

But after only four months of this, one thing I've come to realize is: if this is the real world, it's pretty boring.

I mean I feel like I do the same thing day in and day out. Don't get me wrong, I need structure, a schedule and consistency in my life but is this it?

Is this what being an adult is? Waking up early, going to work, working out, eating dinner then bed? So far, it feels like a pretty boring existence.

Maybe I feel bored because in essence I'm alone here. If I had my boyfriend, Travis, maybe I wouldn't be so "bored". I do enjoy my job, so that's not it.

I just found myself thinking the other day, is this being an adult? If so, I'm going to live for vacations and crave detours from the "ordinary".

We went to a concert this past weekend and when it was over, I said aloud, "now what do I have to look forward to?"

I might be the type of person who needs so-called "drama" in their lives, but only for the adrenaline it can incite.

I'm the type of person who always needs to be doing something or have a plan of something I'm doing later.

Maybe I need to join some organizations or do some charity work.

Maybe I need to shut my mouth, suck it up and realize I'm fortunate enough to have a job, let alone a job that I really do love because I"m sure some people would beg and pray to have a so-called "boring life".

Or, maybe, just maybe, adulthood isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Am I being to cynical or do you ever get bored with the routine?