My whole weekend. Reader Beware - it's long.

As I sit here watching a "Family Guy" sploof of the original "Star Wars", now labeled "A New Hope", I can't help but think about how well the weekend has been.

It is now Monday. 12:15 a.m. A very good reason to look over the past weekend, with it being said and done.

I tested myself this weekend. And I succeeded. I found out what it takes to be a journalist in other fields besides just writing.

When we arrived Thursday afternoon, I found myself looking through our packages, planning out the weekend. Making sure I knew where I wanted to be at what time.

Night One was Page Design with Jorge Medina, enlightening me on how he designes a page.

The funny thing is that I thought our ideas were alike.

Little did I know that I can run stories down a page and run photos smaller. I looked at how other people design there pages, not make it so blank. Spice it up, don't run the same column format. Find a way to spread two stories with a photo.

Give the reader a chance to compare two stories at the top of your page. Run tall photos. Shrink the photo and find a way to fit it between two stories you feel are top of the page status.

The design competition was awkward. Putting myself in a competition like that gave me a good idea of what I need to do.

Some of the comments on my pages read: very clean dummy. bad photo placement. should use Tim Harrower Designers Hand Book. a lot of good cover design ideas. need a dominant photo.

From those comments is where I need to take criticism and run with it. Let it help me. Tell me just what I need to do.

Of course, we had El Torito earlier in the day for dinner.

Day two. The page design competition only took four designers. I was not chosen, but I was able to focus on other things at the time being.

A workshop with Marcus Thompson, beat writer for the Golden State Warriors at the Contra Costa Times. He informed us of where he came from and how risky his stories are.

The way he led into his story was amazing.

The sad part was it involved guns the same day four Oakland police officers were shot in a standoff. He had to change his lead, but it was a damn good one.

I was still trying to figure out the sporting event that we would be covering, but everyone stayed quiet about it, only telling me it would involved feet and a head. Soccer.

While still in the lecture, I learned that you cannot be boring. You need to do your research, learn your sports. And that is just what I did. When I found out just what we were covering, I got on my Iphone, but that was not until later.

Not knowing a sport is not a reason to not cover it! You can study stats. Find out who to look at before you begin. Take the time to look at what you need to know. Watch the game closely. Select your qotes wisely.

NEVER give the reader a reason to stop. I feel like I have already been taught this, but this lecture was an extreme reinforcement of what I learned.

You cant give up. Just what my family use to tell me.

You cant be afraid to criticize accurately, and do not be limited by ear of upsetting someone. TAKE A RISK! Critical analysis gives your story depth and your readers depend on that.

You can save a crappy story with a good ending, but end your story how you started it. Tie it all back in, and wrap it up.

But think before you write.

The ride to the sporting event was quiet. A 20 minute bus ride to Sacramento State. When we exited the bus, we were informed that the subject of the competition would be an intersquad scrimmage. The rules left me a lot to play with. Word for word, Paul McLeod said "You can take any angle you want."

GREAT! With soccer being in the offseason, and this even being a spring scrimmage, I had an idea of just what I wanted to talk about in my story, and I knew my questions before the event started, thanks to doing research.

While I care not to bore you with the soccer game (you can read my story if/when I get it back), I asked the questions I wanted and used information others gained to make my story that much better.

The bus ride back I stressed just a bit. Running out of batteries and a half hour of quotes to listen to. Trying to get down the good ones while I had time on the bus was key. I got just what I needed to, and when we got back to the hotel, I got batteries and calmed myself - bathroom break.

The competition was just like a test. Lets see what you can do. The typing maching I was using had a broken button that is key for this type of machine, a right arrow.

Editing with these things can be a pain. No excuses made I got to writing. It went just like an open note test. Use everything you learned and the information obtained to write a great story. And that is just what I did. I can write sports. I have complete faith in my sports writing, and I knew I would do great. I found out later in the weekend my passion for sports writing would pay off.

Sports took up most of my day Friday, but I ate enough to keep fed and drank a Red Bull during my day to keep myself awake. The night consisted of SportsCenter and sleep.

Day three was probably the most interesting day of the weekend.

Breakfast in the morning with PJ. With limited time, I ate as much as I could of what I knew would be good, with the opportunity to leave as quick as I could with a small buffet consisting of cereal, yogurt, hash browns, and pancakes (just the first day, not the second).

