okay... so i am going to make a deal with you... i will post a ton of fun pics today with a couple of brief stories. i'll get in to the good stories that require i bit more room on my day off--wednesday. sound good? well, it better, because you don't have a choice. one of the benefits for being an employee here is this thing called the grand pass. basically, we reserve a pass for the day (SMR has 10 of them... and SMR pays 1600.00 a year to have them available for their employees... yes, that much). the pass gets us discounts on food in winter park, and it gives us completely free access to all the attraction at the winter park resort... a 60 dollar value, absolutely free... unlimited putt putt, alpine slide, chair lift rides, spinny machines, and more. super cool, super fun. so a group of four of us went there on our day off last week and had a ton of fun. the alpine slide was my favorite... there will be a video clip coming soon that was taken by a camera that my friend strapped to his chest as he rode down. this thing is fast... kind of like lugeing/bobsledding all rolled in one. there was also a human maze. the putt putt was a sweet course. so that's about it. oh, and then we stopped by a park on the way home... so that's what those pics are. okay, so thats it... i will get in to more detailed stories later this week. stay tuned.
not too much to say right now, but here are some pics from the week. lets see, the only ones that require some explanation... or at least some kind of story. today was my day off, so i went out on a hike to the waterfall... that's what the hike-ish looking pics are... and the water pic??? well, that's the benefit of having super-macro mode on a water proof camera, and of having the ability to hike to the top of the water fall and take that picture. i like it a lot, even though you can't really tell what it is... so ya, that's a pic from the top of the falls looking down. the campfire pic is me putting to the test my s'more rotisserie invention. it worked fairly well. alright, i am off... some of us are going out to get some thai food tonight... super stoked.
i've been debating whether or not i wanted to post about this... at least, whether or not i wanted to post about this now. after a good chunk of time out and about this morning, i've decided that it would be a good thing to get this out and written. so here goes it. i've entered a world of uncertainty. actually, it's more like i've entered a world of more opportunities. those who know me know that i like to be positive about things. i like plans, i like thinking ahead, i like knowing the answer. if i can't achieve one of those things, i won't stop until it's settled. and once i settle something, i tend to convince myself that what i have decided is the end-all solution... the conclusion... something that is lasting... checked off my list, never going back to that question again. for example--college. i had decided to go to calvin way earlier than most normal people choose their place of higher education. i was set. the question of "where to go to college" had the answer of "calvin." so you can get the picture of the type of person i am. when it comes to making a decision and sticking to it, i am no piece of velcro caught on a fuzzy piece of a decision. in fact, i'd say that i am more like a tooth deeply rooted in the gums of youthful dreams. by no means am i saying anything about youthful dreams... it's just that i am still rather young, and so my hopes and desires and plans are still a bit youthful. there's also nothing wrong with being deeply rooted. in fact, if you are rooted into something that coincided with God's desires for you, then you're set. But. If you find yourself rooted in something that comes from a purely inward point of view--not taking into account any other factors, something that is in the end, not meant to be--then there is something you ought to know. it takes an even stronger force to overcome one's vise grip on wayward plans. it takes a bigger thing to separate such a strong attachment. it takes more than a simple tug at velcro stuck to fuzz in order to pull a tooth away from gums. often times, what it takes, is a closed door. exhibit A:
so, what tooth am i pulling? and what door closed? be ware... it's gonna shock you. in fact, it still shocks me. but i will go through the story give you all a clear picture of what's going on. there's really no way of starting it without giving it away straight from the beginning, so i guess i have to just get on with it. well, you know how i am currently a PE major? see, that gave it away pretty fast. one sentence, and y'all already are gasping because i am seriously considering a change in my major... and consequently, career path. so here's the story. i can't quite remember if i vented about my issues in struggling with registering for this coming semester. but here's what happened. in the PE program, there is a pretty strict order to follow--as you've got half the classes spring only, half the classes fall only, and classes needing to be in a certain order due to pre-requisites and what-not. so, the two PE classes i needed to register for were closed. both my petitions to get into the classes were denied, as was my petition directly to the registrar. due to the connection of me being in these classes and me graduating in four years, there should have been no problem getting in... especially since there aren't many pe majors. however, by the end of it all, i was left without a single pe class and about 6 credits too short. i got to california after the school year was over and decided to pick a minor... which many of you know is journalism. i registered for a journalism class (which was actually closed... but my petition to get in was granted in less than 24 hours). you all know that much... here's the new stuff. upon researching the journalism minor, i came across the business communications group major... described, in short, as follows: Advertising, public relations, sales, marketing, business writing, events planning, human resources, project management, and much more. i clicked on it, read more, and became interested. then i read more, and became even more interested. something kept bringing me back to this business communications major... something got me thinking... something about it just sounded so right. lets recap. i went in to calvin deciding to be a pe major... i scoffed at every single statistic that said the odds were against me in actually graduating with the major that i started out with ( i believe it is 70% that change their major)... i always made the point to encourage people to study something they loved, not just something they knew would get them a career.... i also thought that it was just so convenient that what i loved would so easily get me a career. but then, it happened... those two pe classes i couldn't get in to. i think of that and i hear two doors closing. i get in to a journalism class and a business communications class... is that a door i hear opening? so that's the situation, more or less. i am trying as hard as i can to not make any decisions right now. i'm thinking this is a good opportunity to work on my patience, work on my listening skills, and work on trusting. i actually really have to go right now, but i am sure there will be more to say in the future. tootles
