I indulged in my favorite lazy-day ritual this weekend -- a "Gilmore Girls" marathon.
I never grow tired of watching those Gilmore girls.
I laugh at the classic quips and sharp cultural references.
I cry in the series finale (how could you not?).
I get the "la la" music stuck in my head.
I think, "That Rory is one lucky child."
I mean, for starters, she and her mother share the baddest name ever.
She goes to Yale, dates beautiful boys and grew up in the cutest fictional town there ever was.
And then she has the most gorgeous blue eyes, with which she can read at the speed of light.
Not to mention the series finale, in which Rory meets Christiane Amanpour and snags a job as a reporter on Obama's campaign trail. In the same day.
Oh, the life.
But a break in my routine came while watching the Rory-graduates-from-Yale episode.
I couldn't help but think, "Whoa. That's me now."
No, Auburn isn't Ivy League, and The Plainsman is a notch down from the Yale Daily News, but still.
I'm graduating from college next weekend, having put in two solid years on staff at an award-winning paper.
When I picked up my first story assignment, I had no idea how much my time at The Plainsman would shape my college career.
They say journalism is one of the few programs in which you start working before you get your degree.
Do we ever.
The paper takes top priority. We sacrifice countless social events, study time, even class, to put out something we're proud of every Thursday -- and every other day on the Web.
What we write often goes unappreciated and sometimes makes us enemies.
We complain to each other and anyone who will listen about our long hours and endless work.
But when I look back on my time at Auburn, The Plainsman probably will be the first thing that comes to mind.
In exchange for time and energy put in, I've gotten back good friends, a couple of internships and invaluable experience.
So even though I'll never date a Huntzberger or grab coffee from Luke's, it's cool to have something in common with Rory.
Her Obama gig was writing for an online magazine, and she seemed to be on top of the trend.
Maybe soon I'll have that in common with her, too.
Who knows what the future will hold for us writers in a business that's changing so fast.
When people hear my major is journalism, they tend to pity me for embarking on such an unstable career.
But to me, that's half the attraction.
I can't wait to get out there and discover where this path will take me.
So here's to you, journalism.
Where you lead, I will follow.
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