But... but this means I can't be lazy.

Yesterday was a pretty busy day at work. We were really busy on and off throughout the day, but what made me, at least, extra busy is how much training I was doing. The first thing I did was a class, which was a lot of fun and I got to climb for it, and then I cleaned and did a belay assessment for the next couple hours, and then I did a ton of training with one of our new kids. It was fun, we did a mock rock climbing party. All a lovely day. But I was pretty tired by the time I got off at 3:30. It was nice to finally get to go home.

So nice that I thought, with the babysitting money I made the other day, I'd stop at Family Dollar on the way home and pick up some treat (hot cheetos and the movie Fired Up). The rest of my day was going to consist of watching the movie and How I Met Your Mother. It was going to be glorious.

Which obviously means that I will be called back into work. Not ten minutes after I got home, I got a call from PDRC. Oh no. I answer the phone, and it's my boss.
"This is Bridget."
"Hi Bridget, this is Tony."
"Hey Tony, what's up?"
"I'm calling because we're having a bit of a scheduling [at this point in my life, I realize I have no idea how to spell this word... snaphue? snafoo? hm.] at BCC and we were wondering if you'd be available to work from, well, now until, I'm not really sure, maybe 8 or 8:30?"
"Uh, what would I be doing?" I feel the need to emphasize here that I don't actually work at BCC. I was hired to work the rock wall at PDRC, and then I volunteered to close the building at BCC for my bosses, but my job is still really just at the rock wall. I don't know how to do any of the jobs that exist at BCC. The other day, someone asked me if I could cover his kitchen duty shift, and I have absolutely no idea what that even means. I don't know what that would entail, I was not trained for it, I don't even know 100% where that would be. Yes, hello, Bridget? Would you mind flying this plane full of people to Dublin? And actually, I was already working when he needed me to cover, so I couldn't on two counts, but it was still kinda intimidating that he'd even think to ask me. I don't work with you! Stop thinking of me as your coworker! You don't think of Tracey or Adam as your coworkers, why me?
"It's a rental, I think there's a birthday party or graduation party or something."
"Ok. I can do that, I live about 40 minutes away, and I'm not actually sure what all that entails. I've never been trained for it or anything."
"Sure, I think it's mostly just about checking in with the party when it starts and making sure they have everything they need." You can do it, you've flown in planes before. To Dublin, even! Plus, you know how to drive a car, right?
"Alright..."
"You're the first person I've called," Why, are you trying to punish me for something? "and if you can't,  that's ok, I thought I'd see if you're still around and not doing anything and wanted to cover it." Hm. I wish I possessed the ability to say no to covering a shift without feeling guilty about it.
"Yeah, sure I can come in."
"Great! I'll tell them at BCC that you'll be in about 5:15."

There's just something about being able to work-- not having other plans-- and having someone call me or talk to me in person to ask if I can work... I feel so guilty if I say no. They're in need! I need to help them! If they're asking me, they must be desperate! The closest I ever get to saying no when I'm available is, "I can, just this is the only day I have off in ---- weeks," and then they try to see if anyone else can cover instead of me. But I'm still fully prepared to go in if they need me to.

Anyway, I heat up a breakfast burrito since I haven't eaten since breakfast, and I get back in my car and head down to BCC.

When I get there, I walk down the hallway to where I'm pretty sure I'll meet up with everyone who needs to talk to me and tell me what exactly I'm doing. And as I do so, the girl who I thought I was relieving sees me.

"Oh, Bridget, I didn't call you in time."
"What?"
"Melanie's here, she came for her shift, you can go home."
Grumble grumble.

Haha. In her defense, the girl I was coming in to cover for offered to let me stay and work if I wanted to so I wouldn't have driven all the way out for nothing. But no, no no no, I'm ok. I really don't want a sense of a purpose that much actually.

However, I also didn't actually want to have driven all the way out to Broomfield for nothing, so I stopped at the rec center to climb. Fortunately, while I was there, I was talking to my boss and told him about what happened, and he let me add an extra half hour of pay for the day for driving out there (and also for bringing in some traffic cones from a blood drive that was going on earlier). Quite nice, and then I also convinced one of my coworkers to stay and climb with me after the wall closed, because we were busy for the last half hour I was there, so I couldn't get a belay from the guy who was working, and I didn't want to just climb the autobelay.

