Hello ya'll! The Wilde One here. Or should I just say Ryan here as it would seem my identity has gone for the more professional as of late online. I'm bringing out this little journal entry as an update as to what I've been doing since last July back in 2012 and hope to shed a little clarity as to what I'm planning for with the future.

For starters, I am now attending college at the University of Wisconsin - River Falls where I am studying journalism. The college is actually pretty nice: it's small, the teachers and alumni are very nice, and the food doesn't make me want to gag, so that's a perk. It's all nice and I'm currently in the anime club. It's a tight knit little group and feels a lot like family, so I couldn't ask for more. Only downside to it all is that the whole place is in farm central of Wisconsin, so there are a ton of students from farming backgrounds; makes it a bit harder to relate to some of them since I come from suburban Minnesota. It definitely assures me though that I'm not gonna find a girlfriend here with the places I eventually want to go some day.

But college is still great though. I'm learning a lot of stuff and am getting good experience on campus. The journalism program is all right, but I may reconsider later. While journalism seems like a nice field to get into, I just don't think I would have the actual heart in reporting on certain things out there, lie crashes and killings and political hearings. It's not that I can't stomach it, it's just that that's not what I'm passionate about. I'm more or less in the program to write since that's what I want to do with my life, and I believe that experience through it can help me become a better writer, which brings me to my next point.

As of now, my dream to achieve some day has changed quite a bit. If you look at the rest of my art submissions and journals, my dream before was to become a reviewer; to analyze works of art and bring to the public some good taste and entertainment, primarily in cartoons and old cartoons that I loved, like The Powerpuff Girls, Code Lyoko, Xiaolin Showdown, and Recess. These cartoons are still near and dear to my heart and I never want to forget the joy they gave me, nor do I ever want to forget what I wrote about some of these things (my Powerpuff review still remains my pride and joy). But as I've gone on with my college career, I've recently been struck with boredom with the idea of reviewing. It's all just gotten real stale to me, like bread in a cupboard. Sure, it can be a way to get out my ideas and criticisms of cartoons, but as I've watched more and more modern cartoons, I've been feeling like I want to get in on it all, like I want to actually influence the industry from the inside and get my ideas and imagination out there.

As such, it is now my goal to become a writer for television. It would give me infinite joy to be able to write for the shows that I love and find a release for all my ideas. Who knows, one writing job could lead to being a head writer, to writing a novel, to a comic book, a web comic, a screenplay, anything! But for now, I just need to work towards it and practice writing what I love. Only then will I get anywhere near that goal of mine.

I have already taken some steps toward my dream. I have recently participated in the Nickelodeon Writer's Fellowship, which is an internship that Nick offers to aspiring writers who want to work for them. All I had to do was write up a 33 page speculative script for them (along with a bunch of other stuff) and turn it in. Now I can only wait until August before they announce who won. If I win, I will get the chance to fly out to Burbank, California for a one-year internship and get major experience on TV writing, and maybe even get a script of mine made for television! But, that's a ways off, and I have time until then.

The other internship I will be trying for that may be a bit less competitive will be an internship my college is offering from the Academy of Television and Television Sciences (may need to verify that name). It's an 8-week internship out in Los Angeles that could give me a chance to write for pretty much any network I choose. I'm thinking either Disney Channel or Hub. Probably the latter. But, it's another fun chance to take, and I thankfully don't have to write as much as I did for the Nick Fellowship, so it should be a cinch.

These coming months and, hell, even years are going to be a big time of change for me. No longer will I be necessarily reviewing shows as I am going to be learning about them further, looking at how they write, what humor they use, and what I could contribute to them. It's an ambitious dream of mine that I have to try all I can to achieve, and work and practice all I can to see. But, the reviewer part of me is not gone. It's still in me, just taking a backseat to this new wild ride I'm on. After being in college for a while, my worldview has changed a little, and now I'm more confident than ever as to what I want to do now. I am a writer of worlds, a voice for others imagination, and an agent of inginuity. I am realizing more and more each day who I am, who I want to be, and what kind of voice I have to be heard. It may take a while, but I have ideas coming out the wazoo and every other made up orifice, and I will do whatever, go wherever, and do whatever I can to expound those ideas, and then, only then, will I truly be doing what makes my life whole.

Thanks for reading this journal entry and hope I shed some light on what I'm doing lately. Also, my activity has shifted lately more towards Tumblr. It seems like a cool place to get into contact with people and to post whatever new scripts or writing I have to offer. I have also recently become a movie reviewer for the Student Voice, my college's newspaper. It's pretty fun and gives me some great stuff to put onto my resume, so I'm soaking up all the newspace I can. I'm feeling more changed now lately than I have before, and I hope I can have all of you behind me as I move forward on this new path that many have tread called "the life's calling".

Thank you all, and have a wonder-filled day.

Ryan Charles Funes