Ohio or Bust!

So this last weekend I went to Columbus, Ohio. Why?

Well… I kinda had a mini major melt down. It was at the beginning of last week and it was a mixture of things; I got really home sick, I didn't do that well on my finance test nor my case write up and work literally felt like I was the only one doing anything or cared and it wasn't going as planned and that everyone thought I wasn't capable. And other things with silly drama (seriously high school antics never end and it's super annoying) and etc. baloney things that really don't matter in the long run but they matter right now to me.

My independence is my number one priority in life, to not be able to do something or to be seen as incapable is the worst feeling in my mind. I abhor it when someone says that I can't or maybe doesn't say that verbatim but it's implied I can't handle it. It's the biggest slap in the face. But I was struggling. And I know I can't always do everything on my own. And that I need to ask questions. And I am getting better. But it's a work in progress. And I care a lot for my job. Too much that it never leaves me. I bring work home, to class, I'm constantly thinking about it. And when other people don't care as much I take it as a personal attack. Yes, that is wrong. I know this now. Like I said, I'm working on it. I'm 22. I'm far from perfect and I'll have a lot of time to hone my skills and emotions since I'll be working for at least another 50 years. I hope.

But it was a really rough last couple of days/weeks. And I was supposed to go to a basketball tournament but instead I did what Marissa would normally never ever do, I did something that was in the best interest for Marissa. I called and apologized but explained I couldn't make it and then called my cousin, and asked if I could come visit.

And I took a holiday.

It was perfect. No it wasn't on the beach. I didn't have room service or massages or tanned or any of that.
Nope, I was thrust into a stereotypical American family's life and revolved around all the activities of the children from dance, school choir, homework and a Valentine's party for an all girl middle school, 150 super hyper 9-14year old girls eating candy and making paper hearts and doing cake walks and an obstacle course (ran by yours truly) to an indoor track meet at Ohio State (it was for high schoolers), basketball games, going to the movies, singing off key to Katy Perry and other top 40 hits, getting excited because the cute boy liked so-n-so's instagram picture and gossiping about who kissed who at ski club.

Whoa. Kids these days…

They are def not on drugs. But sometimes you wonder why those Trix are JUST for kids…ya know what I'm saying? Coo-coo for cocoa puffs? More than a theory think about it.

But it was so much fun and I didn't look at my email once. I turned just about everything off and tried to just be me again. I think it worked.

I got to meet some other family as well. The cousin's I stayed at, also have more extended family, a brother and his family so yay more family time! I went over and had dinner with them. The kids are 5 and 8 so just stinking cute and much more tolerable than toddlers. The youngest, who is 5 showed me the whole house and her room which included her own personal doctor's office. It had a desk, a planner, and medical books. The 5 year old had a book on anatomy, (kid you not, with pictures and everything) and medicine and other things on the human body. She had cotton swabs, band aids a full on first aid kit right there at her 'office'. I asked if she wanted to be a doctor and she looked at me like I was the most oblivious person in the world.
"Actually, I want to be a pharmacist."

Excuse me I won't make that mistake again.

Dream big, kid. Dream big.

The 5 year old has more of a plan than I do! Talk about motivated! I was thoroughly impressed. And a little disappointed with my own life. I'm pretty sure my biggest issue at 5 was if I got to wear my overalls or my favorite pink shirt (90's kid probs) I then was introduced to the big brother. The older brother is very much into birds and he asked me what my favorite bird was. "I think the robin."
"Oh ok, you must mean the American Robin. My favorite is the Ivory Double Crested Woodpecker."

Oh. Yeah. Right, that's one of my favorites too.

He also likes legos, sharks (he knows the real names for those too) and tornados. Like every 8 year old. Duh, Marissa.

WHAT

My cousins are seriously super smart. And they've only been alive for about 1/4 as long as I have. Think about that…they were born in the 2000's. I remember all of the 2000's. My closest cousin was born in 99. That doesn't even count as a 90's baby really. God I'm getting old. And apparently I got the bad side of the genes, sheesh.

But it was a blissful weekend and I was sad to go. Dang school and work, ruining my fun screaming the lyrics to Pharrell's song Happy and Bruno Mars Treasure and finding out who likes who and how so-n-so got asked to the dance…life was so much easier back then but we thought it was such a big deal.

Funny how that works, in the moment it's paramount, it's do-or-die, it's not NBD, it is most certainly a BIG FLIPPING DEAL.
And then we grow up and look back and laugh. Or shake our head out of embarrassment. I hope one day I look back on this moment right now and think, 'Wow. I was such a silly, young girl. What was I worried about??'

One day.

I had just gotten back to Illinois and like clock work I got a text from my boss, "You back yet?"

He's got a sixth sense. It's seriously freaky.

