For the first time in six weeks, I woke up this morning with no place to go. My freelance gig at WBAL ended yesterday, and thanks to that crazy 3 am - 11 am schedule, I found myself up by 5 this morning, staring at the clock...So I went downstairs and made a pot of coffee... went out to the driveway, picked up the morning paper... poured myself a cup, and started scanning the Washington Post in search of stories that we can advance today.
But wait a minute... There is no "we"... That would require me to be A) - working and B) - working with someone else... two conditions that do not apply here.
After I was let go at WMAL six months ago (SIX MONTHS!), it took me weeks to get over the fact that my job had been cut after 25 years. Out of habit, I was still coming up with material that someone could spin into gold on the air, and in fact, I fed probably a couple of dozen stories to my former colleague Bill Thompson just as a creative fix.
Now, after having a job to do and newscasts to write for six weeks at WBAL, I find myself in the exact same position... In fact, I didn't even wait 24 hours after leaving there before pestering my friends in Baltimore. When I found a story on Drudge last night that said Michael Phelps would be hosting Saturday Night Live, I called WBAL and let them know about it... Old habits truly do die hard!
Hopefully, my withdrawal this time around will be brief. I start training next week for another freelance gig, and hopefully, this one will keep me occupied for a while!
Before I go, I want to thank the nice folks at WBAL for having me in their newsroom over the past month and a half. They made me feel very much at home, and my time there gave me a much-needed reassurance that my news skills did not fade away as I've toiled on the Beach. It is a cold, cold world out here in the land of the underemployed, and it is nice to know there are places I can stop in to warm myself from time to time!
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