I knew that this weekend was going to be fun and productive, and fun. But I did not expect this much fun.
Friday!! I got up, ate, did other morning things, then marched off to the bus stop, with pillow and blanket under my arm, and my bag on my back. I arrived at the station, and realized that I only had a $20 bill, and my fare was only $3.50. I walked up to the little snack shack right by the station, and asked for change, feeling vaugely confident about the day. I should have realized that things were going to be nuts when I was told that there was not change for a 20 there, so I would have to run down the block to a bagel shop, in less than 5 minutes. I did so (and got a cranberry bagel), and ran back, with 2 minutes to spare!
Upon arriving in Monterey, I walked to CFFO (Center For the Future of the Oceans), which is a branch of the MBA that is focused on policy, advocacy, and conservation, for a meeting about my SOC project. I was early, so I stashed my bag and pillow under some stairs, and sat down to read. A woman walked out of the CFFO building, walked towards me, akwardly looked at me, and finally asked if I was Chris. (This just in! I am Chris) Our meeting was good, informative, but not just in the way that it was intended to be. Before I go off on my little boring bit, I am going to be a prototype for a national camgpain by other insitutions like the Aquarium, which will utilize the massive force that is the concerned public, and volunteers in particular. Should be interesting. Now for my bit. One of the big take-aways for me was that there is a bit of a dilemma for someone who wants to make change on a small-scale. I could have either gone about it on my own, assembling my data from the Internet, and having absolutely no rules, except those that I set, or I could have used resources from a well-established group, like the MBA. I chose the MBA path, and now I am founding out what the pros and cons of that are. I instantly have a good reputation behind me, I have terrific resources, great support, but I have to fit my actions within a strict bureaucratic framework, and I have to play by a certain set of rules. Time will tell how this will play out.
As I walked to the Aquarium, I got plenty of odd looks, perhaps due to my extremely fashionable hat. Or, it could have been because I was carrying a pillow and blanket under one arm, and eating my bagel with the other, while carrying a large backpack. Dunno.
Volunteering was fun. I worked a station which is basically really small stuff, plus a microscope, plus a big TV screen. I don't usually work this station, but I actually did pretty well, and had fun. If I had any questions there were two other guides there as well, so I could easily ask them. One of funniest moments was at a touch pool. These two girls walked up, and they looked pretty similar, but were dressed in fairly individual styles. I asked them if they wanted to touch any of the animals in the pool, and they answered in almost perfect sychroninization. "No, thank you." Somewhere a little lightbulb went off, in that part of my brain that realizes that people are twins. I attempted to engage them a couple other times, and everytime I got the same kind of wackily polite, simultanious rejection. So funny really.
After shift I contentedly sat in the guide lounge eating my chili (thanks Mom!!), and when I finished, I went upstairs to find my boss (Jeffery) to ask when I should show up to help out. Jeffery immediately put me to work, and I didn't stop until SOC students showed up. (Except for dinner)
The sleepover was great fun. I got to see some people I remembered (which was not many), to talk with older SOC'ers about what their life is like now, and to do some heavy-duty interpretation. I actually got to talk about marine animals, and conservation, to an audience that was totally listening, and was comfortable with what I had to say. SO AWESOME!!! The sleeping part was not as great. I only had a blanket and pillow (for complicated reasons) and the ground was uncomfortable, cold, and I didn't actually "lay down to go to sleep" until about 2:15 a.m. I woke up at 6:30ish, and the rest of the morning was unremarkable. (Except for the fresh chocolate muffins)
Immediately after dropping the girl Dad was giving a ride to Gilroy, we drove to paintballing. Fortunately for us, the field we were playing at was in Morgan Hill, so the drive was nice and short.
Before I continue with the paintballing saga, I feel the need to share about one of my favorite parts of living in an apartment complex. There are "cart vendors" which walk around, or ride their bike, and sell a variety of Hispanic culinary favorites. I love them! My favorite is these chips which can have lemon and chile poured/sprayed on them and chipped ice with syrup. So good, and I have no clue what is in any of it.
Paintballing was great fun, but I want to talk a couple of my favorite, or most memorable moments. Matthew Ma., who played last time, wanted to play a game called "Single Flag", in which one flag is set in the center of the field, and then the teams have to grab the flag, and take back to their side. My team consisted of Jesse, myself, and 3 adult males who were new to the group. The other team was Jose, Paul, Warren, Dad, and Matthew. Except for Matthew, the rest of that team is really good. My team was more marginal. Jesse appointed himself tactitican for our team, and the key point in his plan involved me running up and grabbing the flag. I liked this plan. We started about 50 feet away from the flag. On "go!" I ran forward, vaulted the wall of a bunker, and ducked down inside. My team ran up and provided covering fire, and Jesse gave me the go, and I jumped the other wall, grabbed the flag, and ran back to the fence. Game over! Perhaps 3 minutes had elapsed. The other team decided that sides of the field should be switched. The second game went more or less the same, I ran up, grabbed the flag, ran back, done. They decided that they didn't like Single Flag.
The other fun moments included holding off 3 men, only to get hit by Dad in the wrist, and then in the head. The very last game we played was 3 teams of 3 or 4. Craziness! Having to worry about two sets of men shooting at you, that really pushed my little brain, so unaccustomed to such things, pretty hard.
After a night of 3 hours of sleep, my body was already pretty tired, but paintball cut me down to nearly exhausted. I was looking forward to Sunday being a day of rest and recuperation.
Sunday was not a day of rest, for young men's small group, instead of the usual study time, we went to a park and played ultimate frisbee. On the day that had gusting winds, and saw dead fronds falling from palm trees. Of course. This game was great fun, but very physically demanding, and tiring. Today the amount of body parts that don't hurt could be counted on one hand. As I was limping to the bus, I had a quick encounter with an IPTP. The weather was perhaps 50 degrees, but windy, and I was wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and my fashionable hat. As I limped past the bus stop Weatherman was sitting at, he asked if I was cold. "Nope." "Bet you're acclimated to Ohio or somewhere like that!" "Pretty dang close. Iowa." "So this doesn't bother you?" "This is a beautiful spring day!"
The bus ride home was uneventful, and so far today has been pretty tame.
That's all for now!
Have a great one!
No comments:
Post a Comment