The Beast

We'll see where I'm at in a few years. Maybe I'll chase a girl, maybe I'll get lucky and work for the White Sox. Or I'll continue on in school. It really doesn't matter as long as I can support myself.

QUOTE (Gregory Pratt @ Nov 18, 2009 -> 08:52 PM) philosophy: http://media.www.chicagoflame.com/media/st...s-3832784.shtml Pratt - what is your major? English? Political Science?

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Nov 16, 2009 -> 03:24 PM) Congrats! I am currently waiting for an internship offer (dont know if it will be given to me or not). Should arrive this week, keeping my fingers crossed. Who is the internship with and what are you doing for the company?

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Nov 14, 2009 -> 03:10 AM) Still undecided of the school as of now and even if I want to go in the spring or summer (I know.. gotta make up my mind quick) but more than likely.. Criminal Justice will be my field. UIC or Western Illinois has Criminal Justice, those were the first two that came to mind.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Nov 13, 2009 -> 10:20 PM) Ditto. I actually commend you for going at least. I personally didn't want to try it and be stuck deep in the negative in terms of credit not to mention I hate school (you were probably alot better in grades than I was, I was more of the popular bad dude). I'm thinking about going to college in 2010 though after a near five year lay-off since now I know the field I'm probably going to go into at least. Where are you going to school and what for? There's a lot of nice accelerated degree programs within the chicagoland area. QUOTE (iamshack @ Nov 13, 2009 -> 10:22 PM) Brooks? Nice, man! Yeah, it was quite the informative interview. I wrote the letter, called him up a month later as I said I would in terms of following up and he got back to me about a month later. They seem rather busy...

QUOTE (kjshoe04 @ Nov 13, 2009 -> 11:05 AM) I wish college wasn't so required these days. I just am not a school person. Always tested very high on tests and am very intelligent but I hate the school setting. I would much rather work. This is probably why I am in year number 6 of college and still have no passion or desire to go into anything. Where do you go and what have you thought about as a profession? I have a friend like you who has a 2.1 high school GPA and a 35 on his ACT and he feels the same way about school. Do they have a work-study program for you at school? That might help. I went to sign up for classes today at SAU and on my way up towards Peoria, I received a call from Mr. Boyer. I asked him about what kind of degree I'd need (PR or business), if they care about what school you went to, how work experience is weighed against an MBA and things of that nature. He pretty much said it doesn't matter what kind of degree I get, though a business degree would be more helpful than a communication studies degree, that the school you attend doesn't matter and that they don't care if you have an MBA, that work experience in the industry is valuable and weighed heavily. I was pleased to see him take time out of his day to talk to me, even if it was for just 10 minutes! So that was exciting.

QUOTE (Kid Gleason @ Nov 12, 2009 -> 03:40 PM) I was just explaining how I ended up in my situation. Trust me, for as frustrated as I get about people and their college hang-ups, the last thing I want is for my kids to NOT go to college. Every so often (O.K., every f'in day) I wonder how much happier I might possibly be if I had gone to school and actually accomplished my dreams. If I had actually gained that degree in art. But then I also stop and think "O.K., but what if I did do that, and I was miserable doing what I thought I would LOVE doing?". I don't think anything would have crushed me more than always dreaming of becoming an artist, making a living doing cartoons, then finding I hated it as much as this b******t career I have now. The way it is now, I can atleast escape to the hobbies I love. It's a bad day today...sorry. I think about how blessed I am to be able to go to school - a lot of my generation doesn't take it seriously and piss their parent's money away on nothing. My mom and dad came from humble beginnings, growing up on the south side of Chicago and barely were able to attend college. They were smart enough to go away to school, but went to Chicago State to get their education because they had to pay for school. My mother, a math major, went on to work at Sears for several years before she stayed at home to take care of 5 kids. My dad originally had thought he would become a teacher, and was trained as such. He then didn't like what he was doing, went to work for Radio Shack before getting a sales job. Since then, he has worked with several corporations and I know he does a great job. I just am not sure if he likes what he does or if he is miserable. I'll never know, so I won't ever complain. This is why I wish someone would have told me early on to take this route of going to the community college for two years before transferring to a major university. If I had done that, I would have taken the general education requirements, worked on my math deficiency, and worked to make money of my own. A lot of people knock the community college route, but I wish I had done that before I dove right into a university that I wasn't sure about to begin with. So now I'm hoping to go to SAU to finish off a business degree, intern with sports teams in Davenport and see what doors open. This time, I think I'll appreciate my education and opportunities that are provided a bit more than I had originally. QUOTE (RockRaines @ Nov 12, 2009 -> 03:11 PM) Very hard to do nowadays. This is why I won't drop out. I know that I can't work in the trades, I suck at working with my hands. I don't want to be a barista, work in fast food or at a grocery store. I could go into health care if I don't get into sports marketing. But I couldn't work in many jobs that don't require a college degree - with the exception of being a police officer and even then I'd be a bit traumatized.

