Nearly 6 months ago I applied for an internship at X-Play. I thought, "Hey, I won't get paid, but after nearly half a year of no progress on my job hunt, getting an internship will surely be a step in the right direction."

Then nearly a week ago, I received an email asking to schedule an interview appointment for the internship position.



And so, this past Tuesday, I drove 50 minutes for an interview at NBC Universal's office in Los Angeles. I traveled past many old places I hadn't seen since my childhood, like my dad's old mattress outlet. But even with my dad's shortcuts and what Google Maps showed me, I still didn't know the exact location of the office and I had an hour to find out where exactly I was supposed to go.

So after carefully driving along Wilshire Blvd (and passing by several interesting places to eat) I found it rather quickly when I inadvertently parked on the side of the office building. Great, now I have time to eat before my interview. Unfortunately, I couldn't use a parking meter forever, so I had to look for more permanent parking. And lucky me, the office has visitor parking... at $2.50 per 15 minutes, $20 maximum.

Look kids, I put on a long sleeved, button shirt and black slacks with dress shoes. I was not in my usual comfort zone. And despite being interviewed for an internship for X-Play, I still put on such formal attire. A possible $20 parking day? I was already definitely going to spend $20 on the whole trip. And I wanted to eat. Whatever. Fuck it. Anything for even the chance to just put my foot in the door, even that door was made of steel and red hot.

After I finished eating at a local pizzeria across the street (which I imagine interns often go to pick up Adam Sessler's pizza or something), I headed for the reception's desk to check-in for my appointment.

After another half hour after that (more waiting?) I was finally greeted by my interviewer, Associate Producer Brian Trinidad. And he showed up in jeans and t-shirt. Right, I'm simply dressed to impress, not to some dress code.

To summarize, I felt good about the interview. I haven't yet had a professional interview that actually bothers to talk about my previous experience writing news for websites and features for community sites (like Dtoid!). I guess that's the magnitude of the internship I'm applying for. Everything else I've been forced to apply to were just run of the mill jobs for people looking for spare cash like a server position or a cashier at a video rental place.

Granted, if I do, by some miracle, get this position, it'll just be a further drain on my life. An unpaid internship I'd be driving upwards of 40 minutes to? And I still don't actually have a steady job? Plus school is starting soon (which is probably the only reason I was even considered for this internship, because I just happen to be going back to school while I job hunt for opportunities like this).



Look, the point being, I need a bit of luck to go my way for once. I've applied to a lot of different positions, both big (news writer at Gamesradar.com) and small (server at Sushi Roll down Brookhurst street) and I've had fewer interviews. Even if it's just an internship, these types of things usually lead to bigger and better things.

So just once, I'd like to see something come out of those 4 years I spent at Cal State Long Beach besides being able to write marginally better than joe-smoe. So send me some luck my way fellow Dtoiders. You can even pretend to wish me luck because honestly, nobody's keeping score.