A couple “firsts” in the Land of Jason today:
Through a waking up snafu, I produced Wisconsin’s Weekend Morning News all my myself today. I got to the radio station at 5:30, thought I was going to have my boss, executive producer Joe Scialfa in with me to walk me through/let me do a bit more of the work of the producer this Saturday (as it was my 2nd one ever), but 6 AM rolled around, and no Joe, so I was thinkin, “Wow, Joe is letting me go it alone really fast. Either he has way too much confidence or I’ve really impressed some people.” Turns out neither was the case; he just overslept, if I had been thinking, I would’ve called him, but I wasn’t, so I didn’t, and with the extremely patient assistance of the show’s host, Ben Sherman, we made it through. When Joe got there at around 8:30, he apologized profusely, wondered why I didn’t call, etc. Interesting bit of trivia for ya regarding the staff at 620 WTMJ: Joe Scialfa doesn’t use an alarm clock. Claims he hasn’t in years. How bout them apples. Personally, I just started using this alarm a couple days ago, since I’m fresh outta outlets in my pseudo-room.
The other first (much shorter story) was my first live, actual, BURNING AUTOMOBILE, which was in the ditch off I-94 West just before the Hwy 100 off-ramp on my way home.

Other new things: paid a visit to the Fox Valley last week, mostly to make some college arrangements. Good news on that front is that I can sign up for a class as a “graduate special” student. That designation means that I won’t be officially enrolled in an academic program, but I could be admitted to the Master of Arts in English for the spring 2004 semester (app deadline is Sept 15 if you wanna join me). Anyway, I can just sign up for any class that has seats open whenever I want. I need to make a call to my old friend/boss, Carol Procknow, over at Financial Aid, just to check into how that will work exactly. My plan, though, is to take 3 credits on a Tuesday night; I’ll drive up from Milwaukee that one day.

The other fun stuff I got to do last Wednesday up there was to hang out with good ol’ R Chris Lorch. He didn’t have to work that day, which was nice, we went out to Oblio’s for a beer and some darts, that I was invited to dinner and thought to myself, “Hey, I don’t pass up free food,” so thanks, Ray & Jamie, for buyin me a steak. It was tasty.

Speaking of tasty, this beer that Joe and I made is pretty damn good.

I just realized that I should archive the entries (few though they were) from the June ‘blog.

Y’know, one of my co-workers (I can say that, right?), Charlie Sykes, keeps a blog on the station’s website. He’s pretty good about updating it when he has something to say. I wonder if that’s because it’s pretty easy for him to do. I should probably think about making this whole deal a little easier on me. Or maybe it’s easy enough, I dunno.

What the hell.

Finally, if you reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally like Rose McGowan? (particularly with the red hair), expect a package soon.

Yeah, I know it’s been a while since I got anything done in this space.

I was having a talk with Bryan “the BryGuy”? Siebers recently, while he was at work, (don’t tell anybody) and based solely on his agreement, I reasoned that I could be absolved from any website neglect. We discussed (briefly) how it can be difficult to get motivated/focused when things in life are generally in flux; you get to thinking about more vital or essential things and stuff like websites and whatnot fall to the bottom of your list. Things are slightly less fluxuary now, though.

I got hired at 620 WTMJ this week. I went in yesterday to fill out a buncha paperwork, and tomorrow I have to go and start some training. I’m going to be producing the Saturday morning talk programs, and doing miscellaneous spot production during the week. The pay is small, but the foot is huge: if I do good work in this position, opportunities to do more/move up should come along in time.

That leaves the question about schooling, ’cause I did spend (oh lordy did I *spend*) a year in Montana getting half (or maybe closer to two-fifths) of a Master’s degree in English, and I definitely mean to finish it. Where that happens is still not certain. It almost seems more logical at this point to get signed up, juiced up, keyed up, online, etc, over at UW-Milwaukee. Hell, the campus will even be close to work. Originally, I was planning to go back to Oshkosh, since I know people there (insofar as knowing *who* is there, what they teach, what the program is like, etc) but maybe it would be wiser to stay in town here. I should probably decide on this pretty soon.

Well, in any case, things generally feel a little more “secure” now, no longer being unemployed; I feel like I can take care of the other pressing issues I have to face in the near future. So hey — stay tuned for answers to these and other burning questions:
What will become of Jason’s post-graduate education??
Will Jason ever make/have enough money to get his very own apartment downtown as he’d like??
Is Jason going to get some laundry done today??

Oh, and for good measure, check out the new Interesting & Factual Tale.