Day 1 (Sat., Oct. 15)

It felt good spending the last 36 hours in Los Angeles after my flight from Florida on Thursday. I got a chance to do some real cool things like see my family for the first time since May. I attended b-day celebration for my niece and nephew at a kids' party place featuring a dancing and singing mouse. It was a lot of fun. I also made it over to CSUN and got all the information I needed in order to see where I stand. I am so close to graduation, I can taste it. I will be filing for graduation soon. Woohoo!!

Meanwhile, I am still a college student and I get to enjoy some of the things that come w/ the territory. So, I got up early this morning and headed over to Burbank Airport where I rented a car and drove to Las Vegas for the Society of Professional Journalists National Convention. Being back in the West Coast gave me so much happiness. I spent the morning driving into the Mojave Desert and I did it all while enjoying the company of the one and only, Cookie Monster. He was there last year when I went to New York, so he had to make the trip w/ me this time again.

Things have changed since I have been to Vegas. The road is finally up to date and there is no longer construction on the highway to Vegas. That's always a good thing because I made it to Vegas in just 3.5 hours. Not bad for a 280-mile drive. I love the drive from Los Angeles to Vegas. It's very pretty on the high desert. It's also nice to see mountains once again.

Upon my arrival to Vegas, I headed into my first The Working Press meeting of the week. And it was all business from there. After meeting 10 of the other interns, we had a lunch break. I headed over to lunch w/ Emily Goodson of Texas Christian University. She will be doing photography for TWP and we had to get to know each other and go over the game plan. She seems to know what she's doing and I am glad. Last year I was fortunate enough to work w/ Lisa Johnson, an experienced TWP photographer that made the process very smooth. I was hoping to have that this year again. Walking on "The Strip" in Las Vegas was cool. It has been a while since I had walked the street. Suddenly, I remembered how deceptive Vegas is. You think something is close by because you see the building, but the walk to it is never short enough. After lunch, we had our second meeting. This time to set the plan for the first newspaper, which we will be publishing 29 hours after that meeting started. Sure, it's quite a quick deadline, but that's what journalism is all about. That's the reason why the organization chose the top 12 students in the country, because it takes a special kind to do something like this. I am the only person that was on staff last year, so it's all brand new to everyone else. So, it's going to be interesting how these kids hold up.

After the second meeting I met Clayton Woullard of Metro State College of Denver. He will be my roommate for the week. He seems cool and I think we are going to get along. Soon after we were done setting tomorrow's game plan, I was off w/ Amanda Kawalek of The Ohio State University to do a story on Downtown Las Vegas or "Old Vegas". It was fun times since we had to take the 301 bus to Downtown Vegas while following around a few SPJ members who went on the search for The Fremont Street Experience. Everything was good but I could not believe how long it took the bus to take the six-or-so-mile drive from the Aladdin to Freemont Street. It was a Saturday night, so The Strip was more like a parking lot rather than a boulevard. Being at The Fremont Street Experience was fun. It seems that people have a lot more fun in Old Vegas than in The Strip. Here are some photos from there:

The bus ride back to the hotel was worse than expected. It was filled to capacity and everyone squeezed into the bus as it went into bumper-to-bumper traffic. It was annoying but then it became cool because there was all kinds of people. I met two girls (hmm., I never did get their name) from Oklahoma State University, who were on vacation. They made conversation w/ me because they saw the cameras and wanted to know what kind of photography I do. So after a few minutes of conversation, I shot their photo just before they got off the bus in front of Treasure Island.

I am proud of the way I ended my day. I went upstairs and relaxed in the hotel room. For the first time I had avoided those slots and roulette tables. I couldn't believe that I was able to stay away. I guess I am really determined to work while here. Wow! Tomorrow the convention starts and I need to get some well-deserved sleep. It's time to get serious, just like in New York.

- Main - Tomorrow