"Almost, just hit the state line. I'm coming home."

And now to make sure that I don't take everything so do-or-die and to get to that point of growing up and start to better myself so that I can get where I can look back and think "All that worrying for nothing. C'mon Marissa. You were fine and made it out alive."

To be continued!

Just a Quickee

Hi there,

Just a really short blog update today but it was too funny, too good not to share.

Well 3 things.

1: Overheard today: Girl A- So, like, I mean, he was nice today. Like an angel. I don't get it.
Girl B- *GASP* What?! No way! Why??
Girl A- Ya way! And idk. Like, I just asked if he would be around and I figured, like, I wouldn't like get a text back.
Girl B-And…he did?
Girl A- Ya! He texted back saying he was busy then but planned on grabbing lunch and would meet up after. And then-
Girl B- Stopppp.
Girl A- Wait! It get's better! And THEN he asked if I wanted anything!
Girl B- Shut up!!!
Girl A- YA! So I'm thinking it has to be like 1 of 3 things.
Girl B- That's so weird! Wait what?
Girl A- I know, right? So weird, but ya, like 1 of 3 deals. 1, he got some and so that made him happy.
Girl B- Oh you think with-
Girl A- not going there, but maybe. 2, he fuq-ed up real bad. Like real real bad and he's trying to make up for it.
Girl B- Ooooooohhh
Girl A- but like he didn't say anything about that. so maybe not. like no idea. or 3, he's just having an off day. like, you know, had good news or like i don't know something. Like I don't know. It could be any of those things. Like any.
Girl B- Do you think he'll stay this way?
Girl A- I sure hope so. Whatever you're doing, like, keep doing it. It's so bizarre. Like, I just can't…
Girl B- Mmm, ya that's so weird. Maybe he did get with that one girl.
Girl A- I like didn't know how to respond and like all day, he was just so nice. It was great but really weird.

And then I couldn't hear any more.

HILARIOUS. I loved her 3 reasons. And I don't know who this guy was to her, I'm thinking a boss or coworker but it was soooo hard not to start crying from laughing.

2.
*disclaimer! No actual threats were made in this story.

My staff and I are holding training for the bball refs again, to prepare for playoffs, just get better etc. We held it on Sunday and had a very dismal showing. I was PISSED. I had told them all with plenty of notice and I had more sups than refs. Livid is putting it lightly. Luckily, my boss was there and helped me out. I could barely talk I was so mad so he jumped in and salvaged it. I got to work on that, that is for sure, but it turned out to not be that bad.

But now we are holding more trainings for those who missed because they aren't getting out of this one. So I normally send mass texts to my sups asking for help because that's the best way to get their attention. Here ensued another hilarious convo-

Me- Hey guys, we're holding another training since the last one was less than stellar so if anyone can help that'd be great.
Sup1: Sure deal boss, I'm down to drop a knowledge bomb.

(I ignore this, I work with 18-22year olds maturity isn't always our strong suit)

Sup2: Dude, we did learn how to respond to an active shooter in training, you better think twice about making threats like that, or we'll take you out, we're trained.

(we really did have training on what to do if there is a shooter on campus. the cop did say that if you felt you could take him down, do it. But Sup1 couldn't hurt a fly let alone make such a threat nor any of my sups*)

Sup3: You'll lose that battle 9 out of 10 times, bro. Fact.
Sup1: Oh really. And can you verify those facts hmmm?? dude???
more sarcastic banter back and forth….

There you have it ladies and gentleman, these are the people that I HAVE to claim as my staff, my pride and joy, my underlings.

This is what I deal with everyday. Never ever a dull moment. Good thing laughing is one of my favorite things to do.

3. I'm headed to Columbus, OH to spend my weekend with some cousins. So I'll be spending my Valentine's Day in a 4th grade classroom handing out valentine cookies, and stickers and playing musical chairs with a bunch of sugar-high 10year olds (my cousin's kids are that age) I couldn't think of a better way to spend it right now.
Sorry boys, I know I'm disappointing a lot of you by not being around, don't bother getting those roses or chocolates...maybe next year.
(JOKES #foreveralone)

To Be Continued!

Thanks a lot, Punxsutawney Phil

In case you don't know who Punxsutawney Phil is…

It's this little bastard who determines whether or not we get an early spring or 6 weeks of more winter all because he can or cannot see his shadow.

Right…makes sense.

So Phil the ground hog saw his shadow on Feb. 2nd, Ground hog Day. And I'm thinking this may be actually a legit way to see into the future. Because this winter sucks and not 3 days after Phil scurried around running from his shadow, we got blasted by another storm, an ice storm. Thanks, Phil, really appreciate it dude. Ice on the roads were projected to be so bad local schools shut down BEFORE any bad weather hit. Not my school, oh no that'd be too convenient. 

