NISB: Where Have I Been?

Cutter's Log - Stardate 0102.82.40

Today is my 24th Birthday, so I'm told.

I knew it was going to happen, but didn't know what age it would happen. I didn't spend April 27 thinking about how tomorrow will be my birthday.

Instead, April 28 is going to be a busy day for me. College graduation is just a little more than two weeks away, and there are a few assignments I need to finish. There's also a few things for work, a few other things, etc.

If you've noticed on the website I haven't written a whole lot this spring. I've only covered one game this month. However, thanks to Bill Lidinsky there's the same amount of content as I had intended to have by this time.

I can pound out Friday 5's and Honor Roll updates, but that's about it. I had to make like a strongman and push some things out of the way just to write this blog entry. Strongmen can also juggle around three different weighty things with their two hands. My three are work, school and NISB.

So if you've wondered where I've been, I had to temporarily lighten the load a bit.

When there's such an absence, some think of burnout. That's not me. There are some good games and meets out there. Normally I would be at two of them every few days during the spring. I can't do that now. Work calls. School calls.

The gig at the Shell station is going okay, but that is nothing compared to the burden of schoolwork I now face.

I will be presenting a speech on the landmark Supreme Court case of Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier in speech class. The case, argued in the mid-1980s, involves high school administration's regulation of studen publications. Having wrote for the Sterling High School Script, as well as the Sauk Voyager and the Highland Chronicle, this is a speech right up my alley when it comes to issues of value.

The class that ties into my journalism profession even moreso is the Graphic Design class I'm taking. Originally, it was going to be a lesson in Adobe InDesign, the program many newspapers use to lay out their print copies. It turns out there's not much in the class with InDesign, compared to Adobe Illustrator - which I've been slowly trying to figure out since the beginning of the semester. The key word here is "slowly."

I'm failing the Graphic Design class at this time. I need to pass this class in order to graduate in less than two weeks, and have developed a timetable toward passing it.

High school sports can wait.

Did I just type that? It seems so uncharacteristic for someone like yours truly to make such a statement. Especially during the final season of some senior's career. After all, last year I made the realization that running NISB has cost me at least three years of my adult life so far. If I didn't create this website - which is enjoying its best year ever - right now I'd be doing what everyone else is doing at 24 years of age.

Even with such realization, I hate taking breaks from doing what I love to do. However, I had to do this so that I could ensure that I can continue to do this for a long time. Right now I'm thinking of a scrapped column idea a couple of years back called "My yearly apology to spring sports athletes," for not focusing on them as much as I focused on the fall and winter seasons.

Despite my absence, there is a lot of spring coverage on NISB this year. Lidinsky's familiarity with the Little 10 and Interstate 8 conferences is displayed all over NISB. Years ago, when people thought of NISB, they thought of the NCIC, TRAC-8 and the Upstate Illini. At this time, we are informing these same people of what else is out there in the land not too terribly far away from them. 'Tis one of the goals of NISB.

So how about Somonauk? Their baseball team is the only unbeaten team of its kind in the area, and one of three in the area (the only others being Lutheran soccer and Ottawa tennis). Their softball team has what many teams of its kind don't have - two real talented freshmen. That's the newest story on the website from Lidinsky. Check it out!

There hasn't been a whole lot of coverage from teams west of I-39. However, that should change by at least May 15, when I can toss schoolwork out through the window. Coming back into the spring sports scene, together with Lidinsky's coverage mainly from the east, NISB may have a publication that's actually exceptional for once.

There'll be much more when the annual State of the Site Address comes out on June 15.

Okay, I'm done. Now how did Hazelwood win that case?