Dated: August 3rd, 2010
Location: Northville, Michigan
I've been packed for days and I'm holding my breath. I can't believe I leave for Africa tomorrow.
The packing list was pretty extensive--a lot of camping gear (flashlights, headlamps, hiking pants, waterproof notebooks, high-top hiking boots, etc.). I'll be without a phone or computer for more than three weeks except the occasional session on the research center computer. I probably won't be able to post to this blog during the next couple weeks for that reason, so I'll just have to write it all down--the old-fashioned way :)
As for my mileage count, its going to be hard to keep track of without my handy speedometer--I may have to forego it but I promise to provide at least an estimation by the end of the summer.
Better get some sleep--who knows if I'll be able to sleep on the flight--get this: we take off at 7pm on the 4th and land at 7pm on the 5th in Nairobi! With the time change, it's like a 24-hr flight!
Monday, August 30, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Mile 5, 594
Seven day work weeks were a bad idea, and that's all I have to say for myself.
I realized somewhere around three weeks ago that I had three weeks left in California and soon made the mad dash to start savoring everything so every moment I wasn't working was spent outside walking around, doing yoga in Santa Monica or at the park, and trying to break out of the Culver City bubble. I finally have friends--a good number of them--and now I have to leave. Saying good-bye to the canvasing crew was especially hard--how do you say good-bye to a group of people you feel so strongly connected to but have not hardly been afforded the time to get to know?
It seemed appropriate that I should post today, on the eve of my departure from Los Angeles. They picked up my car today. Not having a vehicle to run errands most of the day put an extra strain on the stress caused by the huge pile of tasks my boss has been loading on me this week; not the least of which was the contracting thing. That's right, she asked ME to hire a contractor to pave her neighborhood. Seriously. It was requests like that that were starting to wear me thin. This morning I stomped out of the house screaming about some battery I had bought that she had bitched to me about it not being the right one, but she had been so vague about what type of battery, how was I supposed to know? I think I scared my roommates, yelling and slamming the door this morning. Now they're probably thinking, good ridance ;)
On Sunday, I went to Ventura with a friend and we hung out at the beach and I bought some stuff at an outdoors store for Kenya. Then we went to a pool party in Bel Air with my office folk. It was sweet. One of my friends came over later to watch a movie "Valentine's Day"--it was really entertaining to see all the places in LA I recognized in the movie :P
On Monday night, I went out to dinner with my roommates. It was a very nice Italian place. I've been racking my brains for months trying to figure out a nice parting gift for them. I was just about to buy them a record player when I noticed the exact same record player in their living room. My mom's convinced me we can just get them something Michiganian when I get back and send it back, but I don't think it will be adequate, they've been so amazing to me.
Tuesday I went to yoga with some friends from GCI. It felt really relaxing after the week I've been having. Then we went to a cafe to chill and talk and have a little midnight brunch. I will miss those warm summer nights once the school year starts--being able to hang out outside and just chill with friends is so relaxing.
On my last night, I hung out with some girlfriends at Cafe Brasil on the westside. Then we went for one last froyo and a walk on Venice Beach. They had work at 8am tomorrow morning so they turned in early but I've still got a little bit of packing and some loose ends to tie up.
It's been great and I wish I had more time here, but Kenya calls ;)
I realized somewhere around three weeks ago that I had three weeks left in California and soon made the mad dash to start savoring everything so every moment I wasn't working was spent outside walking around, doing yoga in Santa Monica or at the park, and trying to break out of the Culver City bubble. I finally have friends--a good number of them--and now I have to leave. Saying good-bye to the canvasing crew was especially hard--how do you say good-bye to a group of people you feel so strongly connected to but have not hardly been afforded the time to get to know?
