Stress.

My days at Living Classrooms are coming to a close and all I can think about is how nice it will be to have a break.

Basically, since I have been promoted, I have been doing all the extra stuff that goes along with my new position, as well as all the stuff that went along with my old position. This is because, when you spend all day on a boat, teaching kids, your primary concern for the new hires, is getting comfortable with the sailing and the teaching. There's all kinds of other stuff that goes on behind the scenes, and I have been the only one taking care of all that for over a month now. It's frustrating because the first person to take my old position quit unexpectedly and now we are training someone new, so I continue to do all the behind the scenes work. Let's just say, I'm over it.

On Tuesday, some kid decided to smash the passenger side window of my car. Nothing was stolen, thankfully, but trying to get it fixed has turned into a nightmare. I haven't had any free time to deal with it, and the people I had scheduled to come fix it today, didn't show up on time, so no one was actually here when they did finally show up. I'm sorry, but I have a job and so does my fiance. We don't get time off to deal with this crap. Show up on time, if you want to get paid.

So now I have to wait until Saturday to get the window fixed, because all the auto glass places are only open 8-5 weekdays, which, HEY, big surprise, is when I work. I will also be paying more, because it turns out, the jerks who can't show up on time, are also the cheapest. And I won't be using THEIR services, since it's clear they don't want my money.

It would be nice if I had the kind of job where I could take a day off to deal with personal stuff, like getting this window fixed and figuring out what the heck I am going to do about parking now, since I will no longer park on Eden Street. Some kid in a blue sweatshirt, is riding around on his bike, waiting to smash more of my windows there. When I filed the police report, a man who worked across the street came over to tell me that he saw the kid and called the police and they didn't do anything about it. The police officer, who was quite kind to me, wasn't too pleased about this guy, but whatever.

It's clear the Baltimore City police department have bigger fish to fry than some kid who smashes windows. I mean, with one of the highest murder rates in the country, window smashing isn't a top priority. But it sucks that this guy works in the neighborhood, tries to do the right thing and calls the police, and gets the brush off. Apparently this kid smashes windows on a regular basis.

I'm almost tempted to spend one of my coveted days off, having a stake-out and waiting for the little bastard. I'd beat the crap out of him and steal his bike and sell it to pay for my window.

But it's also possible, that I'd get knifed and the Baltimore City murder rate would increase and I'd be one of the few 'white' murders in the city. But you know, thoughts of revenge at least make me feel better...

Oregon Trip

The leftovers from an art project that occurred at Rachael's bachelorette party. Our Oregon trip was crazy and fun, but I wish I could have spent more time there. I miss everyone, though few people that I care about are left in Corvallis. It's sad to have moved on....though I expect to move back to Oregon in a few years. Maybe Newport, maybe Portland, I'm not really sure. I suppose it's wherever I can find work.

The last few weeks have been pretty crazy. I got promoted at work because Tanja quit to go work for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. It was an awesome opportunity for her, and I got a raise, so I had no problem with her leaving. The girl who replaced her just quit and now we've got another person we're training, so it's been a little stressful. I'm sure me taking a week off to spend in Oregon wasn't super awesome for my co-workers, but I had that trip planned months before all the new staff problems went down, so oh well.

Going to Oregon really made me want to get my shit together. Being bored makes me far less unproductive than when I am crazy busy. That's why I stayed so busy in high school and college. It meant I got stuff done. Now that I have too much free time, I hardly do anything, other than work. Sometimes I forget to pay bills, I'm not making any art, etc. It's super lame and it needs to change.

Now that the weather has started cooling off, it's time to work out more. It's not so hot that I can't stand being outside when I don't have to be. So I am trying to make a commitment to working out more, therefore hopefully spending some of that free time that I have. The girls of my group, including myself, have expressed an interest in taking a belly dancing class. I am hoping that we can start that sometime after Fest is over. I do love Fest. The Maryland Renaissance Festival is basically a chance for me to be social. Since I've stopped playing D & D with the group, I hardly ever see everyone all together. Fest changes all of that. I see them all weekend and I LOVE it! I miss big social groups. I think that's the hardest part of not being in college anymore.

