Wednesday, February 13, 2002
there is absolutely no palateable liquid on earth that will cut through the taste of spicy orange chicken from the black pearl. this is a good and bad situation. on one hand, spicy orange chicken kicks all sorts of assorted ass. on the other hand, you will taste it for days, and spicy orange chicken doesn't exactly mix with other tastes, like toothpaste. you would need motor oil to wash that taste out of your mouth. maybe i should just stop brushing my teeth, that would solve a lot of problems.
today, today, today. ok, i'm almost done with my week of being in charge at work. today, i started off all alone, and i fielded this little question and answer period. there was something decidedly rediculous about me explaining restoration techniques and my foundations planting theories to a group of 12 people. it felt kind of strange, but i think it was fairly successful. my coworker was a little late, so he kind of stood in the background and watched. whenever i got nervous because there were like 12 inquizitive people eagerly lapping up the information i was trying to make up on the spot, i would glance over at him, and he would give me a funny smile. i'm sure he got quite a kick out of it. this guy is the guy i have been working with since the beginning. at first, ryan and i took him as an authority figure, but after a week or so, we realized that he was just another guy like us, just a little older and wiser. i think ryan would agree with me, that he is the coworker we can most relate too. anyways, i digress again. me and him both know whats up, with the slack and all. he does a lot of the same things, and he is getting fairly jaded and bitter towards the job too. he knows that i don't care if he hates his job, and that he won't be corrupting anything if he lays things down for me as he sees them. so a lot of what we talk about are things we think are stupid about our job. ok, i went off again. back to the story at hand. i'm in front of a bunch of people explaining why we pick the plants we pick, why we put them where we put them, and how that will affect our maintenance strategies and such. he is just kind of sitting back and watching, glad he doesn't have to, smiling because it is me, the local buffoon, explaining it all. these things are always tricky for me. the people i am explaining stuff too usually have an interest in environmental restoration, that is why they are working for this corps of workers. so, i can't just pull things out of my ass and toss them at them, expecting them to swallow it. so i have to pull off of everything i have seen, and have been taught, and try to mesh it all together into some sort of explaination that they will understand, and pertains to the park. like i said, things went pretty well. the nice thing about being in charge of the park, is that when you are describing strategies, and what you plan on doing in the future, you can completely pull them out of the ass, because you are the one who is going to have to come up with them anyways. there was only one point at which i got stumped by a question, and i had my coworker jump in for me. i was very greatful, and no one seemed to look down upon me as an expert or anything. its been great. this entire week, i have been able to handle every question this group of people has been able to toss my way, and in a way that satisfied them. both of these crews are brand new. i think this is even there first week in the field. out of all the crews i have seen from this place, they definitely seem to be the most energetic, and enthusiastic. it is very comforting to be able to praise these crew, instead of complain about them for once :) actually, most of my complaining is stupid crap anyways, but these crews are great. so yeah, things are getting done, which makes me look good because i am in charge, and i don't have to do that much work, with the talks and supervising and such. it is all such a strange thing. ryan would get a kick out of this week. i wish he could have seen me.
speaking of ryan, he went to the gwar concert at the showbox last night. this is really funny, because i'm sure they all hate gwar. i had planned on going, but i flaked out on him again. i forgot when it was, then we just kind of missed each other last night. i flake out on him a lot, but usually i have a reason, good or not, so i think he understands... he's not really the type to get pissed or anything. i also feel kind of wierd when i am hanging out with him and his college friends. i am sure he feels the same way. its fun, but it is still kind of odd, because you jump on in the middle of all these inside jokes that don't quite make much sense, because you haven't been around since their inception. also, his social group makes my global social group look like a knitting circle in some regards. i get to see a glimpse of the crazyness once every 6 months or whatever i see them, and i hear stories about all the rest. i'm not sure if i could physically handle the insanity that is 203. i am kind of glad i didn't go to gwar last night, because i would have gotten all drunk or hyped up or something before i went, and i would have ended up spending a large portion of the time in a pit of elbowing heavy metal death. i would have died, i'm small and frail. it still would have been fun, just to chill with him.
