Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Student Media Experience -- please comment on this post


Please write a paragraph about your experience as a comment after you have completed both of your production shifts. You also need to return the signed sheet to me during class time.

Thursday, November 20, 2014

A night when from awesome, to crappy, to amazing all in one hour

              As I sit here all cuddled up and warm in my sweatpants, a hoodie, fuzzy socks, and a big fluffy blanket around me, I think of how wonderful my day just was. The heater just kicked on and mmm… it feels so warm and cozy. The room was filled with silence, the only thing I could hear was the heater turning on and it became a quite calming and soothing sound, especially at the moment. Thankfully I am the only one home and the only light around me some candles flickering on the coffee table. I love nights like this when my roommates are gone and I can do some homework in peace.
 

               Just out of nowhere my roommates and their friends magically get off work early and ruin everything. The first thing they do is turn on all the lights, and then turn the TV on to ESPN. Don’t get me wrong, I love sports, but I was really enjoying my quite time and it had just started, to then be ruined in less than ten minutes. The only thing that kept me from going insane was the fact that my boyfriend, one of my roommates, brought me a Jimmy John’s sub and some curly fries from Arby’s; two of my favorite things. He also brought me a Pepsi which is my favorite pop, or as he calls it, soda. I thought my night was completely ruined by them coming home and disrupting my peace but food can calm me down instantly and it always makes me smile.
 

                  I also then realized that they came home for the Chiefs vs. Raiders game that I forgot about and was super pumped to watch. My boyfriend is from California and is a die hard Raiders fan, and I’ve always hated the Chiefs so naturally we were the only two in the room cheering for them to win. What finally made my night the bomb was when the Raiders won over the Chiefs, for three reasons; the Raiders have sucked all year and this was their first win, I hate the Chiefs and watching all the fans post on Facebook about the game was hilarious, and my boyfriend won us $70 because of this game, which we highly intended to lose. So one awesome night turned to a crappy night then turned to an amazing night. 

Story by Megan Beck 

Mysterious knocks shock friends



(Edited)
Two best friends, Megan and Destiny, had a sleepover at Megan’s house. Her parents were out of town that night and they thought it was going great. The house sits back about 300 feet from any other house in their neighborhood next a grove of trees. It would have been the perfect setting for any horror story. They were watching The Hills Have Eyes, comfy and snuggled up on the couch. The movie got a little too scary for their liking and, being that they were alone, they decided to pause the movie. Besides, they were extremely hungry and macaroni and cheese with hotdogs in it sounded amazing at the moment. So they headed into the kitchen and started boiling some water while they chafed away about how they both were going to have nightmares. 

 Suddenly somebody or something knocked on the front door. Since they were home alone that was not something they wanted to hear, especially after watching The Hills Have Eyes. They were beyond freaked out and slowly walked to the front door to see who was there. They didn’t see anyone so they opened the door regardless of their fear. No one was there. Understandably even more freaked out, they went back to kitchen to finish their macaroni and cheese and hoped that nothing would happen.

A few minutes later they heard knocking at the door again. Now, beyond terrified, they both grabbed a knife and checked the door again. Once again no one was there. Luckily, Destiny lived up the street and had an older brother. She called him, explained the situation and told him he had to come get them immediately while Megan sat on the kitchen floor with a blanket over her head and a foot long knife in her hands, trying not to cry. 

Finally, after what seemed like forever, her brother came to the rescue and the girls sprinted as fast as they could to his car. While going down Megan’s mile long driveway they saw a man walk across the driveway heading towards the neighbor’s house. It crept all of them out and they were all glad to get out of there.

After a night of reminiscing about what had just happened to them Megan got a call from her parents. They asked if anything happened to them last night. She said yes and, as her heart rate increased, she asked them why they asked that. They replied that their neighbors were home alone too and heard someone messing around their house. The guy they saw walking across their driveway was one of their neighbors who was checking to make sure everything was alright. To this day no one knows who or what was knocking on their houses but it’s a night none of them will ever forget. 

