Filling in the blanks

Like I promised earlier, I will now be filling in the giant gaps in the ridiculous life of Veronica Tang as I'm sure you've all been perched anxiously on the edges of your seats, desperate for updates. And don't you worry. I shall deliver.

Madness of CUSA elections

These are the Carleton University Student Association elections. It's absolutely insane! I actually think it's more intense than the federal elections. You can't get through the tunnels without being bombarded by platforms. Candidates shove pamphlets in your face and every wall and pillar in the school is plastered with posters, each featuring a confident-looking student with a too-happy smiles.

Why does this concern me? Well other than being an actively concerned member of the student body, the CUSA elections are of great interest to me because I am a newsie through and through. Well, the second half of that is true. I actually couldn't care less who's representing me. School politics are not really my thing. I've got bigger fish to fry. I am Veronica Tang.

How did I suddenly find myself face-first in students' campaigns? I wasn't so much introduced to the subject as I was thrown, plunged and launched. At 10 a.m. on Wednesday, I receive an email from the Charlatan's news editors. They have three people for me to cover. Three executive members. Not just the little council members. This is much more prestigious and they chose me! Finally, all my hard work pays off and I get recognition!

The real kicker: The three profiles are due at 6 p.m. the same day they were assigned. Let me crunch some numbers for you.

• 3 hours
• 3 profiles
• 250 words each = 750 words

Three hours may seem like a lot but let me remind you I have to track down my sources, set up a meeting with them, actually meet them (and wishing the campus was a lot smaller), interview them, transcribe my recordings, condense their platform into fast and easy points to read, and oh right, actually write the thing.

Long story short, I missed my deadline by 10 minutes but I think we should still categorize this as a success, partly for my self esteem and partly because they still published it. I really tried my best, okay? I nearly gave myself an aneurysm. It's the biggest rush you'll ever get, trying to make a newspaper deadline. I think I'm leading myself to an early grave but it's great! I love the thrill, the rush! Three hours has never felt so short. I am significantly closer to getting arthritis than ever before, but we all make our sacrifices.

Small fill-in: I've spent the past week and a half groveling for stories at the Charlatan office with excellent results.

• I'm going to be National editor for a week after Reading Week.
• Our e-in-c (editor-in-chief) now recognizes me. Face and name!
• The news editors told me everyone raved about my prorogation article at post-mort (the weekly meeting after the paper's released where everyone gathers and goes through the latest issue.)

My latest story: I have one day (tomorrow) to cover a conspiracy story! One of the campaigning teams, United Carleton, has violated several rules. They've advertised on Facebook and they have a Twitter account, and they've spent a fortune on their website. It looks amazing but it's definitely violating some rules. If you want to check it out, it's just their graphics on their opening screen. Go take a look if you have some time to kill since you all seem so bored and not stressed at all. Here's the link: http://unitedcarleton.ca/

Kitty's Birthday

I got up extra early, partly to set up for Kitty's birthday but more so because I had mucho work to do. I've been incredibly busy lately. It's terrible! I really need this Reading Week. Anyway, I made a card for Kitty and I got everyone on our floor to sign it. I got her some DVDs (Benjamin Button and Princess Bride) and some books (Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm). I hid them in a Cheerio box so when she had breakfast, it would be like the prize in the cereal box! The only down side was it didn't fit in her Cheerio box (she hasn't eaten enough of it for me to fit a present in there!), but I'm a thinker! I had just finished a box of the same Cheerios. Kitty had the family size and I had the regular size and I was kind of hoping she wouldn't notice. I needn't have worried. Kitty can't register anything suspicious within the first hour of waking up.

We didn't go out and celebrate that night but tomorrow night we're going out to dinner. Kitty went to LCBO today and stocked up on so much booze. It scares me a little. She's got another bottle of Baileys, she just finished her bottle of raspberry Smirnoff so she got several cans of Heineken, and some coolers and rum for our friend (which she is definitely going to help drink). I feel like I should be concerned.

Reading Week

Okay. I know it's going to be difficult but I'm going to segue into a more serious subject. I am super excited about Reading Week and coming home, but it's not really going to be as great as I expected because my mom is in Hong Kong until Mar. 9.

My uncle in Hong Kong has stage four cancer in his spine, neck, and lungs (and possibly more places that they have yet to track down). I don't know a whole lot about cancer, but I do know that stage four is just about the worst stage there is. On top of that, spine cancer is extra risky because it's hard to do treatment so close to the spinal cord. My aunt (my mom's sister) is terribly upset, as I'm sure you can imagine. They also live with my grandma. They didn't want to tell her about the cancer yet so as not to upset her.

What does this mean? This means my aunt has to go with my uncle to the hospital and find out all this horrible news, cry her heart out and then go home and pretend nothing is wrong so as not to alarm my grandmother. No one should have to go through that, especially not alone. My mom was also really upset when she found out and she was telling me about it. It's the worst feeling in the world to have your own family so far away and there's nothing you can do to help them.

My mom decided (with my full support) to go to Hong Kong and be with my aunt and my grandma while my uncle finishes all his tests and to break the news to my grandma. It doesn't look good so far, but we're all keeping our fingers crossed.

So anyway, I think we're all up to speed now. I should really try to post shorter updates more frequently instead of one long update. Easier said than done.