sitting here in the office, and no one is around. both of the people who are my superiors in the grand scheme of things are gone for the day. i'm wondering why the hell i am still here. i still need to fix my rain pants. i have destroyed two pairs so far this winter, even though they sucked. they will be really easy to fix, and i should get at least another year out of them, which is nice. although, if i am still here in a year, i will have serious questions to ask myself. every day i consider just going up stairs and giving 2 weeks notice. if i did, what would i do? i wouldn't have a job, which means i wouldn't have money to pay rent. that means i would have to move home, which would suck. so, i stick around. eventually i'll leave, i guess, when something else falls in my lap, or they fire me. i can deal with a lot of the crap they throw at me. lately though, things are picking up. i'm getting thrown back into a project i have been putting on the back burner since i got it. now, my boss wants me to start it back up again, full swing. sure i joke about not doing anything, but i actually do stuff. to start up this project again, on the scale she wants it would be impossible. so, we'll see what happens. it might drive me to quit here in the next few weeks. lets see how important this project is when she loses another staff member :P
today, today, today. ok, i'm almost done with my week of being in charge at work. today, i started off all alone, and i fielded this little question and answer period. there was something decidedly rediculous about me explaining restoration techniques and my foundations planting theories to a group of 12 people. it felt kind of strange, but i think it was fairly successful. my coworker was a little late, so he kind of stood in the background and watched. whenever i got nervous because there were like 12 inquizitive people eagerly lapping up the information i was trying to make up on the spot, i would glance over at him, and he would give me a funny smile. i'm sure he got quite a kick out of it. this guy is the guy i have been working with since the beginning. at first, ryan and i took him as an authority figure, but after a week or so, we realized that he was just another guy like us, just a little older and wiser. i think ryan would agree with me, that he is the coworker we can most relate too. anyways, i digress again. me and him both know whats up, with the slack and all. he does a lot of the same things, and he is getting fairly jaded and bitter towards the job too. he knows that i don't care if he hates his job, and that he won't be corrupting anything if he lays things down for me as he sees them. so a lot of what we talk about are things we think are stupid about our job. ok, i went off again. back to the story at hand. i'm in front of a bunch of people explaining why we pick the plants we pick, why we put them where we put them, and how that will affect our maintenance strategies and such. he is just kind of sitting back and watching, glad he doesn't have to, smiling because it is me, the local buffoon, explaining it all. these things are always tricky for me. the people i am explaining stuff too usually have an interest in environmental restoration, that is why they are working for this corps of workers. so, i can't just pull things out of my ass and toss them at them, expecting them to swallow it. so i have to pull off of everything i have seen, and have been taught, and try to mesh it all together into some sort of explaination that they will understand, and pertains to the park. like i said, things went pretty well. the nice thing about being in charge of the park, is that when you are describing strategies, and what you plan on doing in the future, you can completely pull them out of the ass, because you are the one who is going to have to come up with them anyways. there was only one point at which i got stumped by a question, and i had my coworker jump in for me. i was very greatful, and no one seemed to look down upon me as an expert or anything. its been great. this entire week, i have been able to handle every question this group of people has been able to toss my way, and in a way that satisfied them. both of these crews are brand new. i think this is even there first week in the field. out of all the crews i have seen from this place, they definitely seem to be the most energetic, and enthusiastic. it is very comforting to be able to praise these crew, instead of complain about them for once :) actually, most of my complaining is stupid crap anyways, but these crews are great. so yeah, things are getting done, which makes me look good because i am in charge, and i don't have to do that much work, with the talks and supervising and such. it is all such a strange thing. ryan would get a kick out of this week. i wish he could have seen me.
speaking of ryan, he went to the gwar concert at the showbox last night. this is really funny, because i'm sure they all hate gwar. i had planned on going, but i flaked out on him again. i forgot when it was, then we just kind of missed each other last night. i flake out on him a lot, but usually i have a reason, good or not, so i think he understands... he's not really the type to get pissed or anything. i also feel kind of wierd when i am hanging out with him and his college friends. i am sure he feels the same way. its fun, but it is still kind of odd, because you jump on in the middle of all these inside jokes that don't quite make much sense, because you haven't been around since their inception. also, his social group makes my global social group look like a knitting circle in some regards. i get to see a glimpse of the crazyness once every 6 months or whatever i see them, and i hear stories about all the rest. i'm not sure if i could physically handle the insanity that is 203. i am kind of glad i didn't go to gwar last night, because i would have gotten all drunk or hyped up or something before i went, and i would have ended up spending a large portion of the time in a pit of elbowing heavy metal death. i would have died, i'm small and frail. it still would have been fun, just to chill with him.
sitting here in the office, and no one is around. both of the people who are my superiors in the grand scheme of things are gone for the day. i'm wondering why the hell i am still here. i still need to fix my rain pants. i have destroyed two pairs so far this winter, even though they sucked. they will be really easy to fix, and i should get at least another year out of them, which is nice. although, if i am still here in a year, i will have serious questions to ask myself. every day i consider just going up stairs and giving 2 weeks notice. if i did, what would i do? i wouldn't have a job, which means i wouldn't have money to pay rent. that means i would have to move home, which would suck. so, i stick around. eventually i'll leave, i guess, when something else falls in my lap, or they fire me. i can deal with a lot of the crap they throw at me. lately though, things are picking up. i'm getting thrown back into a project i have been putting on the back burner since i got it. now, my boss wants me to start it back up again, full swing. sure i joke about not doing anything, but i actually do stuff. to start up this project again, on the scale she wants it would be impossible. so, we'll see what happens. it might drive me to quit here in the next few weeks. lets see how important this project is when she loses another staff member :P
