8.18.02
Some
interesting things have transpired in the last forty-eight hours or so.
Well, not really, but hey, if it keeps ya reading…
I last wrote on Saturday, I think. I didn't mention the little ring-things
that we tied to either end of a rope at Peak and played around on; trying to do
iron crosses and such. (None of us could.) At one point, I thought
it would be cool to hold on to one and put my foot on the other. Fine,
except that when my foot fell off, the rest of me dropped like a stone.
Luckily, not only was there a crash pad there, but I was also wearing my
harness, so my gri-gri broke my fall. I now have a gri-gri shaped bruise
on my lower back, and it hurts. But it makes for a good story, so all
works out in the end.
Sunday I went to see Signs with Graham. It was fun; the movie was
so-so. I mean, I didn't love it, didn't hate it; I was disappointed, but
that's only to be expected. Movies today are disappointing. Anyway,
Graham's good company, even if he did decide to make his hair orange for what
really wasn't any good reason at all. It caught me by total surprise when
I first saw him; it's taking some getting used to. And he apparently made
one helluva mess at work today, dropping a bucket of water right above the
owner's office and such. Must be the blond hair.
Passages today was an adventure. It's Girls' Rock Week, which I've been
told is pretty mellow. However, something about the day just felt slow,
and I spent most of my time feeling frustrated and like we weren't going
anywhere. It took twenty minutes to get my group of four across the
traverse, and another half an hour to get 'em down the rappel. I've never
quite understood what's so freaky about either. I mean, yeah, the traverse
is just two pieces of aircraft cable over a very icky lagoon. But
rappelling is not only fun, but safe, too. It's the exact same
rope-and-belay system that they trust us on when they climb; what's so different
when they're controlling it themselves? Shouldn't they like it more?
All I know is, I like working the site, and I like rappelling myself. So
there.
We climbed in the morning, then did the zipline, and then swam. In the
James. It's kinda gross in there (we've had some half-dozen articles in
the paper lately about how it's all polluted…) but it actually felt really,
really good to get in the water after sweating all day. My staff
shirt is probably irrevocably disgusting. It's hot, humid, and we're
running around in the dirt, so our sandal 'tans' come off in the shower.
But despite the river being supposedly really gross, swimming was fun, and the
entire day wasn't that bad. Hopefully things'll pick up a bit once we get
organized and everyone knows what's up. I think part of it today was that
there are very few non-CITs working…or something like that. I dunno what
I am; I know I'm getting paid, which is plenty for me.
Oh, and I have a kayak in my car.
This amuses me to no end. Took me and Graham a bit of maneuvering at the
gym tonight, but when I turn it diagonally, push the passenger seat all the way
forward, and put the seats down, it just barely fits. I'm so damn proud of
myself. I was half-tempted to go down to the river tonight, but y'know, I
don't know the first thing about kayaking, which would have made the whole thing
difficult. And I'm just surprised no one's noticed the ten-foot-long boat
sitting contentedly in Bradley.
Not much else went on today. Apparently Jeff, who was supposed to get back
in from Mexico this weekend, was stranded at some airport (Stina said
Pennsylvania?) and so wasn't back. I was a bit disappointed, but I get to
see him tomorrow, and frequently for the next while. I'm looking forward
to it; I've not seen him in almost two weeks. That's nothing compared to
the four months he'll be gone starting in some fifteen days, but hopefully I'll
have a better handle on things then, so I'll be able to chase him out of my
head.
Shit. Fifteen days? I just realized that he'll be gone two weeks
from Wednesday. And I start school three weeks from tomorrow. Ew.
Hopefully this year'll move fast…at least the first semester of it. And
I can work on getting into college and being done with that so that I can stop
worrying about it, stop thinking about it, and start taking more naps.
Because everyone needs naps.
Nana's here for the week. She's grating on my nerves, and I've got it
arranged so I hardly ever even see her. But maybe I'm just grumpy because
I'm tired and dehydrated. Or maybe it's because she really is as
insensitive and commandeering as I seem to think she is. Whichever, she's
in bed now, in the computer room, which means that this entry won't go live
until tomorrow night, at the earliest. Still, so that Brian won't be
bugging me to update, I'll email it to him. Hi, Brian.
On the upshot, getting up at 6:30 every day is getting me ready for school; I'll
literally go straight from the Passages schedule into the school schedule,
which, I have reason to believe, is a bit less grueling, and a lot less fun.
Oh well; I'll survive. Or I'll run away. If you see a Volvo with a
kayak in the back heading for the mountains, honk and wave.