It seemed appropriate that I should post today, on the eve of my departure from Los Angeles. They picked up my car today. Not having a vehicle to run errands most of the day put an extra strain on the stress caused by the huge pile of tasks my boss has been loading on me this week; not the least of which was the contracting thing. That's right, she asked ME to hire a contractor to pave her neighborhood. Seriously. It was requests like that that were starting to wear me thin. This morning I stomped out of the house screaming about some battery I had bought that she had bitched to me about it not being the right one, but she had been so vague about what type of battery, how was I supposed to know? I think I scared my roommates, yelling and slamming the door this morning. Now they're probably thinking, good ridance ;)
On Sunday, I went to Ventura with a friend and we hung out at the beach and I bought some stuff at an outdoors store for Kenya. Then we went to a pool party in Bel Air with my office folk. It was sweet. One of my friends came over later to watch a movie "Valentine's Day"--it was really entertaining to see all the places in LA I recognized in the movie :P
On Monday night, I went out to dinner with my roommates. It was a very nice Italian place. I've been racking my brains for months trying to figure out a nice parting gift for them. I was just about to buy them a record player when I noticed the exact same record player in their living room. My mom's convinced me we can just get them something Michiganian when I get back and send it back, but I don't think it will be adequate, they've been so amazing to me.
Tuesday I went to yoga with some friends from GCI. It felt really relaxing after the week I've been having. Then we went to a cafe to chill and talk and have a little midnight brunch. I will miss those warm summer nights once the school year starts--being able to hang out outside and just chill with friends is so relaxing.
On my last night, I hung out with some girlfriends at Cafe Brasil on the westside. Then we went for one last froyo and a walk on Venice Beach. They had work at 8am tomorrow morning so they turned in early but I've still got a little bit of packing and some loose ends to tie up.
It's been great and I wish I had more time here, but Kenya calls ;)
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Mile 4, 237
It's been a hard couple weeks--I came pretty close to losing my canvassing job. Quota's a bitch. I got really caught up in the numbers for a while; luckily I met a couple people this week who reminded me why I'm out in the streets doing what I do. I've been talking a lot about the legislation in Utah--the one that can cause a woman who has a miscarriage to be convicted of murder. Scary stuff. The scariest parts are that a) a lot of other states have legislation just like it now in place and b) the lawmakers in Utah claim to have rewritten the bill, replacing "reckless" with "negligent" in the wording as if that changes anything. Only 4 out of 29 Senators in Utah voted against the "miscarriage" amendment. Here's a pretty good timeline of what's been going on in Utah along with a look at the dismal sexual education situation in the state: http://www.alternet.org/story/145956?page=1
This has been my first of four seven-day work-weeks I'm set up for for the rest of the summer and I'm already beyond exhausted. My room's a mess because I get up early and when I come home--late--I'm too exhausted to clean. All that refined sugar and exhaustion means that I'm cranky which isn't a good way to be when you're trying to ask people for money.
As for my other job, my boss has been out of town for a week and I've been running errands all over town, not the least exciting of which led me to start coaching girls' lacrosse. (Long story short, I ended up at a park with one of my boss's colleagues whose daughter was starting lacrosse camp that day; the coach arrived, saw me tossing a ball around with the daughter and asked me to stay.) I ended up working at another camp later that week and I love it.
Last week was the week of independent films. I went and saw "Tambourine Man", "Ondine", and "Agora". "Agora" was my favorite. It was about a female philosopher named Hypatia who lived during the fall of the Roman empire. She believed in the universe and she believed that there was a pattern to the movement of the planets and the stars. The story of her passion for astronomy and discovery is set against a backdrop of the Pagan-Christian transition of the Roman empire in the Roman city of Alexandria. In the beginning, the Pagans are allowing the Christians (who practice a religion once banned in the empire) to exist within their city walls, but soon, with the emperor's approval, the Christians rise up and slaughter the Pagans, and later, the Jews. A huge theme in the movie is Hypatia's unwillingness to commit to any religion and her obsession with understanding the universe (her own religion, in my interpretation). Hypatia is rumored, in history, to have discovered the elliptical movement of the earth around the sun, but since the Christians burned the library at Alexandria (considered the most important stockpiles of human knowledge at the time), the majority of information we have about her studies is lost. The film chooses to show her making this discovery, only to be stoned to death by the Christians. The film poses as a great reminder for the violence and bloodshed that has served as a beginning for many a religion. I wish more people remembered that killing in the name of any god is still killing. I don't know that I have any more than that to say right now.
