The Beast

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Mar 10, 2009 -> 03:24 PM) My girlfriend majored in English Lit at UIC and is currently working as an editor; you don't necessarily need a journalism degree to get into that line of work. If you want to stick with that path, take their internship class. It's run by Linda Andrews, IIRC. I wonder what would happen if I took an English minor (because I don't know how much of the English literature that I could stomach) or at least take the bare minimum of courses required to get into that internship. I remember seeing that internship class when I was researching UIC. QUOTE (G&T @ Mar 10, 2009 -> 03:31 PM) If you want to listen to people and write, there's always law school. That way you can punt and take any major that gets you to graduation. English and history majors are quite popular in law school. Law degrees can open a lot of doors even if you don't want to be a lawyer. I thought about your idea, too. What kind of doors do they open up?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 10, 2009 -> 12:06 PM) If its because you are worried about what other people think, stop it. If no one else gives a care, that is their problem, not yours. The fact of the matter is that I have not had a drink yet and have declined to do so until my 21st birthday. I've pretty much stopped caring about what everyone thinks, too. Sorry I mentioned alcohol, because I really wanted to focus on academics here. Edit: On my run today, I was thinking about Psychology. I don't know, I have this gift about listening to people and offering advice. Sure, there is more to that, but for someone who can analyze someone's feelings, it might be a good job to look into. I think the reason I've been so anxious in classes and bored in school is because I haven't been interested in anything we've studied in English or Communication outside of the gen eds that I took last year. Maybe I should take some Psychology and Business courses next semester.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 10, 2009 -> 08:12 AM) Ross: Its actually not a bad thing that you are experiencing this now and not later. One thing that I have learned in my professional life is that many times what you want to do with your life doesn't work out. Unlike our grandparents generation, odds are hugely in favor of you doing multiple different things with your life. To me the most important thing I got out of college wasn't the course work, but the learning and life skills. I have probably changed careers about 3 times within the same industry. For what I do things are constantly changing. The dirty secret about college is that no matter what you learn, you are going to go into the "real world" and they are going to re-teach you how to do things the way that they want them done anyway. The big thing that I got was the ability to learn. The end of college is only the beginning of your education. Heck as we speak I am studying for licensing exams with the NASD. Make sure you solidify your study techniques and figure out exactly how it is you learn best, because you will have no one to depend on but your self if you want to advance in whatever you get involved in. If you think you are doing it own your own now, it only gets worse. For me the important thing was picking out something I knew would give me a chance to live a respectful life style financially, while still being material I was interested in, and could see myself dealing with on a daily basis. Looking back the activities I got into also made a large difference in my life, as they provided me with some valuable skills. My years in radio, and being a program director at the station, were huge. Don't cut those kind of things out if you still enjoy them. If you don't enjoy them, find something else you are interested in and try it out. Finally, I know it sounds hard, because I did the same things at your age, but don't let it eat at you too much. At 19/20 years old, one simply doesn't have the foresight of being able to make these kind of decisions. You have no idea what life is going to throw at you, because every one's life is completely different. Do the best that you can today, and be ready to change things tomorrow. When it happens, it doesn't mean something is wrong, its just different. There isn't anything you can do about, so don't stress about it. Get that degree, keep working hard, and most important of all, enjoy these four years. Life completely changes when you are out of college, and you never get those years back. Soak them up as best as you can. I guess my issue is that UIC doesn't have a journalism program. I know they have a paper, and I know it is only weekly. I've often thought about writing PR reports, too. However, I would like to get a background in business so that I can adapt to writing in a business setting. As of right now, my goals are to improve my writing, vocabulary, and overall, just to move forward in life. I'm just unsure if the reason why I didn't want to write for the Daily Eastern News anymore was because the material they were giving me was dry, or for the fact that no one gives a crap about sports at this school. Thank you for your post; I'm going to consider a lot of what you've said. @kyyle: I'm just proving to you guys that I'm not as narrow minded as I was last year.