But the ice was SUPER bad. And it came really fast. It was just a normal, albeit frigid, day when I went to school and work. Not 4 hours later, it gets dark and ice starts to fall and in 5 hours it's a struggle to just walk outside it's so slick. And then driving?? I managed to pull into my parking lot and then proceeded to slide all the way over a curb and into a dumpster. Yeah…don't go over 7miles an hour apparently was a memo I did not receive. Poor Pearl has a little bit of a scratch now, no other damage thank goodness. It's like driving on a hockey rink and let's just say this Cali girl wasn't leaving anytime soon. Eff that crap.

Some classes did get canceled because night classes with ice, cold and the dark roads is never a fun ordeal and they knew a ton of people would just not show anyway.

But as fun as that is to get class canceled, it's not snow, it's not fluffy, it's hard and encases your car and everything that is outside, you can't build a snowman, you don't want any skin exposed because it's so cold your body literally is in pain if you're outside too long, and it just down right SUCKS. If I can't ski on it, it's not worth it. It's so flat and it's just ice and it's super sucky.

But before this storm hit, and all the news channels had advisories, and every single person was talking about it, WannaBe thought "Hey, let's play flag football outside in the ice and snow. That's fun! We'll spend all day outside in the cold playing football. It'll be great!" and he did the really great job of saying it aloud and an even better job of pitching it to the boss.

WHAT

Almost word for word what I told WannaBe about his brilliant idea.

But the Boss guy ok'ed it and we got busy quickly pushing it on every level. 4 days to plan a completely impromptu tournament? Get people excited about playing outside in the snow and ice and freezing temps? Who wouldn't want to do that?? Apparently just me.

Before I get to all that Snow Bowl football fun allow me to side track a bit. During the week we still had basketball, which is going rather well, (*knock on wood) for now. My newbie officials are still very young and very green and every time I put them on for a Men's A game I feel like I'm sending my rookies to the wolves. But they are learning and I love it when I take them aside at half time to go over what else to work on and then I see them try it. To see them actively try and ask questions and then administer what they learn on the court…best feeling in the world. It's little wins like that, which remind me why I do what I do. I start beaming like a proud parent and I may look silly, but they have come so far from their first days when they couldn't even blow a whistle. They are the best part of my job.

On the school side, it was a relatively easy week, with only a geo quiz. Yeah, like geo as in geography like I had to memorize each country of Africa and where it is located. I vaguely remember doing this in 4th grade so while listening to Shakira's "This is Africa" song I played a country matching game online that's meant for grade school kids but I'm in 17th grade so I think it counts. 

All 55 countries from Algeria to Zimbabwe, I got it on lock. I sometimes would practice in the office which was a real treat for my boss and everyone else. Got 55/55 though!

On Friday, some business school friends and I wanted to celebrate our 55 points all thanks to home girl Shakira, so we went out. I met them at the bar and as I was a little late, I found them already with a group of people but not anyone I knew, but then I noticed one of the guys sitting there…

Ummm aren't you my accounting teacher?

Yeah! Hey! How's it going? Here, have a seat, come join us! Want a drink? I'm getting shots!

Again...WHAT

So yeah. That happened. We spent the evening chatting and laughing and I actually had a lot of fun. One of my better nights in my time here. I love grad school. I get to hang out with friends who happen to also teach me accounting. And they buy everyone shots. And then you buy everyone shots. And then you all go out to the dance floor and make a fool of ourselves but it's hilarious and you're all too intoxicated to really care that much.

Now let me go back to the flag football tourney in the snow, dubbed the Snow Bowl, naturally. Day before we thought we had gotten everything ready to go in the am. Funny how even with a check list and more than 1 person that never ends up being the case.

I told my boss that even though it wasn't my tourney, I'd go and check on it. It didn't start really early so that was a plus, but when I got to the field only players were there, no sup. Hmmm, odd. This isn't good. I figure they are running behind they might be en route. Get to the Rec, all of the stuff is still there, where we had left it the night before. Cue instantaneous head ache.

Daddy always said, rely on yourself and no one else.

No. Not cool. We were supposed to start in 13 minutes, where the heck is everyone!?! After sharing a few choice words with WannaBe, the sup shows up and we get into salvage mode. And to add to being late, we grabbed the wrong keys, couldn't find flags, or footballs for the longest time and we started about 45min behind schedule. I strive for perfection but it was just one of those, "can we do anything right?" kind of mornings. Thank goodness it was a bunch of dudes wanting to play and they didn't care too much about their saturday plans. We get games going and soon it's fine. We actually get back on schedule. Yet it's cold. But you can tell everyone is having a blast. Something about football and snow, just makes you wanna play. I even ran around and slipped and slid trying to play catch. I actually like playing in the snow and some of my best memories were playing softball in the snow in high school. I just don't like the whole it's 16 degrees out. I'll take above 30 thanks. 

