Now he’s being laid with six sex-related charges, stemming from allegations involving three teenage boys, aged 14, 16, and 16. Woh.

A coworker of mine coached basketball with him. Says he disappeared early in the season without explanation, but that’s not to say it was directly related with the one year investigation involving Regina police.  Who knows at this point.

CBC did a special on him a few years ago in relation to some award that he won for Living Saskatchewan.

A lot of kids are going to be pretty distressed over this news.

He’s due in court early next month.

1. The size of my head. Every time I go into the box, the headphones are adjusted to a size that would fit a smurf, or someone with high ears, or something. Someone’s gotta work some voodoo magic on my noggin.

2. The phantom technology. People leave the “minidisc” volume cranked up. Who the heck owned a minidisc recorder these days? It wouldn’t surprise me to see someone running in with Beta tapes for dubbing. Is this just a nostalgic pod-up?

3. On occasion, the smell. Cold room. Hot garbage. Explain.

4. The “laundry” effect. Much like missing socks, I leave the control room sans pen, and never see them again.

5. The volume. What the heck? Why does one flak person sound like he’s in my head and the other one sounds like she’s in a silo on Mars?

I’m definitely jumping on the annual spring “get yourself in check” thing. I’ve been a lot tamer lately. I’ve been consiously reading more and going out less. Enjoying the company of some wonderful people, cleaning house, as well as pondering the future (“Where to next, D?”).

CBC’s a blast.  The only complaint I’d have is the insecurity I have about early summertime hours.  So far, I have one week off that I’d rather be working, but that’s not going to stop me from sticking around the shop and filing some freelance pieces if they’ll have me. 

What’s up today?  Well, I’m on the slow pursuit of Dr. Allison Thiele, an obstetrics and gynecology resident at the University of Saskatchewan. She’s co-authored an article in a medical journal calling on physicians to delay answering the question, “is it a boy, or girl?” Reasoning? Sex selection in Canada.

Add a couple follow-ups, and I have myself a dreary Monday. I wish spring would just verb itself already.

“Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.” -Charlie Chaplin

*We’ll see how long this lasts.

I was bucking like a chicken at a computer with three other friends late Saturday night. How nuts is that? Neil was on a chair giving the full force chicken impression.

We are a group of what I like to consider, intelligent, level-headed people.

Chat Roulette changed us into monsters.

My roommate caught us doing the chicken dance in the dining room, which snapped us right back to the reality of what was going on.

We were bucking like chickens at a 16-year-old kid in Arkansas.

This, my friends, is the power of that site, and people have done a lot worst. I had a sign language conversation with a man in a gorilla suit. I was virtually flung into a New York loft at a ‘chat roulette’ party. I have seen much more nudity than any person in their right mind would be comfortable with. I have talked to people on all corners of this crazy Earth.

If you haven’t checked it out, do it. Now.  But not in a dark room (cause that scares the heck out of me), and only with friends that you can have a good laugh with.

For the other 80 per cent of listeners and watchers that don’t feel the need to hippify – it’s CBC. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

I love it so very much.

I’m new. Very impressionable.  Trying really, really hard and feeling uber, uber gung-ho. I skip lunches. Pour my heart into my work. Try to learn as much as I can. I walk around with a smile on and feel like I might shift the axis of planet Earth by covering every cheque photo op with as much heart as I can muster in a day, hour, or livecast moment.

Boo ya.  What a sweet gig.

Coffee makes it even better. Lots of coffee.

And incomplete sentences.

Like this.

So awesome.

They let me do this all the time.

I also like that all the old school heroes around here with permanent jobs still love what they do. 

That or they’re really great at faking it.

There are super cool logos everywhere and boisterous personalities who bellow over the newsroom and say really funny or clever things to one another. Sometimes I hear voices I’m familiar with from the radio swearing (giggle).

That makes it fun to come to the office every morning.

CBC and I, well, we’re on our honeymoon. 

We’re like that incredibly uncomfortable couple that can’t pry themselves away from one another even when you’re sitting at the table across from them all by yourself with your purse occupying the empty chair next to you and they KNOW very WELL that you’re thinking, “Yeah, okay, I get it. You’re together. That’s cool. Stop making me feel uncomfortable. We used to be friends. She used to be WAY cooler before you got your claws around her.”

I know that eventually I’ll get settled, and in turn, will settle the heck down. It’s not that I’ll love CBC less overtime. It’s just…you know…I’ll feel like I can wear my dumpy sweatpants around it, figuratively speaking.

I’m now trained for radio reporting, t.v. reporting, currently working through associate producer training with the Morning Edition, and am slated to do some “Going Live” training sometime in the next few weeks.  I like it all. 

Some days almost kill me with stress.  Since I’m a casual, I don’t know whether I’m always going to have hours.  So far, I’m full time. 

It’s just that question that gets to everybody at some point.

Does it love me as much as I love it?

-Rove Reporter

It has almost been a year since I started blogging, and I think it’s time for a little personal reflection.

Myself and a number of journalism school students at the University of Regina were forced to set up blogs as part of one of our print classes.  I remembered one of my blogs being about how stupid blogging is.  How politicians, journalists, and other public figures screw it up.  Posting too much. Showing too much skin, if you will.  A year ago, I had a difficult time defining what a blog should be.  I knew the ones I liked, and I knew I wanted to keep a record of what I was doing.  The fact that a few other people might be enjoying my stories was a good incentive to keep notes on all the happenings.

Fast forward a few months.  I’m leaving for Mongolia.  What a perfect opportunity.  It became a defining moment for what Rove Report is: A collection of thoughts, frustrations and stories from my travels.

