The Big Time, Except Not

Note: This blog was started on Monday, but not published until today.

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Today has contained so much stuff. I'll start from the beginning.

I woke up, went to breakfast with some friends, and headed off to my first class, Media Issues. The class was awkward, because no one sat on the front row or answered the professors questions. I think the class will be good, we just have to get over the initial beginning slump. Maybe that's how all new things are in life.

Next, I raced back to my dorm, changed into black dress pants and polo and grabbed the video equipment that the JMC gave me, and I went to Moody Coliseum and filmed the Inauguration of our 11th president of ACU.

Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that.

Well, on the Thursday of Welcome Week, we had a department dinner at Betty Rose's. The faculty member sponsoring each student group (the Optimist, Ad/PR stuff, etc) stood up, gave a short shpeel, and encouraged anyone who was interested in their program to come talk to them. A teacher named Cade White stood up and said, if anyone wants to be a full time videographer, come talk to him. Of course, I was interested. I gave him my contact information, and that was that.

Then, on Sunday afternoon, I got a text from a guy that works with Cade that said "meet me and Cade at the JMC at 3." I went, sat around for a bit while they filmed the ACU News broadcast, and then talked to Cade. He got right down to it--he asked me if I wanted to shoot the inauguration on Monday. I said sure, of course I would! So he gave me a camera (Canon AH X1), a tripod, and a wireless mic. As I thought about the shoot throughout the rest of the day, I got nervous. What if I mess up? What if I don't get any good shots? What if everybody stares at me? What if I fail? These questions kept creeping up in my head again and again. I decided it would be best to familiarize myself with the camera, so I grabbed it and a load of laundry and made my way over to Uncle Jim's house.

We messed around with the camera until I felt comfortable, and then we came up with the idea of filming me talk about my first week of school, so I ran back to the dorm, grabbed my camera, and we filmed that. During this night of filming, I communicated my nervousness about the shoot to Uncle Jim. He reminded me that life without risks won't see desired rewards. To take risks involves chance, but it often provides results that overshadow the possibility of failure. That made me feel better about the shoot.

So, back to today. I changed clothes and went to Moody, and was instructed to get random shots before it started. Then, right before it began, I set my tripod up on the platform of the stairs that lead to the high seats. And I shot the whole processional. I realized during the shoot that I was relaxed and wasn't nervous. I concluded that shooting makes me at ease. Maybe that's an indicator that I was made to do fim. Or maybe not.

I think that's all that happened on Monday; however, I can't remember because it's Wednesday. But I think that's a pretty big deal, to have the job of filming the first day of school, on your first day of school, as a freshman.