QUOTE (Kid Gleason @ Nov 12, 2009 -> 11:50 AM) I became somebody who works with numbers for a living...and I HATE math. I am the ultimate example for my kids of "find what you REALLY love and chase it...but never say you will never end up doing something for a living...as I did". I still haven't decided that this is what I plan to do forever. I can't imagine doing this for the rest of my career, and I am 39! But if I am still in this field when I am 60...I hope to God somebody is paying me A LOT of money, or somebody is getting ready to shoot me. See, I find that fascinating. How could you have gotten through school and worked in a number related job? That's the other thing, I don't like the term "field" because to me, it's more of a "business." I think what kid gleason's post proves is that you don't necessarily find what you are going to do for a living in college. To be honest, I don't think I'm going to end up working in the sports industry, but I'd rather have practical knowledge that I can apply to a business setting rather than study a random liberal arts subject. I don't care about the humanities, but rather, I care about policy making and negotiation. Point being, I think a lot of what we do for a career has to come from discovery and that not everyone knows what they want to chase in life. In other words, just because I'm chasing the sports industry right now, doesn't mean I'm not going to work for a non-profit organization or a health care organization later on because I enjoy helping people.

What I think would be interesting is to see what people thought they'd be and where they are now. And if people are what they thought they'd be, if their job was as great as they thought it would be.

Sports broadcaster: As a kid I sat in front of my N64 and Playstation (playing sports games with the volume on mute) just listening to the likes of "The Huge Show," "McNeil, Jurko and Harry" and obviously White Sox baseball. I thought it would be great to sit all day and talk, rant and rave about Chicago sports. I even visited ESPN Radio 1000's studio when Len Weiner was the program director at WMVP. I was given a tour and a brief overview of the media industry. He told me, based off his own experience, to go into something else. Little did I know you had to be good to be a talent on the radio and that you'd have to start out small, oftentimes making next to nothing in small town for several years before you got your break. I really sucked on play-by-play and did radio just to listen to music anyway. Sports writer: Much of my high school career was devoted to writing for the school newspaper, and I thought I was as talented as could be. It turns out that I churned out some of the worst stories ever but I could edit and use the page maker like a boss. When I was at EIU I wrote briefly for the paper, discovered that I hated the long hours and tedious work that went with being a sports writer. Again, without an advanced degree (a vast majority NU grads write for the Tribune's sports section) and a lack of passion for the work, I decided that wasn't for me. But I gave it a shot anyway. A surgeon: I watched a lot of ER as a kid and thought that it would be great to be Dr. Peter Benton. You know, have several women to sleep with, take care of a cute kid, run along the lakefront and totally kick ass at his job while getting paid an assload. The problem is that I'm not good at science and I'm only decent at mathematics so I couldn't pursue that. I haven't ruled out a healthcare position yet after I get my bachelor's degree. It'd be kind of cool going into some sort of EMT work. An astronaut: I loved watching October Sky as a kid. Realistically right now I'd love to be a PR Manager, a Healthcare manager, a Marketing manager or to work for a sports organization. Other than that, I've got nothing.

QUOTE (qwerty @ Nov 8, 2009 -> 03:28 PM) Nothing other than he is an idiot, he likes to keep us reminded of that very fact, here and there. Fair enough, I can agree with that I guess.

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Nov 7, 2009 -> 05:24 PM) I love getting hammered. I look forward to it when I know it's in my near future. Doesn't make me an alcoholic. There's a difference between looking forward to getting hammered to where it impairs your ability to function on a day-to-day basis and looking forward to getting hammered because you know it'll be a good time. I get my s*** done, I work my ass off during the week, and I unwind hard over the weekend. You seem to take the biggest idiot of the idiots and base your opinions of the whole on that small group of jackasses. And this is just a personal opinion, but if you're drinking to be more social, well, that kind of makes you hypocritical. I do agree, however, that frats and frat parties can suck it. I simply do not understand the mindset of "I want to get wasted!!! Yay..." I never said it made you an alcoholic. Neither did I say people who drink do not get their work done throughout the week. I saw a lot of idiots who were in frats when I was at Eastern and I also have been to a few frat parties. They do not care that you are there. Let me put it this way. I don't go to a party anticipating that I'm going to get trashed. I go to parties to try and meet people and discover what people mean when they say, "you meet your friends of a lifetime at school." Another positive about going to a smaller private school is there is no frats or sororities and I might be able to find "my people." If not, well I have my piece of paper (the BSBA) and am walking away with an education. QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Nov 7, 2009 -> 06:53 PM) Me and another dude were punching each other in the stomach repeatedly last night. What does that have to do with anything?

