Well hello there!
Sorry it's been a while. Since my last post a lot has happened so I'll try to fill ya in.
So I mentioned I was in Austin for the 4th of July, but I did NOT mention that the city of Austin is far too wonderful and liberal and appealing to me for it to be located in the state of Texas. Real talk here, I've been quoted to say on numerous occasions since that life-changing weekend that if it weren't for those two pesky letters (T and X) I'd have to add to my address, I'd love to live in Austin someday. But even so this doesn't mean I wont try with great vehemence to convince loved ones to move there, which would thus enable my need to experience the city more. It. Is. Wonderful. That's all there is to say. Now go see it for yourself (and be a doll and relocate to there too).
So that was the 4th of July weekend. It was followed by four days of work (two at Da Club and two out with the Summer of Service kiddos), then yet another vacation! Real covert-like, the great conspirator Mark Mraz pulled a fast one on my siblings and snuck buddoned me a plane ticket to our family vaca that I was supposed to be missing. (Yes I just inserted a beloved Mrazism, "snuck buddoned," into normal writing, which in this context basically translates to "slid along under the table," but where's the fun in that? Is it obvious I'm itching to get home?) So I got to romp around on the beach for four days with my sibs-plus-one-friend and my dad! SO WONDERFUL. But...there was a huge void that no amount of crabbing and speaking in Mraztastic tongues could fill with the absence of my mom. She's in "poopy grad school" this summer and couldn't make it to Virginia Beach this year. This is a mistake we won't be making again any time soon.
The family vacation brought me right up to, yes, the very last day of work! It honestly flew by with little-to-no sense of finality, and the only component that actually made it feel like it was any different than any other day was that I toted my camera around for an hour at one point to document the kiddles. Oh and I guess I got a few more "Miss Katie I lov yu an wil miss yu!" cards/signs than usual. But the day ended and we packed up our storage closet and the next morning at 7am we were on the road.
This round taught me how important it is to me to have positive relationships with my coworkers aka my teammates. I always thought that was a given but, in the absence of happiness surrounding the actual project, it amazed me how happy I still felt in my heart as a result of my relationships. Being someone who likes to live what she believes, I've never so chronically hated my circumstances to the extent I did the last two months. If I'm not happy with my circumstances I've always made great strides to make them more conducive to my happiness. So being in a good job/living situation/major/WHATEVER always sort of guaranteed my happiness, regardless of my attitudes toward the people I was surrounded by. And while I still maintain that that approach is the healthiest, I guess what I learned this round is that with the right outlook on the PEOPLE around me, I can really get through anything. And this was an action I had to make myself. My teammates didn't change...people really don't change that much...but suddenly I found myself willing my patience and openness to stay intact when situations would arise where I'd typically pass judgment or get irritated. I'm not saying I was the image of Christ himself the last two months...I certainly had my number of demon-induced freak outs...but my point is that this was the first time in a long time that I saw amazing results from an attitude adjustment. Crazy right?!
I'm back in Denver now, and will be here until GRADUATION! on July 27th. My overall mood is general complacency about being too over-the-top with my good byes here (they never seem perfect enough awayway), and serious excitement/anxiety about moving on to the next chapter of my life. I HAVE TWO MONTHS AT HOME!!!! Woohoo! It breaks my heart that not everything that comes to mind when I think of "home" can stay that way forever, but I'm happy to get back to my roots nonetheless. And then I'm taking on New Orleans again, this time for eleven full months. Yesss.
Oh ps, I turn 23 tomorrow. OLD.
K miss you!
kt
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Art?
So art is difficult to define. Right? I mean I consider myself to be borderline introspective, but I still can't fully appreciate what it means to call a sheet of canvas painted one solid color "artistic". Clearly I'm missing something. But on the other hand I do know what it is to be moved by objects people create. So I know just about as much about art as you do. Well long story short, someone thinks I can make art! My teammate Cody and I took a shot in the dark and asked a coffeeshop owner if she'd let us add some pieces to the local art collection she had up on her wall. Within eight hours we already had wall space, an arrangement of our "work" (Cody's pencil drawings, my photographs), and one sale each! Dear Darlene From Houston, you gave me a dangerous confidence booster.
So perhaps another blog is on the way...Katie's Photographs?
More later...I'm in Austin for the fourth!
Katie
So perhaps another blog is on the way...Katie's Photographs?
More later...I'm in Austin for the fourth!
