Blessings

The Island of Manhattan     

    I'm mid-flight typing this; finally headed back to the Midwest. But before I sum up this entire experience, there's some mild catching up that needs to be done. Emily came to visit the weekend that Kevin and I saw Nicki Minaj on GMA. That was an intense weekend. We had a lot of fun, went to First Saturdays at the Brooklyn Museum, hung out with a friend of mine from school and his friends. Em and I had a good time--all of the pictures will be in the video in the next post. I decided some time ago that I wanted to make a video montage of my summer in New York, so I've been working on it in installments, and finally finished it last night!
     After Emily left, I only had 7 more days of work. I spent a majority of that time working with sports, but a few days I shadowed one of the dayside producers and editors. They're responsible for the content of the packages, and then actually cutting it. It was interesting watching the editor because he was so quick with the Avid. I actually was able to meet Linsey Davis, an ABC correspondent during my days shadowing. Also during those 7 days, we had an intern event with a lady from the News Talent Recruitment and Development department, and before she started talking, she said she had two special guests and in walk Katie Couric and Ben Sherwood, the President of ABC News. I was in awe! It was so cool. I also never mentioned at anytime earlier that I met Robin Roberts a few weeks ago. After she was on WNT after interviewing the DSK accuser, I was on the phone with Rian coming back from break one night and ran into her in the lobby. She's so tall, but she was so nice!
     That's most of the catching up. Aside from that, as my days in New York City were drawing to a close, I was beginning to get more sad than I'd anticipated being. Yesterday after work I decided to get Shake Shack--this mad fatty burger place that's as delicious as it is bad for your cholesterol. I figured that would be my last meal since it's unique-ish to NYC and the east coast. I ended up eating it on the subway on my way home. Yuck, I know. But I was idling riding along musing, and reflecting on the chapter I was closing, while feeling like I'd still only just began writing it. The summer flew by! But as I sit there, part of me sad that my time in the city was up, while the other part was ecstatic to be that much closer to feeling a sense of normalcy, I was also silently reflecting on a big victory. 

         

     A friend from home wrote me on facebook the other day and she said something to the effect of, "I can't believe you're interning at ABC. Well, I can, but that's so awesome." And when I first saw it I just kind of laughed because, to me, it seemed odd to make such a statement at the conclusion of the internship versus upon first finding out or something. Lol, obviously it was from a goofy friend, and she was just being sweet, but then I started thinking. In retrospect, it's almost seems more crazy to fathom than it was initially. I just spent 3 months interning with ABC News in New York City. I saw Diane Sawyer on a nearly weekly basis in the hallway or bathroom. I was at an event, and Katie Couric walks in the door. Brian Ross frequented the same elevators, and George Stephanopoulous would pop out of random corners. (He's small and capable of such things. lol jk-ish) How many people can say those things. I can't believe that I interned at ABC. 
      I remember during the countless phone interviews before being accepted, I had my list of key points; what I want to do, why ABC, why me, why New York City, etc, etc. I was driven to get an internship in NYC because I'd fallen in love with the city months before and wanted to be back. I wanted to move to New York City because, aside from the glitz, glamour and bright lights of NEW YORK CITY, and aside from it being the central hub for news and news distribution across the country, I wanted to move there because I didn't have shit there. Not a pot to piss in, or window to throw it out of. I had no family to depend on, no close friends (initially) to keep me sane, nothing; I wanted to be completely out of my element, across the country from any and everything that I know and am used to, and I want to make it work. I remember telling my would-be-manager that I wanted to be given all the room in the world to fail, and then succeed. And as I sat stoically assessing the last 3 months, I was overwhelmingly emotionless. I couldn't cry (I was in public and sure as shit wasn't gonna cry on the subway anyway), I couldn't laugh, I didn't sigh in relief, I was just kind of in awe of the entire experience. I'd done everything I'd set out to do. And the feeling of victory--honest victory, it sweeter than anything.

View from Dirty Jerz

   Anywho, back to this flight. I already have a laundry list of things to do upon my return to CoMo. But, I'll bang out one more blog post on all of this, closing arguments and all that, ya dig? And the video I made! Stay tuned.