There is something fun and captivating about starting a new novel. Discovering the names of your new characters, putting on the appropriate writing music, and writing out the first words that pop into your head...living the story, envisioning it in your head.

When I write, magic will fill the air.

Stress is something I'm constantly battling with school. I get all anxious over everything I have to do, then stress about it until I give myself a headache. It makes me irritable, down in the dumps, and heading back to that very color-less place called depression. (Just in case you didn't know: no color = bad place to be.)

After I finished classes for the day, I sat, waiting for my brother and as I sat there, I worried about all the homework that I would have to accomplish this weekend. "With all the math homework and test I have to study for, how am I going to get everything done on time??" And I headed towards that happy land of stressville when I realized I couldn't do ANY of my homework while waiting for my brother since all of it required my computer. So why bother stressing? It wasn't like I could do anything about the extra homework at the moment, so why waste my free time with stressing out?

"I wanna be happy so I'm gonna be happy." I decided. I pulled out my Journalism notebook and flipped to the middle and began a letter to my best friend. As I sat there, I listened to Coldplay's "Paradise" and enjoyed the sunshine. After a bit, I hung out with a friend, sitting outside in the sun, both of us trying to get a tan while talking about music.

And I was happy. It was relaxing and enjoyable.

And, in spite of having to go to work, then back to school to get some studio time, I managed to get home and finish not only my English and Journalism homework, but some of my math homework as well.

Take that Stressville. Booyah.

Isn't spring a beautiful and marvelous thing?

Journalism class is my favorite class this semester. Why? Because it is fun. It is interesting. It challenges me but not in a way that makes me freak out completely. It is fast-paced. Plus, the professor is awesome. It is a much different writing style for me, as I am used to the English class-style of writing 4-5 page papers, using long sentences, details, examples, etc. In Journalism, it's all about getting straight to the point, sweet and short sentences, no unnecessary words! It's been interesting, for sure.

For the first 5 or 6 weeks, we (the class) spent in training...exercises, practicing in writing articles, covering speeches, interviewing, identifying leads & news sources, reading different papers, etc.

Now, we are on the roll. For the next few weeks, we are on the "intense" stretch of writing one beat per week. While writing one beat, you have to be starting the work on the second beat. One beat down, second in progress, third in idea stage...crazy.

Today, Journalism class included: my weekly copy of the New York Times, some Dunkin Donuts coffee (caffeine is great to get you energized and ready to go up to strangers and start interviewing away. I recommend it for the nerves!), Booth (who you cannot see in this photo since you're seeing the photo through his eye.), notebook for notes-taking, many pencils and pens, and picking apart an article for practice. Fun fun. No, seriously...now the real fun begins. All six beats are to be presented to the school paper for printing consideration. Dun dun DUH.

I got a gift from one of my best friends...real dogtags!