Week three - full of ups and downs

Hello everyone,

Yikes, I'm not doing a very good job at keeping this thing updated. Anyway, I've uploaded the articles and photos from last week so if you want to check out the articles tab, go for it!

I'm pretty happy about the feature I wrote. I spoke to a woman whose brother was with the military police while they maintained security at the Canadian Embassy in Iran during the Revolution and Hostage Crisis. She came into the office Monday morning (when seven other people were in the front entrance attempting to get their paper. It's pretty crowded on Monday mornings) and while she was picking up the documents I borrowed for her, she said she enjoyed it. I'll admit, it made me feel pretty good.

This week is another story. It's definitely kicking my butt.

Yesterday was rough as I didn't get enough sleep (I kept waking up randomly during the night - I'm pretty sure I was thinking about how much work that needed to get done.) As a result, I felt sluggish during the day. It was another day of firsts - I went with my editor and a couple other people from the office to the Chamber of Commerce meeting. Every meeting, there's a guest speaker and whoever covers the meeting is required to summarize what the guest speaker talks about.

Luckily for me, it was all about property tax assessments. Yay. It's a good thing I know nothing about that. This morning, I went over my notes again and I slowly wrapped my brain around the jargon the guest speaker used. I now have a rough understanding of how property assessments work!

This afternoon, I also went to Maryfield to speak to an artist about the new portfolio she's working on. Her home is pretty awesome, it's the old hospital in the town. It was a long interview, and I definitely got more than I needed but it's better than not getting enough.

Now for my less than spectacular moment. Yesterday, I briefly spoke to an organizer for a quad derby that happened over the weekend. I knew that he had seeding to do so I tried to make the interview as short as possible. However, I missed a question about how many volunteers it took to organize the event (more than 650 people entered the derby). So I called again today, even though I wasn't sure I would be able to reach the organizer again.

And yet, things somehow just pull together. I was able to reach the organizer and another interview I need for a story this week. So all I have to do is write two stories tomorrow, add some more info to the derby and my column.

I think I might work on my column tonight, because I don't think I have enough time to work on everything tomorrow!

Anyway, that's what's going on for me right now. I can't believe next week will be my fourth week working at the Spectator. The weeks are just flying by.

Cheers,
Kristen