Six weeks and counting...

Every day I look at my calendar and count down the days of when I am graduating. 44 days left! As happy as I am about graduating, I am finally realizing that I am going to miss being a college student. There is so much free time and I take advantage of every minute of it. But there is still plenty of time left, so I have to make it count.
My classes this semester are so easy, I'm getting bored. Although I really like my Sports Writing class. David Cataneo tells a lot of cool stories about athletes and coaches that he covered over his career as a sports writer. He tells a lot of stories about former Red Sox outfielder Mike Greenwell, former third baseman Wade Boggs and former Celtics great Robert Parrish. It is so surreal to hear stories about athletes my dad looked up to. Whenever I tell my dad those stories, he is always surprised and excited to hear about them. What that class provides me is not just learning how to become a better sports writer but believing in myself. Confidence is an issue for me sometimes and that is something I need to overcome. Throughout my whole UNH career as a journalism, all I hear from current journalists and editors is that the journalism job market is going down the tubes and we should have a backup plan. Come on, your role is to encourage us to carry the torch that you handed down to us and have us report the news. We are the future of journalism and you guys are afraid of keeping your jobs. If you are worried about the future, at least say some good things about today's journalism that could be beneficial, not all bad things.
Speaking of journalism, the UNH journalism program had a special guest, Dana Jennings, a 1980 UNH graduate on Wednesday. He works at the New York Times as an editor and also used to worked for the Concord Monitor. He seems like he really enjoys being is journalist, which is something I need to hear. The main reason why he was there was because he read a memoir about his life during prostate cancer. I don't know the title or how many pages there are, but what I do know is that it is powerful, emotional and breath-taking. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer on April of 2008 and it seemed like it was a very difficult time of his life. Jennings explained when you have prostate cancer, you experience hormonal things like a woman, hot flashes, really emotional but fortunately does not get a period. At one point it was stage 3 cancer, which it could have taken his life. It took about a year for the cancer to go into remission but still has to have a checkup with the doctor every three months. He wrote a blog about writing about his cancer and it was a big hit. Jennings explained that too many people write about having cancer instead of writing about how having cancer changes you. What I learned is whenever you are facing adversity you have the urge to become a better writer. You write about all of your thoughts and it surprises you how good your writing can be. I felt like I improved as a writer when I studied abroad. I know that I am not the greatest writer in the world but what I do know is that I will keep trying to improve and someday I will be the best because I am extremely competitive and will do anything to win.
The Red Sox season is finally underway, which means my life is finally relevant again. They did lose two out of three to the Yankees which stinks. The good thing is that they have 159 games to go and have plenty of time to improve. I am really excited of how this team develops since they are built for pitching and defense this year. I bet that Red Sox fans and the Boston sports media is already complaining about the first three games but I'm not. I get to hear the crack of the bat, see hitters get called out on strikes, see controversial calls and see awesome diving catches. This will be my my 12th season watching the Red Sox. It's hard to believe it has been that long. I am just stoked that baseball is back!