So what would have been the most obnoxious night ever turned out to be a really nice night, actually. Still makes for a fun story to tell, though.

Well, tough.

Haha. I was reading blogs just now (because what else would you be doing when it's two in the morning and you work tomorrow? I mean, I already looked at my schedule for next semester again and tried to figure out where all my classes are), and I think my favorite quote so far is:

Hey, ever wanted to see a duck with human feet that only walks backwards?

Well, tough. You're going to see one anyway.

And then the picture, but I don't actually want to save it to my computer, so everyone has to settle for a link instead. Here's the whole post if you want some context.


Speaking of working in the morning, I love my job still. It's awesome. I especially love teaching climbing 101, which I don't get to do very often. It's just a class that people sign up for so they can learn how to belay, and we offer it every Thursday from 7-9. But I don't teach it then, Adam does. I only get to teach the climbing 101 class when it's part of another class I'm doing, like the parent/tot class on Saturdays or women's climbing if enough girls sign up for that.

Even though I don't teach it often, I like to, and I'm pretty good at it. In fact, the parent/tot class we have runs for one month at a time (only three weeks this month because of Christmas) and it just started last week. The basic layout is on week one of the class, we only have the parent show up and go over all the climbing 101 material, then for the rest of the weeks, the parents bring their kids and we play games. So last week, I had 3 dads (out of 4 possible parents, but I didn't think the last parent would show up) all come and take my class, and they were all cool and excited about learning things. One of them was already belay certified, but he still enjoyed the class because he got to learn a lot of new information about why we belay like this and not that, why this is important but that doesn't matter, etc.

This particular dad was so impressed with my knowledge and how I presented everything and just that class in general that he told me today, "You know, I've been thinking about it all week, and you really did a good job instructing the class last week."

It was so cool! I'm usually told that the class was really good, and thanks for teaching and all, but usually only immediately after the information is presented, or if one of my students comes back with a friend and they're introducing us. This was even cooler though, because it was a full week later, and nothing really brought it up, he just wanted to tell me that I'm a good teacher. :) Love it. I have an awesome job.

Oh, and even cooler, my boss is hoping to give me the Thursday shift, which means I can start teaching climbing 101 every week! Yay! And then I'll have my Saturday shift, which will include the parent/tot class, and that's it for the week. I'll have Sundays off again! And still get in at least 10 hours a week! Hopefully the base schedule that she set up for everyone will work out, and I can officially just have those two shifts a week. I would be so happy.

Just to not leave everyone completely hanging...

Haha. "I'll post about our latest burger-rating adventure tomorrow, probably, though." Don't you love the lies?

To make a short story long... Since my job at DSST is only temporary and will end in a month, I've been looking for another job I could have after that. Then a couple weeks ago, I had a phone interview at the same place that Chaelomen works to be a pee pourer. It started off by her asking me to tell her about myself, in which I included that I'm studying chemistry at Metro.
"Oh, so you're a student? Do you go full time?"
"Yes. Well, not right now. I'm taking a semester off because I've been going every semester, including summers, for 2 years, and I need a break."
"Ok, but when you go back, you'll be a full time student?"
"Yeah, I will."

And our conversation continued, until she asks me for an example of a time when I had to do [something]. So I told her that at the place I'm currently working, I had to [blah blah blah].
"Great. So why are you leaving your current job?"
"I actually want to keep my current job. It's only part time, I work two shifts a week, so I would hope to be able to have both jobs."
"So you want to work a part time job, a full time job, and someday go to school full time?"
"Yep, that's the plan."
"Hm. I don't think I like that. You wouldn't be able to give your full attention to this job when you're on the clock. So tell me about a time..."

After that, the conversation got kinda awkward. She moved on so quickly from that point, so there was no opportunity for me to justify why this was the case and tell her about how I am capable of working both jobs. The interview was pretty much over, so why bother with the formalities of finishing out the interview, even though she knows right there that she's not going to hire me? Meh. I'm actually ok with it. I wish that I could have worked there, because it should someday be able to go right into my line of work, which would have been nice, but these things happen, and I'm sure I'll find another way in.

