Fill up your coffee cup and take an ice cold shower because it’s newsroom night, and you’re probably already sleep-deprived.
1.) “I should have eaten more at dinner.”
It’s safe to say that just about every editor regrets their dinnertime selections within the first few hours in the newsroom. The stresses are high, and with every story you read and every edit you make, you’re starting to have mirages of endless pizza and wings.
2.) “How am I going to have time for homework?”
As you work your way through story after story and probably run out of ink in your ballpoint pen, you’ll find yourself realizing you haven’t started your assignments for tomorrow’s classes. You’ve got to get the job done so fill up another cup, and take a deep breath.
3.) “I should have worn more comfortable clothes.”
After an hour or so, you’re just dreaming of kicking off your shoes and throwing on a pair of sweatpants—because nothing’s worse than tight clothes when you’re sitting for seven hours straight.
4.) “I just hope I get to bed before the sun comes up.”
You’ve accepted you’ll be up until the early morning hours and pray you can make it back to your room before your friends are getting up for classes. Keep praying, because it’s likely the printer will break and the editing software will fail—rendering you sleepless, yet again, and relying on the nearest caffeinated beverage.
5.) “How many skips do I have left for my 8:30?”
Being realistic, it’s almost impossible to get all your work done and make it to that 8:30 class tomorrow morning. So, you pull up the syllabus you never read and pray you have another skip left.
6.) “I’m not even getting paid for this.”
One of the bitterest realizations of all: you’re dedicating countless hours of your time for free. But as much as it might seem pointless, you’re learning a lot and getting the experience you need to make it big—isn’t that pay enough?
7.) “Nobody even gets how much this sucks.”
Despite all the stress-induced gray hairs, the sad truth is that none of your friends probably understand the madhouse that us journalism majors call “The Newsroom” and what it does to us. They’ll take your post-newsroom edge as “bitchiness,” but just keep reassuring them that they have no clue what kind of craziness you’ve gone through.
8.) “Why did I choose this career path?”
As the stresses rise, so do your doubts of your choice of career. Luckily, once the paper’s all printed, you’ll be reminded of the reason you’ve dedicated your nights to ink-stained pages and fingers crippled by carpal tunnel—because nothing’s more beautiful than a successful publication.