Hello, Week 4

Oh my goodness, it is HOT in my office right now - this is not conducive to a productive start of the work week. I think I am going to be spending most of today cutting out little cards to staple to candy bars for Friday's candy/note day; I learned last week that I am incapable of cutting things in a straight line and I should perhaps re-enroll in Kindergarten. My supervisor is officially on maternity leave and was due yesterday (though I haven't heard yet as to whether her baby Eli has arrived yet ). LLCC is a flurry of activity this morning - I still can't believe how many students are here, it's awesome.
Fortunately my supervisor went over my draft for the SL resource guide before leaving so once I'm done with these ridiculous notecards, I can hopefully work on draft #2. Other than that, I really don't have much going on here. Time to get back to cutting paper...whooohoo.

Starting my third week (holy cow...)

Wow I really can't believe this is already going to be my third week of work! Last week literally flew by; this week, though, seems to be progressing a little bit slower. Yesterday all I did was work on notes to attach to candy to hand out to students next week and also worked on the SL resource guide. The more I read about SL and the more examples I see, the more I feel like this guide that I'm writing needs to be easy to read. As a college student, I never would have read a long drawn-out guide about SL if I didn't have to; I get what SL is, I don't need 8 pages that repetitively explain it. I'm hoping my skills as a writer will get me through this, allow me to cut where possibly and go into depth where I think it's truly needed (i.e. overcoming obstacles and project ideas). While SL isn't as well used as it should be, I still feel as though a college faculty member knows what is generally and doesn't have the time or patience to read a 6-paragraph definition--after all, one of the obstacles mentioned was lack of time--it's supposed to be a guide, not a book. I really don't know who I'm trying to rationalize here haha. It's just that writing is what I do and I want this guide to be as amazing as possible. I think I may talk to the community volunteer center shortly for suggestions and whatnot. Time to get back to work on it, I'm motivated now that I've warmed up!

2022 update- One day I'll work for a Montessori homeschool curriculum company and wow - will things play out differently than I could have ever expected. Have to appreciate the adventure though, eh? 😂😂😂

Happy Thursday!

I feel kind of guilty blogging while at work but considering I almost never take a lunch break (or any break for that matter), I think taking five minutes out of my day to document my work is allowed. I meant to post this the other day but here at work we took a StrengthsQuest thing to use at our retreat and my results (in order):

COMPETITION People who are especially talented in the Competition theme measure their progress against the performance of others. They strive to win first place and revel in contests.

INPUT People who are especially talented in the Input theme have a craving to know more. Often they like to collect and archive all kinds of information.

INTELLECTION People who are especially talented in the Intellection theme are characterized by their intellectual activity. They are introspective and appreciate intellectual discussions.

IDEATION People who are especially talented in the Ideation theme are fascinated by ideas. They are able to find connections between seemingly disparate phenomena.

ADAPTABILITY People who are especially talented in the Adaptability theme prefer to “go with the flow.” They tend to be “now” people who take things as they come and discover the future one day at a time.

Oddly enough I personally wouldn't think competition would be first on the list though I am awfully competitive (only not so much at work as at home...Kim, my best friend, thinks she's better at Guitar Hero than me, but I mean c'mon...haha) I also would have thought adaptability would have been more towards the top as I'm definitely an easy-going person. I felt kind of out of place at the retreat as everyone seemed to have more varied and up-beat results (like positivity and focus) while mine were basically about intelligence, competition, and the ability to go with the flow. I guess it doesn't matter, though, as I happen to like what makes me me :)

I really can't get over how fast this week has gone by. I've had quite a few meetings (I'm so popular haha) and I think the retreat definitely helped speed up the week. I feel like I've accomplished a lot, though, this week and that things are gradually picking up. I'm definitely loving work--this might be the best job yet. While I've more or less loved every job I've had, none of them were just right. Working at the Lincoln Museum and the J-Ville public library both left me feeling rather lonely as I'd go 12 hours usually without seeing or speaking to anyone. Working at New Salem was a blast, but the heat was a killer. Oh, and my year spent at FamVid...well, that was an interesting time. While I LOVED LOVED LOVED the job (organizing movies is my thing! and I loved the emphasis on making sure the customers were happy) there were just certain things that never quite jived right with me (that I won't post in a public forum lol). This job, though, feels so different than any other. Not only do I work with some AMAZING people (both in my office and AmeriCorps in general) but I absolutely love what I'm doing. Again perhaps because it's only the 2nd week, but I actually look forward to getting to work in the morning. I still have the strong motivation I found at our PSO and I am determined to help make a huge impact here at LLCC and within the Springfield community in general.

Today I've spent most of my morning gluing and coloring so I feel rather useless but I think these display boards are really going to get the students' attention. I kind of like the fact that my opinion is valued both on a professional level and also as a recent college grad who knows what students typically like. Perhaps I'll spend the rest of my life working in a college environment - it could definitely work for me. Nothing like having a 2-week long Christmas vacation every year :D

Such a giddy humpday

I have been so giddy and almost annoyingly-hyper today! Walking around humming to myself...it's ridiculous. Haha and I'm not even completely sure why I'm so peppy. Yesterday was our staff retreat at a country club here in Springfield. It was fun (and quite nice to get up half an hour later and get home half an hour sooner - can't complain about that considering this girl is still not used to 9-hour work days!) I definitely enjoyed getting to know the staff here better (even though there are only a few of us so some of our activities were rather...odd...but fun!) A lot of what was discussed was also talked about at our PSO so it felt a little repetitive but still worthwhile. Plus we had lunch at one of those awesome Japanese restaurants that cook your food right in front you (I had never been considering I've been a small town girl now for almost 9 years...yikes...) All in all, it was an interesting day.
Today has gone by super fast, just as the rest of the week has. I'm finishing up the diversity boards (though I've decided to take the rest of it home with me and finish it there tonight since supplies seem to be lacking here and I'm too busy to go on a hunt). Over my lunch hour the Multicultural Festival board met and I'm definitely excited to be a part of that (Sept. 30th- it's the day after my 22nd birthday so anyone in the area should come check it out!) I have a meeting at 3 to talk to ITS about employee technology training? Supposedly it's going to take an hour and a half though I'm not sure at all what this is going to entail. Hmm...
Whelp, time to get back to work. Hopefully once I have more exciting projects going on, I'll have more to blog about.