Time to start a new week. Good night.
This has been my first of four seven-day work-weeks I'm set up for for the rest of the summer and I'm already beyond exhausted. My room's a mess because I get up early and when I come home--late--I'm too exhausted to clean. All that refined sugar and exhaustion means that I'm cranky which isn't a good way to be when you're trying to ask people for money.
As for my other job, my boss has been out of town for a week and I've been running errands all over town, not the least exciting of which led me to start coaching girls' lacrosse. (Long story short, I ended up at a park with one of my boss's colleagues whose daughter was starting lacrosse camp that day; the coach arrived, saw me tossing a ball around with the daughter and asked me to stay.) I ended up working at another camp later that week and I love it.
Last week was the week of independent films. I went and saw "Tambourine Man", "Ondine", and "Agora". "Agora" was my favorite. It was about a female philosopher named Hypatia who lived during the fall of the Roman empire. She believed in the universe and she believed that there was a pattern to the movement of the planets and the stars. The story of her passion for astronomy and discovery is set against a backdrop of the Pagan-Christian transition of the Roman empire in the Roman city of Alexandria. In the beginning, the Pagans are allowing the Christians (who practice a religion once banned in the empire) to exist within their city walls, but soon, with the emperor's approval, the Christians rise up and slaughter the Pagans, and later, the Jews. A huge theme in the movie is Hypatia's unwillingness to commit to any religion and her obsession with understanding the universe (her own religion, in my interpretation). Hypatia is rumored, in history, to have discovered the elliptical movement of the earth around the sun, but since the Christians burned the library at Alexandria (considered the most important stockpiles of human knowledge at the time), the majority of information we have about her studies is lost. The film chooses to show her making this discovery, only to be stoned to death by the Christians. The film poses as a great reminder for the violence and bloodshed that has served as a beginning for many a religion. I wish more people remembered that killing in the name of any god is still killing. I don't know that I have any more than that to say right now.
Time to start a new week. Good night.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Mile 3,803
I am a terrible blogger.
It's not that nothing has been happening--I've just been feeling very very lazy about it. And now I'm sitting at work doing nothing and I figure--why not?
Canvasing sucked this week. For some reason, I wasn't on my game at all--like, at all. I went from having a $600-day to a $3-day. It was awful and I thought I was going to get fired. I didn't make quota all that week, in fact, so it seemed very possible. They did let me stay, however, they stopped inviting me to Field Manager trainings so I guess I can kiss that $16 an hour good-bye . . .
Canvasing has other perks besides money though and that is truly why I do it ;) Talking to people, enlightening the public about the dark side of our democracy . . . getting free concert tickets and invitations to Kathy Griffin stand-up from complete strangers ;) There were also that one stoned guy who asked me to go see a movie with him, like right now, and the other one who asked me for my phone number, and the Jesus lady who told me I was going to hell because I was gay (that was an assumption on her part based on our tagline "Come fight for gay rights!" . . . nobody said that simply being a Christian made you particularly well-informed.
I have a friend coming to visit this weekend. I took the weekend off work. I think we're going to hit the beach, a flea market in Pasadena, maybe the Hollywood Forever Cemetery and a movie. It will be nice to have someone to hang out with :)
It's not that nothing has been happening--I've just been feeling very very lazy about it. And now I'm sitting at work doing nothing and I figure--why not?
Canvasing sucked this week. For some reason, I wasn't on my game at all--like, at all. I went from having a $600-day to a $3-day. It was awful and I thought I was going to get fired. I didn't make quota all that week, in fact, so it seemed very possible. They did let me stay, however, they stopped inviting me to Field Manager trainings so I guess I can kiss that $16 an hour good-bye . . .
