iced in - one heck of a weekend

thursday

went to placement. it was a pretty typical day until after lunch, when i was working with one of the students on his multiplication facts. i'd noticed him counting on his fingers every time he subtracted something, no matter how easy of a problem it was, so i told him he needed to memorize them and practice them every day. we worked on the 2 times tables, and within 5 minutes he knew them frontwards and backwards. he had a smile on his face that i never want to forget. it said "hope." i've definitely picked the right career. i don't expect it to ever feel like a job. when it doesn, i think i'll retire.



so brett and i pulled out of milledgeville at about 3 on thursday afternoon headed for augusta. got to the hotel a little before 5, changed rooms once to get one where the internet worked. i played guitar a little before heading to an executive board meeting at a friggin' huge house in a really nice country club. the meeting lasted about 5 hours. i got there 15 minutes early and was one of the last to leave. i think people were suprised at how friendly i was, because apparently they don't like the students, but i couldn't tell. i went back to the hotel, ironed my clothes on a wrinkly ironing board (yeah, makes it a little harder) and got in bed around 1:30.



friday

woke up at 5:30 on friday morning, got a shower, got dressed, tied my tie about 8 times until i was satisfied with the knot, grabbed some danishes and a banana and headed for the conference center. we got there really early to help set up registration and met some students from augusta state (they got elected later, so i'll be working with them over the next year). the sessions went well, i learned a lot, met more people. it's funny hearing people introduce me as "this is our state student president." chris lee, a guy with a learning disability who dr. jackson worked with at uga was the key note speaker, and he was absolutely hillarious, entertaining, and inspiring. after lunch we had some more sessions and our student business meeting where we had elections and i was no longer president-elect. after that i tried to go back to the hotel to take a nap while some folks went to see a presentation at the medical college of georgia, but instead i got lost in the ghetto and didn't get back to my hotel until about 30 minutes later. for those of you who haven't heard, i have the worst sense of direction. we were supposed to go ice skating that night, i had suggested we do that because students would be more likely to do that than a service project. turns out no one wanted to go, so i didn't even go. i met everyone for dinner at wild wing, and dr. jackson informed me that they were expecting me to go ice skating, but she wouldn't let me leave. she told me i should stay and eat and call them to let them know i would be running late. so we had a good ol' time eating and headed back to the hotel around 9:30, exhausted. brett said i was asleep by 10.



saturday

woke up fearing the worst from the ice storm. my car was coated in the stuff, but the roads were still good, so we took our time getting to the conference center. people were freaking out over the weather and half of our group decided to go back early. i sat in on an all-morning autism forum for the first half of it. after not hearing anything new, i took the handy folder full of stuff that they had given me and hung out in the vendors' area until lunch. at lunch i discovered how awkward it is to eat on a stage in front of about a hundred people (most had left fearing the weather). we got "honked" into office after hearing a story about how geese fly together and i won a door prize that i gave away. (it was water color paint, but only one color). afterwards we mingled and made a lot of good contacts. we heard from those in our group who had left. initially they got stuck on the interstate and weren't allowed to exit because of the nasty conditions. some eventually made it back to milledgeville, others got scared and stopped at the closest hotel. the rest of us? we had the most fun i have had in months. brett and i walked along the river walk looking at the various ice formations and taking pictures (until my batteries in my digital died, man i wish i had taken my nice camera and new lens!)



we went up to the girls hotel room and sat around talking and watching tv for a few hours. then we went to dinner with the state president melanie and a guy named mike who's worked with cec for some absurd number of years, serving at every position you can imagine, as well as working for other organizations that serve children with disabilities. we had so much fun at dinner, then went and got dessert. we ran into the seniors from our school who didn't look like they were having near as much fun as we were, wished them a safe journey home, and went back to the fun. after numerous stories and laughs, we said goodnight and brett and i headed to some new friends from uga gwinnett's hotel room. they offered us an air mattress on the floor which was a lot nicer than the floor our girls had to offer.



sunday

we woke up at about 9 this morning, left the girls a note and some money, took a picture with a camera we found laying on the counter, and headed for waffle house. i kid you not, it was the most amazing waffle house experience ever. the place was full, and there was only one cook, but we got our food in 3 minutes. they had a greeter with all kinds of buttons of flare, everybody worked together in the most efficient way i've ever seen, and the food was the best i've ever had at a waffle house. we left, heading for the girls' hotel to help them load the car and head back to milledgeville, but of course we got lost and drove around until we found some roads that we recognized.



i got back to my apt and the power was out, so after unloading my car, i crawled into my sleeping bag, threw some blankets on top, and took a nap. when i woke up my i went over to my neighbors' for the first time and hung out with kimberly and emily and emily's dog josie (josie hates blue). we talked about getting a hotel room if the power wasn't on by tonight, but thankfully at about 6 it came back on. i've had enough adventures for one weekend. thankfully, dr. jackson cancelled our classes tomorrow since we've all had a crazy 4 days.



morals of the story:

1) being nice to people really pays off. you can't please everyone, and some people will get upset with you. what you have to do is stick with your gut, and unless you realize you're wrong, be happy with what you've done because you know it's the right thing. i went into this weekend stressed and worried, and came out of it with thicker skin but a warmer heart.

2) you can get to know someone more by spending a few hours with them in their hotel room than you can over the months outside of it.

3) this next year as the scec president is going to be awesome!



never did i dream being iced in would be such a wonderful experience.

"even when you're talking inches, it means a mile to your heart." those of you in 609 know what i mean.