After things were settled and running more smoothly, I spent the rest of the day with Kaylee as we both are trying to renovate and decorate our apartments. She has a sunny yellow, green theme going and an adorable floral couch now that looks like it is from 1968 and I have a beach house, nautical theme (go figure, I would want some sun and sand in all of this wintery crap) going on in my apartment. We're going off of ideas from pinterest and it's pretty fun. A perfect way to just stop the madness for a bit and just think, hmm should I get the seashell lamp or buy the anchor to hang on my wall? Pure bliss.

I wasn't planning on going out last night but then surprise, did. and it was fun, met up with the girls, our blonde squad and had a good time singing along to cover songs and realizing that I may have to invest in some plaid while I'm here, since 99% of the people last night were in plaid. This cali girl may start to accept the country side of her life a bit more thanks to good ol' So. Ill. I voluntarily changed my radio to a country station earlier…what is happening to me?!? I guess if I can't beat them, might as well join them. Yeehaw?

To be continued!

Michigan. The Frozen Mitten State Part 3!

Happy Snow Day!

It's snowing, or should I say 'icing' since ice is falling from the sky and it's not the pretty white fluffy stuff. But that's ok, because class got canceled woo!!

Ok, let's finish this long drawn out Michigan story out of the way and soon, since I'm headed BACK to Michigan in less than 2 weeks for a Basketball Tourney. Fun fun!

Last day…after spending the night having fun with old friends and new at the social we go back to the really uncomfortable gym floor of the IM sports building at Univ. of Michigan. Ugh. I could feel myself get sick, I was so sleep deprived and my immune system was probably shot.

But ya gotta get up and go at these deals! Sleep when you're dead right?

We only had a 1/2 day left at the conference and yours truly was asked to be on a panel that would be talking about Graduate Assistantships. OOH! I get to talk about me and myself and my job? My favorite topic!

But I was kinda nervous, the audience was going to be mostly undergrads asking questions about GA's, what to expect, is it hard, etc.
Part of me wanted to just stand up and say "What to expect as a 1st year GA? Nothing. Don't expect anything because if you do, you'll be wrong." That's really the truth. There has not been a SINGLE moment out here that I have thought would happen other than I vaguely knew it would be hard and that I'd be ok.

Boy. I sure wish I had a me last year to pull me aside and say "You're an absolute idiot for doing this. But you have to. It's going to suck. And it's going to be rewarding. It's going to be worth it. It's going to make you feel defeated. It's going to make you feel like you're on top of the world. You have to be crazy to pack up and move away from familiarity and thrust yourself into a strange and foreign place with new faces, new cultures, new surroundings, everything. But you're going to love it. Because you are crazy. But that's ok. And you will make it."

I didn't say all of that in the panel. It was a question and answer type of discussion, and I gave my spiel on how ya, I moved really far away and it's different. But if I could get into the field without the right major, the right experiences, the right region even, anyone can. The panel went really well, and I got to talk about how I do love my job, that I'm not only an outsider because I'm not a midwesterner but I'm not studying rec and I don't have a background in rec either. The general theme that all of us GA's had up there talking was about how it's going to be an adjustment but it's worth it and that we all were happy with where we are at. And afterwards, I talked to some students personally and handed out my card (I feel so official and professional with those! such a rush saying "Here, have my card.")

Around the end, we said all of our good byes and than hit the open road. We were all super tired but couldn't help but talk about the conference, what we liked, who we met, who we thought did well with their presentations, etc. It's like walking out of a movie you just watched with friends, you're all just talking about your favorite scenes and moments and you're giddy and the real world just doesn't seem like it's really real just yet because you're still somewhat tied to that big screen and everything that happened and you're still processing it all.

And then we saw how crappy the weather was and we got forced into the real world real fast. The drive was scary, as it was icy, and we saw a lot of cars that had lost control and ended up on the side of the road. A few crashes along the way too. One of the guys I met at the conference was texting me throughout letting us know about any major traffic jams due to crashes as he and his school had left before we did. The whole time I felt like we were apart of a National Geographic documentary on the Great White North of Canada, or some snowy tundra as we trekked it across the ever so flat state of Indiana. So cold, icy and dangerous but so snowy and pretty with how the sun hit the snow covered plains.

Finally we got back to Carbondale around 10ish. It took us about 10 hours to get back home. Gag. But when you're with good company, the trip doesn't seem so bad. And I'm so glad that I got to go, if only to say that I'm closer to my coworkers and staff. Sure the conference was fun, but I will remember the car ride probably more so than any of the actual presentations I saw.