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Mar 9, 2009 -> 11:20 PM) Oh, I'm lost, so I'll volunteer. (And I'm somewhat serious). (Before I start, I'm not talking down to you, please keep that in mind when I discuss this... I don't mean to come across that way). Let's see. Here's the best part, Beast. You're young, and you're allowed to make a few mistakes! That's the best part. It sounds like you've grown up some since you left home, and I think that's good for you. I think you had to get away so that you could see that there is a different path then what you thought there was. My background, the condensed version. I was one of those that had a career picked out in high school and I never changed from it. I wanted to go into accounting and finance because I wanted to use that as a baseline to "branch out", except to be honest, I never have. It's just where I've been stuck for 20 years. More on that later. I think any time you're in the situation you're in, you have to take a few "extra" classes (the intro ones) to see what really interests you. Does marketing? Business management? Accounting? (It's not math, contrary to what a lot of people tell you). Take some of those electives and see where it takes you because I think you will find that there's something there that you'll pick up on. The BEST thing for you to do is find what you like and stick to it. The reason? It's not so much work. The accounting thing for me is work. It really is. I don't really like it, and the main reason I don't like it is because it always ends up in a political situation (ethical) situation I don't like. When you bite the hand that feeds you, you will get bitten. I'll be perfectly blunt, and it probably sounds negative, but the "real world" is highly political. Everywhere. Office politics, how to get further and further down the career path, then you start to balance that out with family, etc. It gets hard. But it doesn't have to be. It's harder for me because I think I chose the wrong career. I am seriously thinking about what I want to do at almost 36, and I don't have a clue. It's not a place to be in with 2 kids, a house, two car payments, etc. So, explore and make that decision - and at least you're going into it with more of an open mind then I ever had. Once you decide what's for you, dedicate yourself to it and the work you put into it early will pay off. Attend "extra" things in whatever profession you choose. Why? Networking. Colleges usually offer memberships to different things - use it. Once you land that first job, use the things that are out there for you to learn. If you do that very early, you will set yourself up very well. On a personal note, if you're not comfortable with something, do it, especially in college. It's the place you can learn how to handle situations before you see it in the real world. You get do over's in college many times, you don't in the real world. Experience things. Make mistakes. Learn from them. The whole premise here is that you're still at a place where you can do what you want to, but just don't let it overwhelm you. Just take things as they come, you'll find your way. Once you do, run with it. Thank you for your respectful post. At no point throughout your post did I feel you were talking down to me at all. I appreciate your tone, especially for the reputation I used to carry around these boards. You're right, I did grow up. Sure, I have my beliefs that I fully do not understand (like drinking, although now I accept people who do, and I will also probably have a few myself in a month on my 21st birthday...at U.S. Cellular Field!), and I do not know what I want to go into, but I think your piece of advice about trying different things might be "the best medicine for what is ailing me." In fact, I think I'm going to take your bit about taking intro classes seriously. I also think that I'm going to write on UIC's weekly publication because I do enjoy writing. Though they do not have a journalism major there, I think I might take the two English courses (ick, one literature class) that will allow me to get into their internship program for writing-based jobs that also fall under the category of business. I will be willing to beef up my resume and do anything that is necessary to network. I just hope that things come eventually and not too late where I can find what I want to do. And I'm planning on running with it. P.S. Your bit about doing things you're uncomfortable with is right. And I'm already doing that. I'm going out on dates with girls (after those two months needed to get over the previous relationships), will probably go out with the guys for some drinks, am going to work this summer full-time, and I'm just going to try new things. You're absolutely right, taking a risk never felt so good.