Katie
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
#
Well hello there! I'm in an altogether spritely mood at the moment. You've all heard of snows days, but have you ever had a rain day? Yes that's right, when you live in a place that's prone to hurricanes, work is known to be canceled due to rain from time to time! And that's what's in store for me tomorrow. So that narrows down my actual work days to six (we actually have eight, but I've banked my personal days for a trip woohoo!), meaning exactly two weeks until we LEAVE FREEPORT, meaning exactly 27 days until graduation. Heck. Yes. Now all I have to do is survive the tropical storm that'll be hanging around us for the next six days and I should be good to go.
I've had a solid week. First off, THANK YOU to everyone who responded to my poll, whether it was through text, email, calling me, posting here, whatever, your insight has been very helpful. I'm pretty sure I've made my decision, so if I actually do get offered the job for Choice #2 this week, I'll know what my approach will be. Not telling till then though.
I must admit, I've grown to borderline love SOME of the kids here at the club. Despite my best efforts I actually find myself looking forward to seeing SOME of them on the days that I'm here. And ya know what's even more surprising? The kindergarteners are my favorite! See I really took a fast liking to the fourth graders back at the beginning, probably because we bonded over our shared disgust with the kindies as a species, but now it's like, bye bye friendship bracelets, hellooo tea parties. And ridiculously mature things being stated with speech impediments. And WIGGLINESS. They are so wiggly, the kindergarteners. So hilarious.
Was that just a whole paragraph about working here that didn't have an underlying complaint? It may have been.... Who knew.
So yes, I began to realize last week that I will definitely miss some of these kiddos, and that I will think about them from time to time once this spike is over. It was a heartwarming realization. After having a less-than-awful week, I managed to follow the excitement up with a more-than-outstanding weekend. My team leader set up a service project in Houston, and since it was so far away AmeriCorps agreed to put us up in a hotel for Saturday night. A whole bed AND cable? Awesome! So we spent a few hours volunteering at a really progressive inpatient treatment and rehab center for men in the Houston area, called it a day around 3pm, and made it back to our hotel in time to see the last depressing hour of the soccer match against Ghana. Ugh. Then after a dee-licious spinach pizza pie at a Mediterranean restaurant, I started making arrangements to meet up with a most ideal partner in crime, the one and only Anya Gersib. A gay pride parade was involved, along with a bar shut down and a rooftop view of the Houston skyline, in the making of a wonderful and memorable night with my dear college buddy. Oh and we got LADY GAGA fans! For REAL!
The next day our team-plus-Anya ate brunch at about the most picturesque cafe I'd ever seen, and then spent the afternoon perusing a couple Houston art museums. It had been so long since I'd submerged myself in art like that; I was overdue. Some of the works were just so against the grain it was uncomfortable...but in that good way that only art can make you feel ya know? There was one in particular, by Maurizio Cattelan, that stopped me dead in my tracks. As I had rounded the doorway to the next room of the museum, I was met with an enormous room with wooden floors and bare walls painted pure white. The contrast from painting-laden walls to this emptiness was enough to set me off-kilter, until I saw what the actual intention of the emptiness was. There in the middle of the floor, perfectly spaced and placed in alignment, were no less than twenty-five dead bodies underneath white bedsheets. The curves of the bodies, where the bedsheets folded and creased, gave way to an understanding of who were the kids, the men, the women (the pregnant women), the people clutching babies on their chests, and so on, amongst the dead. Even in walking right up to the bodies, there was no doubt that if I had a sudden fit of insanity I could rip off each and every sheet from these people and see who the really were. So imagine my shock in realizing that they were made of marble. MARBLE. Perfectly smoothed out rock made to imitate holocaust victims. Woofta. It was worth getting a scolding from the docent just to reach out and feel it for myself.
So I got my volunteering, my party, and my intellect on last weekend. Who could ask for more? And then this week has chugged its way along to what's going to be a ridiculous day off tomorrow, then it'll be FRIDAY (at which point I should have heard back from Choice #2), then another weekend with a trip to San Antonio and AUSTIN planned, and then FOURTH OF JULY! Then ANOTHER DAY OFF WORK! Then work, then A TRIP!! And then I LEAVE FREEPORT!! Safe to say we've reached the home stretch people.
Love you!
Miss Katie
I've had a solid week. First off, THANK YOU to everyone who responded to my poll, whether it was through text, email, calling me, posting here, whatever, your insight has been very helpful. I'm pretty sure I've made my decision, so if I actually do get offered the job for Choice #2 this week, I'll know what my approach will be. Not telling till then though.