The next day I woke up with the worst cold. It was so bad, I thought I had the flu. I was nauseous, achy, coughing, stuffy nose, everything. Told ya, I'd get sick. So I slept a lot. And then went to the doctor. I was convinced that I had H1N1 as I didn't get the flu shot (regrets) but after listing my symptoms she goes "Well, as I am a doctor and it sounds like someone has been reading WebMD a little too much, let me check you out." Oops. Turns out, it was just a severe case of the common cold. How anticlimactic. I thought I was legitimately dying and should be under quarantine and here it's just a really bad case of the sniffles. She did advise me to not sleep on any gym floors in the near future. Duly noted, Doc.

So I stayed home, drank enough oj to kill a horse and slept. I missed class and my boss asked if I could make it into work but after I croaked on the phone he was like stay right there. He's kind of a germ-a-phobe so I wouldn't say he was taking pity on me, he was saving his own health.

My staff tried really hard not to disturb me while I was sick *coughyeahright* but I did get a few, what the heck do i do texts. Makes me feel like I am needed though, so I'll take it.

I was able to function more normally the following day, and went to class. Finance. Oh wait, I forgot, there was a quiz that day. Cool. I literally didn't study at all and was pretty sure that the nyquil hadn't worn off yet I was still fairly groggy, and well, frankly, high on meds. (I promise, Mom, it was cough medicine for real!)

I got a B on that quiz. *fist pump*

It was a struggle that day though and the rest of the week as I was constantly tired and coughing. But I am officially out of it now and rested up and ready to tackle anything. Like a snow storm. And an impromptu Flag Football Tourney to played in the Snow, the Snow Bowl that will hopefully be wayyyyy better than the very lack luster Super if-you-can-even-call-it-that Bowl. The commercials were so so too. But yeah. We'll be out playing flag football in the snow. I don't think I'll tell my doc about this one.

To Be Continued!

My favorite t-shirt I saw at a Michigan gas station. I'm a sucker for corny jokes.

Michigan, The Frozen Mitten State Part 2

What a week…

I'm fighting off a horrible cold, IM basketball feels like it has literally taken up my entire life (no surprise there) and I have way too much homework that I'm obviously putting off. Gag.

But…I'm not going to talk about that, I still have to tell about my Michigan experience!

So Day 2.

Day 2 involved us getting up ridiculously early to get a shower in before there was a line of girls to use the little locker room showers. I was supposed to help out in the AM with the conference. At these deals, they have the students help out with some of the duties, and we randomly get selected to help out at meal times, to keep sessions going, registration, whatever they need. I was volun-told to do "Towel service". What the heck? Do I hand out towels to people? Am I doing laundry?? Oh joy. Whatever it was I had to be up BEFORE showers were open, naturally. So ready to go by 6am. Ok cool. Anyone that knows me knows well that I do not 'do' mornings. Mornings are meant for sleep.

But I get up, sneak a shower in since it's not technically open yet and report to the front desk for "Towel Service". The girl there looks at me like I'm insane. "Ummm..we just put a pile of towels by the door and have a hamper for the used ones. We don't have a person do it."

Score! But wait, you mean to tell me I didn't have to wake up at the ungodly hour of 5am in order to do this "volunteer" job that was so necessary??

Whatever.

We bounce from the rec and head to the building where the actual conference is taking place. It's snowing and it's typical Michigan-esque weather. Flipping freezing. Not business casual wear but that's what were in. Ever try wearing flats in the snow? Don't. Frost bite will occur. Thank goodness tall boots are in.

We spend the day attending various sessions, learning about other universities and how they run programs, etc. And I went to a bunch that I think I can actually take what was offered and then use it for SIU, I already have prepped a few ideas to pitch to the BossMan. And everyone is networking like CRAZZYYYY. People asking about jobs for those 2nd year GAs who are done after this semester, the senior undergrads asking about new openings for a GAship at schools, etc. It's a political game. Yeah we like sports and recreation. But oh man, it is full of shmoozing, shaking hands, oh you know so-n-so, I do too, oh he goes to such-n-such that's a good program, oh she goes to whatcha-ma-callit and there in a decent program…blah blah.

I should be a pro. I was a flipping political science major at UC Davis. I can talk to people. I can be social. But I hate it. I don't know how to do it on this level. It's a dance and I am all too aware that I have 2 left feet and am getting left behind. But I tried though. I talked to people who we would like to apply for the new opening in IMs. I talked to people who weren't interested too. I handed out my business card. I introduced my director to people I had met at tournaments. I went to info sessions about how to develop professionally. I asked questions, I answered questions.