I found my way to a Broadcast News Writing Tutorial by a producer from Fox 40 News in Sacramento, Kate Eby.

I found out this weekend that broadcast is something I am very interested in. I wanted to find out what writing for broadcasting is all about, and now I want to practice more, but first I need to find a college that is good in broadcast.

I learned a lot of things that in the competition, but was unaware of how much shorter I needed to be. I am very glad my adviser Kate McLaughlin looked it over. I just need more practice, that's all. Find a way to get a class to write a broadcast story about a sporting event. Or turn it in and see how much better I can get.

Tell me what you think Kate!

The competition was interesting, seeing how we could cut down such a long story and turn it into a brief tidbit. The downer was no sports were involved and no notes.

That was the problem.

After the competition I mediated a student election. That was the most interesting part. Seeing how many people think from all parts of California, reassuring me that Northern and Southern California are two different states, but also reassuring me that the two sides can agree on many things. Met a very nice female at the meeting, she capped the weekend off greatly. That is a whole nother story. =)

From there, we got ready for the awards. Took a nap, freshened my self up, but not before what I felt was a mandatory editorial board meeting where we found out how our newspaper was thought of by Medina, who designes 160 pages per week for the Orange County Register.

The awards ceremony was slow to start. I knew sports was going to be the last award presented. With Kate's comments, I knew my chances were slim in the event, so I focused more on watching the others around win while I waited patiently and applauded after an untasteful chicken marsala.

The dinner, and conversation at the table was fun, but when the award for sports arrived, I sunk my head, closing my eyes, almost in a completely disengaged state, trying not to focus on the words out of the speakers mouth as he went down the list of four Honorable Mentions and up from fourth place to first. While I could hear every other winner being named, when my name was called, I could not hear a word.

First Place: Nick Ingram

That brings tears to my eyes.

Knowing that all the hard work is beginning to pay off. Working so hard and not knowing what I wanted to do, to being very good at something you always wanted to do.

How can I not feel happy for myself?

During the awards I was texting with the afore mentioned female. She kept me optimistic about the award, reminding me that I knew I did well, which was all that mattered.

If I didn't do well, I knew I tried my best, but to achieve first place is an extremely rewarding feeling.

I can hold my head high, and remind myself that I kick ass at sports writing.

I can write any sport, with research done.

AND SO CAN YOU!

After the awards ceremony I congratulated friends and talked, just reminding people that you can't give up.

Things happen and it takes you a while to figure out what you want to do, but you really need to give it your all.

The same can be applied to life.

Don't let the things you can't control alter drag you down.

Just go with it and take it as it comes. I did that in covering soccer. How would I feel if I didn't write a story about it, just because I have a small knowledge of soccer?

That award will give me reassurance that I can cover any sport and write a damn fine story.

It's not that I feel overconfident, but when you go up against more than 50 other writers, some of whom I have seen win before, I know that I have what it takes to compete for the top.

I loved how I got such huge amounts of positive reassurance before we left and while we were there. I loved how it felt to be rewarded for everything that I put on a two and a quarter pieces of paper.

The night was spent with acquaintances and the aforementioned female, spending the rest of the weekend with her before a 6 a.m. pickup on a 7:20 a.m. flight.

The cab we originally were waiting on was running 20 minutes late.

Great! Deathly tired and your ride is late, I just wanted to go to the airport and try and get aboard as quick as possible to go to sleep.

The funny thing to end the trip was catching the end of a "Smurfs" episode on the Boomerang channel, which mainly plays older cartoons, such as "The Flintstones", "The Jetsons", and "Tom & Jerry".

My experience on the plane was fast, as I slept the entire time. WHen I got home, I began my laundry, but was unable to finish it as I quickly went to sleep.

What I forgot to do was set my alarm!

I was scheduled to work at 3 p.m., but I slept too late.

Waking up at 4:41 p.m. was not what I planned on doing. Two hours late! Never have I done that. But all is well. I arrived at work shortly after 5 and began a 5:40 minute shift.

After getting home at just after 11, I found myself on the couch, unable to move as I fell asleep.

After waking up a little bit after 12 a.m. I knew I had to go into my room and begin my homework.

