Be-log.

hiking > tendonitis

I have a new focus for us (the one of “us” that probably reads this). If anyone is familiar with other writing by moi, I am sure you remember my jobs being a major topic of discussion, because apparently I have a knack for making all things humorous, especially my crazy work environments. My latest- Shapes (stilllllll) and Highland Rec. Let’s jump right in this, shall we?

Day 1: Kicked my butt! I clocked in for Shapes at 4:45 am…well, 5:30 am because no one had made the new time cards on Sunday. So, once I found them and everything, I clocked in…but I was there at 4:45 am. I sat there doing nothing for a while. because let’s face it, there’s not a whole lot that can be done in a gym, by yourself, before the sun rises. So, let’s skip ahead. Rae came in to relieve me exactly at 8:30, which was a most-UNanticipated, but much appreciated moment for me. Alex pulled in exactly after Rae, and we hit the road to the next destination. This next part isn’t important, so we’ll skip that too.

9am-1pm: Jenny, Sean and I…did nothing. For about the first hour, we looked up crafts and games and wrote up tentative lesson plans. After that, we took a 5 minute tour of the entire facility, and after that…we did nothing.

Lunch 1-2pm: I came back at 1:33, since Alex also has to be back to work at 2. (Oh yeah, Alex and I are sharing the ‘stang for our jobs…he works 6:30-8:30 at Anona Elementary in the mornings, and then 2-6 at Anona in the afternoons for the YMCA before/aftercare programs)…so we ALMOST have identical schedules…ALMOST. Except, if he wants a nap in the middle of the day, he can take one. If I want a nap in the middle of the day, I have to skip lunch. Then, since Alex had to go to work and Jenny couldn’t come to AfterCare at Ponce that day…and since it was AT Ponce, my mom came and picked me up on her way home and drove me to Ponce. How cool am I? On my way there, I couldn’t help but think of the people in the office at Highland, and their encouraging words.

“You’re going to be helping in Emily’s group today. DON’T FREAK OUT!!! If you go home crying, don’t worry, it won’t be like that everyday.”
“Bye, come back tomorrow.”

I would be with the special needs boy, Josh. I wasn’t worried, since I had worked with an autistic boy in the daycare at Shapes. But then when I got to Ponce…

“You’re going to have a lot of fun in my group today. My kids are SO bad”
“But her kids are really cute”
“….But they’re really bad”
“You’re gonna have fun with Josh”
“He’ll rock your world if you let him”
“….he’ll also lick your face”
“…and jump on your back like a monkey”

Bring..it..on.

Truth be told, Josh wasn’t bad at all. He was very cute and helpful. There was a boy named Ronrico, who was EXACTLY like me, ha. When we played the “favorites” game, his favorite things were the color green, beach volleyball and mangos. Crazy, crazy coincidence? I played Red Light – Green Light with children on the playground, and learned about the “No sitting” policy, which is going to be awesome because I’ll never get to sit.

When we were in the gym, a small boy came up to me and said, “You look kinda creepy.” Then he ran away. We’re bff’s.

I’m learning that when you are exhausted, you don’t really think that well. Or, you still think but more things just make sense to you…or something. Like, when I was standing in the gym at the end of the day and this guy Tom came up to me and held his hand out (for my walkie-talkie apparently, as he was on his way to the stage to put them all away)…and I gave him a low-five. Now, I didn’t see anything wrong with that. But looking back, that may have seemed pretty weird. 

All in all, the day wasn’t bad, until I got home. This is when I put on an award-winning performance of tears and…tears. I’m telling you, if I ever lose confidence in my ability to fake-cry while acting again, I will just stay up all night, and then I will be able to cry over anything. I just wish we had a video camera to capture those waterworks.

I went to bed at 9:30pm, which is earlier than I’ve gone to bed in ages.

…too bad everyone has Swine Flu.

I’m starting to realize that I’m not very good at keeping up with this anymore. I’m too busy or tired or lazy, or too something these days. I find that the best time to write, is usually at work (so, now). Not because my brain is so awake and alert at 4 in the morning, but because, that is when I sit here and do nothing.

Things have happened since I last wrote. Here are my latest updates real quick.

