8.12.2010
The Blame Game
I just waited twenty minutes in the barber shop only to be told I couldn't get a haircut because I am a military contractor and not military personnel.
Why can't contractors get their hair cut?
Because there are too many on base currently.
Why are there too many contractors on base?
Because they are doing construction.
Why are they doing construction?
Because the two bases in New Orleans are merging.
Why are they merging?
Because of the Base Realignment and Closure process.
Why is this necessary?
Because the US wants its bases to be more efficient.
Why do they need to be more efficient?
Because European "allies" have placed too much of a burden on the American military.
Why have they strained the American military?
Because they didn't get on board with Gulf War II so the US has to do the job alone.
Why is the US fighting Gulf War II alone?
Because terrorism needs to be stopped.
Why does terrorism need to be stopped?
Because its harmful for children and other living things.
As we can see, it all boils down to either the Europeans or bin Laden. Take your pick.
In the immortal words of Alan Garner, the barber wouldn't cut my hair because we live in a time "after 9/11 when everyone got so sensitive".
Thanks a lot, bin Laden.
Why can't contractors get their hair cut?
Because there are too many on base currently.
Why are there too many contractors on base?
Because they are doing construction.
Why are they doing construction?
Because the two bases in New Orleans are merging.
Why are they merging?
Because of the Base Realignment and Closure process.
Why is this necessary?
Because the US wants its bases to be more efficient.
Why do they need to be more efficient?
Because European "allies" have placed too much of a burden on the American military.
Why have they strained the American military?
Because they didn't get on board with Gulf War II so the US has to do the job alone.
Why is the US fighting Gulf War II alone?
Because terrorism needs to be stopped.
Why does terrorism need to be stopped?
Because its harmful for children and other living things.
As we can see, it all boils down to either the Europeans or bin Laden. Take your pick.
In the immortal words of Alan Garner, the barber wouldn't cut my hair because we live in a time "after 9/11 when everyone got so sensitive".
Thanks a lot, bin Laden.
8.11.2010
8.10.2010
8.09.2010
Click HERE for pictures
For the visual learners out there, I have a public album on Facebook of all pictures I've taken this summer. The album just maxed out at 200 photos which is perfect seeing as I only four more days remaining here and probably won't be taking very many more.
If you don't have Facebook, no problem. You can still view the album by following the link.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2052214&id=1580130069&l=f90dcf760b
If you don't have Facebook, no problem. You can still view the album by following the link.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2052214&id=1580130069&l=f90dcf760b
8.08.2010
My To-Do
This is my last week so I have a few loose ends to tie up:
- Get a chaperone to show me the flight-line so I can shoot photos
- Visit the library to see the photos submitted for the contest (including mine)
- Finish souvenir shopping at Mardi Gras Wholesaler
- Mat Kearney concert on Tuesday night at the House of Blues downtown
- Work on homework papers (should be writing those instead of this)
- Pack all my stuff
PS: I could post about what I did this weekend but I'll wait until I am home. I swear there's a good reason for this.
- Get a chaperone to show me the flight-line so I can shoot photos
- Visit the library to see the photos submitted for the contest (including mine)
- Finish souvenir shopping at Mardi Gras Wholesaler
- Mat Kearney concert on Tuesday night at the House of Blues downtown
- Work on homework papers (should be writing those instead of this)
- Pack all my stuff
PS: I could post about what I did this weekend but I'll wait until I am home. I swear there's a good reason for this.
Day from Hell
Wednesday was the day from Hell. I don't like thinking about it more than I have to so I'll keep this short.
- On Wednesday's, my campers are supposed to go on a field trip. Seeing as the week's trip was moved to Friday, this didn't happen. Strike One.
- On Wednesday's, the older kids are supposed to go swimming. Seeing as the pool was hosting the base-wide luau at 3 (which we were attending), regular swimming wouldn't happen. Strike Two.
- It was a black-flag day meaning we couldn't take the kids outside on account of the heat. Strike Three.
By 3:00 (15:00), we were all stressed out and exhausted. Our boss had recruited us to work the carnival games so we counselors were excused from our regular work to go over and wait for the kids from all over the base to start showing up. Outside, it was hot and sticky. To make it more difficult, we were issued some appealing, brown, Hawaiian shirts, palm frond hats and plastic leis. I was in charge of the Tic-Tac-Toe game. It involved a lot of bending over to pick up dropped wiffle balls. My belt broke. It started raining. The tent leaked on me. Needless to say, my smile was pasted on.