Greetings. I'm writing this thread because rather concerned with my education, major and career. I'm 20, (will be 21 in April) and in my second year at the university known as Eastern Illinois University. To be honest, it feels like I could do much better than this university. However, I do sit here kind of concerned as to where I stand in the world of academia and in finding my career. Let us travel back to my freshman year of high school. I was placed in the second lowest possible Math class in the whole school, which required me to take two years of Algebra (100 and 200), one year of Geometry (200 level) and one year of Advanced Algebra Trigonometry (200 level). I told my counselor that I was acing the Algebra 100 class and that I didn't belong there. However, the school declined to advance me up to the next level. I'll be honest; I never took the initiative to take a math class in the summer to advance my chances at improving my ACT score (at least on the Math portion.) I'm not ashamed to admit that I got a 20 on that god forsaken test because in high school, I never was taught much that would allow me to even meet the standards of a Big Ten school like the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, Northwestern University, or the University of Iowa. One thing that I had going for me in high school was my ability to write, even if my writing skills needed to be refined further. I didn't know what the hell I wanted to do after high school, so I just opted to go to EIU after visiting Northern Illinois University and the University of Illinois-Chicago for an English with teaching certification degree. I also had interests in radio broadcasting and journalism because I had my own show on WDGC 88.3 FM and I wrote with The Blueprint for 3 years. (I pursued these interests after not being able to play football due to the fact that I was always playing behind the coach’s son.) EIU offered both journalism and broadcasting as clubs, so I figured it would be a great place for me to go, especially since my then-high school girlfriend was going to U of I the next year. Well, I got to Eastern, and after a summer of not knowing what to do about my major, I chose Pre-Marketing. The Academic Advising in the small town of Charleston, IL is terrible. They have under qualified local individuals who force you into deciding a major. Obviously, I wanted to be there for teaching, but I felt pressured into another major. Half-way through the semester, I decided to change my major to English with a teaching certification. Fast forward to this year, my sophomore year of college. I get to class on the first day of school still rather uncertain of what to do. I take courses of Creative Writing, Introduction to Literature, and I realize that I hate the material. I drop Intro to Lit and struggle through the semester because things started to change. No longer did I want to teach English because what I had been taught in high school was completely different from the literature lessons taught in college. I wanted to teach English in order to teach high school students how to write, because many of them simply do not learn how to write. Now that I didn't want to teach English, I had a decision to make in regards to choosing a major. I also didn't want to deal with journalism and I just wasn't interested in radio because those were things I was burnt out from in high school. I know how to write and speak in those fields, but they just weren't interesting to me anymore. And of course, after 3 ½ years of dating my high school girlfriend, that went sour, and my little adventure on fantasy island, thinking that the long-distance relationship would work was blown out of proportion like the nuclear bomb being dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. I also didn't realize why I was so upset with life until the breakup because all I had been doing was doing gaming, traveling back and forth between home and the small town of Charleston to see my ex-girlfriend once every few weekends, and just living the same life that I had in high school since. Recently, I've decided to make some changes in my life and try and figure out what the hell I want to do. I took a career placement test over my Winter Break, and the careers that I should be doing are the following: College Instructor, Investments Manager, Paralegal, Banker, Bookkeeper, Parks & Recreation Manager, Restaurant Manager, Law Enforcement Officer, Marketing Manager, and Accountant. Some of those aren't far off, as I have thought about being a cop, a marketing executive, a college instructor, or working for the law in some capacity. The test also claimed that I needed to take some risks socially/academically and that I should consider careers in business, sales, marketing, counseling or as a teacher. As far as the changes in my life go, I've seen how I can't wait to get out of this small town, so I've decided to go back to where I originally wanted to go to school by applying to the University of Illinois-Chicago. I got in, and will be going to school there in the fall. Honestly, I'm going there hoping for a challenge academically and just a fresh start overall. (And, I will be bettering myself to the extreme, I want to meet new people, date new girls, and of course, run the 2009 Chicago Marathon!) I'm not sure what I'm going to major in; however, I do want to be sure that I can get a degree in Marketing or a Liberal Art so that I can advance myself. I just am worried about being in school for the rest of my life, which is why I don’t want to be a Psychologist. Currently, I'm majoring in Communication Studies---Corporate Communication, which I'm finding isn't helping me get to the goal that I want to achieve. I'm thinking that by Marketing with courses in Rhetoric (or something to help refine my writing further) would help suit all of the careers that I want to look into after school. So I guess what I'm asking for in this long, winded post, is for those of you who have been out in the real world for awhile to just look at my situation, analyze it and give any sort of advice you could possibly give. Am I choosing the right major? Am I making the right steps towards a career? (I want to add that I plan on doing an internship once I figure out my major, and that I have been working on the college newspaper and radio station for my resume. I also have been volunteering for an organization called Global Hope, Inc.) What should I be considering in terms of my career? I'm aware of the s***ty economy and have made it a goal of mine to eventually make enough money to have a family and live comfortably in a place where I want to live. I know, I'm laying a lot of information down in this post that is probably not relevant, but I figured that I'd ask, what can someone who has good writing skills, is open to making himself marketable to the government, in a business setting, or some other related field do as a major to advance his career options? I don't have a selected major in mind and am pretty much open to any suggestions. I know that I'm capable of doing a lot more than just going to a trade school (I never fully applied myself in high school and never knew how to study until I got to college), and I want to get a bachelor's degree. Any suggestions are welcome, especially for someone who feels "lost" in his life right now.