Man and his nephew reunite


It had almost been three months since he had last seen his nephew. He was so happy that he was about to see baby Houston.  As he entered the room, he looked all around for his nephew, but Houston was nowhere to be found. His brother then came in from the kitchen and told him that Houston was taking a nap. These were not the words that he wanted to hear. He had driven all this way to see Houston. He now had to sit and wait.

While he was sitting down and talking with his brother, all he could think about was holding his nephew. He listened with his hawk like ears for any sounds from Houston’s room, but no luck. His brother could tell how eager he was to see his nephew so he said that he could go into Houston’s room and see if he was awake.

He began walking into the room, trying hard not to make a noise as to wake Houston, he knew that Houston needed his beauty sleep. He looked around the room at all the different books, pictures and toys. He saw a Houston Astros helmet the he really didn’t approve of. He knew for a fact that his nephew would grow up to be Royals fan. As he approached the crib, he looked down and saw his nephew wrapped in a blanket with basketballs, baseballs and footballs on it that he had gotten him when he was born. After watching Houston sleep for a couple of minutes he decided that he had better go back to the living room. As he made his way towards the door, he heard a rattle. A big smile came over his face as he turned around and went back to the crib.

He peered in and saw Houston looking back up at him with a grin on his face and his rattle in hand. He bent down and picked up Houston and gave him a big hug.

“I am glad you’re awake Houston, I have missed you,” he said.

He took Houston into the living room and set him down on the floor. He then got up and went and grabbed the new toy that he bought Houston before coming here. It was a toy that would sing the ABC’s, sing tunes and count numbers. It was a good learning toy and he though Houston would love all the sounds that it made. He sure was right, Houston grabbed the toy and wouldn’t stop pushing buttons and having it sing the ABC’s or sing a song. He would just smile, laugh and dance while a song was playing.

He was so happy that he was able to see his nephew and play with him again.

Houston continued playing with his toy and then all of a sudden he stopped and got a serious look on his face, and then he continued playing with the toy. He then smelled a rotten smell in the air. He plugged his nose and looked up at his brother with a smile and said, “I just came here to play with him.”

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Man agrees to covert mission



The young man approached the movie theatre. To his surprise he was not the first to arrive. He saw his roommate leaning against the brick exterior of the building waiting for the others. Immediately the young man knew that something was up. His roommate still had his work shirt on and tucked in, two things that his roommate never did. The way he was leaning against the wall was peculiar as his body was contorted strangely as if to conceal something behind him. 

“Hey, what’s up?” asked the young man cautiously, giving a two-finger wave to his roommate.

“Oh not much,” replied his roommate offering no salute of his own, “I got a favor to ask of you though.”

“What is it?” said the young man, curious about his roommate’s request. His roommate was not one to request a favor.

“Before I can tell you, you have to agree to help me. I need your word on this one,” said the roommate gravely as he glanced from side to side slowly.

The young man became a little worried. His roommate, while a decent guy, had a long history of flaunting his disregard for laws and social norms. The young man had no idea what he would be agreeing to, but knew it could be any of an endless number of task. The need for secrecy colored his thoughts making each possibility less appealing than the last. The young man also knew that once he gave his word he would be bound to it since his roommate would never allow him to back out of an agreement. With a deep breath the young man gave his answer.

“I know you could be asking me to do anything, but I trust that you wouldn’t ask me to do something I wasn’t comfortable with. Sure, I’ll help you, you have my word. What is it you need me to do?”

A smirk slowly stole over his roommate’s face as he craned his neck in the direction of the front door. Seeing the coast was clear his roommate turned his attention back to the young man.

“I have a pound of Laffy Taffy on me, but not enough pocket space to smuggle it all in. I need the use of your cargo pants to get it all through the front door undetected,” said his roommate.

His roommate stood up straight and untucked his shirt causing candy to plummet to the ground like a piƱata. The young man laughed loudly in relief and disbelief. His heart was still racing. Out of every possibility he conceived this was not one of them. 

“Oh my god dude,” said the young man, “I thought I was going to be muling drugs or jumping someone with the way you were acting. Why do you have to be so dramatic?”

“Life’s more fun with a little, well-managed drama.”