But I told that story to my boss, Melissa, maybe two weeks ago. I kinda wanted her to know that I like this job a lot and am looking to stay here long-term. After I was done working that day, she asked me if I was looking for a full time job-- not that it affected my job here at all, she was just curious. I explained that I'm currently living at home with my parents, and I'm hoping to make that not the case anymore. I mean, it's not like living here is bad at all, I just feel like it's time to move on, especially since I lived on my own in China, and now that I'm back, I want to get on with life. I actually found an apartment complex to move into, even. It's a little bit closer to the rec center, and it's only 600/ month, and relatively big for that price. It's in a good neighborhood and everything. I like the pictures of the place, and I drove around the outside and it looks awesome. I really like it, and I'm excited to move in there someday.

At that price, though, I need to make 1800 a month, so I'm not necessarily looking for another full time job, but I am looking for a second job (preferably a day job, but I could make a night job work), and so Melissa, being one of the coolest bosses to ever exist, asked me if I would be interested in her asking around the other full time employees at the rec center and seeing if they need any help in their departments-- so that's like maybe daycare, maybe working at the preschool, lifeguarding  whatever. I said that would be awesome, and she agreed to ask around once she got back from her vacation.

Well 5 days ago, Melissa asked if I would maybe be willing to pick up a couple extra shifts on Saturdays. They don't usually have staff work both Saturday and Sunday, but since I'm looking for more hours and they're a little short on staff members at the moment, they'd love to have me work more. I am actually really free. All the time. Aside from work, I usually don't have any solid plans ever. The only thing I have in the works right now isn't even happening for a month haha. So I agreed, and Melissa wrote me into the shifts for Sat, Sun, Mon, and then I have a couple Tuesdays this month, a Wed, and at least one Fri. She might ask me to pick up the 2nd Fri that we need shifts covered for.

I worked Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and then today. I'll work again on Fri and Sat. So, in my defense, I've actually been working every day since our last burger-rating adventure. And I know I just took a ton of time and words to tell a really long story about why this post isn't about burgers, when I could have just blogged about burgers, but I'm just too lazy. Haha. My camera is way upstairs, and I would have to download the pictures from that. And, to really seal the deal, mine and Sara's burger-rating notebooks are out in my car.

But I promise that since I won't be working tomorrow at the rec center, just at DSST in the morning, I will at least bring in our notebooks tomorrow. And then I'll try really really hard to actually blog about our delicious food tomorrow, as well. But, at the absolute latest, I'll blog about it on Thurs, since I'm completely off that day and have little else to do. I swear!

Climbing! :D Who wants to join?

In my entire life, up until 5 weeks ago, I had been rock climbing a total of 3 times. Chaelomen took me twice like, what, 10 or 11 years ago? Then about 6 or 7 years ago, we had a mutual activity where we went climbing and I got about half way up the wall.

I do however belay people more frequently than is normal. But I've never been formally trained or anything so when I was getting hired at the rec center and to get belay certified, I decided to take the climbing 101 class where they go over how to tie your knots and such. I learned something pretty important there: I can't climb to save my life. Haha. It's terrible. I got maybe 6 feet off the wall and then didn't know what to do and didn't feel solid on any of the holds, so I just sat there for a while until Adam told me I could come down if I wanted.

I still got belay certified and now I have the job. It's all awesome. But, unfortunately, Melissa (my boss, not my sister in law) asked me if I had been on the auto belay. Heh... no. So she had me try it out. Haha. I don't know if everyone knows what an auto belay is. It's pretty simple. One end (the big round one) is secured to the top of the wall, and you hook the other end up to your harness. It lets you climb alone and you go up the wall, and then if you fall or when you decide you're done, you just let go of the wall, and you've got like 3 feet of free fall, then it catches you and lowers you to the ground. The reason Melissa wanted me to do it was so that way if someone asked what it feels like, I would be able to tell them.

Unfortunately for me, the auto belay is hooked up to a wall where the easiest route is 5.7. There was also a 5.8 and maybe a 5.10 on the wall, so if I used any hold I wanted, you could probably call it a 5.6. That's not too bad. Except I couldn't even climb our 5.4, and it's on a really easy part of the wall. I had no chance of getting off the ground here. Also especially because when you're being belayed by a person, you can feel that they have you. You can feel that if you lean back, they've got your line on break and you'll only fall maybe 6 inches. On an auto belay, it doesn't catch you until 3 feet of rope have been pulled free, so you don't feel that it has you. It's just a little less secure feeling-- still about as safe as a regular belay, it just feels less comforting. And being a completely inexperienced climber, I really wanted that comfort.

