A New Definition.

Apparently the definition for blog, according to my Apple dictionary app is, "a personal website or web page on which an individual records opinions, links to other sites, etc. on a regular basis."

Oops. I've seemed to stretch the term "regular" to it's antonym of "occasional."

I'd blame it on my busy schedule this semester ... actually, I will blame it on that. This semester has been exhausting. I'm so glad that it's concluded, and I can finally relax. Even though it finished more than a week ago, I'm slowly coming out of hibernation. Emphasis on slowly. It's nice to not have a set schedule for a little bit, and not be bogged down with 25 things to remember to do by Friday.

Through all the exhaustion, I actually learned things during classes and relationships with friends. I've learned about the importance of friends, and that a friendship is two-fold. You have to encourage and be real with someone for them to be like that with you. We can't simply have them do all the work, and we can't do all that for someone. It's a partnership.

In my Interpersonal Communication class, we learned how to take some of the main principles of good communication, and relate it to relationships. It's mind-boggling how many ways there are to bring people down. In communication terms, this is called disconfirming communication. The book listed many ways someone can put down another person. Some of these terms might not be as clear as some, so I would encourage you to look them up.

•  Verbal abuse
•  Complaining 
•  Impervious responses
•  Interrupting  
•  Irrelevant responses
•  Tangential responses
•  Impersonal responses
•  Ambiguous responses
•   Incongruous responses 

As there are these nine ways to disconfirm someone, there are three main ways to confim someone through communication. 

Recognition - This is the first step toward communication. Simply showing someone that you are confirming their existence through language. 

Acknowledgement - This is through confirming what they say and do as well as how they feel. You are responding to them talking to you, and responding that they have feelings instead of putting your feelings ahead. 

Endorsement - This is showing a person that his or her feelings are valid. You are encouraging them to have healthy feelings in the situation without saying that they are dumb for feeling that way. 

Sure this is a very objective way to view confirming communication, but it's still a good basis to build off and to apply to your own life. Since there are less ways to build someone up, it makes me realize that doing so is supposed to be easy. We are supposed to, and we created to encourage. However, the sin in our lives has developed countless ways to tear someone down. 

As I conclude this blog, I want you to develop a new definition of communication. It should be as confirming as we can make it. In reality, it's hard to do this even though it shouldn't. We tend to mask our insecurities by putting someone else down because it feels good to be in control. We don't think before we speak. I challenge you to encourage someone this holiday season because we never know if someone needs it, and you might be the person to turn someone's day around. 

 

I have a blog?

As I'm sitting here doing homework, I randomly remembered about this virtual notepad some call a blog. I remembered how I wanted to write throughout the summer about my job as well as my life. However, this didn't happen. So, why do I think about it now? I don't know. Maybe it's because I want to take a break from homework. Or maybe I do have something to say. I'd say it's 60/40, and up to your discretion to decide which is which.

The year so far has been an adventure, to say the least. I've seen a fare share of conflicts between my friends as well as the promising growth of said friends. I am also learning more and more about how a newspaper is made. But most importantly, I am figuring out that I don't have it all together, and am comforted by God every single day.

A little over a month ago, my Grandpa passed away after a battle with cancer. He had cancer for over a year, but the last couple of weeks took him fast. I had many hard phone conversations with my mom leading up to that final call. It happened. I had to be home the next day for the funeral the following morning. This meant my parents figuring out plane tickets, and me figuring out projects and homework in about 5 hours. When I was home, it was tough, but good to see family. When it was over, it felt like a blur. Did that really happen? Did I just lose my second Grandpa in less than a year?

Through all of this, it has taken me a while to work through it, and I think I am still doing it each day. And this is only possible through the power of God.

Through all of these things, I am realizing that no matter what I do in my life, I need to love God and then love people. I need to still love God even though of loss in my life. I need to love people even if it might be tough. I can focus on my classes and my job, and do great in both, but if I don't learn how people work and have faith in God, it won't matter.

So, I don't really have a theme for this blog post. I guess you can perceive it in any way you wish. Just know that through the busyness of life, life can get lost. You can totally forget about people around you and their feelings if you are focused on your self. Even if horrible things happen to you, that doesn't mean that it's all about you. Through it, you can learn and grow.

Friendship.

On Wednesday I came back to St. Louis for a couple of weeks off of work because of away games and a family vacation. In the few days that I have been home, I have learned about and appreciated friendship.

I have learned that true friendship will never go away no matter what clouds it. True friendship brings rough patches that we need to work through to strengthen our bond. It forces us to break from the comfortability that we create. I'm saying these things because a broken friendship was finally resolved. Miscommunication hurt us, and I assumed things instead of actually talking about it. I'm thankful for my friend to take the initiative to talk. It reveals my friend's true motivation and heart. I appreciate that my friend was the bigger person in the mess. I am so thankful for my friend, and I hope we can continue to grow more.

On a lighter note, I also appreciated video chatting with some of my best friends today. Through our joking and embarrassing screenshots of each other, we revealed how much we care. If we didn't care, we wouldn't take the time to chat. I am so thankful for them, and am so blessed to be a part of their lives. Especially during the summer, seeing their faces and hearing their voices is refreshing. I can definitely see how we've grown and continue to grow in our relationships. They're the best.

That's my heart-warming blog of the day brought to you by Hallmark. I'm not sure when I'll write again. I suppose when something else happens. Keep reading, and I'll keep informing.

Day Off...Nah!

