I got the job. It's what I avoided talking about here and here - I applied for a job with the local newspaper (a twice-weekly, family-owned paper, covers most of the county), and on Thursday and Friday I found out that I got the job.

So two weeks from yesterday will be my first day there. I'll be a reporter. My beat will be Middlebury and the four towns closest to it. (Just for reference, there are two other reporters for the news department, one focused on the region to the north of here and one on the region to the south.) It'll probably be a lot of work - I'm told I'll be expected to have five to 10 stories a week*. Most of it will probably be routine stuff like the most interesting or important proposal at a select board or school board meeting - which in turn means I'll be working later hours, and probably more flexible hours as well. It'll be annoying if this regularly cuts into Drinking Liberally or Monday night Magic, but, well, that's life - and it could very well open up other possibilities, so there's no point worrying about it. Also, the weekly pay is slightly less, but on the other hand it provides insurance, unlike right now where I've been buying it seperately. So my take-home pay will be a little bit more.

Maybe I should upgrade my iPod too, or find something else to use when I go to the gym. As it is, it freezes almost without fail after 20 to 25 minutes jogging. I guess it's just that the thing can only take so much bouncing around, but it gets me through almost all my usual running time and it's still much better than a CD player so I'm not complaining. It might also have to do with battery life - I've never put this to the test, especially since I don't use it too much outside the gym these days, but it seems like the battery icon wears down faster now than when it was new. But ANYways, I'm thinking about all that because I use it with an iTalk as a tape recorder, and I'd hate to have it die in the middle of an interview...

So, I will soon be writing for a newspaper. Cool.

*Ha! Writing "five" out but "10" as a number - good thing I'm still in the habit of AP style.