July 27, 2002

No More

I'm in Katherine's tonight.

It's my last night of duty here.

I have only one thing to say about that: yay!

No more LE1. No more sleeping on an uncomfortable couch. No more hot-ass nights where the temprature outside is lower than that in the room that you're sleeping in. No more rounds on completely empty floors, where every sound makes you jump. No more loud basketall players to keep you from falling asleep at night. No more nights spent talking on the crackling phone. No more nights wishing someone would come visit you in your hell-room, and no one came (no one.)

It wasn't all bad, I guess...Rounds took 10 minutes, if that (comparison: CAJH took 20 minutes usually, minimum) and there were no duty logs.

Other than that, I'm just really really really tired. I haven't been sleeping well lately (probably my body getting back into synch for the coming school year) and the early mornings are killing me. The weather has been good though; its dropped like 20 degrees since the beginning of the week creating, for me, the perfect atmosphere in the evenings to sit at a picnic table and write. Thats where I'm headed now; its 20 degrees cooler outside than it is in here, and I have some blank paper sitting in my backpack.

And a pen.

Posted by Matthew at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)

July 25, 2002

'A Life for a Life'

from 'A Life for a Life':

Oh, the comfort-
the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person-
having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words,
but pouring them all right out,
just as they are,
chaff and grain together;
certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them,
keep what is worth keeping,
and then with the breath of kindness blow the rest away.
-Dinah Maria Mulock Craik (1826-1887)

I get an email each week with the "Poem of the Week." This one was just kinda pretty.

Posted by Matthew at 04:38 PM | Comments (0)

July 23, 2002

Celebrate, we will, for life is short but sweet for certain...

Saturday & Sunday
I went home on Friday night because my father had gotten tickets for the Orioles game on Saturday. I hadn't gotten down to Camden Yards for quite some time, and I really wanted to go. Was an excellent game; we had great seats on the lower level, right along the first base line. We left around the bottom of the 9th inning, figuring it would be over as we walked out; The game went for 14 innings, until after midnight. It was still on TV when we got home. The Orioles won.

The most incredible moment was during the 8th inning, when we moved over to the right field standing-room-only area. Someone (I forget who) hit a pop fly ball out in our direction. It was mesmerizing to stand there and watch the ball get larger and larger in this graceful arc above you until it fell just in front of the outfield wall. There was a scene like it in "For the Love of the Game," but after seeing it in real life, it didn't do it any justice.

Monday & Tuesday
Not much new going on... Monday was weird; getting up an hour and a half later to go to to work in Health Services instead of doing another Day One. It seems that community development will be pulling all returning RA input from training, which sucks because (at least the returners that are here for the summer from what I've been able to gauge) WANT to contribute to make this as excellent as possible.

La Salle is quiet, as it has been all summer. This week we're hosting a group of AP teachers - they've taken over Miguel and the upper floors of Katherine's. Last night it sounded like a "normal" school night when everyone is here - people talking, screaming, yelling, shouting at eachother, radios going, people walking outside, sitting on porches, talking, the usual. They were even using the Blue and Gold.

I'm on duty tonight, on what is supposed to be my last night in Katherines...unfortunately, I'm taking Friday night here as well, since no one else seemed to be able to do it. After Friday, theres one more night of duty - next Tuesday, but in Miguel, so my schedule doesn't change at all. Then home for a week, then move over to Jerome (sigh) then training then classes (double sigh).

I'm gonna write for a bit then get some sleep. Have a great week all.

Currently listening to: "Sorry About That," Alkaline Trio

Posted by Matthew at 11:11 PM | Comments (0)

July 18, 2002

They were only freshmen...

your fearless Day One heroes, ladies and gentlemen

Today sees the end of Day One for the class of 2006. Congratulations to the class and hosts: you both succeeded admirably: 850 freshmen advised, 850 sets of parents told to let go, 1700+ meals served, 60 cheers performed, 8 tired hosts who gave it their all to the degree that the assistant dean asked "I was wondering when you were going to lose your steam...and you never did."

It has been an incredible summer: the people that I've had the opportunity to meet and hang out with were great. I understand La Salle and Philadelphia more, making the coming year seem like a piece of cake. I have a new energy to approach studies and school. I now know the 10 people that I lived with in ways that I never thought that I would. There were things I did that I never knew I could do: stand in front of a group of 100+ parents and describe a vague concept so that they understood, stood in front of a group of my peers (the freshmen) and have them create a cheer to be performed, and then actually perform the cheer on stage in as creative a way as possible. I can only say "dang" at the feats performed in the last 3 months.

Its gonna feel weird on Monday not having to get up and do it again: we all knew it was the end, but for me at least, it hasn't set in. Its over: and all I got was 2 polo shirts.

I'm heading home on Friday night for an Orioles game on Saturday, and then coming back for duty on Sunday.

Summer went by too fast.

