Everything in its right place

Hey guys just thought I'd start off this bad boy with a whole heap of good news:

School is exciting - This is by far going to be my best term so far here at OSU. I am getting closer to finally setting my official major as I am now taking classes in the New Media Communications department. With this and other English and Art classes I will be forming my own major to match my skills, interests, and possible future careers. Granted all of this will only happen if I decide not to transfer somewhere else for "Real" Film School. If I do move than it will be a lot simpler since I wouldn't have to design my own major, just a lot more money. But I don't have a lot more money and the idea of no one else telling me what classes I have to take sounds pretty good. (As far as transferring goes, I haven't even begun to tackle the questions of where, when, and how, so please don't ask me that one quite yet.)
Some of you may be excited for me (which you all should be) but some of you might be wary to say that I am responsible enough to design a major and plan my own course load and still come out of college with the skills I need to succeed in the working world. But fortunately this is one of the best parts about the New Media Communications program. The skills I will learn through this degree will be ones that will help me not only survive but even influence this ever evolving world of media.

I am starting to build my portfolio - I have had a few ideas as far as making some films or shorts that I am hopefully, through the university, going to have the resources to actually start working on. I have e-mailed a very influential independent, or "indie", band called The Decemberists about possibly working with them on a project. I also had a lengthy conversation with the owner of the local art theater The Darkside last night about filmmaking and some of the in's and out's. He gave me a lot of tips and strongly encouraged me to get together with some buddies and just mess around with a camera. He told me get a camera, find a scene from a movie that I really like and do my best to recreate it. He said all the things you need to know about film you can teach yourself and I am really excited to get a camera in my hands and start shooting.

I got a job - I heard about a position on the 3rd floor of the Valley Library here at OSU and through a series of e-mails successfully landed my first job in Corvallis (It only took me two and a half months, but all's well that ends well right?). The job I'm doing here is working at the reference desk for University Archives and Maps. I help people find photos, maps, microfilm, etc., for use in their research. It's pretty slow but a lot of the things I find up here are really cool and I kinda get to be a librarian like Grandma Schnorenberg and Grandma Donna.


The Beavers beat USC!!! - I know this is probably old news, but I still thought I'd take my opportunity to boast about our football team. I went to the game (along with 43,000 other people) and saw the Beavers shut down the #1 USC Trojans. The last football game I went to was Civil War in Eugene last year. I went down to Track Town USA and saw the Beavers end the home team winning streak of the past 11 years. I don't know how many of you are sports fans but I think rushing the field at two consequtive victories of this magnitude is something any sports fan would be jealous of.

My house is great - I'm living in a four bedroom house about ten blocks form campus with three other friends and we've been getting along great (and paying our bills on time). Our landlord actually is paying us to do some work around the house, so we've had some incentive to really make this place our home for this year and possibly more to come.

That pretty much wraps up all my good news. I am super excited about this new year and the new opportunities and experiences to come.

Thanks for reading and I'll post again soon!