It is such an exhausting job. If you have ever seen Toy Story, where Barbie comes on at the end and she's smiley and happy and waving bye and then she thinks no one is watching and goes "Oh my gosh my cheeks hurt from smiling so much." That was so me. Yeah smiling too much is definitely a thing.

The best thing about that whole day was getting to talk to my own SIU staff and getting to see the guys from the tournaments I went to last semester. The great thing about it is that we don't miss a beat we say hi, hug, ask how it's going and the problems that we all have dealt with in this field and the ups of it all too. And now that I have been here for a little bit, I'm slowly starting to recognize more and more people and I think they are starting to recognize me too. I knew one person in this region before moving out here and that's only because we randomly somehow met at the national conference in Las Vegas. We had even gotten drinks together at Vegas as a little celebration for me that I had got a job offer but get this, that wasn't the job I'm at now. Oops. But I got to talk to her again and she's moving and shaking things and I hope that my resume can one day be half as long as hers. She was nice enough to introduce me to even more people and I'm hoping that I'm no longer a random Cali girl that know one sees. That's the way to get a job after all is said and done. It's not what you know, it's who you know and the more cards I can collect, the better I'll be off right? Here's to hoping so.

That night we split up into different groups for dinner. We were in the first group that got to visit the University of Michigan's facilities. No not the rec, their athletic facilities. Yep. The Big House.

It's so big I couldn't get a photo of it all.

And they let us onto the field!

The Tunnel!

Snowy and FREEZING but so worth it!

And in my excitement to get out on the field I ran a little fast and well…I ended up eating it on the field of the Big House. I'm so graceful, it's a wonder I don't end up in the hospital more. So now I have a bruise on my hip from it (that's kinda cool right?) and I was covered in Michigan snow (that's kinda cool right??). No, Marissa. It's not that cool, you're a klutz.

Still happy even through the snow and the pain! You can't tell but I'm SOAKED on my left side. (That was a Big Blue bruise. haha see what I did there??)

Yeah we did it wrong…like any of us actually play football though(guilty).

A requirement of being a GA…be weird. And laugh. A lot.

And they let us into the locker room too. There's so many M's all over. Not complaining. M's my fav naturally and so if I walk around, it's kinda like I own the place. Little tributes to Marissa all over the city. I can hang.

M stands for Marissa not Michigan, obvi. (I almost stepped on it, and made the tour guide have a heart attack.)

We went to the basketball stadium too, Crisler Arena. We didn't get to see the court but it's a pretty majestic (m adjectives are a must) place with a indoor fountain and waterfall. To say Michigan is into themselves is needless to say. Still cool though.

Then we went to dinner at this tiny little pub in down town Ann Arbor. It was too much fun. Why? We weren't sitting with anyone new, just our little group of SIU people and no one seemed to want to join us but that was fine, we had a blast! I don't think I had ever laughed so hard for so long in a really really long time. The other GAs and even pro staff were just cracking jokes, and letting loose. We bought round after round and we soon became the obnoxiously loud group tucked away in a corner. But it was so cool to just laugh with colleagues and supervisors. Our supervisors are funny as hell! They're just as silly and sarcastic, even if they have legit jobs and are "professional". They can hang! The giggling never stopped. And I came to love my job so much more.

We ended up back in our lovely ancient rec center, back in the gym, on the ground. I was so tired but couldn't get comfy enough. Ugh. I know I complain a lot but I never want to sleep on a gym floor again. 

I'll talk about our last day in the next post. Promise I'm almost done!

To be continued!

Michigan. The Frozen Mitten State. Part 1

Hello!

I know I haven't been blogging much lately, but I hope that all will change soon once I'm not running around with a daily list of a trillion things to do and oh yeah let me just throw in a real quick work conference to attend that will pretty much definitely take up 100% of your time…
But it was so worth it!

Allow me to explain.
I just got back from a whirlwind weekend spent in Ann Arbor, Michigan at the University of Michigan for the one and only NIRSA Region 3 Student Lead On Conference. Remember from blogs past how I talked about NIRSA, the association that kinda incubuses all that my job is and it's how I got my current graduate assistantship, etc. Well NIRSA doesn't just like to meet the one time per year deal so they set up smaller conferences in each region to hold info sessions, work on student development, and mainly to meet and revisit with friends and colleagues.
Only Region 3 likes to do it real big, and I mean REAL big.

My old region, Region 6 does a regional conference and we maybe had maybe 175 people go. And that's pushing it. There were 460+ people at Region 3's. Yeah. Close to 500 people all working at different universities in Campus Rec and all of them at University of Michigan. Go Blue.

But it was so much fun and I am so glad I went. And I wasn't really all too jazzed I had to go in the first place. But before I start on all the details of the conference, I'll explain the events leading up to it. Also, be prepared for another blog trilogy…It was a jam-packed couple of days and I'd rather not write it out in a novel format so for your sake and mine, I'll split it up.

