In about 30 hours I'll be heading over to the happiest of valleys. The strangest thing about it is that this time next year there's not gonna be that build up anticipating going back to school. This is the last year of my formal education cycle. Those 5 elementary years, the 3 middle school, 4 high school and 4 undergraduate. Its been like that for 15 years of my life mid-August comes and school is just a couple weeks away. Amazing. Well needless to say the upcoming year has a lot of truly great things ahead. Full-time directing for What's That Fact?, adding football to my sports videography reel, another year of crazy times with the friends I've made in the past three years and who knows making more hopefully.

-Mikhail

Tragic moment ladies and gentlemen, I think my BlackBerry's keyboard is fried. It hasn't been unusual for it act up during the heat and therefore humidity in the pocket of my pants, but at the moment the motherfucker is dead. Not single button functioning, which is tragic to say the least. Hopefully overnight in an air conditioned room it'll be working again in the morning, but right now it may be time to think repair, replacement or an early upgrade to the Tour. Oh well guess we'll find out soon. Class starts in a week, yay?

-Mikhail

Hey world, I've been busy figuring things out. Then I got some wonderful advice and stopped to enjoy myself. Obviously since last post, my internship at CBS2 ended. It was mostly awesome, I got to work with some incredibly talented people and learned so much more about working in television and as I've stated before about life in general. On the last day, Scags almost sent me out to Yankee Stadium against the Red Sox, which would have been EPIC, but he needed me to hang around and watch golf, plus he would've been all by himself. I didn't mind much because I got to bid farewell to everyone, which was a little more important to me. Scags left me with the thought to just enjoy senior year, especially since for him he had an amazing time and that I shouldn't worry about getting a job next year as long as long as I keep open to what is out there. Plus after this year work's gonna be a part of the rest of my life. As a result I've had an amazing concert filled week. Monday: The Roots at the Highline Ballroom, Tuesday: TV on the Radio at Prospect Park (both openers Chin Chin and Gang Gang Dance were awesome), Thursday: Yeasayer at Pier 54 (their opener was blah), Friday: Animal Collective at Prospect Park (DJ Dam Funk was cool and he does his own echoes! Black Dice was crap) then Sunday: Dinosaur Jr. and The Walkmen at Central Park. This time next week back at dear Old State, very excite!

-Mikhail

Much happier news to report this time around. Today we did all of our in studio shooting for the newscast. For about the first 30 minutes everything was just getting all the talent mic'd up and getting out of the way to let Maurice DuBois do news flash. It went by incredibly smooth, many times the anchors got their reads on the first try and when they didn't, it wasn't much longer until it was perfect. We ended up finishing a half hour early even. What really sucks is that it was really only the third time that all the interns spent as much an hour around each other, which is unfortunate since we all were pretty comfortable as a group. Later in the day I had a phone interview with Jimmie Johnson, which is ridiculous since I know absolutely nothing about NASCAR, but went well. Pretty hard to believe these are the last two weeks, just when it started to get fun.

-Mikhail

Today I figured out my absolute flaw. I am unable to close. Amazingly on my way home from doing some preparations for the newscast I was thinking today how I'm really relaxed about pretty much every situation except for talking to pretty girls. Definitely not true, within 10 minutes of standing around in Webster Hall anticipating a great show by Atmosphere I started chatting with an incredibly cute girl from Minnesota (die hard fan, since that's where they're from) that just moved to the city. At this point definitely hitting it off, but then her friend arrived so there wasn't much talking after that, but the occasional glance was met. At the end of the show friend takes off for the bathroom and I tap her on the shoulder to let her know I'm leaving and that it was really nice to meet her and a nice handshake and hug, but of course I forget to ask for her number. Closing is my flaw. I had an 0-2 count with the bases loaded and wound up walking in the tying run, so now I can only hope that the team can come back to win in the bottom of the 9th or better make sure it doesn't happen again.

-Mikhail

I meant to write about this earlier, but I've kept putting it off and well its better that I did because it kinda came together today really. Two of the producers in the sports departments had kids within the last couple weeks. Really cool right? Internships are definitely not all about doing bitchwork, or "learning the industry" you also learn that people do indeed live lives outside of a room with computers on tables and videotapes on shelves. Ranging from people adding to their families, starting them or still dealing with roommates. I've heard a lot of cool stories come from my superiors. A lot of these guys have been working together for years and years and know each others tales and of course are always learning more too. Seeing my supervisor come in after his paternity leave with more words than just the "everyones doing well" that we've been getting as our updates was great to hear. It's nice to hear the stories that come straight from the people that are usually delivering it.

-Mikhail

Needless to say I've neglected you blog of mine. Last summer I had a lot of love for you. Every Monday I'd let you know the nothingness of my life. Oddly though compared to last year I'm unsure about almost everything. In a way that feels good, I'm more open to my possibilities. The summer is more than halfway done and soon it'll be back to school. I really don't know whether I want to be back in school or for this summer to just slow down. It's been going at a good pace and much to look forward to in both the immediate future and beyond. See what I mean?

-Mikhail

PS: oh yeah, I cut my hair.