Remember in my last post when I said it was my day off. Just kidding! Neither of the other interns showed up, so my boss called me in. I had to complete the pre-game stuff in less time than before, but I got I finished it in good timing. This really goes to show how easy it is, but I like to think that it revealed how determined I am as a person, maybe. So a day off didn't happen, but I'm actually happy I had to work. Due to that, I get a day off today. A REAL day off because I know the other intern will be there. My family is coming down today for a early Mother's Day lunch, so if I had to work, I could only see them for a little bit. I'm glad I can now spend it with them.

In an unrelated note, I found out you could look at pageviews for the blog, and I am surprised to see so many! (More than five is pretty good in my mind). I didn't think that many people viewed my blog that often. It might turn out that half the viewers are weird people that just look through every blogger account out there. Oh well haha. So, if you have looked at my blog and you have one of your own, please give me the link. I like reading what other people have to say because every person has their own story and way of presenting it. Some might through pictures, I do through just simply words. Well, that's all from me. Thanks for reading!

Day Two and Three.

Today, I have the day off, which is quite refreshing! So, I want to update you guys on day two and three.

On my second day on the job, I thought the other intern would already be there for me to shadow her, but she wasn't. So, I did my first pre-game duty. It's not that difficult as I stated in my previous post. Edit the script, schedule, and staple 200 packets together. The other intern did eventually show up for the game and post-game wrap. She was hesitant about writing the wrap, so I helped her and gave her some pointers for her writing. In the end, it looked pretty good. It was a good feeling to help someone out using my own knowledge on the subject. It helped break away some barriers that I put up going into my job next year at the newspaper. I have learned things, and I am willing to help others out with that knowledge I have acquired. I can actually edit, and edit well for next year. This is something that I keep worrying about. Will I actually be able to handle it and become a good, considerate leader? I hope that I am making strides toward that.

As for game three, I was on my own the whole entire time! It went well, and I feel like I have learned a lot so far. I started on my wrap earlier, and then had it finished in good timing after the game. I'm at it again tomorrow! I'll blog again next week, maybe Tuesday or Wednesday.

First day on the job.

Well, today I started my summer internship with the Springfield Cardinals baseball team. The day started about 2:30 p.m. at the stadium. I shadowed one of the current interns, who has been working there since the season began. He gave me the run-down of the day. First, I work on the game script for the PA announcer as well as the schedule for the game. I then distribute those to different personnel around the stadium. Once this is completed, the fun begins. I staple between 250-400 media packets together for the team store. I actually did that today. That took a little over an hour. Once that's finished, I make sure everything else is a go so we can commence the game. The two hours before the game is probably the best part. I eat one meal that the Cardinals staff brings into the office. After that, I head up to the radio box and get ready for the game. With an hour or so to go, I walk into the press box and eat more food! Unfortunately, it was the same meal, but food is food. Once the game begins, I start keeping score, writing down key moments and even tweet a little. My boss, Jeff, told me to write the post-game wrap up. This sums up the game and is later posted online. This part was the most difficult, especially since there were 17 runs scored in the game. That was a lot to write about! I started writing it about the sixth inning and finished up an half and hour after the last pitch. Overall, I enjoyed my first day and hope for better ones later in the summer. Tomorrow I head over to the stadium at 9 a.m. to shadow the other intern, and then Thursday I am on my own. I'll write again on Thursday updating on my first real experience as an intern.

P.S. Here is a link to what I wrote today. (Don't mind the ",p>" in the second the last paragraph. I didn't include that.)
http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120501&content_id=30163446&vkey=news_t440&fext=.jsp&sid=t440

Just Wait.

I started this blog last summer hoping to journal some of my thoughts for friends to see and check up on how my life was after freshmen year of college. After three posts, I got carried away with my summer and never returned to the blog. My title was "Perpetual Motion," and I mainly whined about how my summer was rotten due to unemployment, monotony, blah blah blah. Today, I decided to return. I first noticed I actually had pageviews, then I changed the title and deleted my first three posts. They were my past. I have grown so much since freshman year. Stronger relationships, a steady job, and a little dash of hope for the future. This next Tuesday, May 1, I begin a summer internship with the Springfield Cardinals minor league baseball team. Working in the sports media, baseball especially, is my dream. Through this internship, I'll see what happens behind the words of articles and press releases. It will be a time for me to grow. I need that growth for my upcoming job as managing editor for our university newspaper. This will be my first leadership role outside of class projects. I am excited, but mainly nervous because I don't feel qualified to do it. I wanted sports editor, but this opportunity appeared on a silver platter. In some ways, I do not deserve these two opportunities because they seemed too easy to obtain. Finding out and receiving the internship happend during three days over spring break. For managing editor, I applied because no one else did, and I was notified that I would have an interview about three days before. One principle that I have learned from these experiences is God does everything according to his plan and timing. If someone would have told me last year that I would be managing a newspaper and interning with a baseball team, I would not believe them at all. My past failed job attempts do not matter now. I had to go through them to get to this point. So if you are sitting there reading this and wondering why it sucks and why the future looks grim, just remember that it needs to happen. You need to go through challenges. You need to fail at things. If you don't fail and don't question your life, you cannot grow. I have gone through a lot of growing this semester, and I am surely not done yet. I still have about 95% more to go until I am somewhat mature. I do know that even though failures happen, this does not mean that you ARE a failure. God would not create you to be a failure. You have a plan even if it seems ten miles down the road. Just wait. Just wait.