Camera pans across to Ruby sitting inconspicuously at her cubicle typing away. Next, we see Ruby and a young man sitting on the front steps and she says, "Well, I guess that means we are breaking up then." The scene changes to her leaving the office for the last time. This fades to her carrying her belongings into a summer camp and pulling her hair back to avoid the heat. As she unpacks her stuff, the following is said...
VO: Being a 22 year old female in this world is impossible. Your friends are getting married and settled for life. Your parents expect you to find a comfortable job and comfortable benefits. And you, you don't know what the hell to do with your life.
A quick series of camp images follow and then cuts to Ruby sitting in the office saying "I don't know what's I am going to do in September." Another girl, who is a regular and significant cast member, responds, "You should look into Outdoor Education. I think you would really like it." Ruby pulls up the website and clicks on the "APPLY NOW" link. This fades to Ruby playing with campers and then stepping away to listen to a voicemail. We hear "Hey, I'm calling you to offer you a position for the fall" and Ruby making a silent celebration. We hear...
VO: Opportunities seem to come knocking when you least expect it. So you take life as it comes and make the best decisions that you can in the moment.
Ruby drives by a sign reading "Outdoor Education" She is quickly introduced to the other staff members and we see another montage of her teaching, playing with her co-workers, and finally signing her contract for fall 2009.
I know, it's quite possibly the most boring television show of all time. Actually, I really have no aspirations of it becoming a television show. I just felt that this would be a somewhat more creative way of presenting the last year of my life (though some names have been changed to protect the innocent). It's true that I left the music business life to work outside. I work at an outdoor education program on Lookout Mountain in gorgeous Mentone, Alabama. What is in Mentone? Well there are some camps and churches and rhododendron. We have the Little River and all its associated waterfalls. My program is located at one of the camps on the mountain. We have a phenomenal location and an interesting collection of people who change from season to season.
The past two semesters I have been fortunate enough to work with an amazing staff. This group of people literally became my family for 7 months of the year. We have varying backgrounds and educations and interests but we all love the outdoors and we all love teaching. Students come to our program with their school for some amount of time between a day up to five days. We have our own housing so we don't sleep in the cabins with the kids and we hike, teach classes, and lead large group activities and simulations.
I work from 7:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. four to five days a week and am exhausted most days when I return home. This program only runs during the school year (and selected months at that) and I have worked at my camp in Nashville during the summer.
I return to Alabama in three days and I am preparing myself for the old comforts of the job to be quite different this semester. We have four new staff members and I, along with my friend who got me into this job (this is semester number four for her!) will be living in a cabin instead of the staff house which is the homely homebase for our staff. The washer/dryer, refrigerator, and stove/oven and computers, will no longer be just outside my door. Rather, I will be hiking about 50 yards to get to the house with all those things. Instead, I will be living in a three bedroom, two bathroom, much more rustic cabin with my best friend (who I've essentially been living with for the last 15 months anyway...). I am eager to get down there to start rearranging and making the cabin ours while I'm also nervous to make the change. I might post photos of our humble abode via facebook or twitter later on.
It's long days but I'm pretty much living the dream. As I have conversations with visiting parents and teachers, they almost always tell me that they wish they had had the opportunity to be a part of such a program when they were my age. I know this job is not forever, but it is definitely for now.
I hope to find opportunities to update more often via this blog about my various adventures, but considering my schedule...I can make no promises. Twitter is generally the best bet because I can often find time to throw a quick 140 characters out there. But, before I sign off for the evening, I do want to share my goals for the season:
- do Michigan, effectively, several times.
- lead two groups to the falls.
- increase my repertoire of classes that I am comfortable and confident teaching.
- help organize and plan activities for the entire staff so we might become somewhat family-like.
- pursue opportunities for further education and knowledge.
- Choose my attitude.
So with that, it's time for bed. Nite.