Posted by Matthew at 11:52 PM | Comments (0)

July 17, 2002

Angels

Sometimes it seems like an angel is put on Earth right when you need them most...not that kind of angel, someone so beautiful you want to remember them forever (although that happens too...) but one of those people who come out of nowhere to rescue you from your current mood. I went to dinner with one of them tonight, and then watched "16 Candles," which I had never seen before, and completely restored my faith in humanity as a whole. Individuals may come and go, but Mary proved that there are true friends around if one is willing to search. It just felt good to talk to someone again, who knew me, rather than someone who was just putting up with me.

I'm still confused - an upgrade from depressed - about a lot of things right now, but its no worse off than I've been in a long time. I think (and hope) that they work themselves out with my involvement.

Walking home, however, painted an interesting picture of what La Salle becomes over the summers: In the Miguel Community Center, a meeting for the LaSallian Leadership Institute was taking place. From what I can tell, its a bunch of high school teachers and administrators that come together to figure out how to apply the principles of La Salle to their work and their lives. The meeting was a social event, with drinks and stuff, in the big meeting room.

Walking through the hallway, I could hear the sounds of Spanish music, bringing me out to the other group of guests this week, the English as a Second Language teenagers from Spain. Everyone was just hanging out in front of their houses, talking, and listening to music. The high school administrators stared at the ESL students, and the ESL students glanced down at the LLI people a bit, and continued on. Matt Kalinowski taught (not really taught; because they knew a lot of them already) the students English curse words, and the ESL students translated into Spanish. Their knowledge outnumbered ours, as they kept referring to "South Park" and other movies.

We filled two sheets of paper with the words and their translations.

The tough part will be making copies.

I'm kidding....I think.

Currently listening to: "The Rising" by Bruce Springsteen.

Posted by Matthew at 12:08 AM | Comments (0)

July 16, 2002

Up Around The Bend

The thirteenth Day One is behind me. Spent the day with families, which proved rather uneventful. The major student concern is fitting in and seeming normal. The major parental concern is helping their child fit in and seem normal. Conflict lies where the disparity of those two sentiments meet: knowing where to let go and let things happen for either side.

I've been more contemplative lately, reexamining a couple of things with little success. I'm going on about a little depressed: while the summer has been so amazing in so many ways, there are a couple of lingering feelings that refuse to go away no matter what I tell myself. I'm not sure what the answers are to this...in some ways I feel so connected to everything and everyone, yet I still sometimes feel like an outsider even with the people I know best.

It could be that I'm just tired - I was on duty last night, and got MAYBE 2 hours of sleep.

It could be that the summer is winding down - people are doing their last hurrahs, and my choices being what they were for summer, have just been favored until now, and this is just the changing moods.

I think thats what it really is; the contrast of being with so many people lately, yet now so many are hard to remain in contact with. I hope thats all it is, and in some way hope that it resolves itself when school begins again.

So tired...quiet night of duty, but still got no sleep, due to the lumpy couch and lack of air conditioning. Off to bed.

Currently listening to: "Up Around the Bend," Credence Clearwater Revival

Posted by Matthew at 12:57 AM | Comments (0)

July 14, 2002

So take off all your clothes...

That song played 3 times today when we were out in the pool. 3 times; each time I sang along to what I remembered, and listened to Julia sing the rest.

Angie had a pool party over at her house for some Masque people. I forgot my bathing suit at La Salle, but still wound up going in with all my clothing on - its still drying now, as we speak. Tom, Dave, Nicki, Sabs, Munch, Matt E., Kristen, Amanda myself and Angie were the ones there. Nicki barbecqued, (quite well!) Angie baked, and the rest of us swam. We created at least a dozen whirlpools over the course of the afternoon in the roundness of the pool. Tom got Nicki back, after she and Angie had de-pantsed him in the costume room yesterday, removing both inner and outer layers of pants, when she was in her swimsuit. I did a rather large cannonball. Tom and Dave wrestled inside, and outside the pool.

After tiring of swimming, we went across the street to the park and swung on the swings (all of us), talked (all of us), rolled down hills (just me), smoked (just them), and ran from the cops: well, some of us ran (they were after some punk NE Philly kids breaking curfew. Punks.) and just generally hung out. Went back to Angie's house and made funnel cakes: the real, true carnival treats, that tasted fantastically like the "real" thing.

Incredible day, really really incredible. I haven't had this much fun in a long time. Pictures are uploaded, click here to get a directory listing - sorry, haven't had time to HTML-ify it all yet.

Sorry if this is kind of incomprehensible; I'm exhausted from the swimming, and the rolling down the hill...its really quite exhilirating, and recommend you all try it.

Posted by Matthew at 02:22 AM | Comments (0)

July 12, 2002

Summer...

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

(theres this georgous moon out tonight, and ya see...)

