The Secret Life of the American Teenager

The End of an Era

Oh, how I hate goodbyes. Mainly because I’m terribly awkward when the time comes to part ways, but a good chunk of my ill feelings come from a wistful remembrance of the good times I’ve had with whatever/whoever I’m saying goodbye to. Well…here goes nothin’.

Right now, I’m saying goodbye to HTV, that one extracurricular activity I took a part of (more or less) diligently throughout my high school career. Sports waved adios a while ago, and I never saw a point to Cabinet; that just seemed like a lot of work I’d rather have someone else do.

So, HTV was what I belonged to. The “West Wing” was my high school home, especially these last couple years. It’s been where I go during lunch, where I go to gain refuge from sweepers, and where I’ve spent many a late night trying to meet deadline. I’ve had great times in HTV….and some not-so-great times. But even the tough deadlines and crunch time (and the pain was usually self-inflicted, due to a bad procrastinating habit that permeates the way we operate) were good experiences. I learned more in HTV than most of my other classes combined. And even though I don’t plan on going into a broadcast journalism field, I’ll take the lessons I learned there with me wherever I go.

Here are just a few of the said lessons that I learned while under the tutelage of Coach Davis:

1. Strangers are not scary, and will not attack you on sight.

2. Being funny is much, much harder than you think.

3. Use headphones….and use them well.

4. WALLDO.

5. Don’t toot your own horn too much. Unless you really deserve it, of course.

6. Characters are everywhere.

7. Suck less. Win awards.

I’m going to miss the trips, the stories, and the staff. It’ll be weird being an “HTV alumni”, but at the same time I’m ready to take those lessons I’ve learned and see where they can take me. As sad as I am to leave, I’m just as excited to move ahead.

The End Begins and The End Ends

This post is a few days removed from the final leg of our trip, but I’ll do my best to recall what happened. It should be noted that I have a terrible memory. Our last day of the trip was spent in Nashville. We woke up at a leisurely ten o’ clock, and went to go get some breakfast at the (apparently) famous Pancake Pantry. They had some delicious blueberry pancakes, I must say. At this particular pancake eatery, they serve you a large slab of butter on your plate to use on your cakes. I’m not sure if it was travel fatigue finally catching up to me, but for some odd reason I thought that was ice cream. I suppose I didn’t think it was that weird to be given ice cream with my pancakes; I was pretty excited about it honestly. So, after taking a bite of hot cakes, I went in for some ice cream. I was terribly confused upon the initial tasting; I couldn’t understand why my ice cream tasted warm and slightly salty. And then it dawned on me, with the proverbial light bulb turning on in my head and whatnot. It wasn’t too traumatizing, because I used to eat plain ol’ butter as a kid. It brought back good childhood memories, memories of more carefree times when I could eat butter and not be judged for it. But I digress. After breakfast, we looked around the shops in the area, waiting for the bus to take us to the mall…and more shopping. I bought a couple of used books. Then we loaded up and headed to the Nashville mall, which was terrifyingly large. I’m talkin’ merry-go-round in the food court large. I shopped some more, spending way too much money on clothes I didn’t need, and had some dinner. Then it was a long night on the bus, driving all the way back to Springfield over night. It wasn’t too bad, time flies when you have a story due by the time you get back. We arrived back home deprived of sleep but with plenty of memories to take back with us.

Another Bus Ride. Then a Night in Nashville.

You guessed it! Most of today was spent on the bus. This particular ride seemed to take an awfully long time. Longer than the rest of my time spent on the bus, actually. I attempted to sleep for 90% of the time, and the other 10% was spent wondering why I couldn’t fall asleep. We finally got to Nashville around 5:30 p.m., then we headed downtown to see what we could see. It turned out that Rob’s good friend from the Philippines also lives in Nashville for part of the year, so we met up with him shortly after getting to the downtown area. Rob and I had a package to do, so that was our main priority. After getting some dinner, of course. We ate at a burger joint called 5 Guys, which had some of the best hamburgers and fries I’ve ever had. After that, we went looking for a story. After several failed attempts involving a dragon and an aspiring skateboarder, we decided to do a story on Rob’s friend, who’s a very talented painter and sells his work for some pretty good money. We haven’t done any editing on it yet, so the quality of the piece is still up in the air. Let’s hope it turns out well.

Gettin’ Lost in Charlotte

The majority of today was, once again, spent in the bus. We woke up early and made the trip to Charlotte, North Carolina, arriving there around 5 o’ clock. Some of us went to the mall in town, for lack of anything better to do. After looking around the various stores and shops, Rob, Chase, Kelton and I decided to head back to the hotel. We hopped on a city bus, with the hope that it would take us to where we were staying. Unfortunately, we either didn’t get on the right bus or missed our stop, because we did not end up where we needed to be. So we had to trudge back to our hotel in the freezing cold and rain, not even sure if we were headed the right way. A couple of miles and several complaints later, we made it back, considerably wetter than before. Time for bed.

