taking a breath
it's july 19, 2006, and i've now unofficially (no permanent address to speak of) resided in california for 19 days. it's been quite interesting :)
i'm currently chilling in willie's apartment with my laptop, reading and responding to mass numbers of emails that i've ignored or failed to read in the past ~3 weeks. the front door is open to allow the breeze to enter, and i can hear the sound of the ocean because the bastard lives within 3 walking minutes of the surf. what ridiculousness. i finally slept more than 4 or 5 hours last night, and i accidentally took a 2-hour nap mid-afternoon too. hehe. so finally, rest and relaxation and renewal. and some serious planning for the future.
okay, so here's a full explanation -- since arriving on the west coast on july 1st (or was it june 30th?), i've spent my precious time at the fairmont hotel in downtown san jose. the national youth leadership forum on technology (NYLF/TECH) is held at the hotel for 9 (or 10) days each summer (for the past 4 years); approximately 1200 high schoolers (juniors and seniors) from across the country meet up and create absolute chaos at this posh hotel for 9-10 days and spend their time in "tech talks," seminars, keynote speeches, company site visits, university visits, and other "free-time" activities. the first week, we faculty advisors (about 40, mostly between the ages of 22 and 30) spent 8pm-5pm in curriculum and logistics training, prepping for the responsibility of taking on 25 nerdy and rowdy students. the ADPs (associate directors of programs in education and operations) trained us (they're all mid-20s and gorgeous too), and the rest of the time, we FAs -- pretty much all strangers, forced into a grand hotel for 2.5 weeks -- got to know each other. it was like.... camp all over again :O)
on sunday the 9th, the kiddos descended on san jose, and from that point on, i haven't really slept much at all. each morning, staff meetings were held around 7:30am, followed directly by tech talks (with the 25 lovely and totally well-behaved (YEAH FREAKING RIGHT) students) and seminars and a whole span of activities and other faculty responsibilities and posts that lasted till approximately 9:30pm at night. sometimes, we'd have an hour midday for a quick break, but that was usually taken up by prepping and planning for the evening's tech talk or whatnot. 11pm was security check for the kids, so we faculty advisors were never finished till 11:15... and then, if any plans existed afterwards, we'd never make it to bed (which bed?! bwhaha, drama) till 1ish at the earliest. and up the next morning by 6:30. phew. pooped. totally pooped.
but so much fun :)
the kiddos, mostly crazy and intelligent and fun (but with a good number of nerdy and socially inept exceptions), were interesting to deal with, and the whole forum definitely provided me with awesome teaching and educational experience. my kids loved me though -- surprisingly -- and i think it turned out better than i could've imagined. the other faculty advisors, some of whom were totally nutso, were generally pretty cool; i'd like to think that i made some good solid friends, a few of whom i might keep in touch with. and now i know downtown san jose like no other :) on friday and saturday, both "cultural days" for the kids, we went and visited san fran (pier 39 and fisherman's wharf) and santa cruz (the boardwalk), and the hotel had an awesome pool, so i'm now kinda tan, all thanks to california sun. goodness gracious me.
so yeah, there was a bit of drama... not with me of course, but surrounding me -- in all directions and radii. as usual. i just sorta sat back and watched, amused and confused as usual too. willie finds it hilarious that i tend to attract such fun and good friends, but all of whom create drama like no other. i'm talented, i guess. anyway, me and team awesome -- about 7 of us unofficially -- are tempted to get together and do another forum like this next year. it could be fun..... :) we're all scattered around the country. the ADPs were hilarious too -- and i guess, overall, it was just sorta neat to see where people my age are in their lives. like, which paths, what jobs, what aspirations and inspirations and activities. and it's totally hilarious to be teaching these things about "working cultures" and "communication" and "leadership" and "finding your niche in technology" to kiddos.... when in reality, these lessons probably benefit me more. kinda sorta, yeah? who knows. i did discover something though -- this whole "steph in transition" thing is pretty a-okay. in the next few weeks, job searching obviously has to ramp up. that's my goal... but it's okay to have to figure it out. yay.
ohhhhhhh, and me and susan found a house in redwood city! it's in a slightly ghetto neighborhood, certainly middle class.. but it's close to downtown redwood city, and because it's the suburbs, there's easily accessible stores and shops and things everywhere. rwc is also a pretty good location, with respect to san fran and san jose, so my job commuting shouldn't be too difficult. the house -- not an apartment!! -- is free-standing, bright yellow (no joke), and itty-bitty. but the kitchen's nice, the living room is roomy, and there's a garage, a mini backyard and patio, and small frontyard and porch, and plenty of fenced-in room for a puppy that susan's been wanting. rent is quite reasonable; the landlords are great; and i think it'll be good to have a more personal, less corporate-managed place. i can do without the hotel elevators and front-door concierges and high-rise apartment buildings. it'll be good... i'm psyched :)
i'm in california. what craziness.
