The Real World.
So far this internship has been a blur of new friends, frustration, boring activities, tedious job searches, hope for the future, and self-evaluation.
The first couple of weeks at CBS 2 have often been spent logging games or logging tapes that need to be described in the online database. Typical intern stuff - nothing entertaining, nothing difficult... mostly something that needs to be done. (And that nobody else wants to do).
So in trying to evaluate my own future in this business, I tend to multi-task on the job, which is equivalent to me saying that sometimes I procrastinate from tasks on the job so that I don't feel as if I'm wasting my time for 8 Emerson credits of education.
The other day, for instance, I joined TVjobs.com, which is a database of what one would assume it should be. The website, which asks for $50 of my former hard-earned-dollars and current savings, was enlightening in many ways.
The most intriguing part of my membership to the website, and ensuing job search was that I think I actually can get a job pretty quickly after school, if I take the right steps. It is probably possible for me to get an on-camera sports job... in the "middle-of-nowhere" Minnesota. So if I move 2,000 miles away from family and friends in New England, and I want to sacrifice any normalcy in my surroundings, and I only want to make $16,000 a year for two years in the middle of the country... the job is probably mine... if I can make the cut.
I went through a lot of self-evaluating this week. And a lot of internal questions.
Q. If I only make 16,000 dollars a year... is this really what I want to do with my life?
A. Yes.
Q. Come on, think that one through again. $16,000 is less than $1,400/month. Less than that after taxes. So I can do what I truly want to do with my life... for $350/week?
A. Yes?
To many extents, my career goals can't be about money and I knew that coming in to this situation. But at some point, I have to think about financing... and therein lies the problem.
Of course, it's best to be thinking about these questions now, I know. I'm three months before an actual career decision. And, as I well know, grad school looms for those unsure about entering the real world immediately. If nothing else, there's always that. The interesting thing through all of this is that what I value most has nothing to do with money or location or any of the aformentioned things. What matters most to me, I'm reaffirming, is family.
Being 3,000 miles away from everybody here in L.A. kind of puts that in perspective... My eldest sister is about to have a baby boy. The rest of all my family live in New England. My girlfriend's family all live in New England as well.
So, my concerns about the internship have moved beyond my tasks here specifically. I mean, I can't complain. I'm making friends, I'm slowly making contacts, and I think my tasks will gradually improve as the days move on. The real stress now comes from the decision after the internship... and after graduation... "where do I go from here?"
A common question for most college grads, I know... but one that I hadn't spent any time reflecting on. I remember upon graduating from high school, we talked about the real world... and that was an illusion. Bartending for easy cash, spending time with friends in a beautiful suite in downtown Boston, meeting the love of your life in the process... that was fun, but it wasn't the real world. The real world looms large starting in December. My time in California will be through, my internship finished, my undergraduate college career over. Time to find a job, time to move forward.
Welcome to the real world, Sports Intern.
The first couple of weeks at CBS 2 have often been spent logging games or logging tapes that need to be described in the online database. Typical intern stuff - nothing entertaining, nothing difficult... mostly something that needs to be done. (And that nobody else wants to do).
So in trying to evaluate my own future in this business, I tend to multi-task on the job, which is equivalent to me saying that sometimes I procrastinate from tasks on the job so that I don't feel as if I'm wasting my time for 8 Emerson credits of education.
The other day, for instance, I joined TVjobs.com, which is a database of what one would assume it should be. The website, which asks for $50 of my former hard-earned-dollars and current savings, was enlightening in many ways.
The most intriguing part of my membership to the website, and ensuing job search was that I think I actually can get a job pretty quickly after school, if I take the right steps. It is probably possible for me to get an on-camera sports job... in the "middle-of-nowhere" Minnesota. So if I move 2,000 miles away from family and friends in New England, and I want to sacrifice any normalcy in my surroundings, and I only want to make $16,000 a year for two years in the middle of the country... the job is probably mine... if I can make the cut.
I went through a lot of self-evaluating this week. And a lot of internal questions.
Q. If I only make 16,000 dollars a year... is this really what I want to do with my life?
A. Yes.
Q. Come on, think that one through again. $16,000 is less than $1,400/month. Less than that after taxes. So I can do what I truly want to do with my life... for $350/week?
A. Yes?
To many extents, my career goals can't be about money and I knew that coming in to this situation. But at some point, I have to think about financing... and therein lies the problem.
Of course, it's best to be thinking about these questions now, I know. I'm three months before an actual career decision. And, as I well know, grad school looms for those unsure about entering the real world immediately. If nothing else, there's always that. The interesting thing through all of this is that what I value most has nothing to do with money or location or any of the aformentioned things. What matters most to me, I'm reaffirming, is family.
Being 3,000 miles away from everybody here in L.A. kind of puts that in perspective... My eldest sister is about to have a baby boy. The rest of all my family live in New England. My girlfriend's family all live in New England as well.
So, my concerns about the internship have moved beyond my tasks here specifically. I mean, I can't complain. I'm making friends, I'm slowly making contacts, and I think my tasks will gradually improve as the days move on. The real stress now comes from the decision after the internship... and after graduation... "where do I go from here?"
A common question for most college grads, I know... but one that I hadn't spent any time reflecting on. I remember upon graduating from high school, we talked about the real world... and that was an illusion. Bartending for easy cash, spending time with friends in a beautiful suite in downtown Boston, meeting the love of your life in the process... that was fun, but it wasn't the real world. The real world looms large starting in December. My time in California will be through, my internship finished, my undergraduate college career over. Time to find a job, time to move forward.
Welcome to the real world, Sports Intern.
posted by The Sports Intern at 12:41 PM
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