Fun day today: Health Services finally has gotten interesting. I've been able to amuse myself there actually doing work relevant to my job: previously, I had been shredding files from 1990 and before, which, if you've never tried it, is quite boring. Those Enron people must have had iron constitutions to get through it. However, the work has piled up to the point where it has to get done, so I've been enlisted to go through it. This whole new law passed, and we have precious little time to get ready for the effects of it. Its a good law; should help a lot, and is requiring something already mandatory at a lot of schools already.

Other than that, we cleaned the costume room. YOU CAN ACTUALLY SEE THE FLOOR. YOU CAN WALK FROM THE DOOR TO THE FAR WALL WITHOUT STEPPING ON CLOTHING. I've never seen it as "organized" as it is now (the organization, I fear, is still a mess, because we had to cut it all short...) I'll try and post a picture here soon showing how well cleaned it was. It was cool too, because a bunch of people came: Julia, Tom (Arnold), and Nicki, in addition to Angie and myself. Fun times.

Other than that, it should be a quiet weekend. Duty Sunday. D'oh.

Posted by Matthew at 11:24 PM | Comments (0)

July 10, 2002

...for great justice.

6:40AM - Wake Up.
6:45AM - Shower/Shave/Hair/Etc.
7:30AM - Show up for Day One.
4:00PM - Finish Day One. Go to meet with Admin. Services.
4:30PM - Admin. Services Meeting Finishes. Rush to North Dorms for Community Development Meeting.
4:35PM - Arrive CD Meeting.
6:00PM - Arrive Back in Miguel after CD Meeting. Begin working on "Living at La Salle" Flyer (due tomorrow)
7:00PM - Save work. Go to Miguel SDR Booth for SDR Break.
8:30PM - Finish SDR Break. Return to D8 to work on flyer.
9:00PM - Staff Meeting in Miguel.
10:00PM - Return to Room, finish flyer.
11:00PM - Email finished flyer off. Done.

Collapse.

I thought summer was supposed to be a little more restful...

(you'll notice that the quote again has nothing to do with my entry. If you know where the quote comes from (ZIG!) then you have WAY too much time on your hands.)

Posted by Matthew at 10:58 PM | Comments (0)

July 09, 2002

Keen!

I heard 2 different people use that word today; one in a graphic for community development, and one person on Day One. It struck me as odd, just because I haven't heard it used in a really long time. It was, however, a Keen! day.

Day One went REALLY well. I worked the parents group today; and they were excellent: lots of good questions with answers that I could come up with easily. Also had 2 wonderful moments navigating people for after Day One: one using SEPTA, and one to get to I-95 South. (yeah, not that hard, but baby steps...) We didn't win the cheer; but, eh; its all good.

Also worked on getting rid of the Ants that have invaded my kitchen. They nested in my sponge in the sink; really disgusting to look at. Ran to Acme, bought "traps/killers" for them and a big can of Raid. They're still there, however their numbers are dwindling and I am confident my latest assault was successful.

Other than that, a really nice day to have gone back to work to.

Now if I could get a game or 2 of tennis going...

Posted by Matthew at 12:15 AM | Comments (0)

July 07, 2002

...because the stakes are so small.

The quote has nothing to do with my entry; the entry is going to play catch-up for a week's worth of stuff. The quote refers to a friend's dilemma concerning morality and a brick wall. Perhaps I'll expand on this later.

After my last entry on Saturday night the stuff hit the fan. It got bad very quickly: total for the night, 2 Incident Reports, 3 residents who I hope don't remember me during the school year. The camp really seemed to mess the place up; random little things broken, trash strewn through hallways. Sad.

I sprained my ankle on Saturday night too. Fell down a half flight of stairs, and landed really wrongly. Its just about healed now, still feels a little bit weird in the mornings.

My vacation was extremely relaxing: did very little of anything, except sleep, and visit with friends. I saw "Minority Report" - very cool film; Spielberg has this interesting view of the future; between AI and Minority Report, it seems we'll all be driving sideways cars and having jetpacks and stuff. Intriguing.

I saw a bunch of old friends: Brendan, Tiffany, Lauren, John, Chris, etc. Was in Gaithersburg for July 4th and 5th hanging out at my uncle's pool with my dad. Found a copy of the Gaithersburg Gazette, and also was able to find a copy of my friend, Ali's (who had an internship there for the summer), article about "Fun in Clarksburg After the Fourth."

The most impressive thing (in my opinion anyhow) that I did was read: I got through about 1500 pages in two books, "The Sum of All Fears" and "Without Remorse"
." Both by Tom Clancy. I can't reccomend them highly enough; I was addicted to them. They continue the Jack Ryan series started in "Patriot Games" and "Hunt for Red October." It gets overly technical, yes, but thats kind of fun; by about page 200, you know what passages to skip without losing the gist of the book. I was up until 4:30am today reading "Without Remorse."

If only I could do that with my school textbooks. sigh.

Anyhow, I'm reinvigorated for Day One - 7:30 tomorrow morning, bright and early, families, (I'm family host 1) here I come.

Currently Reading: Either:

Posted by Matthew at 11:48 PM | Comments (0)