I am starting to get anxious about going back to school. I talked to Ben about getting my foot in the door for the MEES program through the University of Maryland system. It's Marine Estuarine Environmental Science and it's an interdisciplinary program for graduate studies. I'm excited about it, but the first couple steps are getting in touch with faculty who work in the program and taking my GRE's. I have started studying again and I hoping to take the test around the 29th of November.

The 29th of November will also find my unemployed, unless I find something interesting and start there right after my job at Living Classrooms ends. We'll see how that goes.

So...to sum up: I am trying to work out more, going to start taking belly dancing again, try to find another job, take the GRE's and start working on getting in to grad school.

Whew. It's kind of exhausting just to think about it all.

External Harddrive failure.

Yes, it's true. Ariana and I set up a date for our hard drives to meet....and now they won't work anymore. Apparently they didn't get along very well...or maybe they got along too well and they spread some external diseases. I'm not really sure. Now I get to call the manufacturer and see what I can do about it.

In other news, I am getting ready to leave on my 9 day CTY trip. Basically, CTY stands for Center for Talented Youth. It's a summer program for middle and high school students who have amazing test scores, to go out and do some really cool stuff during their summer. Basically, these kids have been described as the ones who "you have to take the textbooks away from them at night so the actually go to sleep and stop studying". They are the type of kids who "talk about genetics at lunchtime, when they're not in class". I have been warned that there will be nerd-offs to determine the dominate nerd. I AM SO EXCITED!

This trip actually starts on my 25th birthday (sad day!) and goes for 9 days. Basically, I'll be out of town for a long time. I will have my phone on me, so I won't be completely MIA, but I will only be able to use it at certain times, so my accessibility will decrease greatly. It's going to be hard for me, being the iPhone-using, ever-connected person that I am. I will make it through though, with the help of 12 nerdy kids, some awesome co-workers and some yummy blue crabs which I will catch and eat.

Europe Memories!

Pamplona 01
Originally uploaded by kristen.lycett

So I bought an external hard drive around Christmas time and I finally, FINALLY took it over to Ariana's to get a bunch of stuff from her. This included tv shows, but more importantly, pictures.

I finally got my act together and had some of my Europe photos printed for the purpose of scrapbooking. After getting them printed, I realized there were certain parts of the trips that I did not have photos of. This is where Ariana comes in. Her camera was waterproof and drop-proof, while mine was not. So she has pictures from parts of the trip that I do not. Plus, she's a bit photo-happy. And she knows it. Hey, it's a good thing when it comes to keeping memories alive!

So, I got her Europe photos, and I was going through them, looking to fill in the gaps of my own photos, for scrapbooking. Checking out the photos though, I had such fond memories resurface.

Seriously, that trip made me grow so much as a person. For those 6 weeks, I was homeless, a drifter and a traveler. It was awesome and terrifying and completely bohemian. As hard as it was to be so disconnected from everything I was comfortable with, it was a fabulous trip that I will never forget. What's funny though, is that I spent a lot of time communicating with people back home. But I don't regret any of that time, or think that it was wasted. Keeping in touch with the people I love is important to me, even if it cuts in to sightseeing time.

Looking back at these pictures makes me what to travel again. I feel like I have more things holding me back now though, what with being engaged and all. I'm sure I could bring CJ with me, but traveling with Ariana was fun. It was nice to reconnect with her so much, after living on opposite sides of the country for so long....even if we did drive each other crazy after awhile.

Anywho, I thought I would share a picture with you all, so that you too could share in the memories. This is a photo of Ariana and I in Pamplona for the final night of the Running of the Bulls. We are busy getting trashed on sangria, which Ariana still refuses to drink, even after almost 2 years.

Photo Hosting.