So anyway…Pre-conference.

We are underway with the semester and that means we have to start up our IM sports. If you haven't caught on by now, that means training of the officials, setting up leagues, signing teams, etc.

My biggest concern- training the officials.

So Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I pretty much spend the day fretting over how to run them, actually do it with the help of my staff, avoid minor/major hiccups, and then go on thinking how to change this or that, work on that more than this, etc.

The trainings went well, I was a little disappointed that only a small number came out to officiate but my supervisors did well in teaching them how to be basketball officials. We are also down in our team numbers but they are rising from last semester, so that's our silver lining. But late late late Wednesday night after our last day of official clinics, i had to stay up packing for this conference as we were leaving 6am Thursday. I went to bed at 2. gross. Oh and did I mention that IM basketball starts this upcoming Sunday? That means I need to schedule officials, and make sure they get on payroll. And I'm not in the office on Thursday or Friday. Sweet…

I tried to get out of going but my boss wasn't having it. I had already registered weeks ago and it'd be a waste of money, etc. etc. And I had never traveled that far north or to the state of Michigan before so what the heck, why not.

So after 3n1/2 hours of sleep I got up to meet the rest of the crew to head off to Michigan, 9 hours away. 2 minivans, 10 people, 2 pro staff, 5 ga's, 2 undergrad students and 1 grad student, 9 sleeping bags w/ yoga mats/pads, and enough baggage to last us months instead of just 3 days.

FUN

But it really was. I was super tired and planned on sleeping but the convo in the super cool minivan with a rear view camera, automatic doors and heated seats was too good to not listen too. We had a van full of GA's, myself, Kaylee, the aquatics GA, both outdoor pursuits GAs and our director. We're talking about everything from work to family to past trips and events and how our director got to where he is today, and just on and on and on. We stopped in Muncie, Indiana, home of Ball State University (Chirp Chirp!) for lunch and to see the Rec center they had. We don't always stop to tour universities but our director had worked their prior to SIU and so we had to stop by and walk down memory lane.

For those of you that don't know Ball St. (it's ok, I didn't either) it's average sized, David Letterman went there and some other famous people I guess but the most important part is that it has a recently new Rec that is gorgeous. Like wow. Super bright and clean and HUGE and spread out and new and did I say HUGE? It's cool. While there, the assistant director for Ball St. got a call…turns out that the one and only WannaBeGAguy was on the other line…quick back story…WannaBe had left SIU early as he had an on campus interview with Ball St for the GA position and then he would meet us at the conference later. He got the offer the day before we were there. And right as we were touring the basketball courts and multipurpose rooms he called in accepting the offer…so he is no longer a WannaBe, he will be a GA next year. We were all pretty excited, especially Ball St, and it was so ironic that we should be at the university talking to his future bosses when he accepted the offer. I'm so taking credit for getting rid of some of his bad habits cough* Now to make sure that he doesn't lose his head in all his excitement and still work for me for the rest of the semester, that'll be the true test. I kid, slightly, but I am pretty excited that he got the job and I'm going to claim him as one of my prodigal staff members. Duh. And the fact that he gets to work at a pretty cool and new Rec center is way awesome too.

But what was supposed to be a 2 hour visit turned into 4 close to 5 hours. Oops. They did send us off with some Ball State swag though and we hit the road after eating some mediocre burritos in their student center (take note for your next upgrade ball st.)

We finally end up in Ann Arbor. About 4 hours too late for registration and the first social of the conference but we were all so tired it didn't matter. So we check into the Rec and walk into this ANCIENT building that is the Intramural Sports Building at the University of Michigan. It is over 100 years old. Not joking. Like it was built in the early 1900's and looks it and we're sleeping in it. It's massive though as it has a huge court with 3 basketball courts, an indoor pool, 8 racquetball courts, lockers, gymnastic rooms, rowing rooms, a rock wall and it just goes on and on forever. It felt like walking around in Hogwarts, there's random corridors and stairways that lead to doors that don't have handles or rooms that have no purpose or every purpose you aren't really sure, etc. Too easy to get lost in. But we get in, scope a spot to sleep and try to pass out but none of the other folks staying there are interested. We aren't exactly in the meet and greet mood but there's kids playing frisbee in the gym we're sleeping in, juggling (that was odd) and doing hand stands (that was odder) and bouncing basketballs and just being ridiculously loud…not gonna lie I wanted to shoot them all I was so tired and it was past midnight and I was running on very little sleep. FINALLY they turn the lights out and we managed a few hours of shut eye.