Canvasing has other perks besides money though and that is truly why I do it ;) Talking to people, enlightening the public about the dark side of our democracy . . . getting free concert tickets and invitations to Kathy Griffin stand-up from complete strangers ;) There were also that one stoned guy who asked me to go see a movie with him, like right now, and the other one who asked me for my phone number, and the Jesus lady who told me I was going to hell because I was gay (that was an assumption on her part based on our tagline "Come fight for gay rights!" . . . nobody said that simply being a Christian made you particularly well-informed.
I have a friend coming to visit this weekend. I took the weekend off work. I think we're going to hit the beach, a flea market in Pasadena, maybe the Hollywood Forever Cemetery and a movie. It will be nice to have someone to hang out with :)
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Mile 3, 401
Location: Los Angeles, CA, USA
Took the weekend off to relax, but ended up getting stressed out of my mind anyway. On Saturday, I stopped at a gas station on my way back from yoga. I was talking to a friend on the phone as I grabbed my credit card and got out of the car. Out of instinct, I think I must have locked the car as I got out--only the keys were still on the front seat. I was so mad and frustrated when I realized it after I filled up.
I called a couple of tow truck companies and lock smiths, but they all wanted fifty bucks or more to unlock the car--the kind of money I definitely don't have. I finally called my mom, even though she's two thousand miles away, and was telling her I didn't have fifty bucks when suddenly this girl walks over from another pump and holds out a fifty dollar bill. I nearly dropped my phone. Me: "I can't take that." Her: "You're stranded. Take it. I don't need it." Me: "Really, no, it's ok." The girl basically threw the money at me, smiled, and walked back to her Land Rover and drove away. Seriously.
My mom called me back ten minutes later to let me know that AAA was on their way to unlock the car--it had been cheaper apparently to add me to her yearly plan than to get my car unlocked once. The whole situation made me realize how important my car really is--I pretty much live out of it. I'm just glad I still have a car and that it works and that I didn't get mugged at the gas station.
So now I have this fifty dollar bill burning a hole in my wallet and not for the usual reasons. I feel like I should pay it forward, but I find myself being picky when I see bums holding signs next to the street. I should just take it to a soup kitchen or something before I get mugged and the money goes to no good use at all.
My boss hasn't come in yet this week, but after today I go back to the ACLU for the rest of the week, so I hope she comes in to update me on what I should be doing in the office. Otherwise, I'm just cleaning up the kitchen, printing more business cards than anyone could possibly need, and surfing Facebook.
I'm still trying to figure out what to do about Mexico. I want to go, but the rents are still disapproving and it definitely could be dangerous. And, also, part of me just wants to go home for a little while. Just to chill out. I think maybe I need that. Globetrotting can wait. Maybe. Damnit.
Took the weekend off to relax, but ended up getting stressed out of my mind anyway. On Saturday, I stopped at a gas station on my way back from yoga. I was talking to a friend on the phone as I grabbed my credit card and got out of the car. Out of instinct, I think I must have locked the car as I got out--only the keys were still on the front seat. I was so mad and frustrated when I realized it after I filled up.
I called a couple of tow truck companies and lock smiths, but they all wanted fifty bucks or more to unlock the car--the kind of money I definitely don't have. I finally called my mom, even though she's two thousand miles away, and was telling her I didn't have fifty bucks when suddenly this girl walks over from another pump and holds out a fifty dollar bill. I nearly dropped my phone. Me: "I can't take that." Her: "You're stranded. Take it. I don't need it." Me: "Really, no, it's ok." The girl basically threw the money at me, smiled, and walked back to her Land Rover and drove away. Seriously.
My mom called me back ten minutes later to let me know that AAA was on their way to unlock the car--it had been cheaper apparently to add me to her yearly plan than to get my car unlocked once. The whole situation made me realize how important my car really is--I pretty much live out of it. I'm just glad I still have a car and that it works and that I didn't get mugged at the gas station.