CELEBRITY IS SOMETHING I'VE NEVER REALLY PAYED A LOT OF ATTENTION TO. PEOPLE THAT ARE FAMOUS THAT WE ADMIRE LIVE THE SAME WAY THAT WE DO FOR THE MOST PART. THEY EAT, SLEEP, WORK, HAVE FAMILIES, GO AND HANGOUT WITH THEIR FRIENDS, ALBEIT THE VARIABLES WITHIN THOSE ACTIVITIES MAY MUCH DIFFERENT FROM THE AVERAGE PERSON. BUT TODAY I LEAVE MY BILLY MAYS KEY ON BECAUSE HE'S ONE OF THESE PEOPLE THAT 10 YEARS AGO WHEN HE WAS JUST STARTING TO CATCH ON WITH OXICLEAN, WAS LIKE MANY OF US. THE SAME WAS PROBABLY TRUE OF ED MCMAHON, FARRAH FAWCETT, AND MICHAEL JACKSON (NOT AS TRUE SINCE HE'S BEEN AROUND SINCE HE WAS A KID), BUT BILLY MAYS WAS PITCHING ON THE BOARDWALK. FROM SEEING HIM SKYROCKET TO THE SPOTLIGHT IN THE LAST YEAR, IT IS EASY TO SEE WHY HE GOT TO THE LEVEL HE ACHIEVED. HE'S A GUY THAT STANDS FOR WHAT HE BELIEVES IN, TELLS THE TRUTH AND FOR ME BROUGHT SOME JOY WHENEVER HE APPEARED ON THE SCREEN. BELIEVE ME, I CAN'T STAND PEOPLE THAT SEEK ATTENTION, BUT BILLY MAYS WAS UNIQUE IN THAT ATTENTION CAME TO HIM, BUT NOT FOR HIMSELF BUT FOR THE THINGS HE WAS PUTTING HIS FAITH IN. TODAY WE LOST A GUY THAT WAS LIVING THE DREAM, A MAN THAT GOT THERE BY TAKING THE INDIVIDUAL STEPS UP THE LADDER AND THEN CONVINCED YOU TO BUY THE LADDER.

-MIKHAIL

I've been really type lazy lately. Last night I managed to get my first two entries done and realized that out of the 67 hours my 1 credit requires me to do, I did 66 in the first two weeks. Given I signed up for 10 weeks, its amazing how much I've already done in just what is now my third week. Today went to Giants mini camp which was cool, since its the first pro "event" outside of baseball I've ever attended. If there's one thing that was immediately clear, pro football players are massive. I got to see reporting during the off-season at its best, although now that the NBA just wrapped up we'll hopefully jump into that next week with the Draft.

All else is well I suppose.

-Mikhail

Man Bob Martin is gonna enjoy reading my 1st week journal thats for sure. Today I went in at 1 instead of 4 after Scags asked me to come in and log the Yankees game. So I'm sitting around watching the game and they decide to let me go out and do post-game. I rode off with 27 year veteran Vince to Yankee Stadium and first pick up my one day press pass (note the correct spelling of my name).



After that we headed down through the press elevator, that I pointed out to my brother during our visit last month, to the press room where crews from NBC4, NY1, YES Network and SNY were already hanging out. The game still wasn't over and we watched the last inning and a half on one of the many HDTVs lining the concourse of the stadium, while we waited for Girardi to come down. Yankees down 4 in the 9th and they cut the lead in half, but couldn't pull off the comeback this time.

Girardi came in maybe within five minutes of the last out and in between that time some 20 other reporters swarmed in (about six of them being Japanese media in a game where Matsui only pinch-hit, I suppose this has been regular since he's come over to the states though). Not a lot of questions for Girardi, since the obvious focus in a game like this is his trust of Mo, so we headed to the clubhouse. I got handed the CBS2 microphone and stuck it in front of the monstrous CC Sabathia (for as big a guy as he is, he's pretty soft spoken), Johnny Damon (and his extra spiky hair) and Mariano Rivera (who a security guard said would've liked to seen him pitch to Longoria because he's "Mo" and reciprocated that statement).

After the interviews we headed out to this Little League game where A-Rod and Richard Gere were coaching the two teams facing each other. A-Rod was not nearly as excited as Gere was in his managerial role, but did go to the mound congratulated the pitcher for a fine outing before taking him out and walking back to the bench with him. A very awesome day indeed!

-Mikhail

Today, I met a couple of anchors. First was Maurice DuBois early in the day while I was eating a bagel, and he nodded and I nodded back. He said "Hey how's it going?" and I couldn't say anything, since I had a mouth full of bagel. Shortly before I left I met Sam Ryan who does sports and she let me have some trail mix. Good times. Anyway, today I just logged a couple matches from the French Open, some sound bytes from the Yankees post-game and shots of the seagulls and midges from during the game.