I must admit, I've grown to borderline love SOME of the kids here at the club. Despite my best efforts I actually find myself looking forward to seeing SOME of them on the days that I'm here. And ya know what's even more surprising? The kindergarteners are my favorite! See I really took a fast liking to the fourth graders back at the beginning, probably because we bonded over our shared disgust with the kindies as a species, but now it's like, bye bye friendship bracelets, hellooo tea parties. And ridiculously mature things being stated with speech impediments. And WIGGLINESS. They are so wiggly, the kindergarteners. So hilarious.
Was that just a whole paragraph about working here that didn't have an underlying complaint? It may have been.... Who knew.
So yes, I began to realize last week that I will definitely miss some of these kiddos, and that I will think about them from time to time once this spike is over. It was a heartwarming realization. After having a less-than-awful week, I managed to follow the excitement up with a more-than-outstanding weekend. My team leader set up a service project in Houston, and since it was so far away AmeriCorps agreed to put us up in a hotel for Saturday night. A whole bed AND cable? Awesome! So we spent a few hours volunteering at a really progressive inpatient treatment and rehab center for men in the Houston area, called it a day around 3pm, and made it back to our hotel in time to see the last depressing hour of the soccer match against Ghana. Ugh. Then after a dee-licious spinach pizza pie at a Mediterranean restaurant, I started making arrangements to meet up with a most ideal partner in crime, the one and only Anya Gersib. A gay pride parade was involved, along with a bar shut down and a rooftop view of the Houston skyline, in the making of a wonderful and memorable night with my dear college buddy. Oh and we got LADY GAGA fans! For REAL!
The next day our team-plus-Anya ate brunch at about the most picturesque cafe I'd ever seen, and then spent the afternoon perusing a couple Houston art museums. It had been so long since I'd submerged myself in art like that; I was overdue. Some of the works were just so against the grain it was uncomfortable...but in that good way that only art can make you feel ya know? There was one in particular, by Maurizio Cattelan, that stopped me dead in my tracks. As I had rounded the doorway to the next room of the museum, I was met with an enormous room with wooden floors and bare walls painted pure white. The contrast from painting-laden walls to this emptiness was enough to set me off-kilter, until I saw what the actual intention of the emptiness was. There in the middle of the floor, perfectly spaced and placed in alignment, were no less than twenty-five dead bodies underneath white bedsheets. The curves of the bodies, where the bedsheets folded and creased, gave way to an understanding of who were the kids, the men, the women (the pregnant women), the people clutching babies on their chests, and so on, amongst the dead. Even in walking right up to the bodies, there was no doubt that if I had a sudden fit of insanity I could rip off each and every sheet from these people and see who the really were. So imagine my shock in realizing that they were made of marble. MARBLE. Perfectly smoothed out rock made to imitate holocaust victims. Woofta. It was worth getting a scolding from the docent just to reach out and feel it for myself.
So I got my volunteering, my party, and my intellect on last weekend. Who could ask for more? And then this week has chugged its way along to what's going to be a ridiculous day off tomorrow, then it'll be FRIDAY (at which point I should have heard back from Choice #2), then another weekend with a trip to San Antonio and AUSTIN planned, and then FOURTH OF JULY! Then ANOTHER DAY OFF WORK! Then work, then A TRIP!! And then I LEAVE FREEPORT!! Safe to say we've reached the home stretch people.
Love you!
Miss Katie
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Polllllllllllll!!!!!!!!
So I'm going to take some opinions here. I'm just curious what kinds of results I'll get:
If you were GUARANTEED the SAME benefits and pay for both, got to live in the AMAZING city of New Orleans for both, and naturally got to meet some really REALLY neat people at both, would you:
1. Spend 11 months of your life doing a completely random job that has NOTHING to do with your professional interests but that will probably give you some real-life-how-the-world-works expertise (house maintenance and repair, perhaps...) before you buckle down and start grad school?
or....
2. Spend 11 months of your life working in a unique area of your field of professional interest that you can't really get anywhere else and that would serve as a nice mental segue from roaming the country for the last year to grad school in 2011?
