Winds are changing...?

Anchor job offer.
Reporter job offer.
Relationship opportunity.
Another relationship opportunity.
Chance to write a TV show proposal.

Wow, things are looking better and better.

A TV station offered me an anchoring position last month. A week later when I was in Europe, another TV station asked if I would consider reporting financial news for them. I thanked both companies for giving me the chance, but turned them down. Two different guys want to ask me out, and though I'm not interested, I feel comforted that they are normal people which I work with, rather than weirdos that are obsessed with that old and ugly looking woman on Channel 53 every Saturday morning. In the past few years, it's been mostly psycho fans that have shown some kind of interest in me.

The thing I'm really excited about is getting told to write a TV show proposal.

Maybe it'll be my ticket out of daily news. I'm on my 6th year in daily news. What does that make me, a Super Duper Senior? I may not be the best student, but I think I can and should graduate soon. For a long time, I thought that I was a burden to the newgathering center because of my poor Chinese and lack of journalistic education and experience. But I think being scouted by other stations to anchor news in English and to cover financial news in Chinese is proof enough that I've done well. I appreciate FTV News for giving me the chance to learn from and to work for them. No, I'm not leaving, but I'm sure that I must. Soon. My motivation barometer reads close to zero, and it's been this way since the beginning of the year. I feel so distanced and distracted from my work that the office politics which I'm usually oblivious to is starting to bother me. It's hard to concentrate when what I'm doing is something I no longer love. Instead of seeing the fun of getting better and better at putting together soundbites and footage to tell a story, I see my editor overly sensationalizing my report, I see the pointlessness of the stories I'm assigned, even though these silly stories will bring in higher ratings. Until this day, I haven't learned to successfully pitch stories which I want to do and that my bosses will like. So that is where I failed and why I think daily news is no longer what I should be doing. If I were to stay, I need a breakthrough.

I had hoped that the Europe assignment on green buildings and urban redevelopment would help me find an answer. With the English, Spanish, Dutch, Swiss and German interviewees over there, I asked questions, I followed up, I interacted with them in a way most of my colleagues couldn't. I got to flex my language and cultural muscles a little bit and I really liked it. I felt like I stood out among the group of reporters and shined. It feels great to be able to do what most others can't.

Next, I'd love to work in another part of media, to continue storytelling in another form. Maybe some kind of lifestyle programming with an international element. Hosting and co-producing. Maybe. Hopefully.

Finally, sick.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner. My welcome home goodie basket, which I bought myself, of course.