since when do i take nearly a week to update? well, since i've been working a ton... including a 14 hour day on saturday. sorry for the lack of new content, but i am positive this post will make up for it... lots of pics, a new adventure, and a work story. i'll start with the work story. i work the zip line a lot and often find myself at the bottom of the zip working the dismount (person zips down, put up the huge ladder, climb up ladder, clip and unclip a bunch of things, climb down the ladder, put down the ladder, repeat). doing six hours of that in a row can start to take its toll. so, the other day, two kids--aged 4 and 10-- decided to sit at the bottom with me and watch the zippers from there. long story short, as i was waiting to give the go-ahead for the next zipper, the two kids decided to each take hold of one of my pant-legs and pull in the direction that gravity tends to pull. luckily i've got reflexes like a cat and a grip that tarzan would be proud of, so my shorts didn't make the journey toward the ground. but seriously, since when do i have to beware of pantsing predators? next is very exciting... i made another trip to the thrift store to buy random cheap stuff that would add a bit of color and a personal touch to my newly re-arranged room. re-arranging and decorating has made my room quite the pleasant haven (trust me, after 10 hours of being out in the sun, a nap in my "cave" is a lot more desirable than most would think) so the pictures go as follows: view from through the door--wall to the right after walking in--wall to the left after walking in-- and wall that the door is on. any sort of color was a purchase from the thrift store... pillow, wooden blocks with "laugh often" spray painted on them, blanket, beach mat... speaking of beach mat... the beach mat is my favorite thing... i hung it up on the wall, and used it to display some pictures. this decoration probably made me happiest. next is from today... a group of 5 of us took an adventure to denver. it was amazing getting out of SMR for a day... such a refreshing thing. we went downtown, and our first stop was the denver REI. let me make it clear to you how i feel about the denver REI. FREAKIN' AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! that's it in a nutshell... more or less. but this rei could eat the manhattan beach, santa monica, huntigton beach, and santa ana REIs and still have room for dessert. i'm considering nominating it to be the 8th wonder of the world. three stories high, at least a football field long (i'm pretty sure it's more), a starbucks, a massive climbing wall, and a river out back to have kayaking tests and clinics. it has its own parking garage, a waterfall, and a bouldering area out front. let me repeat: FREAKIN' AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so here are a couple of pics of REI and downtown denver. this made me super happy... when the rest of the group went to see a movie, i got to meet up with my friend michelle from calvin, who lives in denver... so much fun, and it was SO great to see a familiar face... SO good. we went to this sweet coffee shop called stellas and just sat and chatted for a while. so great. turns out that there is a train that goes from fraser (a town 10 miles away) to denver, so i'll get to see her again sometime soon. and to finish the post off, i've got a little treat: 5 signs of an outdoor educator 5. dirt on the hands and under the fingernails... permanently. no measure of soap and no amount of effort will remove all the dirt until removed from the outdoor setting for at least a week. 4. harness worn in the office--because only an outdoor ed-er finds harnesses so comfortable that they've forgotten it was on. 3. beat-up nalgene and a granola-y snack on hand during breaks. 2. ability to engage even the moodiest teenagers in a round of campfire songs 1. [extreme] tan lines as follows: v-neck and sleeves from staff polos, ankles and mid-thigh from longer shorts and appropriate active footwear, 'coon eyes from sunglasses worn endlessly for hours on end in the sun every single day.
colorado manages to still be pretty, even when it is flippin' cold outside and snowing like, like... well, lets say snow was powdered sugar being sifted onto the earth... well, it was snowing like a 10 year old sugar-hooked kid was in charge of sifting the powdered sugar. but here are some pics from tonight--i went fishing again, and so i got to see a sweet sunset. ps. the pic with the cross and the mountains in the background--that's the outdoor chapel... pretty sweet. enjoy
today was my first day off since i have been here. we (a girl in my hall and me) took advantage of having the day off and drove in to the town of fraser. we ate some mexican food (which was actually pretty good). then we walked over to the thrift store... colorado has some pretty sweet thrift stores. i scored pretty good with a pair of pants (which i didn't pack nearly enough of) a tshirt (its funny, cause its a camp shirt from 2004 in colorado, and on the back it has a husky dog on it, and it says, "woof woof mush mush". i thought it was funny) and this really sweet... i believe it is called a blazer? i'll have to show a pic of it some time... cause its awesome. then we got back headed over to the programs building... what for, you ask? well, i now own my own fishing pole (compliments of amazing staff discounts). my friend already had her own pole, so after i got mine, we got some worms and headed out to the reservoir... its about a two mile hike, and you don't need a license to fish in it. i have come a long way since my last fising experiences... i now bait my own hook, with worms... actually, half worms... you need to cut them in half before baiting them so that you have more. and let me tell you, the fish were loving the worms today... i caught two fish today... and this place is a catch and release place, so i learned how to release today. i am officially a stand alone fisher. every time i caught i fish, i would look it in its fishy little eyes and say, "today is not your day.. you may be free," and then toss it back in. have you ever thought of how the fish probably goes off and finds its friends and is like, 'i've seen the other side! it's crazy!" we're probably like the equivilant of aliens to them... so, no one believes the fish that says its been to the other side... but then again, due to a 5 second memory, the fish probably forgets what happened before it even finds any of its friends. i also have tomorrow off, but i haven't decided yet what exactly i want to do... laundry will have to be one thing. have i told y'all my anger with laundry here? so it costs money to do laundry. $1.50 for a load of wash, and .25 for every 10 minutes in the drier. ridiculous. so i air dry all my clothes. yup. well, hooroo for now.
