tales from the mountains

let's see, what have i been up to lately? justin and i went camping last weekend. nothing special, but it was nice to just relax. i caught one trout and had more fun playing with blue and buddy and just sitting around the campfire than anything else. it was great to be in the woods.

monday i began the grind known as "staff training" at camp. staff training, loosely translated, means "manual labor." we haven’t done any kind of training in 4 years. it takes a lot to get a camp that's been abandoned since july to be in working order again. it consists of a lot of mowing, weed eating, moving trees and limbs that have fallen, and getting the water and electricity going. this includes replacing blown fuses, fixing leaking pipes, and all other kinds of misc. junk. our staff usually consists of at least 20 people. this year, there are going to be about 8 or 9 of us. what's funny is we have gotten more done than we usually do with the larger staff. the younger staff usually likes to socialize more than work, and so those of us who would normally work harder are supervising and getting others to do the work. we've all been working ridiculously hard and independently doing the stuff that needs to get done. i'm worn out but it's really fulfilling to get so much done.

one of my best friends from middle school is working up there. he just got married, and he and his wife are amazing. it's great working with them, cause they're both such hard workers and catching up with someone you haven't seen in almost 10 years is a lot of fun. it's funny how people don't really change all that much. it's neat seeing the passions that people develop as they grow up. well, i'll say get older, cause i don't really want to grow up.

the most interesting story from the week was brought to us by coach levoy, the camp owner. he was up checking on his lake houses, and came to see us while we were checking on the boats. he said he would pay someone $50 to clean out his refrigerator. i figured it couldn't be that hard so i volunteered. he pulled out a huge wad of money, handed me two twenties and two fives. as he handed it to me he added "take a mask, because there's a dead beaver in there, and it's rotten." see, a beaver was building a house under one of our docks, so they trapped it and froze it and were going to take it to a taxidermist to add it to our nature center collection. well, the power bill didn't get paid, and thus the mess.

we worked as a team to clean it, somehow managing to not puke. i'll spare you the details, but it was gross. we took the money and went out to eat that night after long hot showers.

other than that, i'm pretty worn out from a lot of work. next week will be more hard work, then we get our first group the week of june 5th. it's katie's camp (blakely katie, not augusta katie or columbus katie) so it'll be good to see her again. their staff is a lot of fun, and they're in their 20s, so it's cool to see folks my age. they usually have a lot of special needs kids which i always manage to be drawn to.

i'm off to pay bills and watch tv, something i haven't done in over a week. i'm going to ignore dr. j's ridiculous number of e-mails until july. i shouldn't have to worry about school ‘til august, but i guess i'll worry about them then.

socialism and autism

so i watched the motorcycle diaries the other night, and was hooked. i think everyone dreams of a great road trip adventure. all the while i'm thinking, i don't know anything about che guevara, and i want to know more. for him to be such an icon to so many rock stars and other liberal bohemian types, there must be some sort of string attached, there has to be some controversy. the movie retraces his steps (well, motorcycle ride until it broke down for good) across south america. the pivotal part of the film, and the one that struck a chord with this special ed freak was when he visited a leper colony. he broke the rules and engaged with the patients like no one ever had, sans gloves. like patch adams wiping drool from the mouth of an embarrassed girl, he got down on their level and didn't consider himself any better than them.

guevara was a socialist. let's ignore all of the negative connotations that go along with that word and get to the root of it. Christianity itself began with communal living. people gave of themselves to help the others around them. socialism, on paper at least, doesn't seem like such a bad idea to me. wouldn't it be nice to see it actually work instead of end up in dictatorship? i work with a lot of kids who make me think, if only someone could give them the money they need to meet their needs... if only they had better healthcare... if only...

i wouldn't ever make it in politics because i'm an advocate for people, all people, period. i want to see everyone succeed. sounds like a democrat, right? well there's that whole pro-life thing. and letting illegal immigrants work? why not, that way they'll pay taxes and they're doing the jobs anyway. it'd just cost us more to try to keep them all out. gay marriage? isn't that a contradiction in itself? i support higher taxes and increased social programs because the kids need it. it's not their fault their parents are idiots or in unfortunate circumstances or whatever.

i'm so ridiculously independent it frustrates me. are there are no clear answers?

i'm just rambling without much cohesion. go and rent riding giants. it'll blow your mind.

oh, dr. jackson said she wants to place me with a 5th grade autism teacher in baldwin county next year for my student teaching and such. that's great, if i want to work at my mom's school which serves the autistic kids in athens. but then there's that whole want-to-do-it-on-my-own complex i've got going right now. and i really have a passion for emotional and behavioral disorder kids. (worked with one a little today when his teacher got frustrated at him.) i guess i've got a year to figure it out.

4 point friggin' 0!

for the first time since... i don't remember when (does elementary school count?), i got all As! gotta run though, i'm dancing around my apt.

macho man

the random stuff i find around the apt...

b & n and my remote control dog

these two shots are inside the barnes and noble in baltimore. these are the chimney/incinerators of an old factory that's been renovated to house an espn zone, gold's gym, and a lotta other stuff.

on a great note, i got blue back from the trainer on friday. the training went amazingly well. the collar gives me that negative reinforcement that i needed to increase the behaviors i wanted (here, heel, and sit). can you tell i've got a behavior management final tomorrow? =P