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Nov 7, 2009 -> 01:40 PM) This is pretty much what everyone was telling you when you were pretty much yelling at us that we were all alcoholic morons. We arent calling you an alcoholic now, just pointing out how ironic it is that you are enjoying it. It only changes you if you let it. Otherwise, in a controlled environment, its pretty damn fun. I wouldn't say that drinking is something that I enjoy doing. I do not mind trying new things but there has been nothing that is out of the ordinary amazing about alcohol. A lot of people I have seen do in fact have alcohol issues. There are also many who do not. What I enjoy is when people aren't being idiots and are there just to be social and have a good time. You know, the ones that want to get to know you and give two s***s that you are at the party, social gathering or whatever. Just not frat parties. f*** frat parties. I'm willing to vouch that some people do look forward to getting hammered over the weekend. Again I have to use the word some before people because I know many of you hate generalizations. Some people enjoy doing their own hobbies. I will say though that if a person DOES need alcohol to have fun, they obviously have issues.

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Nov 7, 2009 -> 01:21 AM) Just curious, but how did you feel after that? I was perfectly fine. Again, having drinks is not a big deal whatsoever. Jager is good, I bought some of that and brought it with to Western Michigan University for a Halloween party last weekend. Apple cider and jager isn't too bad, though it could be better. QUOTE (SoxAce @ Nov 7, 2009 -> 01:05 AM) LOL, I'm sorry just with all the bullcrap many here have had to put up with you on this issue over the years, I just find it very humbling and very hilarious. I mean there was recent thread just a few months back on you against it. Though I don't wanna stir this thread up or backtrack it so I'll just leave it alone. Welcome to the game though. Yeah, well times change, people change and s*** happens. It doesn't make me an alcoholic and it certainly hasn't changed me in the slightest bit. I don't get to the weekend and think, well s***, it's time to get hammered. I just take situations as they come and much like life, roll with it.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Nov 7, 2009 -> 12:47 AM) Did I actually just read you and drinking in the same sentence? No it can't be..... :o :o I must be hopped on pop (damn pepsi) or something. Dude - I'm 21. It's legal to drink. I don't do it often, but I don't mind having something to drink once in awhile. I just don't pound it like some others do. Tonight I tried a shot of straight vodka, had a miller light and then did the shot of straight everclear. Followed up by lots of cherry Coke. Might I add that drinking isn't really that big of a deal.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Nov 1, 2009 -> 04:04 PM) Everclear leaves me with a bad hangover. But that Apple Pie tasted sooo good! I had a straight shot of that s*** (Everclear). It's disgusting - made me feel like I had a sore throat after I had it.

QUOTE (qwerty @ Oct 17, 2009 -> 01:04 AM) Did you drink the beer? Of course. I also had jagermeister the other evening with some red bull. It was good. But I don't need alcohol to function or have a good time...blah, blah blah...

I didn't see this thread till this morning, but I figured that I would chime is because I ran the Chicago Marathon this past Sunday. I must say that it was the most worthwhile experience of my life. As a majority of you know (if you've been reading the SLaM forum) that I've been trying to figure out what to major in and what to do with my life's work. Since I transferred home from EIU, I not only have found a new hobby in running, but also something that I can do at my next school, run cross country while interning and completing my degree at St. Ambrose University. After my pathetic breakup last December, I thought about doing something amazing and out of the ordinary. So I signed up for the marathon, since I had already been running 5 days a week for about 45-1 hr per day. The training itself was not that difficult once you really start getting into it and running on a consistent basis. I trained from Hal Higdon's novice program, meaning I ran Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and had my long run on Saturday. He suggests that you do cross training on Sunday but I am too lazy for that so I had off-days on Sunday, Monday and Friday. The most mileage that I ran in training was 20 miles. Though it was cold (33 degrees at the start of the race), conditions for the race were ideal. With the adrenaline flowing and by wearing three layers (one of which I discarded), I was able to run the race at a good pace. I would highly recommend starting off with your name written on you in several places so that people can cheer for you. I added time onto my overall time by stopping to have a guy write my name on my arms and throw-away shirt's chest. Nevertheless, it's great hearing people scream, "Go Ross!!!" My favorite memories of the race were running along the lakefront, through the energetic crowds, through Addison (where I saw my support group), through boys town (it actually was entertaining), by U.S. Cellular Field, getting handed a beer at mile 4, running by IIT and UIC, and at the finish line. If anyone wants to train together for it next summer and are in the northwest suburbs, I'd love to do it again and improve on my finishing time of 4:00.32. P.S. I ran that race with peroneal tendonitis.

