Back up in yo' ass with the resurrection

"Your time is up,
My time is now.
You can't see me, my time is now.
It's the franchise, boy, I'm shinin' now.
You can't see me, my time is now!"
-"The Time is Now," John Cena

There are those that say blogs are mostly for self-important college geeks with nothing better to do. And I would agree. So the reason I still get to have one is--I'm still in school, bitches! Hopefully that ends any suspense right there. The good news is, that writing sample I submitted to NFL Films (which you can find in an earlier entry of this very blog) worked pretty well. They had me out to Philly, I got a second interview, and a couple months later they offered me a job. The bad news is that the job offer was kinda shitty. I simply couldn't afford to pick up and move to the east coast for no benefits and $20,000 a year. Plus no guarantee I'd even last past the first 6 months. I have too many loans to pay back and too few skills for living alone. So I'm delaying adulthood for another couple years at least and going to graduate school.

What I didn't figure was that coming back to attend NIU here in DeKalb would be a bit more complicated than it sounded. See in order to get my tuition paid for, I have to teach 2 sections of basic public speaking class. The one thing I swore I'd never do since I was eight years old, and it's finally come back to haunt me. Both my parents are teachers. My childhood was spent listening to them bitching about how thankless a job it is at dinner every night. And now here I am. The weird part is that we are now a family of people getting paid (badly) to educate the wastoid youth of America. We have the same long hours, the same disgruntled co-workers and the same dumbass students. I don't think the three of us have ever been closer, but we hate it.

On the upside, it's not a real job, and I am still getting paid. I only have class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and even though I go 12:30 to 8:30 on those days, I get a four-day weekend every week. And that frees up quite a bit of time to do all the sitting around I've grown so fond of. I mean, you never realize just how much sports there is on TV until you sit down and look for it for 4 days straight. And as good as last weekend was, this one will be even better. The US Open is wrapping up in New York during the days. Tonight my girlfriend Aiea Flower called right in the middle of a 9th inning meltdown by the White Sox. But by the time she started talking about old X-Files episodes, A.J. Pierzynski had won it on a walk-off homer. I'm going to my good buddy Steve-O's new crib in Hoffman Estates to watch ND-Penn State tomorrow. Then Sunday the 2006 campaign finally kicks off in what is sure to be a major beatdown for the Bears in Green Bay. And the baseball just keeps coming throughout the weekend. Digital cable is truly a glorious thing.

Plus there's always WWE and ECW to catch up on. I gotta say, for as old and self-serving as they are, Shawn Michaels and Triple H are damn entertaining. DX are among my favorite attractions every week on Raw. And maybe it's just because everyone else seems to hate him so much, but I find myself rooting for John Cena more and more. He doesn't back down from who he is or the way he performs, and for that I give him credit. My girlfriend (who I'm proud to say is a complete WWE convert, thanks to me) prefers Edge, for the same reason most female fans like Cena and Edge. You know, they both represent a more traditional image of attractiveness. I try to rise above such shallow concerns. Then again, Trish Stratus' upcoming retirement doesn't make me sad because she won't be wrestling every week, if you know what I mean. Not to say Trish can't wrestle. As far as I'm concerned, she's the top female wrestler that actually looks hot that WWE has ever had. She is the best female performer in the company's history, in my humble opinion. So I will miss her, but hopefully her absence will open up a big spot for Mickie James. She is mega-cute, and plays a great psychopath. By the way, I'm really excited for ECW's long-time employees that they finally get to do a show in Madison Square Garden this week. It's well-deserved for their years of hard work, and I hope they get a great response.

My birthday is coming up. As usual, I sure don't feel a year older. And 23 isn't quite old enough to really make me confront my mortality, so it should be a fairly smooth ride. Though I'm not as mature as a lot of 23-year-olds, I'm also a lot more mature than some 30-somethings I know, so I guess that means I'm doing alright. Of course, I still haven't figured out the great mysteries of the universe, such as where belly button lint comes from, the physics of Jell-O, and the female mind. Thus there is still plenty to accomplish before I sleep.

Before I sign off, I'd like to thank my good friends D-Locke, Smash and the 2006 Summer Shakespeare company for a great summer in South Bend. I know I won't forget it anytime soon; the scars I got from putting the set together will never let me. And it was over all too soon. So we should get together and do it all again someday. Hopefully when we're all so rich and old that we just don't give a shit anymore. Of course, judging by the lung problems I seem to have acquired in your presence, smoking and drinking will have killed all of you long before I go.

Go see "Little Miss Sunshine." It is a delight. And read some comic books on your way there; they rock and they need to be bought more so that I can keep reading them forever. Much love to the Sulentic Brothers Band, GradComm and the classes of '02 and '06. Go Barbs, go Huskies, go Sox, go Cubs (I guess), go Bears and go Irish!

~Jakeman