This is a moment I have not been looking forward to.
After a great month off - Christmas, New Year's, a week in Las Vegas - here I am again.
Back at my computer, back to a class schedule... back to the same old grind.
I actually had to clean a thin layer of dust off of my alarm clock over the weekend and remind myself to get to bed at a reasonable hour.
This is definitely a moment I have not been looking forward to.
Or rather, was a moment I have not been looking forward to, until Monday night.
When I'm not sitting here in my office, editing stories and pontificating through my keyboard, I'm at work. Monday night, work meant a fairly swanky soiree, complete with an open bar and a lot of important guests.
At least, I thought, I'd get to end my holiday in style.
So I donned a suit and headed out, ready for a night of polite chit-chat with several of Buffalo's elite. Luckily, a few of my fellow plebian colleagues and friends were on the guest list as well.
I made my way through a few rounds of banter about the sudden winter onset, all the while internally bemoaning the dwindling hours of freedom left in my academic life, until someone popped the question.
"So how long do you have left?"
I shuddered.
Although it was a question that has thousands of connotations (i.e. "how long before you're heading home?" and "how long before you have to do a load of laundry?") I knew exactly what was being asked of me.
How long, the man in the light brown jacket, tie and glasses asked, before I graduate. And I was trying as hard as possible to not think about time and academics together.
"A while," I said, which isn't really much of an answer at all. So I added a qualifier. "But what's the rush? Right now, this is working out fine for me."
I gestured toward the bar and the hors d'oeuvres.
The chuckles from the few people around me gave me enough time to excuse myself from the conversation. For my mind, however, it was too late - thoughts of the future took me captive.
Spring semester. No breaks until March. Miserable weather. Beyond busy schedule. Etc, etc.
But intermittently, I also kept recalling that one liner I used when dodging the question. "Right now, this is working out fine for me."
I can whine and moan, but in all fairness, things aren't as bad as they sound.
Cue the holiday season epiphany. Things might be a little crazy right now, but I know it's worth it. I'd elaborate, but it's probably easier to just watch the last 15 minutes or so of "It's a Wonderful Life."
This was a moment I have not been looking forward to, but now I am.
This is my chance to build on everything I accomplished last semester.
I'm only a junior, so I don't have the senioritis/last-chance-ever emotions setting in quite yet, but this is my last year at The Spectrum.
So if I'm going to cause any trouble, now's the time.
After this issue of the paper, there are only 39 chances left. Thirty-nine chances to be a part of something big, whether it's an investigation about UB's administration or a critical look at the problems that face downtown Buffalo and beyond.
The university, the city and everyone else: you are all officially on notice. I'm not counting down the days to academic freedom; I'm taking advantage of every day I've got left.
The next semester - every issue, every story, every day - these are moments I am looking forward to.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