So now I have this fifty dollar bill burning a hole in my wallet and not for the usual reasons. I feel like I should pay it forward, but I find myself being picky when I see bums holding signs next to the street. I should just take it to a soup kitchen or something before I get mugged and the money goes to no good use at all.
My boss hasn't come in yet this week, but after today I go back to the ACLU for the rest of the week, so I hope she comes in to update me on what I should be doing in the office. Otherwise, I'm just cleaning up the kitchen, printing more business cards than anyone could possibly need, and surfing Facebook.
I'm still trying to figure out what to do about Mexico. I want to go, but the rents are still disapproving and it definitely could be dangerous. And, also, part of me just wants to go home for a little while. Just to chill out. I think maybe I need that. Globetrotting can wait. Maybe. Damnit.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Mile 3,241
I started my new job today. I was canvasing for Grassroots Campaigns on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). I was really nervous at first--canvasing means basically going around asking random people for money. With GC, there is a rap you have to memorize and there are quotas every canvaser has to meet and that made me very nervous. Luckily, it was a lot easier to get the rap down than I thought it would be and I made quota my first day, even though we were at what my supervisor noted was a sucky location--a grocery store near UCLA on a Friday night--it was all college student and half-drunk people running in to buy beer and nobody wanted to stop.
I could have worked that job again today, but I'm not ready just yet to give up my yoga class on Saturday mornings and I haven't gotten my sleep schedule worked out. And since the Saturday shifts are 9-5 instead of 2-10, I thought it might be difficult to do one back-to-back. But maybe that's just an excuse. Looking forward to yoga tomorrow ;)
I could have worked that job again today, but I'm not ready just yet to give up my yoga class on Saturday mornings and I haven't gotten my sleep schedule worked out. And since the Saturday shifts are 9-5 instead of 2-10, I thought it might be difficult to do one back-to-back. But maybe that's just an excuse. Looking forward to yoga tomorrow ;)
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Mile 3,158
Sunday night I got a call from my roommate. He said a buddy of his from work was working on a music video and that the video's producer was looking for some production assistants. He gave me the producer's number, I called and was in. It was my first paid gig, for a musical punk rock/electronic group. It was a lot of fun--it's amazing how talented practiced lip synchers are ;)
It was technically my first non-independent production. Lots of things were the same--craft services sucked, people joked around on set, hair and makeup took way too long--but a lot of stuff was different too. For example, set-up for all the different scenes didn't take forever and a day--the lighting crew was on it. Also, the director, camera guys, and most of the producers didn't hang around for clean-up (that was left to us) as opposed to in independent productions where help is so scarce to find that everyone does everything and so while I was a little disgusted with that, earlier events actually left me impressed with the higher-ups. For one thing, the cameras were amazing and they had two of them--this made for more efficient shots of the party scene and it meant that they didn't have to lug one camera up and down the stairs to the other location and they could do set-ups while another scene was being shot. The director put me off at first; my first thoughts upon seeing her were "Cool, a girl director, this is new and awesome" and "Wow, this girl must have been really pissed when "Tik Tok" came out cuz she thought Ke$ha totally stole her style." She seemed really on top of things and organized as far as directing went, but I couldn't shake my impression that she was a little bit of a ditz somehow. Then she completely caught me off-guard at the end by coming up and giving me a hug and telling me I hadn't been overlooked. I was really impressed that she used my name. Most directors don't give a crap but I was really impressed that--whether she knew all along or had just asked someone before coming over--that she took the time to at least try to show that she cared. I have a lot of respect for that. Then she left after wrap at 8pm, and me and the rest of the Art Department were cleaning up the apartment until after 11pm. Whoever decided the party scene needed feathers, popcorn, and glitter was not the one who was going to clean it up. Tri-fecta of the art department's worst nightmare.
Meanwhile, I got another email from the professor at Cal State about the Mexico trip. He's still going, State Department be damned, and he's looking for takers. The rents say no, but I can't pass up an opportunity. The more time I spend in offices, the more I realize this is not the kind of life I could live for a long period of time. I really want to get out and do something new, experience something completely different. So I'm torn--not going on any trips would give me time with my family but going would give me a new insight on what I want to do with my life. So I don't know. The trip costs $500 and I told myself if I find a new job in the next two weeks at a decent rate, I will consider going on the trip.
