Sunday, December 30, 2007

Year Wrap-Up Survey

I saw this wrap up survey for the year that a friend filled out.  Thought I would borrow the idea.

1. What did you do in 2007 that you'd never done before?

I drove a huge truck over sketchy four-wheel drive roads in the San Juan Mountains.  I served my first semester as student body president.  I got my first Incomplete at Western.  I learned about logistics. 

2. Did you keep your New Year's resolution?

I don’t remember if I had a new years resolution.  So… maybe?

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

No

4. Did anyone close to you die?

No 

5. What countries did you visit?

None, I did get to go to Reno, Nevada and Riverside, California.  Those are kind of like other countries, right?

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?

Faith

7. What date from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

The Conversation (capital 'T', capital 'C') with a friend.  I don’t really do dates.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Working better with a team, getting assigned to a “base” with no head LC, impressing Dr. Moran w/ a presentation.

9. What was your biggest failure?

Developmental Psychology

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

I’ve been getting a lot of colds lately.  Hand stuff.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

S’s Christmas present.  Also, the snowboard I bought on accident.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

Many many people that I am fortunate enough to get to work with.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

My mothers.  Literally depressed.  It was bad.

14. Where did most of your money go?

I’m guessing the Apartment Vultures.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

The future.

16. What song will always remind you of 2007?

“When I Close My Eyes” by Ozomatli

17. Are you...

A. Happier or sadder? Happier

B. Richer or poorer? Richer

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?

Edgework

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?

Knee-jerk reactions

20. How will you be spending Christmas?

It's gone and past.  Spent it with family, not a long enough visit, that’s new.

21. Did you fall in love in 2007?

Over and over.

22. How many one-night stands?

None

23. What was your favorite TV program?

Bones, only recently discovered.

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?

I don’t think so.

25. What was the best book you read?

Awakening the Buddha Within by Lama Surya Das

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?

It’s a tie between Ozomatli, Malcolm Palmer, and Nadine Zahr

27. What did you want and get?

I wanted challenge.  I think I got an ulcer.  Just kidding.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?

Meet the Robinsons

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

Drank too much, got in trouble.  25

30. What would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Taking care of myself better.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?

It’s morphed from jeans and a t-shirt to carharrts and a t-shirt.  Hoodie now that it’s cold.

32. What kept you sane?

Ha.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Umm... 

34. What political issue stirred you the most?

I still don’t quite understand how homosexuality affects other peoples marriages.

35. Who did you miss?

Sara.  AKA “Tink”

36. Who was the best new person you met?

I really appreciate getting to know this one person better

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007:

"Why do today what I can do tomorrow" may not be the best idea

38. What travel plans do you have for 2008? Which ones are you the most excited about?

Hopefully “Plan A” will work out and I’ll be all over the place.

39. Which dates in 2008 are you looking forward to the most? Why?

May 10, 2008 – My Graduation from Western State College of Colorado

40. Which season are you looking forward to the most this year? Why?

I dunno

41. What are some things you'd like to do in 2008, but haven't officially planned for yet?

Skydiving, join a church, visit my sister in new york, see my friends

42. Do you anticipate any major changes in 2008, such as a new home, job, family life, etc.?

An occupation other than student, maybe even making slightly more than the poverty line.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Figured Out

Epiphany of the day....

"I am an underachiever trapped in an overachievers lifestyle"

Monday, December 17, 2007

The Roof, The Roof....


The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire...

Oh wait.  That's just a hot water pipe exploding.  Nevermind.

Did you know that steam can set of a fire alarm?  It's true.  I saw it in action today.

Let me set the stage...
It's 8:45 in the morning.  We are 45 minutes into a two hour final for statistics.  Two tests have to be completed in these two hours.  When the class assembled in the morning it was a nervous anticipation, you could feel it.  We've been through a lot together as a class.  Twice a week study sessions, study sessions together on the weekends.  Getting "talked to" because 75% of the class failed an exam.  We are the survivors.  Today was the culmination of all that work, the chance to make a few extra points, a chance to NOT FAIL.  Because really, that was everyone's goal, you could practically see the little thought bubbles above their heads "please, I just don't want to fail".

I digress.  Sorry.  

So we are sitting in this class, working on this test.  I myself was about to start the second problem that had 10 parts to it, hitting my groove, catching my mistakes, feeling pretty good about how this exam is going.  All of a sudden, loud loud noises.  Not just any noise, no, the distinct noise that only can deafen you and still convey the message that you have to get out of the building.  The fire alarm.

As one the class raises our heads in disbelief.  Is this really happening?  You have to be kidding.  It's quiet for a second, then the curses and murmuring start.  After a few seconds I say "I think this is the part where we calmly exit the building".  We all get up, leave our tests, and head downstairs.

Oh yeah, by the way, IT'S COLD OUTSIDE!.  I think it was just getting up to 0 (zero) degrees F at that point.  So we wait outside, the prof takes off to do something and eventually we go back inside to continue working on these exams.  I'm glad it's over.  The only real "exam" I have this finals week.  Now to get back to all the other projects I have yet to complete...

Saturday, December 15, 2007

This Looked Cool

I saw this at Brutal Women.  It sounded awesome.  I think I'll do it.  

Here's the deal...

I will send a gift to the first three people who post a comment on this blog.  I don't know what the gift will be yet, but it will arrive within the next 365 days.  All you have to do is leave a comment, then put the same offer on your blog/website/whatever.


Sunday, December 9, 2007

Because Education Wasn't Cutting It

Education today is billed as "the answer" for just about everything.  Low socio-economic status?  Get an education!  Community falling apart?  More money to education!  Freak el nino patterns?  Education!