At 4:30, I was dismissed to attend to my soccer camp duties. I stripped off my shameful uniform to expose my slightly less shameful Camp A uniform (remember, khaki shorts, tucked in t-shirt, and high socks. The uni hasn't been redesigned since Camp's formation in the 1980's). At soccer, I was met with the pleasant surprise of being the only coach. See previous post for details.
Afterwards, I had time enough to play some basketball. My hands were cold. I told myself I wouldn't leave until I made 10 three-pointers. It took a half hour. Then I worked out, headed back to my room and had time enough to check my phone and put down my things before I realized I needed to be assisting with making decorations for next week. I went to where the group was working and pitched in. It was dark by the time we were finished. I went home to write a paper. Then my day was over.
Longest day of camp yet. Looking back, I'm lucky to have had a day like this to make all the other days look absolutely wonderful. At least I learned something, right?
- On Wednesday's, my campers are supposed to go on a field trip. Seeing as the week's trip was moved to Friday, this didn't happen. Strike One.
- On Wednesday's, the older kids are supposed to go swimming. Seeing as the pool was hosting the base-wide luau at 3 (which we were attending), regular swimming wouldn't happen. Strike Two.
- It was a black-flag day meaning we couldn't take the kids outside on account of the heat. Strike Three.
By 3:00 (15:00), we were all stressed out and exhausted. Our boss had recruited us to work the carnival games so we counselors were excused from our regular work to go over and wait for the kids from all over the base to start showing up. Outside, it was hot and sticky. To make it more difficult, we were issued some appealing, brown, Hawaiian shirts, palm frond hats and plastic leis. I was in charge of the Tic-Tac-Toe game. It involved a lot of bending over to pick up dropped wiffle balls. My belt broke. It started raining. The tent leaked on me. Needless to say, my smile was pasted on.
At 4:30, I was dismissed to attend to my soccer camp duties. I stripped off my shameful uniform to expose my slightly less shameful Camp A uniform (remember, khaki shorts, tucked in t-shirt, and high socks. The uni hasn't been redesigned since Camp's formation in the 1980's). At soccer, I was met with the pleasant surprise of being the only coach. See previous post for details.
Afterwards, I had time enough to play some basketball. My hands were cold. I told myself I wouldn't leave until I made 10 three-pointers. It took a half hour. Then I worked out, headed back to my room and had time enough to check my phone and put down my things before I realized I needed to be assisting with making decorations for next week. I went to where the group was working and pitched in. It was dark by the time we were finished. I went home to write a paper. Then my day was over.
Longest day of camp yet. Looking back, I'm lucky to have had a day like this to make all the other days look absolutely wonderful. At least I learned something, right?
Soccer and Finality
For the foreseeable future, these will be my last full updates while in New Orleans. Someone asked me yesterday how long I've been here. "Nine weeks", I told them. They then asked when I go home. "One week", I told them. I paused to think then added, "This time next week, I'll be home". Saying it made it sink in. The feeling is still sinking but I don't think it will fully settle until I am actually leaving this place.
SOCCER CAMP
Last week was a busy one. A few weeks ago, I inquired about an advertised soccer clinic that was taking place on base. I offered to help and was told someone would contact me about opportunities. I should have known that just because I am dealing with military personnel doesn't mean that I am not dealing with people. That is to say, they are just as forgetful as anyone else and so it was no surprise that on Monday, three hours before the scheduled start of the camp, I was frantically calling to get the details on the event. Turns out, the heat index of 106 was too extreme for us to have camp so Day One was cancelled.
Day Two went off without a hitch. With the camp moved indoors, about 40 kids ranging from age 6 to 12 showed up. I arrived thinking my role would be something along the lines of assistant. If any odd jobs needed doing, I would be there. Turns out, I was one of two adult volunteers. Coach Jimmy introduced himself and we devised a plan for the day. We would warm the group up and then split them into a younger and older groups. Within the older group, we would split again based upon skill level. Jimmy would take his son's group (the more advanced group) and I would coach the intermediate team. My group had 12 campers. We worked on dribbling drills for the day and then played a couple of games before releasing the campers for the day. This came after my group decided upon a team name for the week. For whatever reason, they decided to name my (Coach Rocky's) group the Rockies. Go figure.