Lori -I know you asked for just one page, but I had an amazing time at JACC and I would love to do it again if i could be involved with the magazine and somehow compete in broadcast with some help-

Issue Two - Inspired to pull through.

So issue two is being sent to the printer as we speak, but the process did not happen without a few mishaps. Our original intention was to run ten pages, with a photo essay for the arts page and three sports pages. The final result ended with the photo essay page cut and a features page cut, and each sports page wound up having a half page ad.

After Issue One, I felt comfortable. I felt as if the writers under me had everything they needed to get stories in early. Apparently I was wrong, except for a few writers. I received text messages from each new writer, informing me that their respective stories would not be in until after the original deadline. Hoping it would not be too far past the deadline, I remained calm, knowing that I could edit stories and get them on pages, ready to design and get edited more.

But when these stories did not reach me until, at the earliest, noon on Wednesday, I was freaking out inside.

I do remember being a new writer on staff, and I do remember turning my stories in late, but I knew that it had to get done. I see a lot of potential in these writers, but one thing they need is to work A LOT harder on these stories, getting started quickly and getting the interviews done early while knowing what angle to write their stories about.

It takes a lot to be a dedicated journalist. I had no idea what journalism was all about, until my second semester on the staff when I took on three different sports beats, men's and women's water polo and football.

But I stuck through it. I knew what had to get done. I set up my interviews at a set time every day, went from one office to another, one practice to another, sometimes staying on campus until 9 p.m. on Mondays just to get a single interview because I knew my stories had to be in that night.

When I got home, I would make something to eat, transpose my notes (before I found a much easier way), watch SportsCenter and write each of my stories. When I got to school on Wednesday after working all day Tuesday, I would either work on a few things or start on another story.

This was a method I grew very fond of. Setting my interviews in stone so that I could budget my time; making sure people knew who I was on campus; making sure the athletes and coaches knew who I was and what my purpose was at their respective practices.

The funny thing is I don't remember how I was able to budget my time so well, but it happened.

Now, in my second sememster as Sports Editor, I recall how dedicated I was, not wanting to give up.

Today was one of those days that I reflected back on why I am so dedicated to what I am doing: I want to make my family proud.

Growing up, always watching sports, my family told me I would be great for a job in sports, but I always wanted to play, not knowing what else was there for me. Now, I am very happy to be a part of sports, especially covering the games that I love.

Death, Family,

This may be tough to stomach, but I am not afraid of death.
Throughout my life, I have seen death all around me. Less than three weeks after my 14th birthday, my mom died of gastric cancer. After graduating college, a few good friends from high school died in car accidents.
The death that struck me the hardest occurred in 2005. A very good friend of mine, someone I thought of as a brother to me, killed himself. Reason still unknown, but able to imagine how Bronson could have done such a thing still remind me of what might have went on in his mind before he took his life.
After Bronson, both of my grandmothers died just over a year apart, one a few days before my 23rd birthday and the other almost a year later.
After 2006, death has been something I have used to try and make friends and others feel better about their situation.
March 5, 2009, death crept its way back into my life. This time, taking a great uncle of mine, Paul Schustek.
Uncle Paul’s death was not something that took the family by surprise. His health was declining slowly, but surely. You could see a slow progression over the course of 20 years in his health. Multiple open-heart surgeries and still the man lived his life to the age of 82.
Recently I caught myself mourning Uncle Paul’s death. What I have tried to drill into my head time after time, especially after my mom passed on, is knowing that it is better think of things in a positive aspect.
We should not mourn our dead relatives, but we should enjoy their life, knowing that in their time on this earth, they enjoyed themselves and lived their life the best way possible.
If I was to die today, I would know that I lived my last few days working the hardest I could, doing everything I could knowing my time was not wasted.
But this was not always my outlook on life.
Not until quitting a job and starting another did I realize this, but I could have used it earlier in my life.
For four years, I feel as if I slaved away, working at a family owned pizzeria in Torrance. Overworked and underpayed, I wore my emotions on my sleeve. I was cranky, unhappy, upset with myself, upset with my life, and found myself having nightmares about my job.
My boss and I got along fairly well at the beginning of the four years, but with both of us being as stubborn as we were, we constantly butted heads on numerous things, from the pizzeria to sports to politics.
As time went on, we agreed less and less, as I was unhappy with the situation months before I took my leave. For reasons that will remain unknown to the reader, I left my post as manager, choosing to take a pay cut instead and begin working for Trader Joe’s.

