My timing seems to be a bit off. I just checked my grades for spring semester and I somehow managed to get either an A or an A- in everything (resulting in a 3.8 GPA). I was happy to see that, but a bit frustrated too, because my spring semester grades mean absolutely nothing. I missed graduating with honors by a few hundredths of a grade point (you need a 3.5 to graduate "cum laude") - if only they could have added in my spring grades! Technically, you could barely scrape by with a C average spring semester and still graduate with honors. I guess I did it backwards. Oh well - I doubt it's something that will come back to haunt me.

Speaking of bad timing, yesterday my editor at the Spokesman-Review asked me if I had plans for the summer. My internship was a 10 week agreement (that ended today), but it turns out they could keep me on longer. I had checked with them a few weeks ago before accepting the Walla Walla internship and they said they were already booked solid with summer interns and didn't have room in the budget for more. I've already committed to working in Walla Walla for 12 weeks, so it's too late to change plans now. The good news is, The Spokesman seems to have really liked me and wants me to keep in touch . . . so who knows? Maybe I'll find my way back to Spokane eventually.

Well, writing this post has been a nice packing break, but I'm still surrounded by unpacked belongings, so I'd better get back to work. I'm heading home to Oregon tomorrow!

This chapter's over!

I took the last final of my college career this morning. As of Sunday, I'll be an official college graduate!
I'm heading out to take a nostalgic walk around campus and will hopefully run into as many undergraduate friends as possible (they have to move out of their dorms by tomorrow morning), so time is running short for saying goodbye.

I think I suffer from ADD (or perhaps I can blame it on senioritis?)
So, the ethics studying isn't going so hot. It doesn't help that I was just given a copy of my TV class "mocumentary" from last term - I've seen it quite a few times now, but it's still more entertaining than my ethics notes. Anyhow, I just popped the DVD out of my computer and I'm putting it away. I got out some blank cards and brightly colored Crayola markers - I'm thinking that making ethics flashcards will hold my interest a little better than just staring at pages of notes. OK, I'm off to study. For real this time - I promise.

No worries. It's just a test.
So, I'm in the middle of finals week and I'm absolutely loving my life. Seem ironic? Perhaps a little, but I'm really trying to make the most out of this last little bit of my college experience.
I just got back from studying communication ethics at a coffee shop with some friends - they make ethics much more fun. (And they help come up with wacky ways to remember obscure lists. For example, "Forgotten Girls Just Voted No Boys Stay" naturally triggers Ross' Competing Duties: Fidelity, Gratitude, Justice, Veracity, Nurture, Beneficence and Self-improvement. Don't ask me how, but it works for us.)
Technically, ethics should be my hardest final, but I'm feeling no stress at all. The test is tomorrow morning at 10:30 a.m. I still have a ways to go before I've truly conquered the material, but I'm feeling pretty confident (and perhaps a bit overly optimistic).
Aside from the fact that Leah and I spent 3 hours in the radio production studio completing a project that should have taken about 15 minutes (we're no techies), it's been a great day. I had a final this afternoon in media criticism, but it just involved defining a bunch of terms and was pretty easy. That's one final down and two more to go.
After my media crit. final, I did some grocery shopping (I love grocery shopping) and seeing all that food inspired me to do some cooking. (Anything to procrastinate studying for ethics.) So, I went home and made a really great salad with all the fresh produce I'd purchased and invented my own casserole loosely based on my mom's tater tot casserole, minus the tater tots. Cooking is a lot more fun when you just make it up as you go and don't follow a recipe. It actually turned out pretty good: ground beef, a can of pinto beans in chili sauce, chopped orange and green bell peppers and cream of chicken (not mushroom) soup all mixed in a casserole dish and topped with grated cheddar. I ate it with corn tortillas and it was scrumptious. The only problem is that I hardly made a dent, so I'll be eating on it for awhile. I got a little carried away and made some teriyaki chicken too, since I had chicken to use up and the oven was already hot. So, I'll be eating real meals for the next few days.
Anyhow, enough procrastinating with random rambling. My ethics notes are screaming to be perused. I suppose I should comply.

The laughingstock of KWRS 90.3 FM

Today was our theatre project for radio class. Each group had to perform a play or story live on the air. My group, which consists of myself and three freshmen boys, chose to do the play "Trifles." We didn't practice a ton, but we thought we had everything pretty well under control - after all, it's radio, so you just have to read from the script. Easy, right? Since there were two female characters in our play and only one of me, one of the guys had to play a woman. This turned out to be a very bad idea.

We started off fine and things were going smoothly until . . . the guy playing Mrs. Peters had an all-out, red in the face and eyes watering, laughing attack. He was able to keep it silent for the most part, but he could not get himself under control well enough to deliver his line. The problem with radio is that everything is live and you can't just stop or start over if you mess up. You have to keep going - dead air is unacceptable. I was pretty much worthless at baling him out, because that kind of laughter is hopelessly contagious. Finally, one of the other guys stepped up to the mic to read Mrs. Peters' line. Then he started laughing (silently) at his pathetic attempt to pull off a female-sounding voice. I had to dig deep, but I was able to muster my composure in time to deliver my lines, which unfortunately included uttering the word "duty." This set off another bad case of the giggles for my poor comrade. We were a lost cause. So much for an "A" in that class!

Finally, intermission came and we put on some music and turned off the mics so that we could pull ourselves together. By that time, all three of the guys had read Mrs. Peters' part, depending on who had the most composure when one of her lines came. I'm sure this thoroughly confused our listening audience (hopefully no one was tuned in besides our prof.).

The second half was less torturous - although a few minor cases of the silent giggles still erupted. To add to the mess, my mic started to fall down, so I had to balance it on my chest whenever I had to turn a page of my script.

Afterward, we discussed what went wrong. I asked why the line "It's his duty" had caused such an outburst.
"Duty's another word for poop!" My comrade responded with another burst of giggles. I guess that joke went over my head - or perhaps under. Did I mention that they were all freshmen boys?