Sorry, Mom, that I haven't been posting lately.
Life is moving right along here. I'm up to 12ish pages written of my SIP, and I'm planning to work from home tomorrow to get maximum writing done then. I'm hoping to get up to 20 by the time I leave town tomorrow afternoon/evening for the Traverse City Film Fest.
Things have been far more interesting this week than they had been. I suddenly have people to hang out with all over the place! It's great. The weather has cooled down, so now I can actually handle cooking, working out, and eating real food. Not to mention sleeping.
We've been getting a bunch of intense summer thunder storms, which I love. Since my new room has windows on three sides, it feels like being in a tree house when it storms. It's so loud and airy. I love it.
I have two and a half weeks left of work, which is pretty exciting. Tonight I'm heading up north to the Traverse City Film Fest, which should be fun. I think we're also going to take a slackline and possibly some aerial equipment and see if we can get some playtime in.
Life is exciting!
Friday, July 29, 2011
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Moving
Today is a joyous day. Why? Because even though I still haven't gotten over this nasty cold, even though I have work today and will probably have to make dozens of phone calls, even though I didn't sleep well last night, even though I can't take out my smelly trash because we don't have trash removal services...THIS IS MY LAST DAY IN THIS HOUSE! I'm packing things up to move even as I type this post.
Tomorrow morning, all my stuff will be packed away, and I will head to California for a glorious two-week vacation. Meanwhile, my housemate (sort of a misnomer, since I've been living alone here the past couple weeks) will move all my stuff to her (and my) new house. The new house will have the things I have been so lacking here, including:
Tomorrow morning, all my stuff will be packed away, and I will head to California for a glorious two-week vacation. Meanwhile, my housemate (sort of a misnomer, since I've been living alone here the past couple weeks) will move all my stuff to her (and my) new house. The new house will have the things I have been so lacking here, including:
- garbage removal services
- laundry
- working windows
- neighbors
Thursday, June 16, 2011
I suppose I could update this...
Sorry for the long lapse in posts. I had a few crazy busy weeks, then a depressing one or two. Now that things are back under control...here I am! My internship has started, I'm about to leave for the annual RESULTS conference in DC, I get to see my friend Joe for the first time in about a year, I'm living alone, and things are pretty good overall.
This week at my internship, I've been learning about poverty simulations. They seem really cool and interesting. I get to witness my first one next Friday. The simulations run about three hours long, and they simulate a month in the life of someone living in poverty. Participants are randomly assigned roles, and volunteers play the parts of people working at services these people will need (mortgage company, school, community action agency, etc). Each week is 15 minutes, separated by 5-minute "weekends". Each week, families have to take care of basic things like going to work, paying bills, feeding their families--all while dealing with crime in their neighborhood, lack of money, long lines at service agencies, job loss, lack of funds to get to the places they need to go, etc.
I met with my supervisor, Kelcie, this morning. We had a great talk about what kind of experience I have and what I can do at PRI. I'm really excited now about how I'm spending my summer. There's a chance that PRI may need to make their own unique simulation model; I'm hoping I can help with that if it comes up. If not, I'll be working on grant-writing, volunteer recruitment and management, research, etc. It should all be great experience for me.
I may be taking a sort of last-minute road trip out to New York with my friend Evan who I met freshman year at K (He was a senior at the time. Now he's in a PhD program at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor getting paid to do what he loves [chemistry]). So I'll be in DC this weekend, New York next weekend, and California the weekend after that. It also looks like I'll be back in California at the end of August; I think I'll be taking the train out there.
I didn't get the straight A's I was hoping for this last quarter, thanks to B+ in African Studies, but I think I'll survive. I'm looking forward to taking a seriously fun course load in the fall (Intro to African Studies, Photography II, and Intro to Creative Writing), leading the circus club, and seriously squeezing every drop of value and fun out of my senior year of college.
