Holy Magilla Gorilla, has it already been a month? It seems that way, but my journey to this internship began a whole month and a half ago. HUGE difference. I started following Ethan (resident community manager) on Twitter a few months back and I saw an update on his for an internship at the Whiskey Media Offices. Now, I'd applied for such an internship when it got posted on the actual forums a few months ago, but had heard nothing back. I figured "Oh well, it was a longshot anyway" and promptly forgot about it. Until I saw that Twitter post and sent Ethan a PM. Thus did the ball begin to roll and an interview was scheduled. I wore the only tie that I own and suited up to make the best impression I possibly could. I also borrowed my roommate's peacoat because the nicest coat I own is a leather jacket.
Editor's Row The interview went exceptionally well, though I only knew that in retrospect because HEY! Here I am. It started with Ethan asking me a few questions about certain things I'd do if I got hired, what my interest in the Whiskey Sites was, how long I'd been a fan, etc. I had a hard time with that "stuff I'd do if I got hired" part, but the interview continued. Phase 1 done with, I then met Whiskey Media marketing mastermind Daniel, who was certainly more...casual, I'll say, in his approach. His approach was more of a "Hey! How are ya? Who are ya?" He was accompanied by ComicVine maven Tony and Screened senior puppy correspondent Rorie, the latter of whom I'd actually met outside the office a couple of times. They ran me through a gauntlet of some of the best, most strange, interview questions I've ever been asked. It was also ridiculously stressful because I've been in the workforce for about a decade now, and I'm really, really good at job interviews because they're mostly the same thing regardless of where you go. A job interview at most places amounts to "how well can you answer these questions that we got out of a management book that was written twenty years ago for use in high-rise office buildings?" This wasn't like that at aaaaaaall. These were questions that were so well integrated into the interview I wasn't sure if I was just shooting the shit, or if I was actually being interviewed anymore. I'm still not entirely sure which was what. There was also a tour of the whole office sectioned out in the interview, and I was asked to stick around and meet the office dog Chloe, who is adorable as long as you approach her the right way. I also got to watch Tested record a segment, and it’s crazy to watch those crazy videos actually get filmed. Again, it’s not like what my preconceived notions were like at all, it takes a lot of professionalism to look that casual and funny. In any event, I was called in to moderate a TNT chat (MKvsDCU) and apparently I did well enough to earn a job offer. Which was met with utter jubilation on my part, of course.
My workspace complete with coffee. Day 1 was pretty standard first day stuff, except that I was suddenly surrounded by people I’ve watched and respected for close to a decade, but they were all pretty laid-back, which was good because I was a powder keg of nervous energy. My primary go-to people were still Ethan, Daniel and Melissa, who handles a lot of the logistics for the office and control room, because here's something that a lot of people may not get just by perusing the sites: the Whiskey Media editors and engineers are BASICALLY working constantly. I’ve never been so surrounded by people who start working the moment they come in and don’t stop until they leave. Don’t get me wrong, they still chat and whatnot, but it’s almost always WHILE they’re sitting at their computers typing away. Or filming. Or playing a videogame FOR filming or reviews. Day 1 concluded with a massive impromptu staff party in the fabled Bar Area that pretty much had me intermittently gushing like a fanboy and remaining completely silent for large stretches to listen to crazy-insider stories about the various industries that everyone had worked in.
Days 2 & 3 were the infamous Whiskeyocalypse, so that was certainly a baptism of fire. It went from me struggling to find stuff to post to me struggling to parcel out my time so that I could do everything that was required of me and STILL moderate all the new chats that were suddenly springing up due to all the livestreams. I also found time to make it into the semi-finals of the Mortal Kombat: Scrub League invitational and blurted out “Full of win” loudly and proudly on-camera to over 7,000 people. My internship was going amazingly. Things settled down from there, and I’ve fallen into a pretty decent groove of updating AnimeVice (described accurately as my first trial), getting food, sending out mail, creating quests...you know, intern shit. I’ve also become a regular on the ComicVine podcast, which is amazingly fun and very informative, and am posting trailers on Giant Bomb which has, hilariously, resulted in more followers than all my chat hosting combined.
He stalks your dreams. There are two things that really stand out to me so far: one is that I answer the phone, which is usually just someone wanting to be let into the building, but almost every day there is at least one call from someone who has no idea who we are and is either trying to get walkthrough help or tech support, TECH. SUPPORT. on a videogame. These are particularly hilarious when they somehow don’t believe me when I tell them we don’t provide those services and try to convince me to help them. The other was Whiskey's nomadic son Alex Navarro. We wished him farewell to him on Friday (Saturday for some, but I was too in my cup to make it to that) and I have to say that I feel sorry for the interns who are coming in after me because Alex stood out as extremely approachable and extraordinarily helpful. Don’t get me wrong, the rest of the editorial staff have been helpful, particularly since I've become more acclimated, but Alex specifically came off as more laid-back, and, again, approachable right off the bat. I'll conclude by saying that it's interesting that I’m it, too which is kinda cool because I feel like I’m learning at an increased rate and getting a more personalized experience. Apparently there’s going to be a deluge of new talent coming in, and I’m about to become KING INTERN! Only to be slain by my son and he by his and on and on like some grand, Greek tragedy. Keep tuned into this blog for more updates.
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