End of days

A glorious day out here in Stanford. Unfortunately I spent most of it indoors, tinkering away on job applications, but I managed to get out for a stroll round the Dish with a coursemate, so not a complete washout. 

It's now got to the point that pretty much everything I do here will be the last time I do it, so I feel I should try to fit in plenty of outdoors time, getting the most of Stanford's greenery and the California sun. But I've got a world of crap to get sorted before being booted out, so it's more likely that I'll getting the applications in or shoveling stuff into boxes before turning in my keys. Not ideal, but there you go.

There is some good stuff happening though: a friend of mine's mum treated us to a rather spiffy Greek meal at Evvia, so I'm getting to drink from the graduation cup, even though my folks are back in the UK. And I think there'll be a few more parties over the next couple of days to celebrate getting through the year.

All in all, though, it's been a bit of an anticlimax. Unlike finals in the UK, where you work up to a crescendo and then flee the university with streamers hanging from your hair, the last year has been a sustained and intense block of graft. And now we emerge into an unsure market, with unemployment on the rise, and a selection of debts hanging round our necks. Plus we're being booted out of our flats basically the moment graduation is over, so there's not even time to enjoy campus. It just seems to have come and gone.

So tomorrow I'll don the gown I found outside the campus bookstore and head over to the ceremonies for the final push. There's the main effort in the stadium, which sounds like it'll last forever (it's the one where they read out thousands of names), and then the Comm department graduation later on. I might not go to the first one, if it really is as interminable as feared. But the second one should be interesting, and I'll actually get to pick up my diploma. So this time tomorrow I'll be Dan Walker Smith, MA (Stanford).

(The place to get the gowns was shut, by the way, but someone had balled up a faculty gown and left it in a magazine rack, so I left my contact details and nabbed it - I now think I'll be graduating in a faculty gown from the business department, which is a bit random, but might be better for getting a job).

Close to the Edge

Wow, that was quick. So we're nearly at the end - thesis done, bills paid, just graduation to go, and then I'm outta here. 

Seems odd now. A whole year here at Stanford. I'm still unsure how I feel about the place - lots of good and interesting stuff, but all of it diluted by busy work or bureaucracy. I feel like Stanford is so close to being awesome, but just needs a quick tweak here and there. 

That's part of the reason I'm sorry to go: I reckon if I were here for a couple more years, not only would I crack it, but I'd actually be able to instill a bit more fun for other people. 

KZSU, for example, is just crying out for someone to rejig it. The potential's there; we just need to turn it up a bit.

And the Comm department - what I could do if I had a couple of terms to tinker with that. In fact, I spent most of a run yesterday coming up with ideas to booster the thing. I'd tell the department about them as well, if I didn't think they'd just fall on deaf ears (or ears unwilling to pay, at least).

Maybe all this is a mixture of looking back on the last year and thinking how I could've made it even better. But I suspect what I'm really after is a project. I'm not sure it even matters what that project is - I just need something sustained to build from start to finish and make it fantastic.

Academic journalism is fine, but it's a bit piecemeal. Possibly the time's come to create something new that I can really get my teeth into. 

Stand up Stanford

A very quick one here 'coz I'm dog tired and have a whole day of interviewing ahead of me.

I had another go at stand-up today. Partly successful, partly not. It was the Stanford try-outs for the Rooftop Comedy's College Stand-up competition, so I figured I'd throw my hat in the ring.

I was first on, with a three-minute bit about Vegas I'd cobbled together over the last day or so. It went down fair enough - there seemed to be plenty of laughs in the right places and I didn't clam up, as I feared. In fact I was surprisingly nonchalant. I really didn't feel that nervous at all, and if I'd had a bit more time I would have happily stayed on stage, maybe trying some riffing with the crowd (don't get ahead of yourself, boy).

Unfortunately I didn't make it through to the next round, but I'm not too fussed about it, for the following reasons:

a) I bloody well got up there and did it, and I'm pretty happy about that.

B) Without sounding too pleased with myself, I really do think I was funnier on the night than at least three of the eight acts that went through. I suspect they had a lot more friends than me in the audience, and so got more votes, but I did OK for myself on the night. (Obviously this might all be crap, but that's what I'm telling myself at the moment).

c) I didn't talk too quickly. Amazingly considering my predilection for rattling through sentences at a rate of knots, I was reasonably measured in my delivery. I also stayed in one place and didn't use my hands too much. So maybe I can do this kind of stuff without coming across like a cocaine fiend.

d) It went OK. Yep, not great, but not terrible, and I can hold my head up at the end of it. With a bit more polish I reckon I can get together a pretty good set, and I've proved to myself that I don't get too nervous in front of (admittedly pretty kind) crowds.

A KZSU stablemate did make it through to the Cal match, though, so it might be a good excuse next quarter to head up to SF and catch that show.

I definitely want to do more comedy performances now: It's the only way I'll learn, and I think it'll give me a bit more discipline about writing funny stuff. I just need a way to make sure I'm in SF at least one night of the week, and that I'm definitely going to be on stage with new material.

OK then, here we go...

OK folks, it's time to start blogging. 

To kick off, here's a quick introduction: My name's Dan Walker Smith, I'm a British journalist based in the States for a year on a Fulbright Scholarship. I've been a print journo and broadcaster for a couple of years, and I thought this was probably the time to get my teeth into blogging.

Right now I'm at Stanford, doing an MA in communications - mainly journalism, to be honest, but a healthy slice of design and digital stuff as well, which makes things more interesting. In fact, the design element is probably the most interesting bit of the course, so I'm looking into making that a bigger part of my life (or career - seem to be interchangable right now).

I like comedy, radio, ceramics, breakdancing, music with beats, laughing, cracking weak puns, cooking, cycling, travel and very spicy food. Way back in the day I used to like writing as well, but three years of journalism kicked that out of me, so hopefully this blog will re-ignite the fire.

I also present a couple of radio shows on KZSU in Stanford: The Beaten Track, 9 'til 12 on Friday mornings, Pacific time, and Speakeasy, which is a show where we talk a load of bollocks on any topic that springs to mind. That one's on at 12.30pm on Wednesdays. Tune in if you get the chance - there should be podcasts soon, as well.