Maybe I'll even post again semi-regularly. We'll see. :)
This week at my internship, I've been learning about poverty simulations. They seem really cool and interesting. I get to witness my first one next Friday. The simulations run about three hours long, and they simulate a month in the life of someone living in poverty. Participants are randomly assigned roles, and volunteers play the parts of people working at services these people will need (mortgage company, school, community action agency, etc). Each week is 15 minutes, separated by 5-minute "weekends". Each week, families have to take care of basic things like going to work, paying bills, feeding their families--all while dealing with crime in their neighborhood, lack of money, long lines at service agencies, job loss, lack of funds to get to the places they need to go, etc.
I met with my supervisor, Kelcie, this morning. We had a great talk about what kind of experience I have and what I can do at PRI. I'm really excited now about how I'm spending my summer. There's a chance that PRI may need to make their own unique simulation model; I'm hoping I can help with that if it comes up. If not, I'll be working on grant-writing, volunteer recruitment and management, research, etc. It should all be great experience for me.
I may be taking a sort of last-minute road trip out to New York with my friend Evan who I met freshman year at K (He was a senior at the time. Now he's in a PhD program at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor getting paid to do what he loves [chemistry]). So I'll be in DC this weekend, New York next weekend, and California the weekend after that. It also looks like I'll be back in California at the end of August; I think I'll be taking the train out there.
I didn't get the straight A's I was hoping for this last quarter, thanks to B+ in African Studies, but I think I'll survive. I'm looking forward to taking a seriously fun course load in the fall (Intro to African Studies, Photography II, and Intro to Creative Writing), leading the circus club, and seriously squeezing every drop of value and fun out of my senior year of college.
Maybe I'll even post again semi-regularly. We'll see. :)
Monday, May 23, 2011
Life
Here's what's new with me:
I may not get the grant I was offered for my internship, because my internship will be a 10ish-week part-time ordeal, rather than a 6-week, full-time one. I'm meeting with someone tomorrow to see what we can do, because the grant would pay for my rent for the summer. That would be fantastic.
I bought a beautiful yellow bike a few weeks ago. A vintage Schwinn. Now the person who sold it to me wants to buy it back. I'm irritated, but giving it back is the right thing to do. So that's what I'm doing.
I've been sick for the last few days. I don't feel particularly bad--my throat hurts and I'm mildly congested--but I've been so foggy-headed and sluggish and exhausted that I've been completely unable to get anything done. I'm hoping to work double-time tomorrow. I have lots to do.
Tomorrow we're planning to set up our NEW PORTABLE AERIAL RIG for the first time! This is a four-legged, 18' tall rig that can be used for any and all of our aerial equipment. I'm really excited about it.
Yesterday my throat was feeling icky, so I made some lentil soup. Today, I made fried rice. I also bought stuff to make sesame noodles, so I'm hoping to do that this week. I managed to spend very little on groceries this week because I'm only in town until Thursday morning, when I'll be starting my voyage to New York to convene with my family and hopefully watch my brother graduate.
The quarter is wrapping up, and there's a lot still to do. Here's hoping it all goes smoothly.
I may not get the grant I was offered for my internship, because my internship will be a 10ish-week part-time ordeal, rather than a 6-week, full-time one. I'm meeting with someone tomorrow to see what we can do, because the grant would pay for my rent for the summer. That would be fantastic.
I bought a beautiful yellow bike a few weeks ago. A vintage Schwinn. Now the person who sold it to me wants to buy it back. I'm irritated, but giving it back is the right thing to do. So that's what I'm doing.
I've been sick for the last few days. I don't feel particularly bad--my throat hurts and I'm mildly congested--but I've been so foggy-headed and sluggish and exhausted that I've been completely unable to get anything done. I'm hoping to work double-time tomorrow. I have lots to do.
Tomorrow we're planning to set up our NEW PORTABLE AERIAL RIG for the first time! This is a four-legged, 18' tall rig that can be used for any and all of our aerial equipment. I'm really excited about it.