When education is pushed and pushed and pushed as the solution, as how to achieve a better life, how to equip people to succeed, how to solve societies over-arching problems, how to elected w/ out a real platform, why take an opposite view?

I know christianity tends to run counter culture quite a bit, and they even emphasize enjoying it.  (I'm not knocking it, I do it, the punk movement did it, the civil rights movement did it.  Ok, so maybe the civil rights movement had a point.)  This choice to run upstream in this case, however, perplexes me.

According to WELS, according largely to christians overall, the solution, they key, the magic bullet is not education, but faith.  Faith.  Take it even further, define it a little bit more and you get a "child-like" faith. 

The exact example of a "child-like faith" given this Sunday was a four year old kid who asks their father what the shell of a turtle is for.  The father tells the child that the shell is so that the turtle can fly.  The turtle has only to tuck it’s head and legs into the shell and it metamorphoses into a flying saucer of some sort.

What I hear them saying, right after providing this example:

"isn't it wonderful?  A child doesn't look at their father and say, Dad, that's not true.  No.  that kid will take what dad said and believe it." 

Does this seem dangerous to anybody else?  Not just as given, but also applying this to one's spiritual life.  Strikes me as pretty sketchy.

At some point in life, that child, having not seen any turtles take off in flight will (hopefully) start questioning what their father told them.     We encourage that learning and growth, it's going to happen, it needs to.  The idea that turtles travel by converting into flying saucers is in no way beneficial to the child's growth.

The question is at what point in a christians life does an unquestioning "child-like" faith become detrimental?

It is really really easy to fool or mislead someone who has child-like faith, the ability to learn something and accept it as true. 

"if our reason & understanding contradict the clear word of scripture, then scripture wins.  Hands down."

 If a person believes that the bible is truly the unerring word of God, that it contains no biases, no twisted or accidentally misconstrued ideas or contents, if they believe that the person teaching them is not accidentally changing the message in any way then sure, go for it, have your child-like faith.  That's a pretty big step, at least for me it would be.

I think a large part of the danger comes from the opportunity for biases, for temporary beliefs based on recent activity or events, reactions to culture to be superimposed or adapted to the lives of those learning.  If  the "this is the word, and therefore it is right" logic is applied to anything when does the person become empowered in their own right?

Is it a pick-and-choose situation?  When is a person encouraged to have the child-like faith?  When does the church want you to think for yourself?  What is the criteria for identifying and responding properly in each situation?

Friday, December 7, 2007

Snow Snow Snow!!!

It's snowing!  Snow, snow, snow, snow...  Lots of snow, probably slightly higher than a foot right now.  It's rumored that the snow is going to continue until Tuesday and we are projected to get four feet!  The roads are closed, the mountain I'm sure is rocking, heck who wouldn't be up there for free ski?  Here are some pictures I want to share.


This is my car.  Covered in snow.  It actually got shut in the parking lot today by the plows.  That car's not moving until spring.

This is main street.  When I tell people that I live in Gunnison they always respond with a story about the crazy snow it gets.  This is my first chance to really see a snowstorm like this in action.  I know I'm fully geeking out, but it's cool that there is so much snow  the snowplows are forming a barrier with the snow in the middle of the street.

Trees are falling all over the place.  It's insane.  Not just little limbs but serious tree pieces.  This picture is of part of a huge tree that happened to fall apart while I was walking.  Pretty cool.  I'm glad that it didn't hit the car.

_________________________________
Crested Butte is getting a lot of snow.  This morning when I checked the snow report they got 20 inches in 24 hours!  I wish I had gear.

In other news, these are my newest thoughts (hair-brained ideas) on/for the future:

Option 1: I save, win, or otherwise legally obtain approximately $6000 and follow through on living and working in New Zealand for a year.

Option 2: Work on a cruise line.  I still get to travel, have a fun job, work recreation and programming, both things I love.

Thoughts?

Monday, December 3, 2007

Written On A Snowflake -OR- Know When to Shred Stuff

I'm at work. Settling down into the front desk, the 80 square feet of space that will be my workplace for the next six hours. Surrounding me is an astonishing amount of holiday decorations. Everything is clearly christmas oriented, but some might be inclined to grant leeway for the attempt at a "Happy Hanukkah" sign and tinsel-ly star of david. Heck, there is even a tree, decorated as only work study students can. All of it gives me a distinctly anti-holiday feeling. What is more annoying are the decorations that refuse to stay put and insist on falling. Particularly the snowflakes. It figures that snowflakes would fall off the ceiling. In yet another attempt to reuse and thereby reduce waste the snowflakes are made of paper taken from the recycling bin.

One of the snowflakes fell off the ceiling. Deciding to pick it up and possibly even hang it back up I lean down, pick it up, and idly look it over as I stand up again. Oh, it's an email. Wait a minute, that is MY NAME on that email. What's going on here?

Intrigued I start to read what I can of the e-mail, inserting likely words where scissors have shaped this document into a crude replica of a snowflake. Turns out, it really is about me, most of it anyway. The recipient is a friend, someone here at the school. The sender is an acquaintance, I know them, have had conversations with them, and have written some correspondence back and forth previously, but not on the topic that they are talking about here.

They are talking about me. They are talking about church. [I have been attending this church, more details later] They are talking about this amazing opportunity, a chance for me to "hear the word of God in all it's truth and purity-straight law and straight gospel, no beating around the bush and no strings attached".  I suspected that this was going on, and really this isn't a big deal.  The big deal, the concern, the minor alarm going off in my head is all about her intentions.  Why is this person approaching this this way? Am I just a mission? Is this one of those "you are my friend and I don't want you to go to hell" things?