I wanted to volunteer my spring break to working in New Orleans doing painting, but they do not need unspecialized workers. Some friends wanted to go to Denver on a road-trip, but I'm not sure if I have the money or if I could spend time with a bunch of nerds who will reference movies or talk about gaming. I would LOVE to hop on a plane and go see the White Sox play ball, but I don't know any Sox fans who would go in with me, and I don't think that my Dad could go considering the economy. However, I will probably go do my job interview with the Morton Arboretum since I'm transferring from EIU to UIC next year and I would like to get some additional money in my bank account.

How I Met Your Mother---Ted Mosby, Marshall Erickson and Robin Seinfeld---Elaine ER---Dr. Greene and George Clooney's character Scrubs---Elliot and Dr. Cox

I hope you guys need a 6"2' 190 lbs. southpaw...because that's what I can offer you if I play. By the way, what is Soxtalk's history against WSI?

Wise>Owens

"If a new thing comes into my house, something else must be thrown out."

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Nov 20, 2008 -> 05:03 PM) Just saw this on Rotoworld. The acquisition of Jose Contreras has really paved the way for our future (Alexei, Dayan). And the departure of Jose Contreras would make me all the more happier.

I'm going with 4, and that could eventually be 5 if it all goes well. I'm satisfied with my life and that I'm doing better with the distance (about 45 min away), and I don't feel as though I'm missing out on anything out there. She's very special to me and I'm grateful for what we have together, and I'm very lucky to have her in my life (we've dated for 3+ years now).

QUOTE (He_Gawn @ Oct 6, 2008 -> 05:25 PM) some of you pussys are unbearable on here..... I agree. Go White Sox! Let's cut this defecit again and take the lead!

See, when we win and some of these guys are the heros of the game, I'm going to love to see all of the quotes that people should bring up on this board. 2-1 White Sox win, anyone?

QUOTE (kjshoe04 @ Sep 29, 2008 -> 05:26 PM) Sheffield terrifies me. Urlacher terrifies me.

The last thing I really want to say about umpires for today is that if we lose this game, I hope that we don't blame it on officiating. That'd be terribly lame.

QUOTE (That funky motion @ Sep 29, 2008 -> 05:23 PM) I'll throw in the sack. Who's throwing in the stick?

Playoff teams find a way to overcome various kinds of adversity, lets see if we're a playoff team today. Let's go Gavin!

QUOTE (joesaiditstrue @ Sep 29, 2008 -> 05:15 PM) Wise is so bad, so so bad. This game is over Okay, if you feel that way, sign off. Everyone, this game is over because joesaiditstrue. Let's go White Sox!!!

QUOTE (Reddy @ Sep 29, 2008 -> 05:12 PM) *turns to ignore button* Have fun!

QUOTE (Sox It To Em @ Sep 29, 2008 -> 05:10 PM) Horses*** strike call. Man, if you were one of the fans or coaches that were at one of the games I was umpiring, you'd have fun sitting in your car because I don't babysit 40-year-old men.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Sep 29, 2008 -> 05:11 PM) nobody directed anything at you and your umpiring abilities this time. we're allowed, though, in america, to comment on the umpire in this game. Then I can respond back even though it is not directed at me.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Sep 29, 2008 -> 05:09 PM) calm down. none of this crap again. lets watch the game Then honestly, I want none of that crap again. You're right for both sides of the argument, let us just watch the game.

QUOTE (joesaiditstrue @ Sep 29, 2008 -> 05:07 PM) umpire's zone is changing durastically from the first inning some of these strikes were not called in the first Are you calling for the radar gun to call balls and strikes? Do you want to use machines to make "safe/out" and "ball/strike calls?" You've just got to deal with it, it is part of the game. People can b**** all they want, nothing will change.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Sep 29, 2008 -> 05:04 PM) that DiMuro guy is a bad umpire. OK Hawk.