Since coming home, I’ve stopped roving, in the plainest meaning of the word.

Part and parcel, I started looking back at what I had put out there.  I don’t feel like it was enough.  There are plenty of things that many of you don’t know.  Many stories that I kept from even my parents and closest friends until I returned, or until I gathered the courage to accept an extended hand.  It was hard for me to say that I’d been a victim.  I had men bust into my apartment, and they were chased out with a kitchen knife. I was sexually assaulted on the street by a group of men in broad daylight right outside the State Department Store. Many other verbal and sexual assaults ensued. A man locked me in his cab and started speeding in the opposite direction from my apartment late at night, refusing to stop until I made him stop … with a thrust of my foot to the back of his head. I think he was trying to take me. Where? I don’t know.  All I could think of was the news of a Japanese woman in UB who had been gang raped and murdered in the ger districts on the other side of town in a similar situation.

These things were stashed in the ‘private’ vault.  Reflecting on what Rove Report is – a collection of personal thoughts on my travels – I feel like I’d censored myself unnecessarily, and possibly to the detriment of others.

This wasn’t a typical string of circumstances in Mongolia, from what I understand.  I had a bit of bad luck along the way. 

So that, I believe, has been my major failure with this blog.  That, and my neglect of it since my return. 

I think that since I returned from actively traveling - documenting the cultures, food, everyday occurences that blew my mind - I felt like I had nothing interesting to say once I was a bit more settled.

I’m realizing now that ‘roving’ can be as much of an internal journey as an external one.  The only issue is, some of those internal journeys can be lumped with a lot of the things we don’t want people to know – failures, misunderstandings, silly moments, passions, and our perception of others.

I’ve decided that I’m going to work a lot harder to make sure my internal journey continues to be documented in an appropriate manner.  I think it’s just as important as the raw facts when it comes to keeping a tab on what’s important to me, or what I want to share with you.  Expect a lot more about my experience at the CBC, friends, and the future in the next while. I’ll try to have a lot more for you in the next months.

-Rove Reporter

… still roving.

Turns out the earthquake measured only 3-5 on the Richter scale, and that the hotbed of the quake was 10 km north of Delgertsogt soum, Dundgobi province with a magnitude of 5.1. There were no deaths or property loss (Montsame). 

Before I knew all the details, I had quickly posted to my Facebook on the way into work, “Is everyone in Mongolia okay???”

The following responses and teasing ensued:

Dani Mario

Hardy har har.

—

So yes.  Obviously it wasn’t a big deal, but my brain was thinking about disasters in China and the summertime flood that took place.  Can you blame a girl?

Also of interest is this article on Amanda Lindhout, whom I’ve written about twice in this blog.  She was recently released by her kidnappers in Somalia.  The article is about the lack of preparedness and training available to freelance journalists and whether the risks that Lindhout (and many other journalists) take when going to war zones is worth the story.  

-Rove Reporter

So here’s my first appeal since I’ve landed back on Saskatchewan soil – if you hear anything down the line – anything at all – that may sound like it would be interesting to the general public, let me know!  As a casual employee at CBC, I’m trying hard to get back into the city news again, and it’s proving difficult to get my footing.  Know a 9-year-old that’s going door to door making a million on snow removal?  Anyone going on a trip around the world to spread the religion of CFL football?  Email me if you have any ideas.  It would certainly save this lowly casual!

danielledmario@gmail.com

-Rove Reporter

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

You’ll have to excuse me for the long, long delay, but as you had probably guessed (and experienced yourself), the holidays were filled with excess food and drink, and not nearly enough time with friends and family.  I guess you’d probably appreciate to know that I’m back in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, working toward saving enough money to head off again to another corner of the world.

I was able to get the exit visa a day before departure from Ulaanbaatar (sound familiar?) and get on the plane with no problems, except some heavy bags!  I’m so sad to say goodbye to my friends in Ulaanbaatar, but the prospect of coming home is a welcome reprieve from the last few months, which have seemed entirely dream-like upon reflection.  I managed to miss my flight from Vancouver to Calgary because their computer systems across the airport were down and I only had an hour to clear customs and switch to WestJet, but they took really great care of me and had me on a flight just an hour later.

Landing was interesting…it’s been a while since I’d been in a room with an entirely English-speaking crowd, taken a breath of fresh Canadian air, and drove, among other things.  It was so great to see everyone again, and if I haven’t already thanked you, just know that you keeping up with this blog and sending me your well wishes over the last half year has kept me going and working hard.  Some days were difficult, as you already know, and it’s been a pleasure knowing there are people a world away that are such great support. Although I regret not spilling more on the blog, I don’t regret the act of blogging at all.  It’s a reflective exercise for me, and hopefully an entertaining thing for you to read.

Now that I’m home, I’ll be beginning casual work at CBC in radio and television, and working at the restaurant for some extra cash.  I’ve also met some wonderful connections at ARRIVA Magazine, and hope to help with them in any way I can (a piece I did on my experience in Mongolia will be in the Jan./Feb. edition of the publication).

I will continue to post to the blog on what’s going on, and will hopefully begin putting together my plans for my next trip.  Let me know if you have any advice! My good friend Joana and I have already started throwing together the idea of visiting Pakistan…thoughts?

Despite the little scrapes and bruises everyone gets trying to live and love, 2009 was a wonderful year and I have no regrets on my travels or anything else.  All my best wishes for you in 2010, and here’s to reflecting and moving forward!

-Rove Reporter