For those of you who don’t already know, I am now living in Las Vegas. I just started a three-month internship that will most likely end in my never wanting to work at a newspaper again.

My first day at the Las Vegas Review-Journal was interesting. After receiving a LVRJ coffee-mug-thermos-thingy (standard issue, I guess) I was banished to my cubicle in the far reaches of the office. I piddled around a bit, getting some training on the computer (turns out, I don’t like Macs) and being shown at least a dozen times where the supply cabinet is that holds pens and notebooks and such.

After an appropriate amount of doing nothing and taking a lunch break – not because I was hungry, but because I had nothing else to do – I got my first assignment. My editor asked me to cover something that was pretty much as Vegas as you can get. No, it had nothing to do with strippers, prostitutes or casinos, but the other Vegas icon – Elvis.

The resulting article can be read here: http://www.lvrj.com/news/13557372.html.

The article pretty well explains what went down, so I won’t get into it here. But suffice to say, I knew I was in Vegas.

And I’ve made a new discovery when it comes to the newspaper world. This is a gross overgeneralization – and not really true of any of the students I’ve worked with in the different publications I’ve written for – but reporters with personality go on to be reporters while reporters without personality go on to be editors.

I don’t know what it is, but it was like pulling teeth trying to get a few of these editors to carry on a conversation or to get them to even chortle at one of my quips. This, in and of itself, was entertaining enough for me and, therefore, not a complete waste of time.

So, worst-case scenario, that’s what will happen here in Vegas. Things won’t be really all that enjoyable, but just entertaining enough to get by.

That is all.