Ray Lamontagne: His concert was…amazing! He is amazing! As we were leaving, Alex called him “one of the coolest people on the planet.” I have to agree. He played a 2 1/2 hour set after Jessica Lea Mayfield, who was also pretty good. During the intermission between the two of them, after my mini-cough attack when the man next to me asked if I had “da pig flu”, to which I kindly replied, “HELL NO, I’ve been sanitizing EVERYTHING!”, we went out to better explore Tampa Theater, which is…well, amazing, which seemed to be a theme of the night, and I bought Alex a Ray t-shirt. After reassuring me that I “didn’t have to do that” or I “really shouldn’t have done that”, he was a very happy boy. One of the most fun parts of the night, was the drunk girl behind Alex and I, who felt compelled to fondle my hair repeatedly. We visited with Dennis a little bit, and laughed, and talked of his upcoming birthday party. Mr. Lamontagne is a man of few words, but the words he says are soft and witty, yet poetic. I can dig it.

Den’s 21st: Surprisingly, fun…and not “awkward” at all. I really don’t like that word. Mark Johnson is quickly turning into one of the most likeable people I know. There was a number of people at Den’s party that I really enjoy hanging out with, or just talking with, some people I hadn’t seen in what feels like forever and got to catch up with, and some people that I missed because they arrived later than I left, and some people that I can’t really get a feel for. All in all, it was aight.

Jaw injury: DIDN’T go to the doctor. I toughed it out for about another week and now it’s fully back in commission, and has been for a while. I still need a night guard for my teeth, though.

I changed my mind again: It’s a GREAT idea to quit Shapes when I get settled in at Highland. As it is, it’s bad enough, because I haven’t given my manager a two weeks notice or anything, so I have to work Monday through Friday next week, at both Shapes and Highland. Now, I realize that the thought of this doesn’t sound so bad at first. But, let me lay it out a little better for you:

• Shapes: 4:45 – 8:30 am Monday-Friday
• Highland Rec: 9 am – 6 pm Monday-Friday

Do you see what this means? Can you even picture this? Me, working roughly 14 hour days, 5 days a week? 60 hours a week?!!! I’m thinking about getting one of those “frequent drinker” cards at Starbucks…if there is such a thing. Granted, the pay will be good, but the sleep will be bad and the social life will be nonexistent. Everyone think of me while you’re at the beach, for “School’s out!” parties. My celebration will come later, when we can afford each month’s rent, without having to relocate under a bridge somewhere. (I might add though, that if we were going to live under a bridge, the Golden Gate might as well be the Ritz Carlton).  

Beach Volleyball tournament last weekend: Alex and Brad played well Saturday, but not as well as they could have, being that it was their first time playing together. Plus, in the final game of their pool, the other team convinced the ref to end the game on a preposterous call. I was maaa-aaa-aa-ad! But, I definitely enjoyed watching them. On Sunday, Alex and I won enough games to make it out of our pool in the Top 3, which was our goal! We lost in the quarter-finals, because hurricane force winds decided to come through during that game. (Plus, I got really frustrated, which doesn’t help anything). But, I had a ton of fun…Alex is my favorite person to play with! We both have pretty sweet sunglass tans though. Alex’s is most prominent on the bridge of his nose, and mine is most prominent on the sides of my face and my cheeks. I need to get smaller sunglasses, so they don’t take up half of my face. There’s another tournament this weekend, and the weekend after that. I am SO excited!

Oh, and Alex: His first day at the Y was yesterday. He’s working Monday-Friday 2-6, but next week he’ll be working 6:30 – 8:45 am, and then 2 – 6 pm, so we’ll kind of be in the same boat…but the boat he’s in will be a little nicer and more accomodating. When he starts working the YMCA Summer Camp, he’ll be working 9-4. (California, California, California…keep our eyes on the prize!) FYI: My next trillion blog posts will be dedicated to working…nothing but working. So, aside from all my ranting (and preparing to rant more later), Alex’s first day went well. He’s “in charge of” 22 fourth and fifth graders. He is going to be such a good father. Yesterday, he had a cute little exchange with a fourth or fifth grade girl. He said she asked him if you could get pregnant from kissing a boy, and he just looked at her straight in the face, paused for a second, then said, “…YES.”

I’m already in summer mode. I don’t want to write any more papers or take any more tests. I would rather start work than finish my exams, and I would rather sleep than work.

