The BOOK is in...but they are MUNCHED.

Crap on a biscuit.

Jared's beautiful book, so wonderful in so many ways, got munched in a couple ways too.

First, the shipping company munched 5 cartons, resulting in 20 some books being destroyed, 12 of which were personalized books. Secondly, the junior and freshman portraits pages got inadvertently flopped. That's all the bad news, so far.

But it is a true masterpiece...graphically speaking. That boy outdid himself, and I'm just sorry that there are no contests this late in the year. Heavy sigh.

Lastly, I DON'T WANNA DO ANOTHER ONE. Waa Waa Waa. I think I can do it, but I don't wanna. My head hurts because of it. But it's Friday, so I shall try to relax and stop thinking about all the fucking work I gotta do next week.

Yea. That's the ticket.

Love

Love stinks. When it goes bad, that is.

I've been talking to Jared, who has a broken heart. I feel so badly for him. Does this come with the territory? Getting so close to students while you work on the yearbook and newspaper that you actually feel their pain? Well, I know most people aren't as crazily empathic as I am, as evidenced in my ENFP diagnosis on the Myers/Briggs Personality Inventory, or being totally Blue on the True Colors system.

Enuf psycho-babble. The boy is hurting. All I can do is go blah blah blah time will heal....which doesn't help at all.

Oh well, I guess we all have to heal ourselves.

Love is wonderful in my book, but I've been happily married for 9 years now. Wow. I think I'll stop and appreciate THAT for awhile, as I navigate this crazy thing called life and love.

Mercury Poisoning

I love tuna. When I am stressed, I can always eat a tuna sandwich. Seriously. Now I can be stressed because of mercury poisoning from the delectable little fish.

Everything that doesn't kill you will eventually kill you.

You read it here first.

I heard about this whilst listening to the Stephanie Miller show on novamradio.com. No, it's not a liberal conspiracy, she just suspected she had been poisoned and a blood test confirmed it. I have some of the same symptoms, like inability to sleep and profuse sweating. Of course, mine could be peri-menopausal too.

Anyway, I am off topic, and I know it. This does not relate to high school journalism at all.

Or does it?

Survey Says...

I took a survey at work yesterday about being a journalism adviser. (That's right, we are advisErs, not advisOrs...look it up in AP Style.)

Anyway, the questions lead me to believe that there is a common problem with being a journalism adviser and emotional stress and career burnout. I'm not alone.

Whew.

But I suspect I'm still crazy from it all. Any regular blog readers out there want to comment?

The Survey

I took a survey today that was forwarded to me by the state press association for high school journalists.

The New Cast

Notice the date and time. Yes, I am obsessing about work at 4:45 on a Friday. Nuts.

The new cast and crew of the newspaper and yearbook are truly functioning very healthily. My leaders are stepping up and my followers are trying hard and not fucking around as much as the masses in the past. It appears that the people that I trained and selected are serious about what they are doing. It's refreshing, and it's like I had an epiphany just now.

Hmmm.

Dammit. That whole "should I stay or should I go now" inner debate is tiring me out. I gotta decide AGAIN what I wanna do next year, same situation, same bat channel. And I'm a Libra.

So, the two biggest barriers to success I have in my present job seem to be:

1. The technology, as previous discussed, ad nauseum. I spent half the day trouble shooting technology. I have learned lots on inDesign, and I have learned lots on Photoshop, but I still can't do anything with them.

2. Talent. I'm sure every coach goes through this. By the time your Seniors leave, you think that nobody will ever be able to fill their shoes. But maybe they can. Maybe the next year's Seniors will rise to the occasion, if I learn the programs.

So, I was impressed with the wit of Lauren J. on newspaper deadline night. She's funny as hell. That makes me respect her even more. Cam the man is being a worthy leader and remembers most stuff. Derika is Derika.

And on the yearbook side, Rachel is rocking and rolling as editor-in-chief. She and Allison could do this book on their own, but I'm glad we have a staff to help. Connor is alternatingly talented and inept, which is cute.

So, the new cast is off and running. We'll see if we can get 9 issues to bed on time and 1 yearbook done by July 1.

The DL on the DL

After a year of procrastinating, I got my driver's license renewed. Well, almost a year. If I would have waited another day, I would have had to drive with the D.O.T. See, I'm a dumbass.

I noticed the problem about 3 days after the 60-day expiration grace period, last year. I then got a book to study and carried it around with me for over half-a-fucking year, never once cracking it open.

Then, I barely studied and took the test yesterday. I failed it by missing 8, when you can only miss 7 to pass. But I've already previously established that I am a loser. I kicked her into high gear and (ha ha, honestly, I didn't get my own pun until just now) studied harder and only missed 2 today. So I'm the proud owner of a brand spanking new DL.

That's the DL on that.

Now, back to journalism news. I've been thinking about Jared a lot lately. He's missed by me. That's my attempt at passive voice. I miss him for two reasons. One, his impeccible work ethic, and two, his hang-out ability. He's cool. I've got to copy the stylebook that he put with his brain for everyone on both staffs.

Damnit. Now I'm off on things I gotta do. See how this job is?

Help.