All responses are invited! Thanks :)
kt
If you were GUARANTEED the SAME benefits and pay for both, got to live in the AMAZING city of New Orleans for both, and naturally got to meet some really REALLY neat people at both, would you:
1. Spend 11 months of your life doing a completely random job that has NOTHING to do with your professional interests but that will probably give you some real-life-how-the-world-works expertise (house maintenance and repair, perhaps...) before you buckle down and start grad school?
or....
2. Spend 11 months of your life working in a unique area of your field of professional interest that you can't really get anywhere else and that would serve as a nice mental segue from roaming the country for the last year to grad school in 2011?
All responses are invited! Thanks :)
kt
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Yay, dads.
This doesn't need to be a long post; you all know that dads are great. In my experiences working with kiddos it has become more and more clear what the product of an unstable home life can be. I don't need to remind you that if you have a solid male figure in you're life, you are lucky. I always gravitate to describing my upbringing as pretty normal, both parents still married and stable and whatnot, but we all know that that scenario is not the norm. So if you have a papa that you're proud of, that you look up to, I have two pieces of homework for you: 1. Do like I do and appreciate the rarity of your situation. 2. Call him right now!! :)
Love ya daddy dear!
kt
Love ya daddy dear!
kt
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Ten days already?
I honestly can't say I have a lot to report on this guy. Oink oink weekend feels like it was FOREVER ago...these days are such a blur. I will have to admit, this week has been the first in a long time that I haven't been curious about the internet world every single day. To what can I attribute this lack of interest? Why, friendship bracelet making of course!!! Seriously I have created a monster virus that is sweeping the Boys and Girls Club. I can't stop making bracelets/necklaces/rings/bookmarks (yes bookmarks). It's to a point now where I'll be working in the art room and actually trying to convince the kiddles that yes of COURSE their dad would appreciate a bracelet for father's day! I should probably teach them so we can sit for the entire hour making bracelets, right? I have a problem; I accept this. But I have no interest in overcoming it anytime soon. So I guess this means if you have a hankerin for some jewelry made with love, holler at me.
Holler at me. Yes I said it. And I'm allowed to, wanna know why? Because I feel, in a most peculiar way, like I have been personally invited into the wild world of hood slang by the older group of kids I'm working with separate from the Boys and Girls Club. So there. This hardworking, honest, genuine group of seven 14 and 15 year olds collectively manages to teach me a new slang phrase every time I go out on a project with them. It's funny because I'm not that old, but seriously I can't understand half of what comes out of their mouths the first time. And they're always calling me, "Miss," regardless of what they're saying. "Yeah sure Miss, let's head to Buc-ees for lunch," "Naw Miss I can't say I agree with that," or my favorite from today, "Honestly Miss, I don't care one bit." I'm reallllly trying to push the simple "Katie" on them, but a decade and a half of training is making this request one that's nearly impossible for them to meet. So I've settled for Miss Katie. Fifteen year old kids are calling me Miss Katie. Bagh the south is hilarious. Anywho this group has been wonderful to work with and also, as previously mentioned, provides that out I need from Da Club every once in a while. So it's a positive situation across the board.
Another positive concept: Tomorrow is FRIDAY!!!! We have no real plans this weekend but the beach will most definitely be involved. Okay more later.
kt
Holler at me. Yes I said it. And I'm allowed to, wanna know why? Because I feel, in a most peculiar way, like I have been personally invited into the wild world of hood slang by the older group of kids I'm working with separate from the Boys and Girls Club. So there. This hardworking, honest, genuine group of seven 14 and 15 year olds collectively manages to teach me a new slang phrase every time I go out on a project with them. It's funny because I'm not that old, but seriously I can't understand half of what comes out of their mouths the first time. And they're always calling me, "Miss," regardless of what they're saying. "Yeah sure Miss, let's head to Buc-ees for lunch," "Naw Miss I can't say I agree with that," or my favorite from today, "Honestly Miss, I don't care one bit." I'm reallllly trying to push the simple "Katie" on them, but a decade and a half of training is making this request one that's nearly impossible for them to meet. So I've settled for Miss Katie. Fifteen year old kids are calling me Miss Katie. Bagh the south is hilarious. Anywho this group has been wonderful to work with and also, as previously mentioned, provides that out I need from Da Club every once in a while. So it's a positive situation across the board.
Another positive concept: Tomorrow is FRIDAY!!!! We have no real plans this weekend but the beach will most definitely be involved. Okay more later.
kt
Monday, June 7, 2010
SIT DOWN AND COLOR A PICTURE!!!!!!!
Well lookie here it hasn't even been a week since my last post! You're welcome.
