Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Coming soon - new online video series with SI.com

Ladies and gentlemen, can I please have your attention. I've just been handed an urgent and horrifying news story. I need all of you, to stop what you're doing and listen…..

CANNONBALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!... No, I am completely kidding, but I figured my movie enthusiasts would appreciate the introduction. Actually, I am getting ready to start my all new online video series with SI.com. Jenn X-Road Trip follows me around the country to a different college city each week to show you the greatest in college rivalries and NCAA sporting venues. When I hit the road crazy things tend to happen that .. well.. you will just have to see to believe.

Toto, I don't think we're in Tallahassee anymore. That's right Shockers!... I’m coming to town the weekend of Feb. 2 to shoot my first basketball season roadtrip video for SI.com and I’m ready to take you on. What’s that special tradition or competition that visitors just have to try when they come to the campus? There’s gotta be something! And, no matter what it is, I’m sure I’m up for the challenge! So, not only will I be hanging around the school all weekend to find out how the Shockers do on the court and figure out the heartbeat of the campus, but I’ll also be ready to experience some Wichita State traditions. Just email me some suggestions and I’ll pick one to try. See you over the weekend! And PS.. I may need a guide.. so if you're the one in the "know"... show me why they say... there's "No place like home."

Other upcoming colleges include:

--Oregon

--Syracuse

--LSU

--N Carolina

… and a stint in Las Vegas.

Your school not on the list yet???.. Send me an email at my SI mailbag.. or a note on facebook or myspace.. and…tell me why your school is a must see college sports venue.. or one of the greatest college rivalries. I’ll be seeing you real soon!!!...

Besos, Jenn.

Gasparilla Piratefest with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays

YO HO YO HO.. A pirate’s life for me.

Minus the drink up me ‘earties yo ho part anyway. Instead of partaking in the alcohol induced madness, this cowgirl decided to forgo the traditional party scene in downtown Tampa (and along the Bayshore) and see it all from a perspective reminiscent of her high school marching band days… be in the festivities!! But why walk six miles when you can … ride it???..

This year I hitched a ride on the Devil Rays float and even traded in my boots and cowboy hat for some sportier digs. In full out rays gear, my girlfriends Brittany and Ashley helped me toss out beads along the parade route and show the rest of Tampa a great time at one of cities oldest traditions. We stopped along the way and took pictures with the Plant High School football team, who just capped off a great season last year, winning the State Championship, not to mention dozens of athletes, firefighters, police officers, and pirates.

So we weren’t exactly singing "Danke Schoen" or “Twist and Shout”… but a little “Maneater” with some beads and foam baseballs seemed to still do the trick… And our outfits certainly gave Ferris a run for his money.

The parade route was a lot shorter than I remember it being, but then again this time I wasn’t doing it in front of a marching band of 150, or in knee high cowboy boots. Overall, the parade was a great success and fun was had by all, even Raymond.

So, its been a long weekend of bead throwing, singing.. and all kinds of shenanigans.. and this girl needs her rest. Until next year Tampa

Oh yeah.. and Go Rays!

Thursday, January 11, 2007

New Year… New Me

Every year millions of Americans make resolutions to better their lives from the way it was the year before. Well, I am no different. Each year I get suckered into setting some completely unreasonable goal that I am supposed to have fulfilled by the time the ball drops 365 days later. Among my list of failures includes going to the gym every day, keeping my car washed, and making my bed. This year needs to be different. Instead of making over some physical aspect of my life, I want to overhaul my perception of it.

Ever since I was little my mother has dubbed me the pessimist of the family. And even back then I would respond: I’m not a pessimist, just a realist. I gave up on thinking that everything in life could really be a lot worse than it was, and dwelled on what my life was missing and what would fill the voids.

Fast forward to 2007, I am twenty three. I am unmarried. Without kids. And back at home as I finish up my last credit hours of undergrad, while continuing my work with CNNSI. And it suits me just fine. Why the new lease on life? I just figure it was time to drop the baggage that has been plaguing me for the past few years of my life.
The past two years of my life have been nothing but chaotic, but they have forced me to live outside the box in both my thinking, my planning, and my general views on life. I’ve come to realize I don’t have to view things in only black and white… or even shades of gray. My life is in color. A huge messy palette of color. I may not always like everything about the picture, in all its individual parts, but when I step back and view it as a whole; I realize it’s the big picture that counts.

2006 brought me more than I could ever imagine. I loved, I laughed, and I lost, while all the while not losing sight of who I am. I realize that not everyone in life will like me, or my views, and while some may love me others will wish I would just step in font of a bus. And that’s perfectly fine. You can’t please everyone, nor can you expect them to please you. It’s not logical. Besides if you sit around and wait for others to make you happy, you will only wind up disappointed.

I’m eternally grateful for the things, people, and opportunities God has bestowed upon my life in the past year. I’ve discovered my life is really just a bus that’s still in route to an unknown destination. Some will get on my bus and may get off after a block or two, while others may stick around for the ride in all its crazy twists and turns. The ones who prove themselves untrue???.. Well, their pass to ride this bus has expired.

On being single… it’s really not as bad as it looks. Honestly, I doubt there are many men in this world that could possibly understand where I am at in life or what I do. How can I expect them to?.. They see the pictures. That is all. They don’t know me. They see the push up bras, the make up, the boots, and a hat. End of story. When I show up to a date in no make-up, my sweats, and the hair tucked under a baseball hat, that’s when they get the real me. I’m not trying to scare them into thinking I look like the crypt keeper, but I am not gonna falsely advertise who I am outside of “work.” So many of my friends jumped into ill-fated marriages, and some went as far as to think adding a plus one to their family would make the situation better? Who are they kidding? We’re young and still figuring out who we are, and you can’t do that if you are with someone that makes you be something you are not.

Losing love hurts, but so does caring about someone that can’t have the same feelings for you. People often begin relationships with all kinds of emotional baggage they refuse to part with from previous relationships. How can you expect to move into the future if your past is present? We all have our pasts, our ex’s, and our memories, but you can’t base your current situation off of previous ones or they will be doomed to fail from the start. When it comes to relationships, maybe we're all in glass houses, and shouldn't throw stones. Because you can never really know someone else’s life and feelings unless you put yourself in their shoes. Some people are settling down, some are settling, and some people refuse to settle for anything less. And I choose to settle for nothing less than “butterflies” and a smile every time I see my other half. I will not subject my self to remain in a situation that makes me anything but happy. I want a guy that realizes its not grand gestures that prove I am his life, but the little things to let me know I am the first thing he thinks of when he rolls out of bed, and the last thing he dreams of before falling asleep. I know that there will be times when one or both of us want out, but I can guarantee that if I didn’t at least try and give it a shot I could spend the rest of my life wondering... what could have been because being my stubborn self, I would never admit that he was really the one for me.

“What if Price Charming had never shown up? Do you think Snow White would have just laid there in that glass box forever? Hardly. She would have sat up, spit out the apple, gotten a job, a health care plan, a new hair cut, and moved on with her life.”

Besides, who needs a Prince when you have friends and family like mine? Because no matter who broke your heart, or how long it takes to heal, you will never get through it without them.

The glass is only as full as you let life pour it. You can cover the lid and say “when” or you can come back and ask for seconds. Because when it comes to life, there is no such thing as an overindulgence of “living,” only the regret that you didn’t live enough before last call came around. 2006 left my cup a little on the empty side, but 2007 begs to be different. I have new friends, new opportunities, and a new lease on life. And maybe if I am lucky… someday my Prince will quit being stubborn long enough to quit being lost... stop and ask for directions.