Over the summer, I was determined to win the lottery. I even downloaded the app… and I’m not ashamed to admit it. In preparation, I bought a “money plant” from Meijer and a box of fortune incense from the Port Washington smoke shop.

Each week I would buy several tickets and place them next to my money plant on our dining room table and burn fortune incense every night before bed. I’m not going to pretend that it’s normal, I’m nuts. But you gotta do whatcha gotta do, right? If I had a dollar for every time I prayed on a lottery ticket, I would still probably want to win the lottery.

The point of that story is not to convey how materialistic I am. The real point is that I work unnecessarily hard for things. I have goals and dreams that are slowly coming true.

In December I landed my dream internship at 103.7 Kiss FM, the radio station I have been listening to since I got my first boom box. I’ve been religiously listening to Alley Faith for years. Her excessively loud voice and booming laugh pierced through my speakers every morning on the way to school. Now, I get to hang out with her and Riggs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 6 to 9 am, and I don’t want it to end.

There are four interns this semester, and we work in pairs of two. I spend the majority of my weekday mornings answering calls, posting to social media, writing on their website, going to events and talking on the radio with my partner, Intern Short Stack.

We’ve attended KISS’ Fifty Shades Freed premiere and rode on the Milwaukee St. Patrick’s Day parade float. We talk about our lives and opinions on air. We get free food at least once a week. We are basically local celebrities, but only for two more months. Although I’d rather be earning real dollars, college credit is fine. The amount of stuff that I learn from Riggs and Alley each day is something I don’t want to end.