Should I talk to them about it? Would it be totally out of line to request to read the pieces of the email that I am not seeing? I would like to see how it ends. This edition anyway.

Why wouldn't you just shred something like that?

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

A Short Start

I know. I've royally screwed up on blogging lately. Lot of things happening. Lot of things that I should be doing but don't, or just put off, or forget about. Let's face it, this whole updating the world thing just hasn't been high up on my priorities list lately. Oops.

Small updates:

- Thanksgiving was fun. It is quite a shock to recognize that I am not the individual I thought I was. I thought that because I had spent so much time examining who I am, what I do, what distinguishes me from my family that I was an inherently unique person. WRONG. I spent a weekend surrounded by people that looked like me, talked like me, reacted in a similar way to situations, etc., etc., etc. Kind of frightening at times (read: ALL THE TIME).

- I'm turing 25 on Friday. Have plans, we'll see how they work out.

- 75% of my stats class failed the most recent exam. I am in that 75%. We are in big trouble. You know you have a cool prof though when he works out a deal for people to drop the class and still recieve a "W" if they can't hack it. AND he helped organize huge class study sessions until the end of the semester. It's not all roses though. Today he handed out some serious assignments and set exact specifications for the rest of the semester. If these assignments aren't done perfectly on Monday - you're dropped. If you miss a class - you are dropped. Dropped like... something bad. Think of an example yourself.

- I'm really enjoying learning about pedagogy. I even find myself not only comparing teachers, but also looking at departmental views on education and standard practices compared to another department. It's my little geeky thing.

- After hearing one time to often about the six free counseling sessions available at the student health center I think I'm going to take the plunge and check it out. Can't hurt me, right? Might even help. I'm simutaneously touched that my friends are this persistant, and terrified. It sounds horrible, but I don't want to be like my mom.

- I have really really awesome professors.

Friday, November 2, 2007

Well, THAT Sucks

My parents and I don't really get along. That is no surprise to anybody, except maybe my Mom. I'm not sure.

So it's been a little while since the last post. There is a story behind that. Let me see...

A little while ago at Western State it was parents weekend. When I decided to transfer here I didn't really tell my parents. Well, until I sold my car in an effort to acquire one that was more suited to the weather and mountains. Then they found out. I didn't invite them to visit the school with me, didn't get their opinion, none of that. But I have wanted them to see the school. I did want them to see that I was doing well and that I could succeed in an academic environment.

If you ask them, they'll tell you that they have always known that I should succeed. One of their favorite games throughout middle and high school was holding standardized test scores in one hand and my report card in the other. Moving on in front of the other they would pointedly say, "THIS doesn't match THIS". (standardized test scores were decent)

So I invited them to come up for Parents Weekend. I told them that they should see the school at least once before I graduate.

The first big challenge to this weekend was preparing them for the fact that everyone calls me Alex. See, my name technically isn't Alex, I've just been going by it for the past 5 or 6 years. They don't call me Alex, they don't want others to call me Alex. My dad may or may not have a history of yelling at people (my boss) on the phone when she asked for "Alex". Actually it went pretty well, no freak-outs in that regard at all.

So they come up, see the campus, have a good time. We all go to the football game and right in the middle of the 3rd quarter my mom decides it's a great time to tell me yet again how much she hates the fact that I am "choosing" to be gay and that "I know it's a sin" and how she is "just waiting for me to wake up and realize how much damage I'm doing to myself". She even had the audacity to drag my little brothers and sisters into the equation! She told me that "they hate you for doing this". I couldn't believe it! I did have some pretty good remarks, but those don't need to be posted here.

I don't know why, but for some reason that really hurt. To my core those remarks stung and stuck.

It took me most approximately 5 years to even acknowledge that I was queer. It took longer to be able to say it out loud, longer still to be ok and realize that I can be a good person and queer at the same time. It took separation from my parents, a complete examination of what I believe, why, what I want to do, who I want to be. I re-created my life and I enjoy what I do.

I thought that my parents were getting so much better. I thought that they had made so much progress from when I first told them. Turns out I was wrong.

I don't know what happened. My life, my personality, my identity all came crashing down (seemingly) when my mom said those hateful, hurtful things. I became totally despondent. I was almost the definition of apathy. I went to class, barely. Socially withdrew from everything, stopped caring, stopped working on everything. I barely functioned. I knew that this could kill my semester academically, and I knew that I didn't want that to happen, but I just didn't care.

So now I'm feeling better. I'm attempting to dig myself out of this hole. I'm in big trouble as far as my classes go. I don't know how to tell my profs what happened, why I stopped... well, everything...for so long. Do they need to know? Would they care?

Here is the question: If I had this crazy depressed episode just from a day spent with my mother, what will happen at thanksgiving?

Monday, October 15, 2007

Tooth Fairy Has Nothing On Me

Tooth fairy, jeez, talk about an overrated gig. Sneak in while people are sleeping, switch a tooth for some money. Real hard.

Try this.

Try randomly inheriting about ten pounds of elk meat from a professor. I thought it was going to work out something like-

TM: "Hey Alex, would you like some elk meat? I'm cleaning out my freezer."
Me: "Sure TM, sounds great." (Thinking in my head- Huh, I'd better ask S if I can use her freezer before TM brings it in. Is she bringing that tomorrow? Wed? I'll ask her.)

NOT THE WAY IT WORKED OUT

(story continuing)
TM: "Great! Come on out to the car and help me bring in this cooler, ok?"
Me: "Sure" it's not like I'm late for class or anything already. (I was. Again. Re-occuring problem here)

We head out to her car and sure enough, she's got a cooler full of elk in the back. We take it inside and split it between myself and the other sucker, I mean, recipient. Now the challenge is finding somewhere to store this so it doesn't defrost. My little tiny dorm fridge? Hardly a big enough freezer to put my chacos in, much less ten pounds of meat.

