Making lists, taking breaks

This past week has been the most stressful week so far at school and now that it's over, all I can do is let out a huge sigh of relief and relax.

For now.

It was the busiest week that I have had by far in my time at Point Park. I thought to myself a number of times, "how am I going to do this," and, "I just need to make it to Thursday night." This is an abbreviated list.

A term paper on social stratification and a project outline on Big Brother and privacy in America for sociology due Thursday.
An English research paper on fast food due Wednesday.
A mass comm test Thursday on 50 pages of the book. A multiple choice test where all of answers are correct, but you have to choose the answer which is most correct. It's all a game for this prof.
Research comparing Pitt to PPU for U Life on Wednesday.
A final draft of my official business card due Wednesday night.
A regional sports script for Pioneer Sideline for Tuesday morning.
A national sports script for Daybreak for Wednesday night.
An audition to host Daybreak next semester Thursday evening.

After I got under my covers Thursday night knowing that I could sleep in on Friday and not wake up to a mountain of homework and stress was the best feeling ever. I got the best night of sleep in weeks last night and I'm exhausted.

Going into the week, I knew that I had a lot on my plate. I love making lists. Partially because it's an easy way of seeing everything that I have to accomplish, and mostly because the satisfaction of crossing items off of my to-do list is such a great feeling.

I have a dry-erase calendar board hanging up in my room. I covered the entire Notes section on the left side of the calendar with a list. It broke down into three categories: Before break, during break and after break.

Above was my before break list. It is the smallest list of the three.

When I got to Tuesday night and looked at my list that barely had a dent in it, I was overwhelmed. I had to get so much done on Wednesday alone and I didn't know how I was going to do it. My solution was to simply make another list.

I mapped out my entire day hour by hour. I didn't stop. After I was let out of English class at 2:15, I went straight back to my room to continue my list that I had been chopping away at on and off throughout the day. Mind you, Mondays and Wednesdays are my busiest days of classes.

The next thing I knew, it was 6:00 and I was making progress. I couldn't stop. I had to turn down a couple of my friends' requests to go eat and explore, but they understood.

I outlined the rest of my evening on a timeline with deadlines of the various tasks to complete. It seemed possible this way. Just thinking of everything that I had to do was overwhelming, but looking at the outline made it all seem possible.

Only taking one break at 7:30 to grab food at the Cafe to bring back and eat while I continued to work, I finished everything at 12:45. It was a marathon. 10 1/2 hours of almost non-stop work that seemed impossible.

My music playlist went from Michael Bublé, to the newly released Lifehouse song "Flight" on repeat for an hour, to About A Mile, to Christmas music, to Pentatonix, to Sibelius back to Lifehouse, back to Bublé and so much more. That was interesting.

I learned that no list is too much and nothing is impossible. I can take a break for today before going home as a part of my 10 day Thanksgiving break. I want to go home. I'm ready.

But, as I said, this was the shortest of the three lists.

Sunday I will officially announce the opportunity that I have been anticipating and writing about for the past two months. I was voluntold (yes you read that right) that I will address the congregation at North Street Christian Church Sunday, November 30 to make this announcement. I will wait to put it in writing until the days leading up to it. I don't have that date in mind yet.

My list at home includes another research paper, another sociology paper and project, a mass comm final project and paper and book report. That's the easy part of the list.

It's a lot, but after what I went through this week, I know that nothing is impossible.

I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving with so much anticipation and excitement.
1. I get to see my entire family. I can't wait for that.
2. REAL. NON-DINING HALL. FOOD.

My "break" will conclude on Sunday, November 30. That day just has a little significance in my life, considering it's the 19th anniversary of my birth. I'm planning on spending the morning and afternoon with my family and friends in Butler and the evening with my friends here. Every birthday that I've celebrated with friends here has been amazing and some of the most memorable times that I've had here and I can only imagine what my birthday will be like, considering it will also be the day that all of us are reunited after brea.

For now, I can relax. I'm already packed and ready to go home. I'm ready for a break, no matter how abbreviated or how relaxing that break actually is.

Butler, we will soon meet again.