Oink oink weekend was exactly how I had imagined it: taking an entire two days to get to and from a town four hours away and making hi-larious and de-licious (and sometimes both!) stops along the way. I saw the world's third largest fire hydrant, naively spent $12 on a baked potato (it would've been worth $10 though), played on a castle park to preemptively burn calories, saw (and considered purchasing) the world's largest gummi bear (but went with a 1/2 pound of lethally mouthwatering fudge instead...), consumed FROG LEGS AND ALLIGATOR!!!!, had iced coffee and "Hummingbird Cake" while enjoying local art at the darlingest coffee shop in eastern Louisiana, ate an original beignet at another adorable Louisiana cafe (to which we were welcomed by the local attention-loving mutt), and, of course, sampled yet another town's version of seafood gumbo. Woofta. I may or may not have kicked my own butt in the gym today as retribution for my decisions over the previous 48 hours, but let me tell they were so very worth it. I must say I do love road tripping. And themed road trips? Go, to, bed! So much fun. Expect pictures (aka evidence) of all of our adventures soon.
Don't let this mislead you in any way, but even if this weekend hadn't been so blastastic I would have still loved the opportunity to get away from this stupid building for two days. So no, nothing's changed. I'm still miserable here. But here's something cool! I am assigned to take the 14 and 15-year-old Summer of Service group on Mondays, so today was my opportunity to get away from the Club and all that it implies (little kids, to name one), and work on a service project with these older-yet-still-young bucks. We went to a nearby bird observatory and build a boardwalk to prevent birders from sinking into the mucky mud after rain storms. Despite the horrific volume of mosquitoes and intense humidity, it was awesome! My group is really a fun bunch. I just remember hating those awkward years of my life so much that it's pleasantly surprising to work with such self-aware and mature little people at that age. And they're FUNNY. Seriously they are already comfortable enough with us to poke fun and even tease a little after only four days. It's cool to see; I'm looking forward to Mondays every week now. (And bonus: Yet another excuse to get away from this building! Woohoo.)
So....yeah I'll leave it at that for now. Maybe the regularity that is soon to befall Sun Three in the upcoming weeks will improve my currently dreary 'tude. Hang in there with me!
Miss ya!
kt
Oink oink weekend was exactly how I had imagined it: taking an entire two days to get to and from a town four hours away and making hi-larious and de-licious (and sometimes both!) stops along the way. I saw the world's third largest fire hydrant, naively spent $12 on a baked potato (it would've been worth $10 though), played on a castle park to preemptively burn calories, saw (and considered purchasing) the world's largest gummi bear (but went with a 1/2 pound of lethally mouthwatering fudge instead...), consumed FROG LEGS AND ALLIGATOR!!!!, had iced coffee and "Hummingbird Cake" while enjoying local art at the darlingest coffee shop in eastern Louisiana, ate an original beignet at another adorable Louisiana cafe (to which we were welcomed by the local attention-loving mutt), and, of course, sampled yet another town's version of seafood gumbo. Woofta. I may or may not have kicked my own butt in the gym today as retribution for my decisions over the previous 48 hours, but let me tell they were so very worth it. I must say I do love road tripping. And themed road trips? Go, to, bed! So much fun. Expect pictures (aka evidence) of all of our adventures soon.
Don't let this mislead you in any way, but even if this weekend hadn't been so blastastic I would have still loved the opportunity to get away from this stupid building for two days. So no, nothing's changed. I'm still miserable here. But here's something cool! I am assigned to take the 14 and 15-year-old Summer of Service group on Mondays, so today was my opportunity to get away from the Club and all that it implies (little kids, to name one), and work on a service project with these older-yet-still-young bucks. We went to a nearby bird observatory and build a boardwalk to prevent birders from sinking into the mucky mud after rain storms. Despite the horrific volume of mosquitoes and intense humidity, it was awesome! My group is really a fun bunch. I just remember hating those awkward years of my life so much that it's pleasantly surprising to work with such self-aware and mature little people at that age. And they're FUNNY. Seriously they are already comfortable enough with us to poke fun and even tease a little after only four days. It's cool to see; I'm looking forward to Mondays every week now. (And bonus: Yet another excuse to get away from this building! Woohoo.)
So....yeah I'll leave it at that for now. Maybe the regularity that is soon to befall Sun Three in the upcoming weeks will improve my currently dreary 'tude. Hang in there with me!
Miss ya!
kt
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