Triumphant Return

I've neglected this blog much too long. 

I could blame it all on being busy at work, but that's not honest.  The fact is, I've been pretty darn lazy over the last ten months, and when I'm not being lazy it's because I'm overwhelmed.  Or in some cases, dealing with emotions that I can't take captive.

Starting my new job last July was a whirlwind.  Being in event management full-time is exactly what I wanted, and I am so pleased to be back in the non-profit world.  Non-profit work, by definition, is mission-driven.  I am always emotionally connected to my work, no matter where I am. I need something to believe in that is more than the numbers  on my paycheck.

I'm now working at an RELC.  Don't know what that is?  Trust me, no one does.  RELC stands for Residential Environmental Learning Center.  In short, schools arrange to bring a group of students to our site.  They stay overnight (typically 3-day, 2-night trips), and we teach the students about a host of different subjects - everything from macroinvertebrates and sustainable energy to historical Ojibwe culture and teambuilding.  We also work with community colleges, universities, and private events like staff retreats and weddings.

My job is to schedule all of that.  After almost a year there, I can understand why my position was created; there used to be two people that were me, one who handled educational groups and one to handle private events.  Now I'm there doing both, and while I think it's going more smoothly (based on horror stories I've heard), it also means I have zero downtime.  While my ed department colleagues have a season from September to June (the school year), I have the ed season and all its busyness, followed by the absolute busiest season for private events.  So it goes.

There are struggles in my job, like any.  We've sadly lost staff members this year - one abandoned her contract for a new job, one was diagnosed with a rapidly progressing cancer, and another also fell ill.  We also had to wait ten months to fill a full-time position (we're still working on that one) and we turned over our entire kitchen staff.  Despite them, we've worked with over 1,000 K-12 students this year, and we have the thank you cards to prove they had fun and learned with us.  I'm not sure there is anything more satisfying than watching kids learn.

When the days get hard, I can take a break to check out views like this:



Like all things in life, there is so much beauty and joy inside of and despite the struggles.

Things I Don't Know

I'll be the first to admit, I'm not a genius.

That said, I wouldn't consider myself a schmuck either.  I went to a liberal arts college, I've read Moliere and Joseph Conrad and Eve Ensler, and I took physics as an elective.

But over the past few years, I've realized there are things I absolutely don't know, and the kicker is, they're all simple things.  The kinds of things that are so commonplace people actually don't talk about them.  The kinds of things four-year-olds ask you about in the car.  And, whether I'm just forgetful or the least inquisitive child that ever existed, I don't them.  Things like:

1. How does a landline phone work - and why does it still work when the power goes out?
2. How are animal eggs fertilized? (Yes, I live on a farm and no, I really don't know how this works - no one ever said I learned much in biology.)
3. What is the actual purpose of a water tower?

To me, it's sad.  I should know these things, right?  But I know it's not just me.  The thing about landlines and power outages came up in class one day my senior year, and no one knew the answer.  It's just a thing we all take for granted.  

Where is curiosity?  Is this part of growing up - or is this just me?

Student Loan Control

May graduates hit a trap.  And that trap is in the form of "your first loan payments are due RIGHT before Christmas."

So while we all take a moment to feel sorry for ourselves and freak out that there is absolutely no way we've been out of school for over six months already, I'm going to share something that will make you feel less like one of the poor people on the Titanic.

The point of the website I've shared (click the hyperlink, people, I made it easy) is largely to help you estimate how much your loan payments will be.  Yes, I know, your loan servicers are doing that for you, but hang with me for a second.

The bottom half of the loan calculator (which looks like this, for those who still haven't been convinced to click the link)

has a section where you can experiment with what will happen if you pay more than the minimum, whether it be once, once a year, or monthly.

Now most of us who are buried under student loans ($51k - I know what I'm talking about) feel like the minimum payments are a stretch, and the little extra we could maybe eke out every month isn't going to change much.  But read on and take heart!

One of my (many) loans has a calculated monthly payment of about $39, but the contract I signed mandates I pay at least $50 a month.  So, in essence, I am paying an extra $11 a month.  By adding that $11, I will pay off this particular loan 51 months early.  That's over four years of my life without payments, all for the cost of a restaurant pizza.

Gather up your loan info, click the link, and get yourself in control of your debt.  If one less night of half-price apps with your friends or one less bottle of wine a month can give you a few loan-less years, it's so worth it.  Calculate and recalculate until you find what's going to make an impact on your life!

Good Reality TV?

I dated a guy in high school who knew he was smarter/more sophisticated/generally better than everyone else.  This attitude came up frequently with his parents, especially his mom, who *gasp* enjoyed reality TV shows.

I'll admit that I can be a bit of a reality TV junkie as well.  I avoid Big Brother and Survivor on principal, but it's the rare episode of The Biggest Loser that doesn't make me cry.  And home improvement shows (Property Brothers, Love It or List It, Design Star) - let's just say I'm going to have some very high expectations in the coming decade.

No one, and I mean NO ONE has ever really complimented reality TV on anything; it's a very warped version of "reality," they (generally) have little educational value, and as Jersey Shore taught us, they make superstars out of people who honestly just need to melt back into the primordial ooze and please don't reproduce any farther.

But is there such a thing as good reality TV?  I personally love finding new exercises on Biggest Loser, and those design shows make me drool, but there's more to it than that.  Lately, I've been watching a show called Surviving the Cut on Netflix.  The show is an exploration of the U.S. military's most rigorous training courses and follow classes of Special Forces wannabes as they get mentally and physically torn apart to prepare for the toughest jobs any of us regular humans can imagine.

So let's think about this: it's a series that shows selected, dramatic excerpts of a typical day in the lives of a specific group of people competing to win a coveted rank - reality TV in a nutshell.  And yet, somehow, it seems different.  Is it because the series comes from the Discovery Channel?  Is it because the participants are good, selfless people?  Or is it just that most of us wouldn't deign to call the U.S. military "useless entertainment"?

Your call.