Here goes Alex, walking through the Union, approaching random people who might have freezers stashed in their office. "Hi! I'm the elk meat fairy! Would you like some elk meat?" Well, lets just suffice it to say that I managed to give away a couple pounds, not too shabby. I don't know if I would take a package of elk meat from some person wandering the hallways with a white plastic trashbag in hand.

It all turned out great though. A good friend is letting me use her freezer (chacos already inside, still lots of room!) to store the meat until I can get it to Sara somehow. Taaa Daaa!

Yeah, who's the elk fairy? I am.

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Happy Family Weekend

Nothing says "Happy Family Weekend" like your mother telling you that your "lifestyle choice" is a sin and she is just waiting for you to wake up and change. Among other similarly warm fuzzy things.

I don't think she'll ever be proud of me unless I'm straight.



In other news. Happy National Coming Out day. Here is a video I think is awesome. I'm just going to watch this and hope for a little while. Not my story, but still encouraging.

Monday, October 8, 2007

Oh No...Where'd It Go?

So earlier this week I did something very exciting (for me). I finally turned in my passport application. It costed a pretty penny, the picture isn't going to be awesome, but in six to eight weeks I should have a passport! That's exciting. The passport is the first step in starting the process for my after graduation plans.

I actually had to go to the post office twice. See, the first time I forgot to take my birth certificate. The second time, I was on top of my stuff. I remembered all the paperwork, signed where necessary, paid the money and headed back home. When I got home, a startling revelation came over me.

I FORGOT MY BIRTH CERTIFICATE. Oh no, what a thing to lose, jeez. Half-way panicking I called the post office and explained the situation. I spoke to a very nice guy who explained that they will send the birth certificate to the state department, and I will get it back when I recieve my passport. Basically, just don't do anything where you need it for the next eight weeks. Huh. I see the reasoning, my only complaint is that NO ONE EVER TOLD ME. I've been looking at the passport process for a while and have I seen anything about the fact that they take your birth certificate? No. Not anything.

I guess it's even a pretty common occurance because the people I have told say that they did the same thing. My question is only, why the heck didn't I know? Seriously people.

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

A Dilemma of Constitutional Proportions

I'm so proud to be able to work with the people I do in Student Government (SGA). They are intelligent, usually well spoken, offer many perspectives and they know their stuff. Part of this I attribute to the fact that I outlined an expectation early in the year that basically says we can fight all we want in the meetings, but once SGA has made a decision I expect everybody to stand behind it. This is a good thing because people don't hesitate to offer differing opinions during discussion.

Tonight however, discussion is on a very serious level. First some information.

There are a couple of classes on campus wherein the purpose is for the students to learn about planing, organizing and producing a program on campus. These programs are anything from the re-occuring bouldering competition, funk-yer-junk bike race ,kayak water polo to the one-time event of speakers or other happenings.

One of the main objectives in the class is to learn, find, and obtain outside funding. For this purpose the department will often reject requests for money. Students are encouraged to go find funding from a variety of different sources. These sources can include, but are not limited to: SGA, Program Council, local businesses, and corporate sponsors.

Now the tricky part. SGA has $3000 set aside for bills each semester. Bills are to help supplement and provide students with various opportunities ranging from conferences, competitions, and programs. However, in the constitution it says this...

"ARTICLE III. STUDENT FEES

Section 1. All students who are currently enrolled in Western State College of Colorado shall pay a yearly Student
Government Association fee to fund non-academic and extracurricular activities, clubs and events."


If a program is open to the public, benefiting excellent non-profit organizations, good for recruitment and retention, do these facts overshadow the fact that this program is being put on because students need the credit? What takes precedance? Is there a grey area?

The issue is going out to the Associated Student Body this week. Voting should happen next week. There is talk about killing the bill before it gets to voting. I'm wondering if I should think about excersizing the option of veto, if the bill passed. Technically, the bill is unconstitutional.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

My New Favorite YouTube Movie

So thi is my new favorite YouTube movie. It's called Zombie Prom and it stars RuPaul as Miss Strict. Part musical, part comic book adaptation I think it's brilliant!

Enjoy!

P.S.- It is four parts, but they are well worth watching!

Part One


Part Two


Part Three


Part Four

Monday, August 27, 2007

Two Paragraphs

I pose a question to the internet....

Would you turn this in to your professor?

The assignment: Write two paragraphs telling me who you are and why you are here (statistics class).

What I wrote:

My name is Alex Stigall. I’m a senior studying Recreation with an emphasis in Outdoor Leadership and Education, with a recently added minor in Psychology. I transferred to Western about a year and a half ago from Red Rocks Community College in Lakewood, CO. This past spring I was elected President of the Student Government Association and am getting tired of being called ‘el presidente’. Shortly after the election I was talking to a friend who said ”Congratulations, you are now an overachiever!” Upon hearing this my mother laughed, probably due to the fact that the idea of me as an overachiever is not something she is familiar with. My friends say that I live on stress; I concede that I tend to produce quality work when I am under a deadline. Therefore, I am also a procrastinator.

This is my second attempt at taking statistics. The first attempt was a year ago and a spectacular failure simply in the fact that I did not dedicate the necessary time and energy to learning the subject matter. I’m in this class to not only help repair the significant dent my failing grade made in my overall GPA, but also to prove (mostly to myself) that I can and should succeed in this challenge. Things I’m looking for in this class include challenge, the opportunity to struggle before help is automatically given, and if it’s possible to include learning from many different styles that would be dandy.

__________________________________________________________________

Seriously people, I need you to comment on this one. Please.