i'm currently chilling in willie's apartment with my laptop, reading and responding to mass numbers of emails that i've ignored or failed to read in the past ~3 weeks. the front door is open to allow the breeze to enter, and i can hear the sound of the ocean because the bastard lives within 3 walking minutes of the surf. what ridiculousness. i finally slept more than 4 or 5 hours last night, and i accidentally took a 2-hour nap mid-afternoon too. hehe. so finally, rest and relaxation and renewal. and some serious planning for the future.
okay, so here's a full explanation -- since arriving on the west coast on july 1st (or was it june 30th?), i've spent my precious time at the fairmont hotel in downtown san jose. the national youth leadership forum on technology (NYLF/TECH) is held at the hotel for 9 (or 10) days each summer (for the past 4 years); approximately 1200 high schoolers (juniors and seniors) from across the country meet up and create absolute chaos at this posh hotel for 9-10 days and spend their time in "tech talks," seminars, keynote speeches, company site visits, university visits, and other "free-time" activities. the first week, we faculty advisors (about 40, mostly between the ages of 22 and 30) spent 8pm-5pm in curriculum and logistics training, prepping for the responsibility of taking on 25 nerdy and rowdy students. the ADPs (associate directors of programs in education and operations) trained us (they're all mid-20s and gorgeous too), and the rest of the time, we FAs -- pretty much all strangers, forced into a grand hotel for 2.5 weeks -- got to know each other. it was like.... camp all over again :O)
on sunday the 9th, the kiddos descended on san jose, and from that point on, i haven't really slept much at all. each morning, staff meetings were held around 7:30am, followed directly by tech talks (with the 25 lovely and totally well-behaved (YEAH FREAKING RIGHT) students) and seminars and a whole span of activities and other faculty responsibilities and posts that lasted till approximately 9:30pm at night. sometimes, we'd have an hour midday for a quick break, but that was usually taken up by prepping and planning for the evening's tech talk or whatnot. 11pm was security check for the kids, so we faculty advisors were never finished till 11:15... and then, if any plans existed afterwards, we'd never make it to bed (which bed?! bwhaha, drama) till 1ish at the earliest. and up the next morning by 6:30. phew. pooped. totally pooped.
but so much fun :)
the kiddos, mostly crazy and intelligent and fun (but with a good number of nerdy and socially inept exceptions), were interesting to deal with, and the whole forum definitely provided me with awesome teaching and educational experience. my kids loved me though -- surprisingly -- and i think it turned out better than i could've imagined. the other faculty advisors, some of whom were totally nutso, were generally pretty cool; i'd like to think that i made some good solid friends, a few of whom i might keep in touch with. and now i know downtown san jose like no other :) on friday and saturday, both "cultural days" for the kids, we went and visited san fran (pier 39 and fisherman's wharf) and santa cruz (the boardwalk), and the hotel had an awesome pool, so i'm now kinda tan, all thanks to california sun. goodness gracious me.
so yeah, there was a bit of drama... not with me of course, but surrounding me -- in all directions and radii. as usual. i just sorta sat back and watched, amused and confused as usual too. willie finds it hilarious that i tend to attract such fun and good friends, but all of whom create drama like no other. i'm talented, i guess. anyway, me and team awesome -- about 7 of us unofficially -- are tempted to get together and do another forum like this next year. it could be fun..... :) we're all scattered around the country. the ADPs were hilarious too -- and i guess, overall, it was just sorta neat to see where people my age are in their lives. like, which paths, what jobs, what aspirations and inspirations and activities. and it's totally hilarious to be teaching these things about "working cultures" and "communication" and "leadership" and "finding your niche in technology" to kiddos.... when in reality, these lessons probably benefit me more. kinda sorta, yeah? who knows. i did discover something though -- this whole "steph in transition" thing is pretty a-okay. in the next few weeks, job searching obviously has to ramp up. that's my goal... but it's okay to have to figure it out. yay.
ohhhhhhh, and me and susan found a house in redwood city! it's in a slightly ghetto neighborhood, certainly middle class.. but it's close to downtown redwood city, and because it's the suburbs, there's easily accessible stores and shops and things everywhere. rwc is also a pretty good location, with respect to san fran and san jose, so my job commuting shouldn't be too difficult. the house -- not an apartment!! -- is free-standing, bright yellow (no joke), and itty-bitty. but the kitchen's nice, the living room is roomy, and there's a garage, a mini backyard and patio, and small frontyard and porch, and plenty of fenced-in room for a puppy that susan's been wanting. rent is quite reasonable; the landlords are great; and i think it'll be good to have a more personal, less corporate-managed place. i can do without the hotel elevators and front-door concierges and high-rise apartment buildings. it'll be good... i'm psyched :)
i'm in california. what craziness.
posted by steph at 7:23 PM
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