how time flies...
In general, the days have been rolling by and my time off goes by even faster. I have from 1:30 pm today until 1:30 pm tomorrow off, and the first 9 hours of my time off have flown by. Because I'm a workaholic, I've spent most of that time: going through job postings, and looking at real estate. I really want to buy a house/condo in both DC and metro detroit. But I will probably only be able to afford a place in metro detroit in the next few years or, because housing is dirt cheap there. I figure that I can probably find a decent place for maybe $400/month max. Which would be an investment, because eventually the housing market will recover. Eventually. And maybe I will want to move back to Michigan at some point and start my "green jobs" non-profit. I have been going through books online that I think would be useful, and I plan to start doing some initial research soon. It's been a while since I've had a big dream like this, and it's sort of exciting. I would like to try to find a job in renewable energy/green building in DC because I think that would help me reach my long-term goal. I'm thinking that my non-profit would: provide a network of green businesses in the area, help jobseekers acquire job skills, lobby for legislation that would bring more green jobs to Michigan, lobby for local governments to attract green employers, and bring more green employers to Michigan (this is where my research comes in). But in the meantime, I will go to DC, hopefully build up my lobbying muscles and make some useful contacts, because I'm good at making useful contacts.
Eh, anyways. I haven't written a whole lot about what I'm actually doing here in Lama, NM. Most of my day consists of my duties as a co-manager of the construction crew and a cabin counselor. As a part of the camp, the kids work on a different crew every day, 8:30am-11:30am. My crew repairs fences (the horses are always breaking them, it's ridiculous), puts on gates, and is beginning to build a greenhouse. I've had the opportunity to learn some more about construction, which has been cool. And it's really gratifying to see be able to step back and see the fruits of my labor. Sometimes it is a challenge working with middle-schoolers, though. But the co-manager of my crew is super-cool. He's in his 60's or so, but he used to live down the street from Bob Marley in Jamaica and he designed some promotional materials for the Doors in the 60's. Badass.
As I said, I am also a cabin counselor. I have 5 girls in my cabin, most of which are pretty cool. There has been some catty-ness and some drama (one girl was excluded, following some actions she took against another girl) and one of my girls threatened to go home, but I think she is going to stay. Basically, the drama is never-ending. And I can really never manage to stay out of it, because if I'm unaware of the drama, it's just building up to the point where it will be absolutely epic by the time I have to deal with it. Awesome. Other drama I have to deal with includes daily injuries (stop getting hurt damnit!) and having to discipline children, when I both don't really know how and it really really stresses me out.
But it is really fucking pretty here. Look at my pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28770851@N05/
Tomorrow, we will be going on our second hike as a camp, down into the Rio Grande gorge. Which will be fun and tiring. I hope I get to go in the water. The only bummer about being one of two lifeguards right now, is that I can almost never swim when I am often the only person that wants to swim. That's life, I suppose. Also, I continue to be infatuated with my boss, despite his poor hygiene. Oops.
Eh, anyways. I haven't written a whole lot about what I'm actually doing here in Lama, NM. Most of my day consists of my duties as a co-manager of the construction crew and a cabin counselor. As a part of the camp, the kids work on a different crew every day, 8:30am-11:30am. My crew repairs fences (the horses are always breaking them, it's ridiculous), puts on gates, and is beginning to build a greenhouse. I've had the opportunity to learn some more about construction, which has been cool. And it's really gratifying to see be able to step back and see the fruits of my labor. Sometimes it is a challenge working with middle-schoolers, though. But the co-manager of my crew is super-cool. He's in his 60's or so, but he used to live down the street from Bob Marley in Jamaica and he designed some promotional materials for the Doors in the 60's. Badass.
As I said, I am also a cabin counselor. I have 5 girls in my cabin, most of which are pretty cool. There has been some catty-ness and some drama (one girl was excluded, following some actions she took against another girl) and one of my girls threatened to go home, but I think she is going to stay. Basically, the drama is never-ending. And I can really never manage to stay out of it, because if I'm unaware of the drama, it's just building up to the point where it will be absolutely epic by the time I have to deal with it. Awesome. Other drama I have to deal with includes daily injuries (stop getting hurt damnit!) and having to discipline children, when I both don't really know how and it really really stresses me out.
But it is really fucking pretty here. Look at my pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28770851@N05/
Tomorrow, we will be going on our second hike as a camp, down into the Rio Grande gorge. Which will be fun and tiring. I hope I get to go in the water. The only bummer about being one of two lifeguards right now, is that I can almost never swim when I am often the only person that wants to swim. That's life, I suppose. Also, I continue to be infatuated with my boss, despite his poor hygiene. Oops.