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Nothing Quite Like It...

There is nothing like community theatre.




The opportunity to watch members of the community get up on stage, assume a character and tell you a story. Amazing. Even if the production is horrible and they butcher the story, you still have to give those individuals applause for just getting up there and participating.

Fortunately yesterday the story was not butchered, the singing did not bring tears to my eyes, the jokes were delivered excellently and the entire experience was a great one. S and I wandered up to Crested Butte to watch the CBMT's (Crested Butte Mountain Theatre) production of Reefer Madness-The Musical. This is the first time that I had watched or heard of Reefer Madness and it is great! We were laughing the entire time. Mary Lane-one of the main characters has an amazing set of pipes and sang not only exceedingly well, but strong also.

I think part of the awesomeness that is community theatre is the fact that the players don't take themselves overly-seriously. It's refreshing to read actor bio's that contain hilarious comments and even some inside jokes. Some of my favorite lines from the bios:

"After eight years with CBMT, Megan has succumbed to the traditional, pointless nudity that makes the theatre what it is today."

"...He started with Suess, smapled some Shakespeare, dared to wear dresses, and now appears as his biggest character stretch of all. The Big J, the holiest of hosts, the Stranger from the Manger, the hardest working man in the afterlife."

"It has been Natasha's lifelong dream to drop out of college and try her hand as a porn star. Unfortunately, she recently graduated from WSC..."

So yeah. Links to hopefully be installed soon.

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Speeches and Ties and Students Oh My!

I'm back!

Back in Gunnison. Back at school. Back in the swing of things, kinda... getting there anyway. Yesterday was almost the definition of jumping in with both feet. I gave two speeches and worked at the front desk answering the same six questions for a thousand different people. It was a good time. :)

This President thing is kind of interesting. People a lot of the time assume that I have assumed power like some kind of a dictator and am able to allocate thousands of dollars anywhere I choose at any point in time. I can't. I probably wouldn't anyway. Also, everybody seems to know me. I know that I stood up at all the orientations and introduced myself, and I knew to anticipate a fishbowl type of effect, but someone I have never met before just walked up to me and said "I heard you play rugby". That's really crazy. They know me, I don't know how, but they do. It's disconcerting.

Very few people really care to understand. It's kind of suprising. They have these completely crazy and wrong assumptions but don't care to know how things really work, even if it is very simple. It's like they want to have these baseless assumptions so that they can bitch about things they don't understand and don't want to change. I don't get it. Maybe I'm just a dork like that.

Presidency does have it's perks though. I recieved a very very fancy invitation in the mail to the grand opening of the Borick Building, the new business building on campus. It's a very, very nice building. Anyway, this grand opening is going to be quite the party. It looks super formal from the invitation. I'll try to get pictures up from it.

Going to a play/musical tonight. Reefer madness. Should be awesome.

Peace, Love and cool business attire to you all.

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Good Friends Go the Extra Two Hundred Miles...

So... We needed a present for Mich's birthday. We had the perfect present in mind. Looked all over Colorado (the western slope anyway) for it. Nowhere to be found. Solution: Utah. Good news, we did find the present. We also went on an awesome stream hike and got invited to a great party. Good times.









Friday, August 3, 2007

Groceries vs. Switchbacks. Only the durable survive.



If I really had any sense, I would think through these things more. I would arrange groceries so that they do not roll around the back seat and shift so much that one has to remove select items from the front seat before opening the back doors so that items do not get destroyed when/if you open the door.

So. With this lesson in mind I proudly present: Guidelines for managing groceries and switchbacks.

P.S.- I've decided that switchbacks are really some engineers way of saying "hey Mom! Look what I can do!"

1. Put heavy, stable things on bottom. Stable is key here. Watermelons may be heavy, but unless they are surrounded by other items they are not stable in any way shape or form.

2. If items slide during the switchback turn, they probably aren't going to slide back even if you do take the next switchback a little bit faster.

3. Pulling over is not an option. Even if you think the pies fell against the door the only allowable option is to attempt to not have melons roll onto them for the rest of the drive.

Yeah buddy. Red Mtn. Pass. I wouldn't want to do it in the winter.

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Texans Stole My Laundry Bag

I don't think they meant to. If I was going to steal something at the laundry-mat it wouldn't have been that. It was old, it had holes, it didn't smell pretty.


Neverless, I was dismayed because-believe it or not-I need to take my clean laundry home in something.


Seriously people. I didn't mind so much when you moved my stuff without asking. Pretending not to notice me because I make you uncomfortable. Jeez.


Fortunately I am bad at taking things out of my car. When searching for an appropriate receptacle for my laundry I came across my back pack. Awesomeness in action.


As of now not only is my laundry clean and folded, but it's even organized! Yeah. Socks in the brain. Underwear in the front pocket, and shirts and pants in the main body.


Whoo freakin hoo.


An illustration for those who think I suddenly developed a weird way of naming things in the last paragraph...



Tuesday, June 26, 2007

ouch...

Saw this quiz at RevisionSpiral and thought it looked fun. Until it kicked my ass that is. My ego feels bruised....


And I do like people, by the way.





Your Score: Dictator- ENTJ



66% Extraversion, 86% Intuition, 53% Thinking, 60% Judging





Have you no soul? It's clear you have no heart and that your blood runs cold, but really, do you have even one redeeming factor?

Sure. You're a natural born leader. So was Hitler. You just don't like people, do you?

You don't play games. You take charge. And there's very little room for mistakes in your world. You're forceful, intimidating and overbearing.

Heard of the word "patience?" Trust me, it's a word and it's something you're sorely lacking. Believe it or not, you're not always right. Learn to have some patience for those who think differently from you, knobflap.

