It's amazing how sometimes in life nothing seems to be happening and yet you feel busy/satisfied nonetheless. Maybe that doesn't make any sense. Somehow I feel like
nothing has happened over the past few weeks, and yet, they've gone by (rather quickly, I might add). It's no lie that my job is a monumental bore. I sit and answer phones, do surveys, and generally listen to people yell and complain about stuff. I get to read sometimes, which
was nice (I love reading), but sitting and reading for
8 hours can cause the following side effects: blurred vision, hallucinations, dizziness, confusion between what is story and what is reality.
There have been a few highlights. I'm planning a trip down to Chicago in a few weeks and am looking forward to some big city living for a little bit before I head out. I had been itching to do a road trip somewhere, but with the price of gas and size of my bank account, that's probably not going to be happening. I've managed to save up a nice sum of money from working the past few months, but when I begin to add up all foreseeable expenses (things I still have to buy before I leave, 27 months of student loan payments to be made while I'm abroad, possible future vacations [while abroad], etc) the account suddenly goes into the negative. Of course, being one obsessed with planning ahead, I'm just going to have to begin penny pinching now. Which brings me onto another topic: why on Earth is booking a flight so difficult. I mean, I check the prices of flights one day: they seem good. They next day: $200 more! Next day: Waaaaay cheaper, but the flight leaves at 2 AM makes 8 pit stops resulting in a 16 total travel time flight that should only take about 2. I had thought about going to New York, but since I checked last weekend prices have gone up, up, and away (okay, it was actually me just
looking away because I was so horrified). Is there someone stalking my IP address who gleefully raises prices when I'm not aware? Also, just for laughs I planned out a trip from Chicago to Kigali, in the even that someone I know should want to visit. I think I may have spit. Literally, I think I spit a bit. There wasn't a single flight for under $2500. Now...I checked this out a few months ago and prices seemed to be a lot cheaper, so maybe [again] I was looking at a bad time? I've been told that there was this magical time (10 years ago?) when people went to a local shaman type, dubiously named an 'agent of travel.' These people booked not only flights, but hotels, whole trips even! Of course, some idiot decided to try doing it himself, maybe got a better deal, but the gods have not been kind on those who followed. I'm assuming times changed because it's cheaper to book off of sites like Kayak, but it's such a headache I would almost rather have a travel agent do it for me. I will never know if I paid way more or less that I should have, but ignorance is bliss, really. (I actually hate that statement, but I think here it applies).
Okay, I didn't mean for this post to turn into me whining...there have been positive things going on in my life as well. This week I went to the annual Youth of the Year banquet for the Boys and Girls Club of Portage County. It was held in the Elizabeth Inn in Plover (you know it...the sketchy one waaaaay out in Plover that I swear caters only to 16 year old birthday parties and methed out ladies of the night). Of course, putting aside the scary looking food (I mean really...making pasta look
that gross takes a certain effort), the night was a big success, and a lot of fun. I wasn't too keen on going (tired), but I'm glad that I did, I was able to catch up with some of my old co-workers and some of the kids. At the end it made me realize just how much I miss that job. It was never easy, usually required several ibuprofen upon completion, but for the most part I only seem to remember the positive moments I had. The kids were great, and they have such a unique outlook on life you can't help but change the way that you yourself think. I talk about this a lot with my mom (a fourth grade teacher)...working with kids is a lot of things, but it is NEVER boring. Which makes the time fly (unlike this job [yes...I'm blogging at work]). There are times where you are depressed, times where you are elated, times where you are stressed, but the moment you step in that door and the kids come running up to tell you about their day, all of that goes away, and you are there, in that moment only. Sometimes I wonder I'm embarrassed by how much easier it is to talk with kids than with others adults. I'm not sure if I would ever want to do this as a career, but for the time being, it has been a blast.
Continuing with the Boys and Girls theme, I have also somehow become the unofficial videographer for the club. Back in November, there was a contest put forth by the organization's Board of Directors: each club picks their most successful program (we picked my Healthy Habits cooking class...obviously), and submits a 3 minute informational video. The winning video would receive $250 to continue the program into 2012. Now...I've never been conventional about my video projects, and I usual have a difficult time explaining 'the vision,' so I'm sure my director though I was nuts when I tried to outline what our video would entail. During my cooking class I did a three month program called 'Eat this not that,' where we would look at healthy alternatives to the
easy foods that have taken over America. Example: making homemade chickens nuggets instead of those deep fried sodium balls at McDonalds, making homemade spaghetti sauce and chili using only vegetables from our garden, etc. The program became quite popular (we are all starving around 6:00, and kids will never turn down free food). I wanted the movie to evoke the excitement of preparing a meal (from the garden to the plate), but also be fun and whimsical. Well...let's just say our video was phenomenal. And we won. I would put it on Youtube (because I'm just that proud of it), but of course, it stars kids, and I'm sure that seeing as I'm not their legal guardian it's somehow illegal. So...just take me word for it. I've also been shooting a lot of footage for the club's 10 year anniversary video. The final product was amazing. A local marketing group in town edited the final version, and I was impressed with what they did with a lot of the footage. I've always considered myself creative, and can be kind of a control freak over the projects I work on, so it is always fun to see someone else's vision. I shot a lot of interviews with the kids, and
lo siento to the person who had to sift through the hours of footage, but the final product was very
Kids Say the darnedest Things. I've been filming some other projects for them as well, and though I may be maxing out my pro bono budget a bit, I've enjoyed doing all of the work. I'm excited to get to Rwanda and attempt some documentary-style films when I'm there!
So again, a disjointed entry, but hey, that's how I think.
Today my dad and I drove to the cabin to open it up for the year. Apparently a whole family (colony?) of flies was keeping it occupied during our time away. Unfortunately many of them didn't survive the winter, I gave them a proper funeral by vacuuming up all their dead bodies. It was gross. The lake was mostly frozen, which surprised me because I don't remember it dropping below freezing...ever. Amazingly, the temperature inside the cabin managed to be a good 10-15 degrees cooler than outside, which is a godsend in the summer but today, not so much. After college, I left my bookshelf (and by relation all of my books) here, so I was glad to get the opportunity to recoger some of them to read at my increasingly boring job. I love our cabin. In the summer it is my favorite place to be: sitting on the wooden deck grilling steaks, drinking cold beers, going for long kayak rides, swimming in the lake. There are so many memories here, and I know that once I'm gone it's going to be one of the things I miss most.
