This afternoon I officially got a new desk. With it came some other things that are new to me, including benefits and life insurance. Yes, that's right: I have a full-time job, and it's not just a job with full-time hours. Moreover, it's a job I wanted. Not only is it going to give me excellent experience and be a stepping stone to bigger things, but it will also make my life even more interesting, exciting and weird than it already is. But I have some large shoes to fill.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my tenure as Editor in Chief of The State Hornet ended in May, thus marking the end of more than two years in the college journalism world. I managed to land a paid summer internship at a small daily newspaper, and I started at the Lodi News-Sentinel the last week in May. In the past six weeks, I've had about three dozen stories published in the newspaper, and I've managed not to get lost in Lodi, population: 55,000. Along the way, I got to do some fun things, write on a large range of topics and even make the front page of the paper quite a few times.

And then the internship, which was supposed to go through August, abruptly changed one day not long ago; the police and courts reporter got a job at the Los Angeles Daily News and gave notice that he was leaving in two weeks. That afternoon, I talked to the editor and told him I was interested in the job. When I originally interviewed for the internship, I said I was pretty sure I wanted to report on police and court stories, and the editor remembered that. He said I was certainly a candidate for the job, and he'd let me know. Monday morning at 10 a.m., he called me into his office and offered me the job. I accepted the offer, then went outside to make a few ecstatic phone calls to people I felt had to know Right That Very Moment. Everyone in the newsroom congratulated me throughout the day, and I basically walked on clouds.

I got to work the next morning to find that three people were out at the scene of a double homicide. Homicides are not normal events in Lodi, and it was the first double homicide in recorded Lodi history. This was my welcome to the world of police reporting. Today I went out to the scene of a non-injury accident involving a semi-truck and a very large piece of an oak tree, which was only mildly interesting, since it was insanely hot outside. I had been to the county courthouse earlier in the morning, and in between I was cramming as much information into my head as possible before Nick (the guy I'm replacing) left for good. And then, when I was in my car about to head for home, I suddenly had to change mental courses and go to a police chase that ended in a car crashing into a fence, the driver attempting to run from the still-moving vehicle and police hauling him off to jail.

The job promises to be everything but boring, and I know I'll enjoy it. But it's a bit daunting, and I'm left with a feeling of overwhelming, mild panic. Nick did a good job, which makes my life easier, but at the same time, it gives me a standard to meet and beat. As several police officers have already told me, Nick left some big shoes for me to fill. (He wears size 13, but they meant it figuratively, too.) I know I can do it, but they're all going to really test and scrutinize me. Things will be tough at first, and they're going to be very guarded in what they tell me. This double homicide story is mine now, and no arrests have been made in the case yet. My worst nightmare is that something big will break and our competition (another newspaper) will get the story because I don't know my sources well enough yet for them to trust that I'll get the facts and quotes right.

So, that's the part that has me overwhelmed. But on the good side, I get to write about things that truly fascinate me. I'm insatiably curious, and I'm getting paid to learn about things and then tell other people about what I found. Perhaps the most fascinating story I get to cover in the immediate future is a murder trial I actually began covering while at The Hornet. It's an intriguing story, and I was very disappointed that I wasn't going to be able to see it through to completion once I left The Hornet. But, in a weird twist I never would have imagined, I am once again reporting on the story. I'm a rookie reporter, and I'll be out covering the story alongside the big-wig reporters, even an occasional Associated Press reporter. Maybe one day I'll actually be one of them.

And there is an update on Ellmyruh's life. Tune in next time for "More on Ellmyruh's Changing Life: The Move to Lodi."