CREDIT: FSU PUBLICATIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT

It’s the end of the school year. While I’m no longer a student, working for a college newspaper means I do operate on the usual post-secondary schedule. So it’s also the end of my year as well. And folks, let me tell you. I’m so excited for my life to be boring again.

I have had a very busy year, and it’s only now that I’m taking some time to reflect on the year I’ve had that I’m realizing that fact. It definitely wasn’t a bad year, not at all. In fact, many of the things I’m happy for now happened over the course of these last 12 months.

To start, I graduated from Fanshawe’s broadcast journalism program in June of 2022. I’m one of the first people in my family to graduate post-secondary since my Noni on my dad’s side. After three long years of post-secondary education over two different programs, graduation was welcomed. And while I’m not someone to care too much about grades or awards, achieving a 4.0 GPA (or close enough to it for me) overall and the Newswriter of the Year Award did feel pretty great after two years of hard work.


After graduating, I picked up a part-time job at Home Depot. While not at all in my field of study, it was something I’d done before so it came naturally. As an added bonus, I met my boyfriend, Matt, while working at that job. Apparently all you need to do to land a good relationship is lug around 4x4s eight hours a day in front of them. Go figure. In all seriousness, I’m incredibly grateful I met him, and we’ll soon be moving in together.

In August, I landed my current position as Interrobang’s multimedia reporter. This is my first “real” job in my field of study and it has been a great experience. I love what I’m doing, and the people are just as good as the work. I was worried at first, as what I studied was more applicable to the TV and radio side of news, but a lot of the skills transferred over, and I’m working with people who are either currently in the broadcast journalism program, or are graduates.

Now, while this has probably been one of the best years of my adult life (as short as it’s been, I’m only 21 after all), I’m so ready to not have big life changes happening every month or so.

To put things in perspective, since April 2022, I’ve had three different jobs, lived in three different houses, and moved three to four times, depending on how you count a move from one house to another with a stop at a storage unit for a week.

I started the year in my first place, a townhouse in Argyle. I lived there until the end of August, where I packed up my things in a storage unit and moved back home for a week while my new place was being prepared. While only for a short while, I did bring enough home that I would consider it a small move. Once the house was ready, I moved into my current home in downtown London.

Looking back further, the amount of times I’ve moved houses in the past five or so years is definitely too many for that span of time! Moving is so stressful, tiring, and expensive. I’m glad I’ve landed in a good house in a nice part of town, because I intend on staying here as long as I possibly can. I don’t even want to think about moving for the next year, at least.

At the beginning of the year, I was a student, and while that’s not a job, I was part of running the XFM newsroom, which did feel like a job. At the same time as being a student, I was freelancing as an audio editor for various audiobooks and podcasts. I then picked up my job at Home Depot in May, then started this job in August.

While I’m obviously grateful to be employed, hopping from job to job can get disorienting, as you learn, then unlearn new routines and protocols for each position. For example, when I went from Home Depot to Interrobang, it felt strange to have any amount of downtime. If you’ve worked retail before, you know that downtime is relegated to your breaks, especially at bigger stores. Having the ability to take a moment in between tasks was a culture shock to say the least.

Usually people are trying to avoid having a “boring” life. After a year filled with major events, I have to say that I’m pretty ready to accept boring again. Just not too boring, of course.