Heather Strickland is quickly turning into my favorite person in the world. Her blog is the best literary treasure on the internet right now, and she is hilarious! Every morning I tune in to “RunLikeA_Girl” during my pre-dawn work shift, at 4:45 am and laugh my rear off. Everyone needs to read it immediately!

Speaking of work, this morning I made fruit and yogurt and cereal parfaits for everyone for our “Member Appreciation Day”. After complaining about how long that would take last night, I felt really good about it this morning. If I didn’t have to fund it, I would supply breakfast every morning for everyone. That’s how good it felt.

Speaking of funding, I have decided that it is probably not the best idea for me to quit Shapes when I get settled in at Highland. I need the extra mula, and Alex will be at his new job soon, so we’ll be in pretty good shape. The fact that I will still be logging AM hours at Shapes doesn’t excite me too much, but the good news is, I’m slowly starting to get my rhythm. Last night, I went to bed at 10! Normally, I head in there around midnight. This morning, I still pushed snooze on my alarm one too many times, so I was running late, but that part of “the rhythm” will come soon, I’m sure. I’m thinking though, that by the time we move, my preferred bedtime will be 9 pm. Alex said that wouldn’t be so bad, because we’ll go to bed early, wake up early, he’ll make us coffee, and then we’ll hit the road on our bikes, ready for our fun-filled days…and that is how it will be for the rest of our lives. Can’t say that sounds too bad….at all. I’ll tell you, I really, truly can’t wait. I don’t care how hard I will have to work for this dream (and I’ll have to work HARD). 

I worked out pretty hard yesterday, and it was so great. I took a class at work – Extreme Training. It was really fun, and it’s crazy, if I do something like that close to everyday, I will be ripped and ready in no time…and that is my goal, afterall.

Last night was the SEmmys. I was a finalist, but didn’t end up winning. That’s okay with me. This was my first introduction into what the Oscars would be like (except WAY better), and it was AWESOME! I can be pretty comfortable in this feeling for the rest of my life!

Tonight, Alex and I are going to the Ray Lamontagne concert and I am so excited! Everything is just great.

I haven’t been able to fully open my jaw in four days, which means I have been on a liquid diet for about half that time…because everything hurts to eat. EVERYTHING. (The other half, I just basically shoved food into my mouth, painfully). This pain began on Friday, oddly enough, after a bit of a rough dive I took at volleyball on Thursday night. My throat is sore too, on the same side only. How weird…I’m thinking I might have to break down and see a doctor, but I don’t really want to. We’ll see.

Club volleyball is officially over. Do I hear an “Amen!?”  Alex said it right: “My life just got a little less stupid.” My mom and Deana feel the same way…except magnified.

Let’s talk about Gwen Stefani for a second. First of all, I think she’s just, gorgeous. Secondly, she came on the radio at work this morning, and I thought to myself, “My gosh, I love her.” Her music is peppy and weird, but for some reason, it just strikes a good chord with me.

I’m planning another movie. This one will probably not air on youtube or facebook or anything, and I won’t need a big cast or crew.

I need to start finding some more money, because sadly, working two and a half jobs isn’t cutting it. I mean, it’s “cutting it” for Florida…but SF, CA is another story.

17 Again was actually a really good movie.

I have a busy week ahead of me. Movie premiere, Math Test, SEmmy Awards, Ray LaMontagne concert, Beach Volleyball, Giraffey Days, Den’s par-tay, Beach Volleyball Tournament…and it’s the last week of classes before exams, so.. study! 

I’m too tired to say much else. I’ll get back on the bloggin’ train.

When I have a hard day, I alternate between turning to the gym to work out, and turning to my cookies. That’s what I’m doing now (the cookies, not the gym). Today wasn’t bad, just busy…that’s usually what  I mean by “hard”. I woke up at 4:15 am, right on schedule, and headed to work. They changed the cable radio stations and volume controls at work, so we had an eclectic mix playing this morning, sometimes loud and sometimes soft. I always knew I loved George Michael, but there’s nothing quite like rocking out to “Faith” behind your desk. I would recommend everyone trying that. I left work and then went to school. School was rough…by rough, I mean hard. Aside from the fact that I had no idea what my teacher was talking about, an added challenge was my inability to stay awake today. It was bad. For example, I tried writing a simple statement, “Will need this for next chapter”. And instead, when I woke up from my mid-writing coma, my sentence, which by this time had been dragged halfway down the page read, “Will need this fort to get paper going like”. 