All of this combined, I only got like 3 feet off the ground. Ha. It was ok, though. Not everyone who works at the wall is a climber. And if I'm not a climber either, then at least I can still do my job. Climbing apparently was just not my thing. I don't really know the techniques of climbing, so all it was doing was exploiting how weak my arms and legs were. What's the fun of that? At least, getting like 3 feet off the ground before I slipped, I still felt it catch me, just barely.

Well, Melissa sees that I'm terrible at climbing, and we actually were offering a woman's climbing class (ages 15 and up) on Thursdays this month. We had an open spot, and one of the perks of working at the rec center is that I get to take the classes we offer for free. So she sent me an email asking if I'd maybe be able to work on Sat (I couldn't, I had COPE) and if-- no pressure-- I was interested in taking the class. I really was, because I remember way back in the day when I was much smaller, I enjoyed climbing with Chaelomen. I mean, thanks to physics, climbing is just easier for smaller children. But I really enjoyed it back then. I'd like to think I could enjoy it again.

So I've been taking this climbing class every Thursday this month from 7 to 9, and it's been really awesome. All I think about it climbing. Scooter may or may not have had to tell me I couldn't climb one of the Miner's Memorials at the city she lives in. I go to the rec center frequently so I can traverse around the wall a couple times and boulder some and climb the auto belay route-- they just redid the routes on that wall so it's like a 5.8 5.9 and 5.10-- and I can get about 10 feet off the ground consistently before I slip.

We were actually retiring a couple ropes at work last Sunday, and to get the new rope up, you just tie it to the old one and pull it through. Alas, my knot was not tight enough, so it slipped out at the most inopportune time, and both ropes came falling to the ground. To get the new rope up, Melissa made me climb the back wall (3 routes on that one, 5.7, 5.8 and 5.9) and string the new rope around the belay bar. And it may have taken like 20 minutes, but I made it to the top of the wall! It was awesome. I was very happy. Such an accomplishment.

Recently, I've been taking my friends climbing at the rec center, which is fun and all, but they don't know how to belay, so basically I go and traverse around the wall, boulder, and climb the auto belay, and belay them on their routes. And get frustrated when I try to tell them what their next move should be and they're just like, "I need to come down." And I'm like no, your next hold is right there, you're only like 7 feet up, come on! And they're like, "No, I'm coming down." Yeah, fine, ok, you can try again later. (That experience brought a whole new perspective to how I probably appeared at my climbing 101 class. Heh.)

But yesss. If anyone is looking for a climbing partner, I'm totally available. I would love to teach you to belay and climb. Only $5 to get a pass at the rec center, and it's good for a year. If you already know how to belay, getting the belay certification only takes like 20 minutes. We have 9 routes, and they get changed every couple months. Renting the gear is free, you just need to bring your rec center card. Once you're certified, you can belay and boulder and use the auto belay. Please... Haha. Who's down?

Well-Qualified.

Last week, since it was the last week before a couple of my friends started school, we decided to go over to Rhonda's house to watch 500 Days of Summer (which I thought was really awesome, btw. And that guy is one of my favorite actors). After it was over, we all sat around talking, and she remembered a couple books she wanted to give to me. They're about autopsies. I'm excited. :)

She also remembered that someone she works for had offered her a teaching job at DSST. She'd be teaching middle school and high school, for somwhere between 45 min and an hour and a half a day. She was all excited to teach this, because the teaching fit in really well between her classes, but then she found out that the place was 40 minutes away from her campus, so she wouldn't actually be able to do it. She then gave me the info and email address of the people I need to contact if I was interested in teaching.

The teaching job at the high school is a Tues/Wed/Fri job from 11:30-12:15, and at the middle school, it's Mon/Tues/Thurs/Fri from 3:05-3:45. Unfortunately, I just got my schedule for the next several months at Paul Derda, and it involves working on Monday from 3:45 to 8:15. So... That's not really going to work out if I'd only be done teaching at 3:45 on Mondays. Especially since teaching is out by the airport, and Rec Center is up in Broomfield. Fortunately, you can teach just high school or middle school, and since high school doesn't conflict with anything, that could still work.

