Never Going To Beat This Summer With You

How you doin'? (say that in your best mobster/new yorker accent)

They do pronounce it like that. It's subtle but it's there.

Ok so it's not THAT bad here in Albany, but there is a definite accent from most people I talk to. And out of all the people I have met so far only one person (my boss, who is not from New York, but from Georgia) knew that Southern Illinois did not mean Chicago.

Sigh. Everywhere you go. Geography is seriously a very underrated school subject. One woman looked at me, laughed and then said she couldn't even try to pick out that state on a map, that she knew it was just 'somewhere out west'.

Umm. Well. I mean. There are 49 other states. That's a lot to keep track of sure. But most states are indeed "west" of New York. We are on the "East Coast"...so yes, you are technically right. and you have a college education...

Anyway, I had my first day today and it was a good day. Even though I got tired right around 3:00pm and wanted to take a nap...It's day one guys, don't judge.

It's so true though! I get crankier than a two year old without their blankie.

I got on payroll, got a new email, a parking decal, a Faculty and Staff ID badge, a new office that is MINE with 2 computer screens and a desk and a door that shuts and locks and means I can keep people out and buckle down if I want without interruptions. After working in a very crowded student office and a desk just out in the open meaning having to respond to the public like a secretary, dropping everything I'm doing just for them (when we had capable secretaries in the back of the office...the back?? makes sense...never understood that) for the last 4 years this is FANTASTIC. Probably the most excited thing about my day was opening and shutting my door. It's the little things, folks. The little things.

The real work will start later in the week, the paperwork stuff had to happen first so my first day was more or less not what a typical day will look like but hey, it's a start.

And for the next two days, the other Assistant Director, myself and our Director and Associate Director are headed to a pre-conference/training/check out different Rec Center (in the rec field we do this. A lot. We like to brag and show off our facilities if we got them.) in Long Island so I won't even get the chance to really settle into my new office just yet. But that's alright because it'll give me a chance to blog about my summer adventures.

You may all think I write for you, but in actuality I write for me. I often look back and it's like a diary or a box of postcards from different times and points in my life (and think how bad my grammar was or how naive and young and silly I sound) and look back mostly with fondness.

So. Summer. Summer of 2015. Let's begin. We know I went to concerts. We know I got a roommate. And we know that I spent some time at the pool. We know I got a job.

Other things I did this summer include-
Going back home for my brother's graduation.
Getting a tattoo.
Renting an apartment without a co-signer.
Volunteered at the animal hospital/shelter.
Worked out. A lot.
Lost weight.
Hanging out with my Rec GA friends.
Hiking in Southern Illinois.
Swimming in creeks and lakes in Southern Illinois.
Playing hours and hours of yahtzee until 3am with my roommate.
Going to friends' gigs and listening to them play banjos at local bars.
Singing karaoke for the very first (and most likely last) time.
Teaching my roommate how to drive.
Learning how to cook. Cook better in a different way I should say.
Kicking him out.
Letting him stay.
I loved.
I fought.
I lost.
I cried. Happy and sad and mad and sometimes just no reason tears.
I moved 975 miles farther away.
And I laughed. I laughed with my close friends and we enjoyed our one and only summer together.

It was perfectly not perfect, adventuresome and boring, productive and lazy, nostalgic and new and spontaneous.

Never going to beat this summer.

My Rec GA friends became the only friends I really had left in town. So we hung out a lot. We went to sunset concerts and made homemade mojitos (that were the best mojitos I had ever had) and played board games while people watching and listening to some funky blues. Then they dragged me to a karaoke bar and after a few more glasses of liquid confidence they were able to get me up on stage to sing. Naturally I wasn't going to sing alone but we had to choose a song everyone knew, had a good hook and would make it not so weird. What better song than Sweet Caroline?? Everyone loves to sing the "Sweeeeeet Caaarroooliinneeee Bah Bah Baaaahhh" part.
It was a hit. Obvi. And we all learned I can't sing at all. Like absolutely no future in entertaining for me.
But it was a great night with dancing and laughter and even a little drama to send me off. (Drinking man...just a bad idea for hotheads looking to fight) but it was super fun. I loved every minute of it.

I also spent part of the summer teaching my roommate how to drive. He's another GA and never really needed to learn before. Grew up in a different country in a big city and it wasn't the norm to drive like it is in the states. So one night we went to get some frozen yogurt at a place open late and then we went to a big mall parking lot and he got behind the wheel. He was super nervous but he did alright. I helped teach my younger siblings how to drive so I kinda knew how to teach him. At the very end though we must have freaked the mall cops out since we were just circling and randomly stopping and going, trying to park, etc. all late at night and they came and turned on their little flashy lights at us and asked if we were ok. After explaining that he was just learning how to drive she laughed and told him good luck and to keep practicing. Mall cops...just let us drive in the empty parking lots in peace! We did that a couple of times and then we even got brave and drove on some back roads. On time, he didn't notice this family of raccoons in the road and I know realize why the drivers ed teacher has a brake on his side of the car. He stopped in time but it was hilarious and scary and I totally was that girl screaming to stop and braking with my invisible brake really really hard. He was pretty nervous after that but he's a good driver. Night time driving is hard when you're first learning too if you don't remember. Lights, hard to see lines, and trying to avoid nighttime critters? Not exactly easy when you're just trying to figure out how to steer.

They may be cute but they're sneaky little bastards.

But we had a lot of laughs learning how to drive and some fights too but he got pretty good at it and we would go for a few hours and not even realize that he had been driving around a Lowe's parking lot practicing his parking and stops the whole time. I hope that he passes his test soon. I love to drive and it's a very free feeling, knowing that you can go anywhere and to be in control just you, a two ton vehicle and the road and it's a valuable skill to have.

We went to a place called Inspiration Point, only we had to go wayyyy off the trail to get to it. Like, bush-whacking, trail blazing, just kinda go through the middle of the forest on the side of a mountain. Ok not a super tall mountain but I don't do heights. And there were a few times were you would look back and just see the only way down was probably meaning you were going to have to roll. Or really like the idea of getting lost in the woods (as a logger's daughter this was a very real fear of mine and my parents' growing up) ain't my cup of tea either. And to top it off I got stung by a wasp, eaten alive by mosquitos and spiders. Yay. But it was all worth it when we reached the top. You got to look out on this beautiful valley of farms and little towns in Southern Illinois. I didn't bring my phone so no photos (it wouldn't have made the trip up) but it was breath taking at sunset. And so worth the hike up. A very fitting name, Inspiration Point. We met up with some mutual friends up there and spent the evening fighting away mosquitos, listening to them play banjos and ukuleles. It was kinda weird but kinda really cool too. I spent most of the time watching the sunset and thinking about how I would miss these people and this place. And that I was thankful to be able to take some time and really enjoy the beauty without a lens and to appreciate how blessed I was to be up there in that moment with some really genuine, good people. And that made it all the more beautiful.

Inspiration Point with some hillbilly musicians. I stole this photo.

I still have to pack for my trip with my new co-worker and bosses so I'll stop here for the night. I'll continue my summer stories from the road. Still working on that name. Maybe I'll get some inspiration from my new Rec peeps.

To be continued!