So why is it, now that I have signed up for like 2 other photo hosting sites, that the photos in the other blog work? I did nothing to them, yet suddenly, they work. Ugh.

Flickr seems like the sharing will be easier, because I can go directly from posting a picture, to putting it into a blog, but I am unsure as to how to put multiple pictures into the SAME blog post. Hrrrrm. Confusing, it is.

Photobucket sucks.

So, after resizing and editing all the photos I wanted to post in the last blog, photobucket doesn't bother to register the changes. I have tried messing with it, but still no luck. I am done with photobucket now. It's time to find a new site. It's a big enough pain to upload and resize everything, but to have to do it over and over and not have it work is ridiculous. I'm done.

Finally, an update!

Life has been crazy busy! Working for Living Classrooms has been really fun, but a lot of work! I worked for two weeks straight, once our overnight trips started. This weekend was the first time I've had more than a single day off in a week.




Me aboard the Sigsbee!


The Sigsbee is an historic skipjack built in 1901 and originally used for oyster dredging. She worked for about 90 years, until she sank in 1991 and was eventually rebuilt by Living Classrooms. Some pieces of her are original, including the wheel.





There are several other boats in the educational fleet, including the Lady Maryland.



The Lady Maryland as seen from the stern of the Sigsbee.

Mostly, we do day trips from about 9 to 2, with some time before and after trips being devoted to getting the boat ready and put away, as well as cleaning and polishing. When I started the job, we spent two weeks doing training, which included lectures from various people involved with Chesapeake Bay restoration and management, a visit to Fort McHenry, and lots of time on the boats learning how to sail.



My coworkers at Fort McHenry.



Some canons at Fort McHenry, and in the background, the Patapsco River, which we sail on. Since we sail by Fort McHenry, it was good to get some background on it. Often, we'll devote some time to telling the kids about the history of the fort and it's connection to the writing of the Star Spangled Banner. It's weird to know all this Baltimore history now. I hate US history, but I can tell you allllll about Fort McHenry.

Another thing we talk about, are all the different boats in the Harbor.



This is one of the Baltimore City fleet. It's a trash boat and has a conveyor belt in the front to pick up trash out of the water.

Another boat we might talk about is the USS Constellation, the last all sail ship built by the navy. She's now docked in Inner Harbor and is a museum that is managed by Living Classrooms. If one of our trips gets rained out, we can always take the kids there. She's got several decks, and it's pretty cool to check out.



The USS Constellation from the bow of the Sigsbee. This was as the Constellation was being towed from the pier so that she could turn around.

Sometimes, we do overnight trips. We've done some girl scout trips and a John Hopkins CTY trip to Camp Whippoorwill, which is a girl scout camp on the Magothy River, to the south of Baltimore. We also did an overnight trip to Annapolis and we docked in the Annapolis Harbor.



Me posing with a sculpture in downtown Annapolis.



My co-worker Tanja, posing with the other half of the sculpture.



So, that's my work update. As far as my social life is concerned, very little goes on in that front as I spend most of my time working. CJ's birthday was the 13th of May, so I got him a BBQ and had a surprise party for him.



It's a weber. Nothing fancy, but they make yummy food, so who cares?

BBQ's are our new social event. I love summer and I love grilled meat. I am so excited that the weather is nice, but sometimes it's a bit too hot. At work, there's no escaping the heat or the sun, so it's a little brutal. CJ finally got a car though, so I don't have to ride the bus home anymore. I am very excited about that, since the last time I rode the bus home, on Friday, I watched a woman get hit by a car. It was slightly traumatic and I am glad that I won't have to sit at bus stops anymore, watching stuff like that happen.

I am working on planning my trip to Oregon for Rachael's wedding. I will be there from the 13th to the 19th ish. I just need to figure out whether I want to fly into Portland or Medford.

I think that's the end of my updating now. I will try to be better about blogging, but with the summer season impending, we'll see how that goes. Summer trips are anywhere from 5 to 9 days long, so it's going to be a little crazy.