IPA'S RETURN FROM EXILE

Eighteen days ago, I walked out of FitzRandolph Gate as a newly-minted graduate of Princeton University. Four years of studying and struggling through an Ivy League institution had finally paid off. In a matter of hours, I would be on an airplane flying back to Louisiana with the most expensive piece of paper I would ever own. I had the world on a string, or, at least I thought I did.

Nearly three weeks later, I've discovered the string through which I held the world had been cut. The luxury of living life at my own pace and on my own terms has disappeared. I'm unemployed and broke, and it doesn't look like this situation is going to change in the immediate future (read: tomorrow or next week). I still have umpiring to fall back on, but making $20 an hour for 20 hours a week isn't going to pay a car note or the rent. For the time being, I'll be living at home and driving my mom's car around Lafayette during the day.

Although I don't have a broadcasting job yet, I will still keep my face in the media. Of course, unsuspecting news directors will be receiving my résumé and demo reel, but while I'm in job limbo, I'll be returning to the Acadiana Open Channel. AOC has a special place in my heart. It's the TV station on which I got my start in media some twelve years ago, and every summer for the last three years, it has given me an outlet to hone my on-air skill while away from the confines of WPRB-FM/Princeton. Again, it doesn't pay, but it keeps me on the air and helps me better my on-air talents. Furthermore, this blog will serve as another outlet. During the course of the coming weeks, I will post my thoughts on news, sports, pop culture, and anything else that tickles my fancy.

This blog will be a combination of the programs I've hosted over the last five years. The news and views of WPRB's THE WEEK IN REVIEW, the sports commentary of TIMEOUT, and the music musings of RANDOM ACTS OF MUSIC (from which this blog's new name was taken), and a potpourri of other topics (124 E. MAIN) will be rolled into one and presented in this forum.

In honor of the relaunch of this blog, here is a clip of another famous debut. It also includes a warning that is apropos for this website.