We have these "golden boys" at work. Reporters who always get a ton of space to tell great stories and break big news. They're never "in trouble." So when I got an email from our executive editor Thursday lumping me in with one said Goldies and our main courts reporter, I was highly confused. The hell do I have in common with these people, and why is EE asking us all to meet Friday morning? Uh oh. Was this a group wrist-slapping of some sort?

I quickly discovered that meetings like these, cloaked in secrecy, happen all the time at the paper. They're not always bad, they're not always good. But they're usually attached to lots of hushes and whispers and worries of job loss. In my case, there was an extra-added layer of confusion, seeing that the people I was to meet with were vets of the paper, and I've been there just shy of 3 months.

SCENE: Friday. Big meeting. Exec ed. Editor from Medill DC quarter. Goldy. Courts. Me.

The gist is this: we need to boost circulation hard and fast in the county area to our east, so we three reporters and sole editor have been chosen as the team to do it. Starting in, like, a week. So starting a week from Monday, my commute will about double, as will my apparent story length and scope of issues-based projects. Cue my confusion and humble joy.

Because we were being told we're a group of great reporting and storytelling skills, we're "not going to be covering meetings and chicken dinners." YES! So long, town council meetings? Oh, but wait - so long the contacts I just built for 3 months? Damn. The whole point of this being I essentially just got a non-raise promotion of sorts, and the backing of the publisher and EE that I'm doing a good job. Professionally, I'm all kinds of excited and shockingly flattered. Personally...I'm pretty low to be leaving a whole new set of cool co-workers and growing story ideas. In many ways, back to Square 1. But in many ways, jump to Square 19, because as some of the other editors were assuring me yesterday, this new job is coming with high visibility and responsibility, meaning that apparently in my short stint there, someone's been liking my clips.

You know that bittersweet feeling you get when you're really pumped about something, yet so nervous and unsure you could, well, just die? Yeah, got that going on right now. So stay tuned for how it all shakes out...