Adrenaline haze

Okay, so I've stopped shaking. This is a good thing.

I just did my first live news hit. Ever. It was a 2 (maybe 3?) minute "drive" (CBC-talk for quick 'n' dirty) on CBC Newsworld with Heather Hiscox.

As I was waiting on the phone, listening to Colleen Jones itemize the weather conditions ... I was concentrating on my breathing, and thinking to myself "I have to remember what this is like, I have to blog about this."

So if you are tired of hearing about my newfound CBC popularity, you might as well skip this entry, and go do the morning crossword... or whatever it is you people do :P I won't be insulted. I'm pretty sure even my parents are tired of hearing about it!

I think the key to doing this kind of reporting is not to over think it (lol, a challenge for anyone who knows me). I remember doing a similar thing in journalism school, and our prof telling us not to write out exactly what we were going to say, just to make notes of the points you want to hit. So of course, I wrote out exactly what I was going to say, and tried my darnedest to sound as "non-rehearsed" as possible.

This time, I actually... without really thinking about my j-school training ... did exactly what I was supposed to. But I maintain a lot of that comes from being the "national expert" (at least in CBC's eyes, it seems) on this curse-ed blizzard. I've explained the situation, and its many angles, so many times to so many people over the past couple days.

I have answered more phones, talked to more new people, and done more interviews in the past 48 hours than I have in any other point in my life. And I was just PUMPING with adrenaline the whole time. It's kind of funny to look back on yesterday. I wish I could have seen myself through my colleagues eyes.

Was I flustered? Was I excited? Was I focussed? Was I driven? Overwhelmed? Giddy?

I was trying to explain the complexity of my day to my supervisor yesterday evening, all the shows I was doing work for, how that compared to my normal duties... and I couldn't even get the words out. I couldn't even give a coherent account of the day. It's like I went through the day in an adrenaline haze.

But as I sit here and try to think back... I realize I really owe my co-workers big time. Normally I try not to involve them in my blog, but I really... think they deserve some mega props. If it wasn't for Selma... I never would have chased this story. She's the one that had the interview with the cashier in Whale Cove. She's the one that called her back to get a comment in English about the store stock. And Betty. Betty kept calling people, without me asking and then turning around to say "Jackie, I have X on the phone, you should talk to them." And when I needed additional sources for As it Happens and Sounds like Canada... she had them, a constant slew of names and phone numbers. The two of them, well, Selma and Betty made me look good. I couldn't have done this without them.

And finally Kevin. It is just, so refreshing to have someone just first, believe in you so much... but not just that, push you to believe in yourself so that you can make other people believe in you too. Monday night - back in the days when this was "just" a 5-day storm haha - Kevin says to me "you should pitch this to national news" ... and I am pretty sure I brushed him off. I didn't really think it was a news story, it was just a storm. A persistent storm, but a just a storm. I didn't call national news that night, but I did put a call into Sounds like Canada.

It wasn't until the next morning, when I looked outside, and it was as bad a blizzard as it had been all week (if not worse) that I realized our "little" blizzard was BIG news. So I did call, national news WAS interested. And things spun out from there. My phone calls and hectic day were punctuated by Kevin's enthusiasm and praise... all I could ask for, and more than I should have demanded of a guy who had stuff of his own to deal with (a very recent death in the family).
So thanks Selma, thanks Betty ... I figure you'll not ever really read this, so that falls on deaf ears...(I'll have to write a real thank you letter for them) but Kevin does.

So thank you Kevin. I couldn't have done this without your support. I'll always remember that.