I keep neglecting this blog due to the lack of time, but I wanted to give everyone an update on my life and everything that lies ahead of me. 

SCHOOL: I have officially finished with my first semester at Penn State University, and in my mind, that just means one less semester until I’m officially done with school. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy learning. I truly do. However, not having my degree has been frustrating in more ways than one. Besides the obvious of still having to do homework, with my already acquired social media marketing experience, it seems like I could be spending my time in more productive ways. You may think, “More productive than getting a degree?” In short, my answer is yes. I believe that gaining real-world experience is a lot more applicable and relevant, especially for me personally. The thought of my student loans increasing each semester is also a bit stressful. I’ll be taking six classes next semester, and I look forward to capping off my third year of college with a trip to Hawaii in May.

After going through my degree audit, I’ve figured out that I can possibly finish in two semesters rather than three. As I graduated from high school in 2015, the “normal” college experience would have placed me as a college graduate in June 2019. With the absurd amount of extra classes I’ve taken & my associate’s degree already obtained, I might be able to graduate with my bachelor’s degree in December 2018. With every fiber of my being, I’m going to try to make that a reality. That possibly means taking seven or eight classes beginning in August, but compared to the twelve classes I took last fall, that shouldn't be an issue.

MY CAREER: I keep finding myself with job opportunities and collaborations that aren’t within the sports realm. As I’ll detail more in my 2018 New Year’s Resolutions blog post, I’d like to start making my mark on the sports media industry as soon as I can. Having a San Francisco Giants-related account on Twitter has given me a great platform to discuss baseball, and I would love to turn that into a career. Getting a head start while I’m still in school *dramatic sigh* is ideal and I’ve been working on filling my resume with relevant work experience. 

In the past month, I’ve been working background on various shows around the Los Angeles area. This has been a great way to earn some extra money on the side, while I continue to manage the social media channels for the startup that I work for. The only downside is that there are usually early call times, and with my lack of reliable transportation, I have to get up even earlier to Uber. Luckily, I have an Uber ride pass and have been able to save an extraordinary amount of money. One particular three-day call in San Pedro (22+ miles from DTLA) with a 5:42am (arbitrary number, right?) call time was tiring. I had to get up at 3:30am every morning to ensure that I’d be on set in time. 

WRITING: I know that lately I’ve been slacking on writing and I think that that’s been due to the fact that I’ve had barely any time for myself and a slight case of writer’s block. I’ve begun to create a blog schedule for myself that I’ll (hopefully!) be following once 2018 begins. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that I have a sufficient amount of time to follow through. I plan on posting every Monday evening each week. In addition, I would like to post a life wrap-up and a baseball wrap-up post each month. If I have even more time, I’d love to post playlists with my favorite songs each month that have been recently released. I know that’s a lot, so there’s no guarantee that I’ll be able to follow that as my life is pretty crazy. I will try my best and I ask that everyone is patient with me. I hope to write at least five ballpark reviews this year as well. 

REST OF THE MONTH: I will be returning to my hometown from December 21st to December 27th for Christmas and I’m excited to slow things down for a week. Life in Los Angeles is incredible and everything that I ever could want out of my early 20s, but sometimes I need a short break from the hectic lifestyle. I’m so sorry for the lack of posts and I hope to be back on top of my blog as soon as possible. Thanks for taking the time to read this and I’m excited for all the wonderful things that life has in store for me.