School's almost out, thanks to Santa.

School is becoming a lot more interesting for me. Today we did a live derby a live-to-air type of reporting. Beginning our broadcast journalism type of assignment.

In advertising we were tasked with a personal branding assignment which—in my opinion—took us away from the more boring parts of ad writing. It really made me fall in love with ad—more so than I was.

A Prezi presentation was part of the personal brand. Check it out.

The end of our first semester is coming to an end with one week to go with a ton to do.

I'm already planning on how to use my time wisely. Many errands have been put off. I've seen little of my friends over the past few months. It's no sacrifice; I feel accomplished.

In PR class today we did a review of our semester to date. It's funny looking back at how much we've learned over the past few months, how much we have yet to learn.

I'm excited!

Piling up in style

I’m in week, whatever week it is in school, and it’s getting intense. The ability for me to pump out work is getting to be tremendous. I just wrote out a list of things to get done this weekend and I don’t even know where I’ll find the time to sleep. I love the feeling of this ‘nonstopiness’ from my first insane three-week road trip to last year’s weirdly busy-ness of balancing work, travel, and my continual trek to improve, but now my head’s exploding with life—in the best way possible—but exploding none-the-less!

Two weeks, two weeks until x-mas break, the end of semester is so near yet so far away.

Already thinking about the big event a friend and I are planning for February, about my Independent Professional Project for school next year, about the magazine project next semester and an internship for the summer.

When things have a way of piling up it puts life into perspective; It focuses me. I’m glad for this school assigned blog; it’s a mandatory way to put my thoughts out there for people to read, to be vulnerable.

I’ve never actively lived so far in the future. I LOVE it!

Proud: The play

Stephen Harper private life is exactly that, private. Proud by Michael Healey portrays what might happen behind closed doors. Jisbella Lyth is a rookie Conservative MP from a fictional Quebec – where the 59 seats won by the NDP – were won by the Conservatives. An obvious comparison to NDP MP Ruth Ellen Brosseau, a rookie not expected to win in the 2011 federal election.

I love going into any entertainment blind and without expectation. I only found out about the play while getting a soy-cappuccino at Across The Board café in the Exchange 10-minutes before showtime. I bumped into Jane Testar a local celebrity of sorts who gave me the low down.

Lyth played by Daria Puttaert a seemingly one-dimensional rookie-MP was unexpectedly voted into the House of Commons. I believe that was the point. I liked her role. She played a sexually open woman, not afraid to have her own opinions, especially towards the fictionalized prime minister.

Ross McMillan’s portrayal of the prime minister was dead-on. His body language, speech, and his socially awkward character is exactly what I would expect.

His underhanded manipulation of the Canadian people is exactly what you could expect of the shenanigans that we have seen in the real world. Farcical!

Eric Blais played the PM’s Chief of Staff Cary Baines. Typical of the politics of today he knew his time was limited. He was ready to fall at any moment for his fearless leader.

After the play the actors and director had a talkback session. It allowed us, the audience, to understand the actors’ personal experiences, methods and thoughts behind their decisions brought to the stage. The talkback is definitely additive to the play.

I would suggest anyone with an open mind to see Proud. It was money well spent.

Busy

The busiest two weeks of my professional life. Non-professionally is a subject for another blog.

Interviewing Fred Penner, elections night at the CBC and a multitude of time-sensitive assignments equals several all-nighters.


I'm tired.

The interview

The interview that will honestly be one of scariest things I think I've ever had to do and of my own choosing. I'm not someone who has ever really had to deal with anxiety, except for a bout the night before.

A decision I made a couple years ago to follow through on things, to push myself, it’s my goal.

A personality profile was my assignment for journalism class. The struggle to find someone worth profiling hung over my head for a while until it just popped I to my head.

A random phone call to a friend was what led to my pitch.

Fred was at an autograph table when I got to the Pyramid cabaret. Donning child-like smile, ear to ear, I approached him.

“Hey, I’m Kris Sorensen. I’m in creative communications at Red River, I’d like to do a personality profile on you.” Walking away shakily excited with a yes.

Monday was the big interview with Fred Penner, my childhood idol.

For those of you that don't know him, this is his website.

Running to my car after digital publishing, racing to Stella’s in the village for our lunch date, my anxiety still insanely high. Until five minutes before the interview. Calmness filled my body, back to basics, my usual sense of detachment from worry.

That man is one of the most modest I’ve ever met. Well aware of the power he has to this day, he wields it with outmost discern. Laughing and crying to the stories and experiences he shared with me, my two-lunch felt like a coffee break. It was over as quickly as it started. The then anxiety was now a high. A high I’m still experiencing four days later.

What is grit?

Being out of school for so long, it has been a challenge coming back. Multiple times I have thought, “What have I gotten myself into?” A bad dream about a typo in my first published article, it sounds ridiculous, to not knowing how I’m going to stay ahead of all the assignments that are only going to increase in volume. But I know I can do it.

Last night I watched a TED Talk with Angela Lee Duckworth, with a Ph.D. in psychology with an interesting background. With research to back her up she proposes that it’s not IQ, nor social ability, nor financial means, that will ensure long term goals. She says it’s grit, the melding of passion and perseverance that will see you through.