Because, why not?
Josh

HELP

My alma mater Butler High School needs your help! Last year, I directed, produced, shot and edited the first ever lip dub video at Butler. We entered into the Pittsburgh Trib Total Media Lip Dub contest and didn't win. We lost to Seneca Valley High School. Seneca.

This year, my friends at BTTV continue this great tradition with an AMAZING video. Once administration and staff saw what this project COULD have been after my video last year, everyone was all in for this year's video. 

CLICK HERE TO VOTE

CLICK HERE TO VOTE

CLICK HERE TO VOTE

To vote, all you have to do is register with the Trib's voting website. It's so simple. 

And you can vote 10 times per day.
It takes 5 minutes the first time with registration, and 2 minutes every other day. 

CLICK HERE TO VOTE

CLICK HERE TO VOTE

CLICK HERE TO VOTE

Click one of the SIX links to vote!!! It's simple and greatly appreciated. 

Because, why not?

Josh

No Doubt About It

After spending almost two hours in temperatures below freezing, I have no doubt about it.

After pulling every string possible and talking to every right person, I have no doubt about it. 

After spending countless hours working and many less sleeping, I have no doubt about it. 

I have no doubt about it. 

"It," referring to my passion, my career, my future. 

It's not far away and it's approaching much faster than I could have ever anticipated, and I can't wait. I don't know where I'll end up or what I'll be doing, but I have no doubt in my mind that I'm doing the right thing. 

There are people here who have told me that they wanted to do one thing and ended up changing their major. Many college students change their major multiple times before they graduate. 

Not me. Not this major. 

I spent an hour and a half today around PNC Park shooting stand ups and reporting on a number of Pirates related subjects. It was 26-31 degrees and when I got back to campus, I couldn't feel my fingers. It's been almost four hours since and I still can't completely feel my finger tips. All I could think to myself as I watched the footage was Lanny Frattare's famous phrase, "There was no doubt about it," that he would exclaim after each Pirate's win. 

It was fitting, considering I was just at Fratare's former stomping grounds.

I have talked to a number of highly respected journalists and broadcasters in the industry over the past week. A list that includes Dejan Kovacevic who, if you have never read his work, can only be described as phenomenal. 

I'm ecstatic to begin my career, wherever that may be. I'm ready, but then again I'm not.

I'm ready in the sense that I'm ready to get going. I'm not ready in the sense that I still have things to work on. I'm working on improving every day. It's the only way to do it. I can't watch myself on air without being critical. I never could. I could never listen to a piece of music that I performed, watch a show that I conducted, or a broadcast that I anchored without being uber critical of myself.

I still always watch and listen though. I do it so I know what to work on, what to improve. I do it to better myself and learn from mistakes that I didn't think that I made. From certain gestures that I make to certain words and letters that I pronounce. I know what I have to work on and I know that I will improve with time.

The biggest thing in my way are classes that seem irrelevant to me that are taking up a portion of my time that I'm completing busy work for. I feel like there is so much to do but very little time to do it in and that's the overwhelming part. I'm managing.

Thanksgiving break begins next weekend and I am having mixed emotions about it. I'm looking forward to going home and seeing my family more than anything. I worry that my time spent at home will be spent more on work that I don't have time to complete here, and less on relaxing and enjoying a break. A career in sports is accompanied by very few off days. Especially in baseball. I'm prepared for that, as dreadful as it may be on some days.

I have a long laundry list of things to do and papers to write. Yes, doing laundry is on that list. No I haven't turned my medium T-Shirts into youth smalls yet, and yes my white T-Shirts are still white.

I have always been told that if I love my job, I will never work a day in my life. If I had the opportunity to be blessed with employment in professional sports, as are my full intentions, I would never work even a second in my lifetime. The beauty of sports is that no matter what happens today, there is always tomorrow. 

Man, am I excited. Man, am I ready. And there is no doubt about it. 

Because, why not?

Josh

A month without words

Due to my insane schedule as of late, I have not been able to blog on a consistent basis. This is a photo essay describing my October/first week of November. If one picture is worth a thousand words, then here are 20,000 describing my month, in no particular order.

And as always, the Links To My Work page is updated frequently. Good night and good luck.

Because, why not?

Josh