From the way people's knees knock when they see you, you should have realised by now that you're not exactly a "people-person." You're more of a "people-eater." You just ain't tuned into people's feelings and probably couldn't care less whether you were anyway. Maybe you're not from this planet but the rest of us are.

Sure, you're intelligent. So what? You have some semblance of power. Big deal.

At least people LIKE the rest of us.

*****************

If you want to learn more about your personality type in a slightly less negative way, check out this.

*****************

The other personality types are as follows...

Loner - Introverted Sensing Feeling Perceiving
Pushover - Introverted Sensing Feeling Judging
Criminal - Introverted Sensing Thinking Perceiving
Borefest - Introverted Sensing Thinking Judging
Almost Perfect - Introverted iNtuitive Feeling Perceiving
Freak - Introverted iNtuitive Feeling Judging
Loser - Introverted iNtuitive Thinking Perceiving
Crackpot - Introverted iNtuitive Thinking Judging
Clown - Extraverted Sensing Feeling Perceiving
Sap - Extraverted Sensing Feeling Judging
Commander - Extraverted Sensing Thinking Perceiving
Do Gooder - Extraverted Sensing Thinking Judging
Scumbag - Extraverted iNtuitive Feeling Perceiving
Busybody - Extraverted iNtuitive Feeling Judging
Prick - Extraverted iNtuitive Thinking Perceiving






Link: The Brutally Honest Personality Test written by UltimateMaster on OkCupid, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Monday, June 25, 2007

My Summer So Far...

Hello hello.

The summer is progressing, the job is continuing, the fun is lasting, the cool things keep happening. It's all good.

I am proud to present you... some pictures of what I have been up to lately...

This is a view from the porch of my cabin on base.





This is the other LC (Logistics Coordinator) I work with, Michelle. When I'm lazy {read: most of the time} I call her Mich (m-ee-sh). She's super cool.



A large part of my job involves packing. I pack food, equipment, and just about every other possible supply you could think of. Caitlin and I spent a good amount of time packing instructor first aid kits at the mothership.



Also for my job, I have to do a lot of driving. We drive bad-ass trucks that can (and do) go just about anywhere. This is a driver training day.



Why do I pack all these things and drive these crazy places? To support these people.



These are the two patrols for my current course. They are on a 30-day expedition. I don't see them very much because they are in the field and I am usually not. I take them new food and equipment every 7-10 days. I did get to go in the field and help with the service project. That was really really cool. Lots of switchbacks getting in and out though. One day I walked down 36 switchbacks then the next day I had to walk back up! The view was worth it.



For the service project we worked to eradicate an invasive species presence at the trail into the wilderness area. The plant was right along the railroad tracks and we had to watch out for the pop-cars. Pop-cars check the tracks for any obstacles before the train comes through, avoiding potential catastrophe.



We also got to break down some fire rings. That was a lot of fun.



I know it's probably looking like I just work all the time. Don't worry, there is plenty of time spent playing around.

So yeah. That's my summer so far!

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

no more waiting

Today, well, actually yesterday, I was done waiting. For weeks now I have been thinking aboutthe LC job, what it is going to be like, actually completing a course event. Yesterday was the day. My first course start.

The first course I am working is a 30-day. That means that I will have 5 course events during the duration. It's going to be a lot of fun.

So yesterday we (Instructors, Course Director and myself) clean up base in the morning and head out. When we get to the start location we unload the trucks, distribute the gear and barrels that need to get to their specific locations, set up and wait for the students.

When the students arrived we introduced ourselves and got to know them a little bit. C gave the talk and they split up. M helped me put lunch out on the "tables" and the day started rolling. (Instead of hauling real tables and drying racks out to course start we instead use items that we have with us. In this case a table is a backboard on top of two barrels and a drying rack for the dishes is a litter.) I got to bounce back and forth from group to group helping and interjecting a little bit here and there. All of the students seem super cool, I'm looking forward to seeing them at re-supply.

When the first patrol was done packing we shuttled them up to their trailhead. It was a burly mountain road, and a lot of fun. I got to do four water crossings and at one point one of the students in my vehicle exclaimed "this isn't a road!". It was a road, but it was definately a four-wheel drive road. Lots of fun.

Now I have two days off. Driver training has been cancelled, so I'll have more time to prepare for resupply. I think I'll just ride my bike a bit, it got delivered yesterday with a lot of freshies and supplies by my awesome boss. Maybe I'll go do that right now.

Saturday, June 9, 2007

the Mothership and our ties to it

I'm in Silverton. It's beautiful. It's remote. It's far away from lots of my friends. It's fun. It's challenging. It's contradictory.

Contradictory in the sense that even though I know I should be "done" with work for the day my camp training is kicking in and not really giving me the option of relaxing or enjoying being "off". Contradictory in the sense that I am having a lot of fun, and really enjoying my job, but I'm also lonely and needing a community.

Yes, there are other people here. Right now we have a whole 8 people on base. Whoo freakin Hoo. Eight. In a couple days it will be down to 4, then 3. At times over the summer there may be only 1 or two people around. I like the people that are here. We have fun hanging out together. I miss all my other LC-type-people that are scattered in places like Marble or Leadville.

We've started calling Leadville and the LMC the mothership. My goal is to refer to it that way the entire summer. It kinda makes sense. We came from the mothership. It's where we recieved our indoctrination to the organization and our "mission" here. Whenever we need more supplies or need to prepare for our next course where will we go? That's right, the mothership. Our central leadership is in the mothership, a major part of our support system is in the mothership, it makes sense. (At least in my head.) The best part is the way everybody still laughs everytime I say "mothership". I think that may be one of the best parts of the whole deal.

