Day 74 (Thursday, August 24)


I gave my bed to Renee and I slept at Adalberto United Methodist Church last night as I continued to keep my eyes and ears open to what might happen w/ the Elvira Arellano story. She's still locked in at the church defying U.S. Immigration officials after not turning herself in for deportation.

I came home early in the morning to shower and get ready for work. During my shift, Rebecca flew in and got settled into my spacious second-floor setup at the house. The New York and Las Vegas trio was at it all over again.

A few months ago when we discussed the possibility of having my good friends stay w/ me during the weekend I was very scared. Back then I was in a situation where anything I did was scrutinized by a certain female interest. I was worried of having two of my female friends stay w/ me because it would create problems with the girlfriend.

Nevermind that Rebecca, Renee and I (along w/ many other of my SPJ friends) are very good friends who enjoy each other's company while sharing the lover for the same career choice, their stay would have still drawn some uncertainty to an already tough situation.

Gladly, I could say that since I have no one to answer to these days, I was happy to provide a place to stay for my good friends. What's funny is that today I did not even get a chance to see Rebecca and Renee, so even their stay here is not all about us spending every single second w/ each other. I worked all day and then headed over to the church to hang out. After that I went to Anna's. She cooked dinner for me and we tried to watch Monster's Inc. and Shrek, but I fell asleep in the process. Woke up when it was too late to see my friends. By then, Rebecca and Renee had toured the city on their own, gone to dinner and went to bed.

I am very proud of my friends. That's because they were able to do things on their own and not rely on me or anyone, for that matter. They took care of business. They are w/omyn who do not need testosterone to get them through a new city. Rebecca and Renee found their way around a town where they weren't too familiar w/ anything. They did not need help from anyone and it's probably the journalistic intuition that they have. We journalists just make things happen and don't allow anyone to do it for us. I am glad to know that I fell asleep and didn't leave my friends stranded. They took care of business. Nice!

Today's work schedule was cool. I was able to work on some research and grab some audio clips at the church for my multimedia package I am now doing on Elvira Arellano.

I also went to a local pretzel factory where Gov. Rod Blagojevich had a news conference to talk about his plans to encourage people to open up small business in Chicago.

© The Associated Press

I must admit that I can't wait for the weekend. I have not been sleeping much lately because of my time spent at the church. I was really drowsy when shooting Gov.

Blagojevich and I was on the verge of falling asleep there. Oh oh!

Thankfully, I was able to stay awake. Made my photos and continued w/ my day.

Must get some sleep! SOON!

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