I went in yesterday for an interview, and they're really excited to have someone as qualified as me. Haha. I wouldn't have ever considered myself qualified to teach in a high school. But they really like my teaching in China experience, and they love that I'm a chemistry major. It's exciting that they'd like me to do this, though, because I really was hoping to someday be a part time chemistry teacher in high school, and this will give me nice experience, and if I do well, they might actually high me someday as a chem teacher. Yay! I love it when life work out nicely.

All I have to do to be "officially hired" is take their background test, and that certainly won't be a problem. I'll be teaching anatomy/physiology, and it starts next week, and goes until the end of the 2nd full week in Nov. Maybe they'll ask me to stay for the rest of the year? Maybe they'll ask me to come back next year? We'll see. Per day, I get paid about $35. But I'm only teaching 45 minutes a day, so if you figure it out per hour, I get almost $46. Since I'll only be teaching 2 hours and 15 minutes a week, that doesn't equal out to much money total, but hey. How many people can say that, ever, they got paid $46/hr? :) That'll be fun to someday put down on my next job application.

I'm really excited, and super grateful. This time two weeks ago I had no jobs, and now I have two. And they're both jobs that I love, not just cleaning up around Target. But keeping the rock wall together and running. Teaching students, in a real school. I am so lucky.

Benefits of Knowing Your Way Around Campus

One of my friends just started college. A while back, while at work, she got desperately lost. It was a hilarious and sad story. And I've totally been there. I've been lost like that. She and I go to school on the same campus, so I cringed with sadness when I read about her going the COMPLETE OPPOSITE DIRECTION from where she needed to go. Especially because, if she had known where she was going, it would have been like a three minute walk.

Thankfully, now that I've been going to school there for a couple years, I know that campus like the back of my hand. So after reading her sad story, I texted her and told her how to get to all of her classes, and I also told her that if she ever gets lost again, she can text or call me and I'll help her. She could describe to me what she sees, and I would be able to tell her where to go. I've done so with mom and dad both before, so it really is something I could do. I could even tell her where some of the bathrooms are in some of the buildings.

[I have to say, this is an exciting thing to be able to offer for help, because I'm the youngest of 6. I've never had anyone who needed my knowledge before, but I've had many siblings help me out. With these exact same problems-- on the exact same campus-- for Chaelomen. So it was exciting to be all big-sister-ly for a little while.]

Today was the first day of class. I, clearly, am not doing classes this semester. At least, I think that's clear... I think I've mentioned it multiple times on this blog. So I had my phone not on silent, that way if she got lost, she could call and I would actually wake up.

So it happened that at 8:30, I indeed got a phone call. It started off just vibrating, which woke me up, and then I started flipping out. Kylee is lost! Kylee is lost! I have to answer the phone! I have to be conscious enough to help her! And MOST IMPORTANTLY, I have to go upstairs where I won't have really shoddy service! I sit up, flailing everywhere, trying to do several things at once. Find phone. Stand up. Get blanket off. Stand up. Find phone!

I end up throwing my phone to the foot of the couch, and once I have it in my possession again, I have to turn to run upstairs and answer before it goes to voice mail! Must help Kylee before she is late for class! And so, of course, instead of keeping a firm grip on it as I turn, I toss it in the air, and it falls between the couch and the wall! Bah! I go diving after it, and when I finally have it in hand, I actually look at the phone (to make sure the battery didn't get disconnected a little bit, which would make the phone turn off and on, and I would lose the call). The phone stayed in tact, but I realize-- I have no idea what number this is.

And I have Kylee's phone number. There's no where else she'd be calling from.

THIS MUST BE A CALL TO OFFER ME A JOB! :D :D

And it was. I started today (just filling out payroll paperwork and getting fingerprints done), and hopefully my boss will email me back soon, telling me when they want me to work next. Because I sure would hate to show up late or not at all to my first day of work. That would be embarrassing. And probably not be so good for the whole "keeping a job" thing.

And so, on my list of things to get done before starting up school again in a year, I have one thing down. :) And progress is being made on the rest of them... mostly.

Side note-- Kylee did text me later, and since I got the phone call, I was already awake and could answer. She wasn't late or lost or anything, but she was concerned about a lack of people in her classroom. What a great day. I hope she enjoyed her first day, as well.