Speaking of missions, today I got to do my first real in-depth activity with the course I am working. We talked about expectations and went through the gear and food. I really like my job. Everybody says I did a good job. I feel kinda special that C even complimented me.

Friday, May 25, 2007

Falling Off The Face of Planet Earth

So-

Apparently the WSC campus has this incredibly strong pull on me. Particuarly the union. Even though I have been out of town for just over a week what happens when I get back? You guessed it, visit the gf, see her off to work, go to campus and use the free wireless internet. Oh yeah. I heart wireless internet. :)

Like the title says, I'm entering the part of summer that I seem to drop off the planet. I'm just going to warn you right now.

It's still worth checking in here pretty frequently because as soon as I stop gawking at the beautiful scenery I am surrounded by I'm going to take pictures and I'm going to post them on here. I just haven't hit that point yet.

Great summer so far. I get to work for Outward Bound Wilderness as a Logistics Coordinator (LC). We just finished a week of training. It was intense, fun, a great learning experience. I now know exactly how to look at all the paperwork I need to do, calculate what list to use when packing food for student courses, and I know how to drive some really really huge powerful trucks. Heck, I even got to learn how to four-wheel when it was snowing.

All the people I'm working with are amazing. OB's mission and values are something I can really buy into and enjoy working for. It's just all sorts of good all over the place.

I might stop gushing now. Maybe.

Yeah, so. That's all I've got I think. I promise that I'll post pictures up here soon. Yeah.

Oh yeah, one more thing. How do I keep getting jobs that I think are school year but really require attention year round? That's kinda crazy. Jeez.

Hope all is well wherever you may be. Go have adventures.

Friday, May 11, 2007

It's a hard life being a Rec major... :)

So yeah. Classes technically ended on the 4th. Finals are done, school is out, hurrah for summer right?

Not so fast.

You still have one more class missy.

That one. It's only offered during the summer. A six day intensive. Six days of RAFTING!

Oh heck yeah. It was amazing. I can hardly believe that I got credit to do that. I had so much fun in a beautiful area. Here, check out some pictures.






P.S. - It's totally ok if you are jealous of my chosen area of study. I understand.

Sunday, April 29, 2007

mmmm.... bylaws

Hokay, so here is the adventures....

Nothing says enjoy your Saturday like a 3-1/2 hour long meeting that includes business dress and the revision and voting in of bylaws. Yummy. Actually, the meeting was pretty cool, and I did learn a lot, and I did meet some amazing people.

The meeting?

Oh yeah, I should probably remember to tell you what it was all about. I and the VP of External went to Golden on Saturday to attend a meeting for the Associated Students of Colorado (ASC) it will be a group to represent and lobby for the students at the legislative level. Also, it will be primarily student run, thats very cool. There are some definite perks, for example when ASC hosted a lobby day they were able to get several million dollars more dedicated to higher education. Also, it's a great way for me to meet other student body presidents, (or the equivelent of) and a great way to learn more about CCHE and about higher education in Colorado overall. I do have a couple of concerns with involving Western in this organization. First is the lack of western slope representation, right now we are the only school represented. That will make getting to the meetings interesting, if everyone is on the Front Range, why would they want to hold a meeting so far away? We did make sure that in the bylaws conference calling in to the meeting was allowed and even counts towards quorum. That is good for the winter when the passes may not be open. Second thing I am concerned about is the fee proposal. To help generate support financially ASC is looking for member schools to pass a fee. Not a big deal. The big deal is that they are looking for it to be a seperate line item. Not included in the SGA fee. That means less control for WSC's SGA. If ASC stopped benefiting Western we would have a harder time pulling our support financially.

I'm interested in learning more about the Community College system. It appears that it is very different from the State College system. I like Western a lot. We (the sudents) have a lot of capabilities and rights than other college students have, it appears.

I got to go to a gay bar! It's been a while. My friend laughed at me and said that I looked like I was in culture shock. I have to admit, it was pretty weird when one person I was talking to said there were a lot more boys than normal. (There were about 6, total)

I got to hang out with my mom and little brother. Little brother is almost 13. Two girls were kinda flirting with him. That was weird to watch.

My mom doesn't like my spongebob squarepants tie. :) Oh well. I think it's probably equal parts dislike of the fact it is a tie, and that it says "chicks dig me". :)

Sunday, April 22, 2007

random bruises and power

I have a [huge!] bruise on my arm.

I'm not sure where it came from.

It's a great bruise though.

I broke up a fight.

I realized the value of the splint. (hand)

I still hate the splint.

I LOVE volunteers.

Volunteers sometimes drive me nuts.

I realized some of the power the PC Director has.

I got shout-outs from two different bands.

I had a great time.

I'm so tired.

The PC people I get to work with are some of the coolest people ever. They are willing to sacrifice their bodies. They stood in a line and used their bodies to stop the occasional childrens bike from hitting equipment that costs more than I may make in my lifetime. (true story) They were security. They made a concert happen.

I think one of the coolest parts of the concert was the end. It's really important for the concert to end at 11. Our headliner was getting ready to leave and the crowd wanted an encore. I was able to catch their guys eye and ok one more. My word, my ok, let a concert go on longer. That's pretty cool.

We got done cleaning up around 1:15 last night. I went to a friends house to hang out. It took me 3 hours to finish one drink. I'd be talking, switch to watching a movie, switch to sleeping, wake up, drink a little more, talk, repeat the process.

I think I might go back to sleep now.

Friday, April 20, 2007

The weekend of busy!

I thought weekends were suppossed to be relaxing...

So, if you are anywhere near me you should check out an amazing free concert saturday. Gunnison, Colorado, US. Quigley Bandshell.