Yesterday my throat was feeling icky, so I made some lentil soup. Today, I made fried rice. I also bought stuff to make sesame noodles, so I'm hoping to do that this week. I managed to spend very little on groceries this week because I'm only in town until Thursday morning, when I'll be starting my voyage to New York to convene with my family and hopefully watch my brother graduate.
The quarter is wrapping up, and there's a lot still to do. Here's hoping it all goes smoothly.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Inspiration
My life is inspiring. I live fully, take risks, and end up doing things that amaze me and that I never imagined I'd do. It's great. I want to tell you all about it.
This blog isn't cutting it right now because it's totally unfocused. I don't have a topic to write about. Can you give me some ideas? I'd love to keep posting.
When I was in Senegal, every time something strange or un-American happened, I'd think, "I can't wait to blog about this!" Those things don't tend to happen here, and I don't have any specific kind of event here that makes me think about blogging. So what kinds of things would you like to hear about?
Let me know.
This blog isn't cutting it right now because it's totally unfocused. I don't have a topic to write about. Can you give me some ideas? I'd love to keep posting.
When I was in Senegal, every time something strange or un-American happened, I'd think, "I can't wait to blog about this!" Those things don't tend to happen here, and I don't have any specific kind of event here that makes me think about blogging. So what kinds of things would you like to hear about?
Let me know.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
A little stress doesn't hurt
But it does make it hard to get enough sleep. I've barely had enough downtime this week to feed myself. I'll skip a lot of that, but this has been maybe the most productive week of my life, and it's only half over. I'm also officially president of the circus club now, I'm working on organizing our gigs for this spring, I went with Claire and got $258.35 wired to SenCirk as a donation. They're planning to use that money to buy safety equipment.
I'm looking forward to a lot of things, and I feel like I'm constantly working just to mark pace and not get behind. I love being busy.
Also, last night I cooked the best thing I've ever made so far: chicken curry. I consulted several recipes, but I didn't have all the ingredients for any of them, so I mostly just winged it. It turned out so well, just thinking about it makes my mouth water. I even managed to get 5 different vegetables in it, so I feel great about eating it!
I'm looking forward to a lot of things, and I feel like I'm constantly working just to mark pace and not get behind. I love being busy.
Also, last night I cooked the best thing I've ever made so far: chicken curry. I consulted several recipes, but I didn't have all the ingredients for any of them, so I mostly just winged it. It turned out so well, just thinking about it makes my mouth water. I even managed to get 5 different vegetables in it, so I feel great about eating it!
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Like I said...
In my last post, I wrote about sun and snow. Today, we got sun, hail, and lightning--all simultaneously! Hooray for springtime in Kalamazoo.
Last weekend I had quite the adventure. I went to a Senegal reunion dinner with the girls who went last year plus my group. We told stories and laughed, and we realized that most of them, at the time, were not so funny. Things like the incompetent doctor who didn't give me a malaria test when I had classic malaria symptoms, like one of the girls last year having a HUGE cockroach end up in her dress--and then in her underwear, like boys "falling in love" with us everywhere we went... It was a great evening.
Partway through, I got a call from Allison, the woman who runs the Aerial Angels circus troupe in Kalamazoo. She said that she was looking for a last-minute replacement for a circus gig at a high school prom on Saturday night, and was I available? I said yes, of course, and spent all of Saturday sort of freaking out, wondering what I had just gotten myself into.
The gig went pretty well; there were about 100 kids there at the most, and they were pretty impressed by everything we did. Our portable rig was too tall for the ceiling of the ballroom, so we had to set it up in the recess in the ceiling where a chandelier was hung. Naturally, that meant that the ballroom manager was breathing down Allison's neck the whole night, freaking out that we would break her chandelier. I did a little silks routine, which was very well received. I also did a little bit of partner acrobatics with Allison, which went pretty well.