Not even kidding you.

Apparently, my sleep-deprived mind was having trouble deciphering between what was actually being said, and what was going on in my ever-approaching dreams. Luckily, I got out of that mess by leaving class early, for my job interview. Raced out of class, went to the wrong building first, was sweating, trying to put up hair and button “professional girl” shirt, while driving, GOT INTERVIEWED BY 5 PEOPLE!!!!, was nervous and smiley, came home, cried from exhaustion, said farewell to Alex, who was going to fill out new job papers himself, ate a cookie and here we are. 

Okay, job: While the thought of making more money, by having more fun is extremely appealing to me, the thought of working 12 hour long days, every day…is not. The thought of California though? Very good. California, California, California! This is what will keep me truckin’. In my in between time, and on weekends, I will be at the beach, playing volleyball, every second. We’ve only got a limited amount of time to make all of our dreams come true.

Zombie movie: Done and done! …not due until NEXT Monday. Alex and I must have missed that memo. Good news is, since we were so proactive, getting our films done ahead of time, our films are now up for a SEmmy Award at SPC:  Mine, Best Directing. And Alex’s, Best Editing. Holla!

Tonight, we’re having another movie premiere after beach volleyball. Of course, our parents, Jonathan and his friend…Rachel I think, have already seen them and loved them. This time, Zack and Anny get to see them and I get to buy them pizza for being the most dedicated zombie actors ever!

In all seriousness though, thank you to everyone who helped out with that in any way, shape or form. I’ll never be able to eventually succeed in the film business if it’s not for everyone who helps me out in my wee little hometown…and I WILL succeed in the film bizzzzzzz!

Au Revoir.
(that one’s for Dylan and his Paris-voyaging self).

I think I am beginning to make an annoying house-guest. As of yesterday, I had spent the last 23 hours at Travis Ray’s house. And I think I spent 21 hours sleeping there. He was spending the evening with friends, Alex and Troy, in his room. We had just gotten done checking out his 1985 printing press, which is incredible. I keep saying that it’s “so Travis”, because I can just see him in his garage, late at night, with his facial hair and his pipe, just printing away. He said he would mail us a letter in California that he printed. That would be the most amazing letter in the world, considering how much time and effort it would take him, to take those tiny lead letters, lay out all his writing backwards, and then print it. Travis is a good friend (and not just because of his dedication to typography). When the four of us meandered over to his room, I went straight to his bed, and without really meaning to, fell right asleep. It could not have been much after ten o’clock, and the three of them hung out near me for a while longer, then Troy eventually left and Trav and Alex stayed up longer and we all ended up in a group cuddle by the wee hours of the morning. They filled me in the next morning, when I woke up around 10:30.  Twelve hours? Really? That was the best sleep I have gotten in over a month, but I’m starting to feel like I make for dull entertainment.

Apparently, my body had gotten a taste of something it liked, because I went to bed last night at 11, and missed my 4:00 am alarm this morning. In fact, I woke up at 4:58, just out of…intuition, I suppose. I guess I realized I had somewhere to be, much to the chagrin of my twelve hour-seeking self. Five hours of sleep, while more than I’m used to, is simply not a good follow up to a twelve hour nap in the most deliciously comfortable bed I have ever slept in. Needless to say, I was thirteen minutes late, and will undoubtedly be hearing about it from my manager.

My favorite part of my workday morning however, is my daily exchange with the kind man who comes in to change out the tbt’s and creative loafing papers. Every early morning, he comes in pretty quickly, then leaves pretty quickly, and that’s it. I don’t think he ever expects anyone to say “good morning” to him or anything, because sometimes he’d be in and out so fast, that I’d miss him, as I was desperately trying to stay afloat in the seventh level of Bouncing Balls or something. But I’ll tell you this, the first time I said hello to him, he smiled back. A big, genuine, beautiful smile. And ever since that day, he has come in and gone out a little slower, and a little more cheerful.

It’s official.

At 20 years old, with hardly dollars to my name, I am (shockingly) planning a move to San Francisco, California.

FAFSA, here I come!