As for the job search, I haven't heard back from many places--make that one--I have heard back from only one place. I went in for an interview at a beach club in Santa Monica. I think I intentionally flunked the interview though--as soon as the girl interviewing me (she looked like she was fresh out of high school) started talking about how working with kids is one of the best things in the world and how I would be go go go all day and would work all weekends until the beginning of June, I felt like this probably wasn't a good fit, especially since it only paid about 7-8 dollars per hour. They said they'd call if I fit the bill, but I'm pretty sure my lack of enthusiasm for the job showed thru--it's not that I don't like kids, I just don't know if I have the energy to keep them engaged for 8 hours a day (they described the job as literally dragging kids off the playground--to participate in activities like capture the flag and tug-o-war--the sort of thing I hated as a kid). I guess I'll just keep applying . . . or hope that more production gigs come my way.
It was technically my first non-independent production. Lots of things were the same--craft services sucked, people joked around on set, hair and makeup took way too long--but a lot of stuff was different too. For example, set-up for all the different scenes didn't take forever and a day--the lighting crew was on it. Also, the director, camera guys, and most of the producers didn't hang around for clean-up (that was left to us) as opposed to in independent productions where help is so scarce to find that everyone does everything and so while I was a little disgusted with that, earlier events actually left me impressed with the higher-ups. For one thing, the cameras were amazing and they had two of them--this made for more efficient shots of the party scene and it meant that they didn't have to lug one camera up and down the stairs to the other location and they could do set-ups while another scene was being shot. The director put me off at first; my first thoughts upon seeing her were "Cool, a girl director, this is new and awesome" and "Wow, this girl must have been really pissed when "Tik Tok" came out cuz she thought Ke$ha totally stole her style." She seemed really on top of things and organized as far as directing went, but I couldn't shake my impression that she was a little bit of a ditz somehow. Then she completely caught me off-guard at the end by coming up and giving me a hug and telling me I hadn't been overlooked. I was really impressed that she used my name. Most directors don't give a crap but I was really impressed that--whether she knew all along or had just asked someone before coming over--that she took the time to at least try to show that she cared. I have a lot of respect for that. Then she left after wrap at 8pm, and me and the rest of the Art Department were cleaning up the apartment until after 11pm. Whoever decided the party scene needed feathers, popcorn, and glitter was not the one who was going to clean it up. Tri-fecta of the art department's worst nightmare.
Meanwhile, I got another email from the professor at Cal State about the Mexico trip. He's still going, State Department be damned, and he's looking for takers. The rents say no, but I can't pass up an opportunity. The more time I spend in offices, the more I realize this is not the kind of life I could live for a long period of time. I really want to get out and do something new, experience something completely different. So I'm torn--not going on any trips would give me time with my family but going would give me a new insight on what I want to do with my life. So I don't know. The trip costs $500 and I told myself if I find a new job in the next two weeks at a decent rate, I will consider going on the trip.
As for the job search, I haven't heard back from many places--make that one--I have heard back from only one place. I went in for an interview at a beach club in Santa Monica. I think I intentionally flunked the interview though--as soon as the girl interviewing me (she looked like she was fresh out of high school) started talking about how working with kids is one of the best things in the world and how I would be go go go all day and would work all weekends until the beginning of June, I felt like this probably wasn't a good fit, especially since it only paid about 7-8 dollars per hour. They said they'd call if I fit the bill, but I'm pretty sure my lack of enthusiasm for the job showed thru--it's not that I don't like kids, I just don't know if I have the energy to keep them engaged for 8 hours a day (they described the job as literally dragging kids off the playground--to participate in activities like capture the flag and tug-o-war--the sort of thing I hated as a kid). I guess I'll just keep applying . . . or hope that more production gigs come my way.
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