Ah, where to begin? The last few weeks have been a total blur of pure stress, release and awesomeness. Three weeks ago I had to prepare for the most incredible experience of my life. A whole week of scrambling to put together a website, get business cards, write papers and work a week ahead in class. Let me tell you, it wasn’t as fun as you might think. When Thursday came around I was ready to be done with all of it. The weird thing is, even though it was so stressful, a lot of fun was had through the stress, thanks to my friends.
Friday, April 8th rolled around a lot quicker than I would have imagined. That is the day before the Dream Team and myself were set to go to Vegas to compete in the War on the Floor at the NAB Show. That was probably the craziest pre-trip day of any, even though I didn’t any classes. The Dream Team got together to shoot some Pre-roll interviews to use in our first video, I had meetings AND pack! I helped my friend/teammate Lauren pack first and didn’t leave her place until 1 AM Saturday morning. Packing for myself didn’t happen until 2 AM. I slept for probably a half hour before getting up at 4:30 to leave for the airport. Oh man that was an early morning.
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| This is Lauren and myself at the Des Moines International Airport at the wonderful hour of 6 AM |
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| We've just arrive in Vegas! Left to Right: Me, Professor Evans, and Dream Team Member Rebecca |
After 2 flights we arrived finally arrived in Las Vegas at the spritely hour of 10 AM. Our first step was to drop our luggage off at our hotel, which was the Monte Carlo (can you say jackpot?), and then hit the strip. It would be the only time we would be able to see it in the daylight. We walked all the way to the other end of the strip where we ate Chipotle and took a well-deserved rest. I don’t know if I have ever felt so tired in my life. It was a struggle getting back to our hotel, and by 2 PM we were all passed out. I slept on the floor for some odd reason, but that’s beside the point.
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| Lauren, Eamonn and myself in front of Paris. |
At 5 we met our professor at the Las Vegas convention center to go to a pre-production meeting. Or at least that’s what we thought it was. Our whole team was a little disheveled. We didn’t take too much time getting ready. If fact, Eamonn changed from a button up shirt to a t-shirt. It turned out that we were actually taping the open at that time and not just attending a production meeting. Grrrrreat! Now I’m not a priss but I would have loved an extra minute or two in front of a mirror. It was topped off by the fact that the other team showed up in perfect professional attire. Ha! The juxtaposition between the images of the two teams was quite funny. On one hand, you have a team from the East Coast dressed up real proper, and on the other hand you have a disheveled looking team from the Midwest wearing flannel and t-shirts. Oh man did we laugh.
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| Look at those serious faces. We are ready to go. |
Just before the shoot I was nominated as the team spokesperson. It kind of surprised me that we hadn’t discussed it before, but I wasn’t mad about it. I have on-air experience and am a general camera hog so I jumped on the opportunity.
After the shoot we went back to hotel to eat, concept for the next day, and edit some stuff together. We had plans to go out but decided against it. Exhaustion and jitters for the days to come won out and we spent our first night in Vegas in a hotel room, asleep by midnight. In hindsight it was the right decision. We had no idea was in store for us in the days to come.
Since this post is already ridiculously long, I will stop here and post the other days in succession. I apparently have a lot to say, but trust me, it’s a good story.
Pip Pip Cheerio!
