Life update: I got a call for a job at camp a week or so ago. All of that stressing is all over. I'll be Assistant Nature Director... which is basically the same as what I did last year but twice as much money and I have authority over about six people, sort of. Here goes the chain of command, in case you're confused. camp director (1), program director (1), area directors (1 for each area, and there are 8), assistant directors (1 for each area director, so there are 8) and lastly, program staff (numbers vary depending on the area, but it can be only 1 and up to 8 or so). Anyways, I'm okay with the job. I mean, I was program staff in Nature last year, and I basically despised it. Being at camp was fun, but the area I worked in was not. The Nature Center is up on a big hill and completely in the shade, so it's cold and windy all the time. Even if it's 80 degrees in the sun, it's 50 degrees in the shade, plus wind. That's Nature. Plus, the scouts are rarely excited to take Nature merit badges because they're a lot like school, with sitting and listening and writing and work... but they are ALL required to take those merit badges so they have no choice. Result: scouts with poor attitudes, and LOTS of them. Nature easily has the most kids to deal with in classes. One class, oceanography, is really popular, and there were up to 70 or so kids in one class last summer. All of that to say this: in my opinion, Nature's not the best place to work. That's just me though! Aaaaaaanyways, so as assistant nature director, I have the same teaching responsibilities as the program staff, but I am also more responsible for the paper work getting done every day. Thinking back on last summer, I have no idea what the assistant director, Bryan, actually did. He taught the biggest, hardest classes... He pretended he had authority over us, when in reality, he had none... Well, I'm okay with the responsibility. In fact, I love responsibility, and I know I'll do a great job as assistant director. I'm just having a hard time differentiating between program staff and assistant director. The biggest thing I can think of is that I would be the acting area director if Braden was, for some reason, gone. And that's just fine with me. Plus, the pay's not bad, either. I'm trying to stay positive about working in Nature--when I disliked it (that's a euphemism) so much last year. One good thing is that while working in Nature last year, there were several things that I thought didn't work so well, and I thought should change. But I didn't say anything about them because it wasn't a huge deal and it wasn't my problem anyways. But now, I have more say in how the Area runs, so hopefully I'll be able to fix some things. Another good thing is that after working in Nature already, I now know how I can change what I do to make the experience more enjoyable not only for me, but for the scouts taking the merit badges as well. If anyone has ideas on how to make boring classes fun, please let me know!!! I have a couple of ideas already, but not nearly enough. I'm adamant about breaking the Nature stereotype of boring classes that the scouts never look forward to.
[More Current] Life Update: It's fast Sunday and I'm starving. Mom's starting to make dinner and it's 2:30 in the afternoon. After church I worked on a photography project and used up almost an entire roll of film in about half an hour. And you know what? They were quality shots. I've been listening to Jimmy Eat World on Gentry's old farty iPod for the past two hours straight. I wore heels, pearls and a satiny skirt to church today and as much as I hate heels and looking fancy (rather than casual, as usual) , I felt pretty! Today I decided that I would go without food for a month if it meant I could have clear skin for the rest of my life. I'm living by a few quotes lately, and they are the following: (I'm going to finally use the canvas I got for Christmas on a project involving these quotes, and I'm going to go work on that right now! Sorry that this wasn't a particularly eloquent post, but I had some extra time on my hands, and life updating to do!)
"If you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as *heck* don't deserve me at my best." -Marilyn Monroe
"The chief cause for failure and unhappiness is trading what you want most for what you want now." -Zig Ziglar
"If you are bored with life, if you don't get up every morning with a burning desire to do things-- you don't have enough goals." -Lou Holtz
"If I don't let myself be happy now, then when? If not now, when?" -Jim Adkins