The Journey Continues

A new “episode” coming soon…
(Check out the archives to update yourself on the adventure thus far.)

Epilogue

Did you really think I could stay away!? lol

Okay so, life. Yes life. That’s what’s happened since we last spoke. (What was it? Oh dear! Nearly 4 months ago!)

Life. Such a small word that packs a pretty big punch. So, how do I summarize the last four months without boring you.

Hmmm…..I got home, partied like a mad man, went broke, got a lame chauffer job, interviewed with five newspapers, turned down one, was rejected by another, sent out about 50 resumes, rejected by a few more, partied some more, visited old friends at school….

Oh God, what else?

Let’s see…started a relationship, ended a relationship, gained 5 pounds at Thanksgiving, gained 5 more at Christmas, don’t remember New Years, got into another fender bender (I know right!)….and finally I GOT A JOB!!!

Okay, I know this isn’t news to many of you, but I’m still somewhat stoked, that someone is actually paying me to write, lol.

Things got pretty intense when I got back from New York in September. Not intense as in exciting but, intense with anticipation. I thought I’d never find a job, and then I had to finally find something or I was going to starve so I took a job with Franklin County as a chauffer. (It was a paycheck.)

All in all I think I did well. I’m still in Ohio, unfortunately but this job seems like it’s going to be pretty fun. Though I’m starting to think I bit off a little more then I can chew. According to my job title I’m the “Online Entertainment Coordinator” at The Advocate in Newark, Ohio. (It’s a small town paper, 45 minutes outside of Columbus, with about a 27,000 circulation.) My main job is to find tidbits of interest in Columbus and write about them for a weekly entertainment pullout section in the paper.

So, I’m basically telling this small town how to entertain themselves on the weekends. (Heaven help them!) I also post my stuff online. Like by myself. I totally write the headlines and the cut lines for the online edition. (I know scary right!) I’m also helping them revamp their online entertainment site. And I have a blog, called “Ohio After 5” (Don’t ask, I didn’t come up with the name, lol). It’s basically a Dwayne-in-the-city kinda thing, I tell people where they should go, where they shouldn’t, what I liked and what I disliked. And I also manage the weekly event calendar.

I’ll totally love it once I get a handle on it all, lol. I’ve got a ton of ideas for how they can reach the 18-35 crowd, with that weekly insert and the online stuff. I learned quite a bit about entertainment writing when I was in New York, but I’m holding off on bombarding them with my idea until I know exactly what I’m doing. It’s cool getting into stuff for free but there just seems to be so much. Columbus is a little too big for me to handle, lol. I mean the Columbus Dispatch has an entirely separate publication with its own staff that covers Columbus entertainment!

But I digress, lol. I know I’m in Ohio and the pay isn’t all that snazzy but I’m looking forward to the writing freedom they give me. Having Columbus as my own entertainment writing playground sounds fun for now, and hopefully a raise will be on the horizon. Lord knows I can’t live with my Bath and Body Works, Starbucks and the entire H&M clothing line, lol.

Oh Lordy, I’ve already bored with over a page of rambling. I’ll briefly dip into the continuing three act Shakespearean tragedy that is my love life. (Those of you uninterested may exit now. I totally won’t blame you, lol)

So, as I stated in the rushed graphs about my hiatus, I started seeing someone, well I started seeing a few someones. But that’s beside the point. There was this one guy named Jay who wasn’t amazingly attractive but incredibly sweet. We started talking like a week or two after I got back. He’s older, just turned 33, and is an airplane technician.

He was totally adorable, always wining and dining me and telling me I was sexy and it was just amazing. The best I’d been treated in a long time. So what happened right? Well it came down to age, he hadn’t dated anyone so young and was somewhat self conscious about what others thought of him (Lord knows I’m past all that, lol) He was out, just not comfortable, if you know what I mean. Anywho, I started this new job and got busy; he was doing overtime at work, and so we went our separate ways. C’est la vie.

So in the midst of getting to know Jay I met Dale. He’s 23, college dropout, local chef, into musicals, art, and can sing like an angel! He’s somewhat of the bohemian-starving-artist type and has an amazing tattoo (I’ll spare you the details, lol). We’ve just been having fun, nothing serious. He’s down south right now visiting family, so who knows where that will go.

To tell you the truth I’m getting to the point where I’m ready to settle down. (Out of control right!) All my friends are married, engaged or in serious relationships and so I see them happy in their twosomes and I’m starting to get envious, and I usually feel sorry for them! I know, it’s weirding me out too. I’ve always been looking for Mr. Right but I didn’t think I’d be ready to find him til I was 30, lol. But I’ve got a steady job, will be in my own apartment within the next couple months, maybe it’s time for a steady man. But who knows maybe this is a phase, and I’ll be back to dating Dante style in a few weeks, lol.

Anywho, I’ve dragged this on much longer then necessary and I must get to bed, with the steady job comes steady early mornings (blah!). Even though I haven’t spoken to many of you in a while I still miss and love all of you dearly. Please try and catch me on AIM or fb or Gmail, and I’ll do my best to do the same.

I’m sure the monotony of work will keep the adventures to a minimum but maybe someday we’ll find each other again amongst the proverbial ramblings that are my facebook notes, lol.

Until then….

~D.A. Steward