There was one point when I was supposed to fall backwards and Allison was supposed to catch me...and she didn't. I was overly confident in her ability to catch me (she does this for a living, after all), and she was overly confident in my ability to catch myself (it was clear from pretty early in the fall that I was toppling, but I didn't try to catch myself because I was being too trusting). The result was that I was suddenly on the floor, disoriented, and I landed pretty hard on the heels of my hands. My right wrist has been hurting ever since. I think it might be very minorly sprained, but it's not bad.
Today, I had two interviews for campus leadership positions. It turns out that for one of them--Peer Health Advocate--I'll only need to commit about a half hour per week. I can do that! That's nothing! Also, the issue I want to tackle on campus, caffeine abuse, hasn't been addressed at all by peer health advocates in the past. I feel so creative!
The other interview was for the chapel program, which I loved being involved with last year. If I could get paid to do that again, that would be phenomenal. If not...we'll see. Tonight in circus, we're voting on officers for next year. I'm hoping to be president, but we'll find out soon enough what will happened. I'm happy just to be involved, so I'm not concerned at all.
Everyone who sees me lately tells me that I look great. I look happy. It's true; I can't remember another time in my life when I felt so on top of my game, in my element, comfortable in myself. I'm loving how it feels. Walking across campus today and admiring the view of the city from the hill, enjoying the "warm" weather and brick buildings and well-fed squirrels, seeing all the smiling people, I thought, "I'm going to treasure these days for the rest of my life."
I'd say adjusting to being here is going pretty well.
Last weekend I had quite the adventure. I went to a Senegal reunion dinner with the girls who went last year plus my group. We told stories and laughed, and we realized that most of them, at the time, were not so funny. Things like the incompetent doctor who didn't give me a malaria test when I had classic malaria symptoms, like one of the girls last year having a HUGE cockroach end up in her dress--and then in her underwear, like boys "falling in love" with us everywhere we went... It was a great evening.
Partway through, I got a call from Allison, the woman who runs the Aerial Angels circus troupe in Kalamazoo. She said that she was looking for a last-minute replacement for a circus gig at a high school prom on Saturday night, and was I available? I said yes, of course, and spent all of Saturday sort of freaking out, wondering what I had just gotten myself into.
The gig went pretty well; there were about 100 kids there at the most, and they were pretty impressed by everything we did. Our portable rig was too tall for the ceiling of the ballroom, so we had to set it up in the recess in the ceiling where a chandelier was hung. Naturally, that meant that the ballroom manager was breathing down Allison's neck the whole night, freaking out that we would break her chandelier. I did a little silks routine, which was very well received. I also did a little bit of partner acrobatics with Allison, which went pretty well.
There was one point when I was supposed to fall backwards and Allison was supposed to catch me...and she didn't. I was overly confident in her ability to catch me (she does this for a living, after all), and she was overly confident in my ability to catch myself (it was clear from pretty early in the fall that I was toppling, but I didn't try to catch myself because I was being too trusting). The result was that I was suddenly on the floor, disoriented, and I landed pretty hard on the heels of my hands. My right wrist has been hurting ever since. I think it might be very minorly sprained, but it's not bad.
Today, I had two interviews for campus leadership positions. It turns out that for one of them--Peer Health Advocate--I'll only need to commit about a half hour per week. I can do that! That's nothing! Also, the issue I want to tackle on campus, caffeine abuse, hasn't been addressed at all by peer health advocates in the past. I feel so creative!
The other interview was for the chapel program, which I loved being involved with last year. If I could get paid to do that again, that would be phenomenal. If not...we'll see. Tonight in circus, we're voting on officers for next year. I'm hoping to be president, but we'll find out soon enough what will happened. I'm happy just to be involved, so I'm not concerned at all.
Everyone who sees me lately tells me that I look great. I look happy. It's true; I can't remember another time in my life when I felt so on top of my game, in my element, comfortable in myself. I'm loving how it feels. Walking across campus today and admiring the view of the city from the hill, enjoying the "warm" weather and brick buildings and well-fed squirrels, seeing all the smiling people, I thought, "I'm going to treasure these days for the rest of my life."
I'd say adjusting to being here is going pretty well.
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