We also found out that the one women's locker room only had 5 shower heads…and there was definitely more than 10 girls staying in that gym…oh and it's an open shower, no stalls. So you're saying we have to somehow manage to get around 100 girls to shower in 5 stalls in bathing suits before we start the actual conference? Yeahhhhhh ok that's hilarious.

But we did. We had to wake up and be ready by 8 as the conference started at 830. GAG. So me and some of the girls set our alarms for 5AM to beat the crowd and get a shower before the water heater went out. Double gag.

We did it, we woke up at 5 and showered in our tiny locker room with small, lukewarm showers in bathing suits and laughed awkwardly how close we were going to get whether we like it or not and passed the body wash and shampoo around and tried to present ourselves as professionally as we could when living out of basketball gym.

Nothing like a good ol' rec sports conference to make you rethink the term 'roughing it'.

Breakfast consisted of mini donuts and fruit juice boxes and it was off to the conference at a different building. Did I mention that it was negative 15? Yes. NEGATIVE 15. Not including the wind chill.

Never ever go to Michigan in January. Ever.

To be continued!

Sunday Not-So-Funday

Ok, I'm officially done crying over the Patriots losing to the Broncos in the AFC championship. Sigh…Brady what happened? That's 2 years in a row…first Barf-ill-more Ravens and now the let's all jump on the band wagon Broncos because we have laser rocket arm QB Manning aka Jesus…GAG.

Thank goodness there's college basketball to look forward too. 

But while at the bar watching the games last night, I saw that we're a few Niner fans, too many Bronco fans and only one other guy in a Gronkowski jersey. I didn't wear my jersey, that's my superstitiousness coming out in full but it didn't matter anyway. I still caught a lot of flack for being a Pats fan. "You're from Cali and you like the Patriots???" "You're geographically confused." "I hate Tom Brady!" "What?!?" "Who are you?!?" etc.

My reaction to the constant questions and jokes.

I could say the same for all of the Seahawk, Niner, Bronco fans in a sports bar in southern ILLINOIS…where da bears at?? Right…

Let me get this out there once and for all… yes, I am from Northern California and I am a Patriots fan. 

When I say Northern California I don't mean SF. Nope. Not even close. Like over 5 hours by car and so vastly different you can't even call me a 'local'. So geography never was a factor. My dad likes the Cowboys, my mom the Rams, etc… When I was about l1/12 I started to really pay attention to sports and take more vested interests in teams. But with my family having no consensus of who they like I wasn't exactly handed an option of "Us Allen's are ____ faithful. And that's final." So dad was like ok, you can watch all the games with me and see who you like. You can't go by mascot though, and if they win the super bowl you can't stop liking them if they get bad or lose, you have to stick with them forever. FOREVER.

I think he was joking with me but I took him really seriously. So I watched every Monday with Dad. the panthers were doing well, so were the titans I remember. Dad would go, so who is in the running today? And I'd go, well the colts dropped down in the poll but the packers went up a few spots, etc. I could have ended up liking the Philly Eagles but Tom Brady and the Patriots ended up being the 2004 Super Bowl champs and thus I am a forever faithful Patriot fan. 10 years strong and still going.

Sure, fine, I'll let you say that technically to get there I jumped on the wagon. But I'm here to stay. Through 2008 against the other Manning, and AGAIN in 2012. And I remember when the Dolphins beat us in the AFC. Yep. And it comes in waves so who knows maybe next year I'll have to suffer through a dismal year but I'll be right there.  

So there, neener neener. Who cares that they're located on the other side of the country? I'm still going to cheer even if I don't have a Boston accent or have ever set foot in gillete stadium. One day. Til then, I cheer from dirty sport bars surrounded by some newly-oh I have always been a Bronco fan-gag-where were you when they were struggling?-oh right you were a steeler fan instead?-fans. Yeah yeah we gave up welker, Yes, I just saw the same play you did, idiot, where he caught the umpteenth millionth catch from Peyton...blah blah. I wanted to punch all of them in their stupid faces. But I was with girlfriends who could care less about the game and more about the beer so I maintained being civil. 

Do you even remember when Cutler or Orton was the quarter back?? Thought so...

It ended up being a good day overall with friends, as we went to the wineries and then the bar to watch some football and drink 22oz beers and cheer every time the rest of the bar did (they aren't the watch football or any sports type, they just went to humor me.) and minus the Pats losing I had a good time. And then the Niners lost too and that made it kinda worse, because I'd rather see the Niners go on than the Seahawks but whatever…the post game interview with Sherman was almost worth it.

Not going to lie though, had they won I would have partied a lot a lot harder. Instead I went home and went to bed and now I'm going to enjoy my MLK day off by teaching my baby refs how to officiate basketball. Super Bowl? Nah, I'll skip this one and maybe just watch the half time show. Meh, better not.

To be continued!