Virginia Beach was Cool. I Mean, Cold.

Virginia Beach. Full of empty streets. Full of empty beaches. Full of full stomachs. Not much happened today. We arrived at Virginia Beach around 11:45, and quickly discovered that it was absolutely freezing out. Any hopes of some beach fun were shot down by the frigid weather, so most of our time was spent hanging out in the hotel. Rob and I had to do a package today, and we decided to do a little feature about feedin’ seagulls. It turned out better than I thought it would. After feedin’ the gulls, we went to feed ourselves. Everyone went to an all-you-can-eat seafood restaurant called Captain George’s. I hadn’t had much seafood before (except for the occasional Long John Silver’s) and was excited to try it out. I had crab legs, mussels, clams, and mahi mahi for the first time, and enjoyed it all. The price was a little steep, the buffet being $30, but fortunately for me my mother was willing to foot the bill. After stuffing my face with as much crab meat as I possibly could, we headed back to the hotel to relax and catch some shut-eye. Tomorrow, it’s back on the road.

The Land of Museums

Today was spent walking around Washington D.C. More specifically, walking around some of the numerous museums of D.C. We started out the day with the Newseum, which contains a history of news, whether it be in print, on the radio, on TV, or on the web. It was pretty cool, and worth the $13 bucks. The video they played about the journalists covering the 9/11 attacks nearly brought tears to my eyes. But I managed to maintain my composure. I am a man, after all. After learnin’ about the news, we went to the Holocaust Memorial Museum. It was, as you’d probably expect, a very serious experience. I didn’t learn much I didn’t already know about the horrific event, but it was still important to reflect on the dark time that humanity faced during Hitler’s Nazi regime. Next, we decided to check out the White House. Unfortunately, we didn’t see Obama, but it was still cool to see the famous building. We then went to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. It had some pretty neat stuff, at least for a nerd like me. I enjoyed the dinosaur and Ice Age fossils there. After that, some shoppin’, eatin’ and back to the hotel for rest and relaxation. As my good friend Fox McCloud would say: Mission Complete!

Monumental Night in D.C.

Today was spent editing my New York Accordion Man story while traveling to our nation’s capital. The bus ride was as relaxing and uneventful as ever, and we eventually reached D.C. around 6 o’ clock. After checking in to our hotel, we hopped back on the bus and headed into the city. Our priority for the night was to see the major monuments/memorials that the city is famous for. We saw the Lincoln Memorial, which was imposing, the Jefferson Memorial, which was inspiring, and the Washington Monument, which was larger than I thought it would be. We also paid our respects to the fallen soldiers of both the Korean and Vietnam wars, visiting both memorials. They had a quiet, sad strength about them, and reminded me once again of the immense sacrifices made for this country’s sake. The Vietnam memorial was especially gut-wrenching. To see all the names etched on that wall and think of all the lives ended so early and abruptly was extremely sad. After seeing the sights, we went to get some dinner. However, nothing was open at 11 o’ clock at night except for a CVS, so we ended up just eating junk food in our hotel room. So I had nothing to complain about. I’m lookin’ forward to spending more time in the Capital tomorrow.

New York, I Hardly Knew Thee

The Big Apple. We finally managed to make it into the city today, and it was everything I imagined it would be. We left the hotel around 9:30 a.m., getting to New York not much longer after that. Our first stop was Central Park, where we took some group photos and enjoyed the peacefulness of the park during the morning hours (our group probably disrupted that peacefulness considerably, sorry about that New Yorkers). After that, we went to China Town. This wasn’t the most exciting part of the trip for me, but it was extremely interesting watching the locals conduct business. More than a little shady, but I wasn’t one to judge. Around lunchtime I got a hot dog from one of the many stands lining the streets, something I really wanted to try. It was quite delicious, I must say. Some of us went to Ground Zero after that. We couldn’t see much of the actual site due to renovation construction, but it was still a sobering moment to think about what took place only a few feet away. After that, it was off to Battery Park. Strangely enough, no batteries. But like the Central one, this park had a calm serenity about it, with bikers and joggers everywhere. I thought about joining them, until I realized that I’m probably as out of shape in New York as I was in Springfield. We got to see the Statue of Liberty from across the Hudson there as well. After the park, we took a taxi to Times Square. It was pretty awesome; it looked like something straight out of a movie. Lots o’ billboards and bright, flashing lights. I also managed to spend lots o’ money there as well. We ended up leaving around 11:30 that night. I didn’t get to see everything on my wish list, but I had a great time all the same. I’ll definitely be making a return trip sometime.