Bands:
Mama's Cookin'
Five Star Iris
Nadine Zahr

Native American dancers at 5:00
Music starts at 7:00

My schedule is going to be crazy. There is so much stuff to do! My day will start at about 10am and end at 1am the next morning. It will be a lot of fun no doubt, and I have been looking forward to this for months. This really is the culmination of hundreds of hours of planning, preparing, bartering and other awesome activities.

I have been wearing the same shirt since Wednsday.

I spent over $300 in two hours. The school only lets you pull out $100 at a time.

I'll try to get you pictures.

Tonight I'm going to volunteer at the relay for life.

Peace out, There is stuff to do.

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Overwhelming week... thank goodness for bananas

Wow, lots of stuff happening. It's kind of overwhelming, but I'm having a ton of fun.

Thursday was a pretty crazy day for me. I had my final written test for lifeguarding. I did well, in fact, I got the highest score of the class and a job offer for next fall lifeguarding in the pool. That will be pretty cool. I think that I would like to do that.

Thursday was also the last day of voting. I went around introducing myself to people and encouraging them to vote. I had to work and watch the last voters come in and cast their votes. The voting ended at two, and ballots are counted right away. I also got off work at two so I needed something to get me out of the union and doing something so that I wouldn't freak out until I recieved the phone call telling me if I won or not. All posters have to be removed within 48 hours of the election so I decided that I would take those down. As I was walking around tearing down posters my phone rang. I didn't recognize the number so I took a deep breath and said hello. It was Tyler, the current President. He said congradulations and the rest is kind of a fog. A funny thing did happen. One of my friends rode by on a bike and stopped and another of my friends was giving a campus tour also went by me and stopped. It was awesome. I told them, they were happy, I'm happy, it's still kind of crazy.

It's kind of overwhelming, knowing what I am in store for next year. On Friday I got to meet three members of the board and I will start attending the meetings next month. I have so much to do. This should be quite the adventure.

Friday I also got some good news about my entreprenuership in commercial rec class. The entire class participated in a competition/simulation where we ran a rafting company for two years. In groups we had to come up with a business plan, present to investors, who gave us a certain amount of RTU's (Resource/Time Units). From there we decided what we were going to invest in, choices included extra insurance, creative advertising, etc. We also had scenarios drawn out of a hat where something good or bad would happen to you and your business would make or lose money. This was a big assignment because the winners get 5% added to their grade. Friday was good in this class because my group won! Hurrah.

Bananas are amazing. Truly amazing. Maybe even better than funyuns. Bananas are great because if you eat one when you know you are going to be sore you will be much, much less sore. Take Saturday for example. Yesterday a group of my friends decided that we were going to go on a bike ride. I just wanted to see how my hand would hold up. (hand injury + pressure from the handlebars = maybe really bad situation) I was just planning on riding out to Hartman's Rocks. Everybody else was planning on going on a few mtn. biking trails. Well, I ended up going on some trails to. It was amazing fun! I'm so glad that I went! I did get my toosh kicked though. I told them, this is my first time ever doing this, don't kick my a$$ too bad, ok? Did they listen? Nooooo, of course not. We were out there for about four hours. When we got back I could hardly walk. It's all good though, I had a great time, ate a banana and today I hardly hurt at all.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

A Good Day

Very exciting day today. This might not make any sense to anybody else, but I'm going to tell you anyway.

One of my biggest activities right now is Program Council. I figured out that I spend about 80 hours a month working on PC events, activities among other things. It didn't seem like a lot of time to me until I realized that it is one of three jobs I work, plus attempting a full courseload of classes. Sorry, that was off topic. The point is that my job is to program events and activities for students to go to. Before I did PC I was the Program Director at my camp during the summer. I know how to put stuff on. One of my course requirments for school is this class called Program Planning. Needless to say, I think that I would be very very bored during the class. My major accomplishment for today was getting the course exempted. Yippie! Yippie! Yippie!



I'm so excited about this I even included a picture of the form I had to fill out. Doesn't that make you happy? :)

Next topic...



The race for President is still in full swing. Tomorrow is the last day for voting and I have to admit that I am pretty nervous. I'm getting good vibes, but everything is still up in the air. After work I'm planning on going around and taking down all my posters. This week has been really crazy. I don't think that I could have known how much work and stress campaigning and running for this position involves.

I'm bummed that it has been raining/snowing lately. It is a lot of fun to grab a couple of friends, some chalk and go draw all over the sidewalks around campus. Good times.



Yup. I think that's really all I've got.

Edit: Every f-ing time I go chalk the sidewalks it snows. WTF? Every stinkin time! RARRRRR!

Monday, April 9, 2007

some updates... and a new start

I haven't posted in a long time. Really long. Oh well. Plus, technically, this is my first post here.

Anyway. Here are some things to catch people up on what has been going on. (kinda)

Spring Break was fun. I got to go to Lake Powell on a five day sea-kayaking trip. Amazing beautiful. Exactly what I needed. I mean, who doesn't want to escape to another state and go exploring with their only resources being what they and the group can carry in/on the kayaks? I only fell out twice, and that was getting out of the boat. We didn't see too many motorboats, which was nice. Everybody got great tans and burns.




I'm running for student body president. Sometimes I think I'm crazy. Elections are this week, tomorrow, wed and thurs. I'm kind of nervous. Tonight I'm planning on going and buying candy to help facilitate my introduction to more people. :)



SpringFest is coming up. It's a huge concert that takes a lot of time and energy to plan. This year we are having three bands play. Nadine Zahr, Five Star Iris and Mama's Cookin'. Should be lots of fun. I haven't started freaking out yet, so we are doing pretty well.