This week’s blog started out as something completely different. Writing in an obnoxious pub would provide a challenge in the past. One of my biggest weaknesses perhaps strengths is my short attention span. Which has been mostly ignored since I’ve started school. Two waitresses in this pub are CreComm grads, one from Red River College, the other from a program near Toronto. I have no judgment in what they chose, but it almost feels like a waste having met so many rapidly successfully people in the past month. It actually gives me hope that there’ll be less competition after school.

What is Grit? Grit, is why I’m here, the tedium that was my work life for far too long.  Striving for something to fill my life with more than a simple job that pays well, something that I can be excited about for a long time, something I can proud of, something exciting.

Grit is why I chose a prominent Winnipegger to interview for my personality profile, why I’ve written for every edition of our school newspaper, why I’m immersing myself in the whole experience.

Agree? Disagree? What is Grit to you? Let me know.

TED conference

Breaking Coffee

I'm going to take a break from the story last week.

Except that it's what got my current life started for me. My love of travel anyway. Every time I get the chance I get out of town nowadays, at least until I started school in September.

This year has been a whirlwind of a year, I lost a few instrumental people in my life. I'm sitting here done school for the week - not that it ever stops - reminiscing over the past year.
 
The exciting of landing in a new place, not knowing what bus to take. A pilgrimage in ways, the same place an old friend traveled for his final excursion.  Having lost my T-Mobile sim card, I got off at the first T-Mobile store I saw. Which happened to be in Harlem. Never had I felt so out of place... I loved it!

A week after Nelson Mandela had died. Wondering around on a mission I passed The Apollo, a rudimentary shrine in front. The mission was soul food. Sylvia's wasn't too far, I'm still so far out of place. I learned that soul food is not really my favourite.

Within the hour I was on my first subway. No idea how it worked just got on the first train I saw. Earlier deciding to concentrate on Manhattan Island this trip, I booked a hostile near the northwest corner of Central Park. I decided to touch base with them, dropping off my gear. My first mission in every town I take over is to find an amazing coffee, which turned out harder than I thought. The area I was staying at was very laid back, lacking the vibrance I not only expected, craved.

After roaming, finding a cafe dedicated to bacon, many shops, the best cup I found tasted like what I imagine brewing used coffee with jet fuel, through a sock that had been worn for a week. Less than appealing.

To be continued...

The start

It all started with a pretty sketchy transaction, a month to the day that they sold out, an old high school friend made a Facebook post: “Two Coachella tickets, with car camping, for sale.”

I responded with ecstasy, I’ll take ‘em!  Working in Ontario at the time, I wired 800 dollars to someone I hadn’t seen in over a decade.  For all I knew, she was a drug addled hooker trying to hit the motherload. Less than a month until I had to leave, I booked three weeks off work, miraculously found a friend to join. Flash forward three weeks, Greg and I set off in my Smart Car, packed with as much camping gear, and clothes as you could imagine a car of such limited size could possibly hold. No tickets in hand, but the promise that they would be waiting at the will call booth.

I have been called crazy, and probably worse. 22,000 kilometers in less than six months following this story, catching up for missed time, and experiences.  Nothing’s more scary, yet unbelievably freeing than leaving your friends, family, safety and security of home, and more so disconnecting from your phone; being all but completely disconnected from the comfort of everything you know.

The funny thing about being forced into strange situations, is that it really shows you what you’re made of, what you’re capable of. Our first major stop: Denver, Colorado. Our mission: to find a Denver sandwich. Five hours later, heading down Broadway, trying to meet back up with a couple of uninhibited young women that we met earlier. They told us they’d be living it up at a “rock show.” In our search, we were led to an unlikely meeting, three older teenagers: “Where are you from?” “Canada!” Greg replied. “So are we. Where in Canada?” One said. “Winnipeg!” “Regina!” One replied

Two older guys in cowboy hats approached us. One slurred, in a very peculiar accent: “We’re from Canada too!”

Their names: Grant and Dean; turns out they are the kids’ father and uncle.  We were invited back to Grant’s house around the corner for a beer from his keg, which as a homebrewer really piqued my interest.  Hours later we found out that Grant and Doug’s brother is married to my friend Greg’s Aunt.  At this point, with the help of some delicious scotch, we decided to stick around for the night.

The next morning, we set off for our next stop, VEGAS! After the most uneventful night you could imagine, we decided to make a quick stop at the Hoover Dam before continuing on to California.  The hilarious idea to take a picture of my Smart on the Hoover Dam, led to Greg driving down to the Dam, as I sat on the monstrous new bridge that bypasses the congested road on the Dam. He drove across, while I was taking photos, laughing my head off.  He disappeared for a few minutes, drove back across, as I was thinking how ridiculous a Smart Car looks, then the unthinkable.. The car broke down...

Stay tuned next week: Our chance to make Vegas right, our vehicle dilemma, and Coachella!

Oh, we never got that Denver sandwich.

Intro

At 32 years. One of the craziest things things I've done. Back to school. After a 14 year sabbatical, thrown into Creative Communications at Red River College in Winnipeg, Manitoba. But that's not what this is about. The past few years a dizzy of excitement. Life experiences, travel, photography, loosing myself in.. finding myself.