They say if you love your job, you’ll never work a day in life. Well, “they” can shut up because I don’t want to hear about acute semantic vagaries. “They” might as well just tell me “if you’re happy then you won’t be sad,” and since everyone, ideally, gets a job, I think I could’ve pieced it together from there.
Now that I’ve ripped this adage apart for no reason, I’d like to talk about how I FINALLY love the “job” I’m doing. My job encompasses all of the things I do as a member of the Boston University community. I have an actual paying job at admissions, but I am also a member of The Daily Free Press, a writer and actor on BUTV, and an academically overloaded first-semester senior. As most students are at this university, I am too busy, but because I finally enjoy each of the things I do, I am no longer bothered by losing sleep and spending a majority of my time doing “work.”
My first two years at BU were spent working as a writer and editor for The Daily Free Press. While I absolutely loved the people I worked with and the ultimate purpose of our operation, it gradually became evident to me that journalism was not my forte. I finished my tenure on the editorial staff at the FreeP, and have since been working as a member of its Board of Directors. I enjoy this position much more because it allows me to help those who are sure they want to become professional journalists follow the proper path and obtain the best skills and experience. (The greatly reduced time commitment and distance from the daily news grind is nice too.)
In terms of my coursework, I finally love every second of what I do. Previously, I was taking too many classes on literature that bored me. Now, in my final English course toward my dual-degree, I’m focusing on the works that I love most. I’m also no longer taking prerequisites in COM and have been able to focus strictly on screenwriting this semester. Latin is still hard as hell, but it’s oh-so-worth-it.
At work for admissions, there’s nothing more enjoyable than sitting down with a nervous prospective family, dispelling their fears about the vastness and open-endedness of BU, and having them stay in touch with updates on their application process.
I’ve always had dreams of becoming the next Tina Fey (what), but I was never able to inject myself into a setting that allowed me to work with television, as an actor, or even on comedic writing. As a film and TV major at BU, the opportunities were staring me in the face with BUTV, but I always felt too overwhelmed by other “work” to take that step and join. This year, I finally became a writer for a comedy show, and as of about 15 minutes ago, I’ve also been chosen as a main actor in a brand new series! (Pals & Friends, shameless plug.)
There’s simply something gratifying about having sufficient experience to pass on good counseling to newcomers, whether they’re incoming COM students, eager young journalists, or future BU freshmen. It’s the best way for me to identify that I’ve actually done things here. And hopefully by the end of this year, I’ll have a nice portfolio of critical and televisual “work” that just might thrust me into bigger and more Fey-esque endeavors. It took me four years, but I’m finally happy and not sad.