-Mikhail

Day One at CBS, pretty good. I got a nice tour of the massive CBS Broadcasting Center, which takes up the entire city block of 56th and 57th between 10th and 11th Avenues. I'm sure a lot more shoot there, but so far I've seen the news studio (and its ballin ass control room), the 106 and Park set (which I didn't know they still aired), Guiding Light (which won't be airing much longer soon), the CBS Sports desk where they do NFL Today and March Madness coverage (those studios were locked though). Otherwise it was a lot of just familiarizing with the system and some of the equipment, but not a lot. Considering I'm gonna have to write a journal on this once a week for my credit, it wouldn't be a bad idea to just write for my memory's sake later. So far I've really only talked to three of the other five interns there today and they seem pretty chill, including one from Penn State, go figure.

-Mikhail

Week 3 of 3, time has really flown by and yet it really hasn't. After all it IS still May and I've already been home for 24 days. The fact I've spent between 14 and 18 days in my room, proves how really interesting my vacation has been thus far. Not really, last week I hung out with the jerks and went to the Yankees game. Tuesday I got really messed up playing Wizards and while a fun time, I haven't had a desire to go outside since. I'm a weekend away from starting my internship at CBS2 which will add an element of activity for the next 10 weeks to fill the hours I've spent playing my Marlins franchise on MLB 2K9. But later today I get to party with a friend from school in which I'm 98% sure will have the highest concentration of people wearing adidas track jackets in Manhattan. Heating up? Hope so.

-Mikhail

Week 2 of 3 of do-nothings definitely much better. All the jerks are back in the city so I've gotten to hangout with them the last 3 days and possibly later tonight and more this weekend. Definitely lots of things left to do before the intern orientation June 1st, so yeah.

-Mikhail

Week 1 of 3 do-nothings is almost complete. I've gone outside for no more than 30 minutes total since Sunday when I spent about an hour and half going to the Ed Sullivan Theater to request tickets for the Late Show and getting Jamba Juice. So really the last time I was out for a considerable time was last Friday. It might be a result of the absolute shit sleep schedule I always have during breaks, which leads to it being 2:30 and I still haven't even rolled out of bed to brush my teeth. I'm hoping I can stop that tomorrow since I'll make a valiant effort to go to the Door and then see one of my favorite people in the world, Katie!

Aside from that all this time breathing my own air, while watching Bob Ross (damn shame they only give him once a week now, also the difficulty of finding clips of him online), I've thought of just about everything:

- When am I gonna take driving lessons?
- I've met fans of other AL East teams except the Blue Jays, need to meet some Canadians.
- How am I possibly gonna work and make no money this summer?
- Am I ever gonna get around to reading Living on the Black?
- How long is it really gonna take for me to get the Big Boss Emblem in MGS4?
- Is it weird that I've been a pretty apathetic about how things kinda left off with Cat?
- Will I actually make time to go re-register as a voter in New York?
- How is it that I care so much about a girl I've at most talked to for 15 minutes?
- I really need to get new shoooooooooooooeeess.
- Who could I possibly get to go see The Price is Right with for Spring Break next year?
- I really should have done those extra credits for 387 and 405 (would've have a sweet GPA)

Hopefully a more exciting week awaits.

-Mikhail

Well intertubers, I got the internship with WCBS-TV! I got interviewed by the head of the sports department today with my hair quite crazy (because there was no hot water in the morning so I skipped the shower) and dressed in my extra-wrinkled suit. Had a good half-hour chat about sports (naturally), the layoffs at the station, union jobs, and briefly possible tasks and availability. I'm pretty excited about this especially since its likely that I'd get to work at a few games. If you couldn't tell already, I am home.

-Mikhail

The very dirty ads for the Quiznos Toasty Torpedo sandwiches suddenly all make sense. I had one for the first time today and the first observation upon my first bite is that its the most phallic sandwich you'll ever have. That's why the oven really wants some torpedo in it, because the thing is a friggin foot and a half long! Add in the fact that its on ciabatta, which is typically a pretty hard bread (although theirs isn't really), and you've got some sexed up metaphors.

-Mikhail

I'm not sure if it has ever been mentioned on this blog, but I along with my brother have a genuine obsession for a man name Paul Lukas and his column on ESPN's Page 2 (and now blog as well), Uni Watch: The Obsessive Study of Athletics Aesthetics. I was just reading an absolutely hilarious article about NYY Steak, in Yankee Stadium.

-Mikhail

I meant to post this earlier today shortly after it happened, but my BlackBerry was being incompetent. Anywho, I was waiting for the bus looking around bored as shit and saw this ant dragging around a leaf. So I'm just watching it going across the sidewalk, when this chick walks by and steps right on the poor guy. It didn't get crushed, but it was so distraught and lost the leaf it was carrying it around and just scrambled back to its hill presumably. That's all really.

-Mikhail

Hey party people, so I've got 3 of the most intense classwork days ever. Tomorrow I've got my presentation for 381 on universal service. We decided to make a replica of your typical Zach Morris cell phone, which this guy in my group made look absolutely badass. I'll have a pic of that hopefully soon. After that I'm directing my project 4 for 283, which might be the thing I'm most worried about. Wednesday I got a test for 387, which shouldn't be too bad. Thursday is really just busy for 283 again working on the other two groups projects. Still working on getting the internship secured, so more words on that soon I'm sure. I'm going home May 5th, so I have a nice 5 day weekend to enjoy, not worrying about work and stuff and of course looking for a party to crash.

-Mikhail