Um . . .

I haven't posted in about 10 days, which seems like a long time to me, but only because I'm lame like that. I don't have anything big and huge to say, just some random points to make . . . but even when I try to be coherent in a post, it digresses into a mess anyway, so now I'm going to shut up.

First of all, I know everyone wants to know about personal drama, and I know the people I talk to on a regular basis (or who are unfortunately enough to see me every day or so) have already heard, but I am definitely moving out of my apartment by the end of May. I've been living with my sister for the past two years, since I moved back from Boston. First I moved in because it was convenient, then I stayed because it's cheap, and now I'm moving because I like my sister and need to remember than instead of being reminded of all the stupid things that we do that annoy each other. Our third roommate will be done with her graduate degree in May, so she'll be moving back down to Austin, and it just makes more sense for me to move out then.

Secondly, Dan started on a new shift at the paper, so now he's working from 6 a.m. until 2 p.m. and holy cow, it's like being around my parents when we're together! (I love my parents, by the way.) He gets all tired and sleepy around 9 p.m., and is pretty much in bed and asleep by 9:30 most nights. We used to call and wish each other good night when we were going to bed, and now I can't because he calls me when I'm watching Anthony Bourdain or something and if I try to call he's been unconscious for two hours already. The up side is he has afternoons to spend out on his bike, and that makes him happier, so I guess it all works out.

Third, I have discovered the joys of eating seafood at home. I don't cook a lot--most nights I'm not home until around 8, and by then I'm too hungry to wait on something that takes longer to make than a grilled cheese sandwich or something. Additionally, I share a fridge with two other people, and there's only so much room to keep things, and occasionally things get shoved behind something else and lost and then spoil and have to be tossed and I think, "Fuck, that's $6 worth of cheese" or something like that. So anyway: The other night I really, really wanted to eat crab, and when I went grocery shopping I realized I was a dumbass and I could buy crab (or salmon, or swordfish, or scallops, whatever) at the store. Seafood is really quick to make, and now I'm eating seafood once a week--the day I go grocery shopping. I'm afraid if I buy two meals' worth, then one serving will get shoved behind something else and lost and spoil and smell so bad well have to throw the whole fridge out.

Fourth, I was reminded yet again this week that checking quotes with people can be a royal pain in the ass. (Oh yeah, you didn't think you were getting through an entire post without a journalist's gripe of some sort, did you?)

We have this feature sometimes that's a Q&A, and you talk to someone on the phone, type everything they say out verbatim, then edit it down for size/clarity . . . it uses what I refer to as "creative punctuation" to make sense of the way people talk. Few people talk in clear, cut-and-dry sentences, and so there are lots of ellipses, commas, dashes, etc, and people come out sounding fine.

This woman, who admitted on the phone to being a perfectionist, said she wanted to see the quotes prior to press. Since the whole thing was basically one giant direct quote, I had to e-mail it to her, and then she called me and said she sounded dumb and she didn't want her name affiliated with it. She said some parts didn't even make sense and maybe she does talk like that, but that's not the image she wants to convey.

I met with my editor and we reluctantly let her type answers to the questions instead. It was just more trouble than it was worth, and the answers she typed back were generic, boring, and really not as interesting as what she'd said. This is the whole reason journalists talk to people--you want to get that human feeling, that funny turn of phrase that sums things up so well. I think most people, if they saw a transcript of a conversation they participated in, would say, "Shit, I sound dumb." I'm sure I would. I sound ridiculous sometimes. But I know that, and I can turn on my professional-speak where I at least sound literate. I am guessing this woman turned on her professional-speak, and she sounded fine. But what can you do.

Oh wait, I know what I could do:
I could post a complaint on Angry Journalist. Or I could just be lazy and complain here.

Another good website, although this one looks like it's fairly new, but I'm optimistic:
Overheard in the Newsroom

And lastly, I am in the process of brain storming with my fellow reporters and looking for a way to incorporate a blog into our paper. We need a blog, right? Everyone needs a blog. I know people who have blogs for their cats. Clearly, we can do better than that.