I didn't mind the pay cut one bit. I am now in a job with great benefits, tons of room for advancement, and a schedule that allows me to keep going all the time. Nine months into it, and my second semester as Sports Editor for El Camino's Union newspaper, I feel confident that I am handling everything on my plate, and death is just something that would stop that.

I try and keep a positive outlook on things. I get a lot of negative people coming into my line at work. It is tough when they try and drag you down, but you cant let them.

I often ask myself, "Is it that hard to just be nice?" I know, I know, a bold statement, but seriously? Why the f**k do people have to be so rude sometimes?

Take a deep breath and deal with the things that matter more.
Family.

Thats what it all boils down to. They push you and they push you, but to tell you to keep going. Dont give up. Keep up the good work.

Loving words of encouragement from family, one who just recently passed away.

Paul Schustek was a great uncle of mine. Full blood Irish marries a full blood Sicilian.
I smiled at the thought of times spent watching football or basketball at Uncle Paul's house, while Aunt Loretta cooked. After Christmas, on the way home. Anytime, when mom was alive, we would stop by. She is like another mother to me.

With Uncle Paul's passing I got to think more of Aunt Loretta. And my two grandfathers whose spouses passed away in 2005 and 2006.

They have lived a long life. Seen many things during their time. Shared many joys and many sorrys. And through the years, they stook by each other, creating a family. Creating people who interact well with others. (Maybe now I am just babbling, but this is my blog!)

My mom always put family first. I knew this looking back at how she was when she was alive. Every other weekend we were doing something. Our grandparents lived closed, so it was easy to do this. Our grandparents were involved in our lives at a very early age. Always picking us up from school, helping us with sporting events, letting us stay at their houses for extended periods of time and other stuff.

Family is a vital part of my life. I know it is time for more death, but I know that those close enjoyed their time on earth, in every way they wanted to. As Frank Sinatra once sang, "I did it my way!"

Frank just so happens to be my grandfather Nick's favorite singer. I could go on and on about him, and I want to. Always able to talk baseball with me, no matter what. Got me really interested in baseball movies with my mom, such as "The Natural", "Field of Dreams", and others.

The memories are vast, and the times with grandpa Nick, full blooded Nablidan (grandparents born in Naples, Italy), were great. Camping memories. Sleeping at his mom's house on the floor in Arizona. San Fransisco. The Gilroy Garlic Festival. Cherry picking out somewhere near Antelope Valley. Fishing on a little boat on Lake Isabella. Watching countless amounts of Atlanta Braves baseball, because he didnt care for the Dodgers, like grandma Jay loved.

She was born in Massachusetts, and I dont know how she got to New York. Full blooded Sicilian, older sister to my aunt Loretta. I dont recall how many siblings she had, but it was at least 4 total. She apparently was a really good bowler. Dont recall an average, but I did see a lot of trophies in the garage and on the wall when I was a kid. I did hear that grandpa did roll a 300 once.

-End-

Issue one, said and done!

I never thought I would get it done. When I was told I had three pages to do, I thought it would be cakework. Then I thought of all the work I had to do. It was not easy at all. Editing stories, making sure my writers were on the same page as I was, covering a Softball game tuesday, designing pages, placing ads, placing pictures (we had ideas but only one made it). The one question is why I procrastinated? I know exactly why. I know how to push myself. I know when it is time to get it done. Of course, I waited until the last minute to do it, but somehow it got done. Over the past two days, I could see my body reacting to the tension I was putting on myself. Going to sleep around 3 a.m., waking up around 9 a.m., only to hit the snooze button and sleep for another hour, which really did not make a difference. I thought math class in the morning would be easy, but its tougher than I expected. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, the last time I took a math class was FIVE years ago! It doesn't get easier. When I finished around 8:30 p.m. wednesday night, I was relieved. Just like last semester, I view the first issue as the hardest. Of course, three pages is a new step for me, and it got done. The only thing I dread is knowing that I did not get to publish all of the spring athletics with all of the pages I had. Two stories did not come in, and I had one extra story. Somehow I had taken on more ads, and I had to use them. It is a good thing I took them all, because I really needed them.