QUOTE (SnB @ Sep 30, 2009 -> 11:30 AM) I'll be on the other end of a career fair table on friday up at depaul. I'm intersted to see how these things go when you're the employer. I wonder if recruiters care where you went to school, what your GPA is and what you majored in. Just from a recruiter's standpoint, not a student's standpoint.

QUOTE (CanOfCorn @ Sep 21, 2009 -> 03:37 PM) Good luck! Also, it is possible that they'll let me run cross country there, which will put my marathon training to good use. Two more weeks till 26.2 miles. And I'm running with peroneal tendonitis. No response from Mr. Boyer yet, but I feel good about the letter I wrote. Even if I don't get a response, at least I sent it.

I wrote a letter to Brooks Boyer yesterday to set up an information interview with him, and I sent it out this morning. I want to see what kind of degree, internships and credentials I need to get a job in the sports industry. And if I don't end up in the sports industry but rather doing HR or something for a company, at least I tried pursuing what I enjoy, sports/writing/business material. St. Ambrose University is likely going to be the selection of my school because that has all of what I'm looking for. They'll let me write the material for the sports information department, I can get that business or PR degree and they have internships with sports organizations in the quad cities. Should work out pretty well.

QUOTE (CanOfCorn @ Sep 8, 2009 -> 03:45 PM) To all of you wondering what I was saying... I was talking about Argonne specifically, not going into PR generally... And Strange...she said that there was a lot of governmental red tape and as Hawk would say, Big Hat, no Cattle. They or she had a lot of great ideas, but like a lot of governmental organizations, by the time they get around to getting the money and then implementing any plans, 4 better ideas have come down the pike. Plus, you're dealing with scientists, too, while incredibly smart, aren't exactly the best when it comes to marketing/PR because for the most part, they aren't wired that way. But, if you are interested, please, don't let me sway you. You should find out for yourself. And Beast...after your first job, it really doesn't matter what your major is/was...as long as you are good at what you do. That's the thing - in journalism, I'm mediocre at best. My writing never really improved from high school and that kind of work is too stressful. When an editor expects a story by 4 in the afternoon, he means it, and I can't produce quality by then. Business on the other hand just throws a bunch of math, writing, economics and business courses into one degree. I can do that. As long as I have that business degree, I can always go back to school and get an associate's in health care, given the job market. There are a lot of things that I can do, it's just finding the skills that I do have and making use of them. I'm sure that I'll be better at something in 2 years when I'm set to graduate. Then I can experience the whiplash that I expect and go back for more school. Lastly, just because I don't come from a PR background doesn't mean I can't get a job in PR. I might intern in PR. We'll see.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 4, 2009 -> 02:03 PM) How can you really judge a field after one undergrad semester at EIU? I'm judging based off of the courses that are taught in their Comm Studies department. Their CS department is different than say, Bradley University or other departments. I find it hard to believe that all schools are going to make you stomach a heavy dose of Comm Theory, Organizational Communication or even of the more non-practical stuff before you can even get into things that make sense like press releases, writing or some of the business aspects taught at other schools. In the end, it didn't really matter as I needed to find a new school any way.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Sep 4, 2009 -> 11:16 AM) No. Just go Corporate Communications vs something stupid like Media Studies. I really appreciate the tone of your post. In fact, for a semester I was a Corporate Communication major and I found out how little you actually learned in the field of Communication. I would rather study Anthropology than be spoonfed something about how people talk and function within an organization. With that said, I believe there is a difference with regards to Communication Studies at EIU compared to Communication Studies at Bradley University or at other schools. I have found that I'm more into business but I do want my writing ability to be shown to my employers hence the PR writing. The basis of my research for schools is that I'll actually learn something rather than just be some idiot who goes and learns a bunch of bulls*** and isn't prepared for anything that "the real world" may throw at you. I'm not saying EIU is a bad school, but what I am saying is that some of the departments there are a joke, with the exception of Biology, Political Science, Journalism and the College of Education.

QUOTE (CanOfCorn @ Sep 3, 2009 -> 05:16 PM) I know someone who used to be Director of Communications and her response to any job relating to that would be...DON'T DO IT! Do employers view Comm degrees as a weak degree? I've thought about PR to try and get my way into the White Sox, but I'm currently just wanting a business degree from the private school I'm looking at before getting an associate's in a healthcare position. We'll see what happens, though the dream is to work with the Sox. If not, at least I tried.