On Day Three, about half the number of campers showed up. I combined the two older groups and we worked on passing drills. Coach Jimmy didn't show up. Neither did his son.
Day Four, Coach Jimmy was again absent. I worked the campers on shooting and we played some fun games before I released them to their waiting parents. For some reason, the parents all decided to wait on the bleachers and watch. This was fine by me except for what was the unintentional side-effect of making me very nervous. Its one thing to coach a bunch of kids buts it another thing entirely to coach them while their parents are watching. One wrong move on my part could have sent a flustered adult running onto the gym floor to rescue his or her child. Yikes.
Day Five was games day. In what was a serious gamble on my part, I decided to have the kids play "crossfire" wherein I kick balls at them in an attempt to get them "out". If you are "out", you join the kicker and aim for the remaining campers. Again, one wrong move could have sent a camper face-planting into the unforgiving gym floor but I was starved for activities so I worked with what I had. At the end of the day, I gave the remaining campers (there were only about 9 total at this point) my "what soccer has done for me/can do for me" speech. I told them I got to go to Germany to see World Cup. "You mean you played in the World Cup? Which team were you on?". Ahhh, the innocence of children. Certificates were distributed, photos were taken and snacks were devoured. Thus was the end of soccer camp. It went pretty well, I think. I don't think I did too bad for getting thrown in the mix, the way I did.
SOCCER CAMP
Last week was a busy one. A few weeks ago, I inquired about an advertised soccer clinic that was taking place on base. I offered to help and was told someone would contact me about opportunities. I should have known that just because I am dealing with military personnel doesn't mean that I am not dealing with people. That is to say, they are just as forgetful as anyone else and so it was no surprise that on Monday, three hours before the scheduled start of the camp, I was frantically calling to get the details on the event. Turns out, the heat index of 106 was too extreme for us to have camp so Day One was cancelled.
Day Two went off without a hitch. With the camp moved indoors, about 40 kids ranging from age 6 to 12 showed up. I arrived thinking my role would be something along the lines of assistant. If any odd jobs needed doing, I would be there. Turns out, I was one of two adult volunteers. Coach Jimmy introduced himself and we devised a plan for the day. We would warm the group up and then split them into a younger and older groups. Within the older group, we would split again based upon skill level. Jimmy would take his son's group (the more advanced group) and I would coach the intermediate team. My group had 12 campers. We worked on dribbling drills for the day and then played a couple of games before releasing the campers for the day. This came after my group decided upon a team name for the week. For whatever reason, they decided to name my (Coach Rocky's) group the Rockies. Go figure.
On Day Three, about half the number of campers showed up. I combined the two older groups and we worked on passing drills. Coach Jimmy didn't show up. Neither did his son.
Day Four, Coach Jimmy was again absent. I worked the campers on shooting and we played some fun games before I released them to their waiting parents. For some reason, the parents all decided to wait on the bleachers and watch. This was fine by me except for what was the unintentional side-effect of making me very nervous. Its one thing to coach a bunch of kids buts it another thing entirely to coach them while their parents are watching. One wrong move on my part could have sent a flustered adult running onto the gym floor to rescue his or her child. Yikes.
Day Five was games day. In what was a serious gamble on my part, I decided to have the kids play "crossfire" wherein I kick balls at them in an attempt to get them "out". If you are "out", you join the kicker and aim for the remaining campers. Again, one wrong move could have sent a camper face-planting into the unforgiving gym floor but I was starved for activities so I worked with what I had. At the end of the day, I gave the remaining campers (there were only about 9 total at this point) my "what soccer has done for me/can do for me" speech. I told them I got to go to Germany to see World Cup. "You mean you played in the World Cup? Which team were you on?". Ahhh, the innocence of children. Certificates were distributed, photos were taken and snacks were devoured. Thus was the end of soccer camp. It went pretty well, I think. I don't think I did too bad for getting thrown in the mix, the way I did.
Went to see Despicable Me on Friday. In one scene, the main character's mother karate chops a punching bag, sending it flying. Mumbles the camper next to me, "despicable momma...". Another scene takes place in a bank called the Bank of Evil. Camper says, "despicable bank...." Chuckles were suppressed.
A Quick Pun
Stated by our guide on a bus tour last weekend:
"It's been five years since Katrina and for the people who live here, its been a whirlwind"
Ouch.
"It's been five years since Katrina and for the people who live here, its been a whirlwind"
Ouch.
8.07.2010
8.06.2010
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