Missing work

So I had a three-day weekend and it was amazing. At first I had nothing at all planned and was rather bummed but then one my best friends Genesis randomly decided to come up Thursday night and then I randomly decided to go to the Decatur celebration on Saturday. All in all, it was an incredibly fun few days and if you're really all that interested, you can find me on MySpace and read my personal blog (in which I've also wrote about my decision to attempt being vegetarian again).
While I had a super-fun weekend, I also found I was really missing work. Perhaps it's because I've just started or maybe it's because I have a job that I really truly care about but this morning I was all get-up-and-go (even though 6am is usually the worst time of day for me haha). It may have helped that I went to bed at like 8pm but I was bright-eyed and ready for work this morning! I just feel really chipper and motivated today even though...blah...it is Monday. We have a staff meeting at 1 today and a staff-retreat tomorrow at a country club. Not too sure what we'll be discussing/doing since there's only 4 of us currently in the office but who knows. I'm ready for whatever!

Hmm it's just going to be a good day, I can feel it. Time to finish up my August display boards for the hallways and then more work on the faculty SL resource guide I'm putting together. Fun fun!

Day 3/4

Yesterday (day 3) went by rather quickly. I worked on the faculty resource guide for most of the day. Wow, guess I could explain what I'm doing with my project--well for starters, LLCC has never had a VISTA and so far it seems as though very few faculty members care about who I am or about service-learning; hehe silly them, that will change soon enough. For the fall semester alone, LLCC would like me to develop a faculty guide to service-learning, a service-learning data form, listing of faculty members currently using SL, create a listing of community organizations we could send students to volunteer at, create an evaluation process and documents for SL, attend community volunteer center advisory board meetings, plan/implement co-curricular programs (such as homelessness awareness week and MLK day of service). From one angle it seems like a lot, from another it doesn't seem like enough. I'm definitely getting into the groove of things, though, and at least I have my own office (for now- I'll be moved into a shared one once my computer gets in. Side note- I must have been spoiled at my private college because I've noticed things here take a LOT longer to get done than at IC).

Today I have a meeting with the woman who will be over-seeing me while my supervisor is on maternity leave. I really truly can't wait to get paid not only because A) if my dad doesn't give me money, I won't be able to get to work and B) I want to buy a planner SO bad. Google Calendar works well or whatev, but I need something more concrete and something I can access even when I'm not at work. *sigh* only 15 days till pay-day. Thank goodness!!

Hmm well I may blog more later but for now it's time to get back to work!

Day 1 and 2

Day 1/Post-PSO: My orientation was great. Getting there was a bit scary (as I’d never flown by myself before and hadn’t been on a plane since I was eleven) and I was paranoid about my luggage being lost—well sure enough, I got on my connecting flight from O’Hare to Indianapolis and my luggage didn’t. Fortunately, it was at my hotel about 5 hours after I got there and nothing was missing/damaged/etc; it was still definitely a panicky moment, though! I also lost my wallet at one point but fortunately it was recovered a couple hours later. I had never realized how beautiful Indianapolis was and the view from my hotel room was amazing. I was also shocked by how great the food was. It was banquet style but nothing was ever cold, soggy, over-cooked, etc –it was delicious.

I had heard that orientation would be intense but I thought that meant hard (I was wrong). I’m still astounded by the intensity of the conversations I had. Never in my life (now this is sad considering I just graduated college) have I ever sat in such a large group of diverse people and had such intelligent conversations—like wow. The VISTAs ranged in age from 18-60+ but there was no ageism or anything like that. There was no disrespect over differing opinions and everyone seemed to always have such informed viewpoint. I still can’t get over how smart and polite everyone was—intense was definitely the right word to describe it. I truly feel like I’ve found my place and I couldn’t be happier about having started work. I’ve even started an outline for a book I’m going to write about why more Americans need to volunteer their time to help others (my main problem is going to be keeping it from being a corny motivational-speech-wannabe). While I was thinking about this book since the beginning of orientation, I finally got around to watching Religulous last night and I loved Bill Maher saying:

If the world does come to an end here, or wherever, or if it limps into the future, decimated by the effects of religion-inspired nuclear terrorism, let's remember what the real problem was. We learned how to precipitate mass death before we got past the neurological disorder of wishing for it. That's it. Grow up or die.

Because it’s so true—people lose their lives every day fighting over religious differences and yet few have that same passion when it comes to actually helping to improve the world. On a side note, I definitely recommend the movie if you’ve not yet seen it! In my opinion Maher is a bit too patronizing (I doubt anyone who disagrees with him would respect his opinion with the attitude he has…haha but then again it’s Bill Maher and religion is the subject).

I really truly believe (based on the amazing people I met at my PSO) that our country is headed for a turn-around; I believe volunteerism will rise from 26% to 45% in the next couple of years.

Day 2: I am dragging today. Having a cold definitely isn’t helping matters nor is the dreary weather outside nor is being in a basement. Mmm neither is this watered-down over-sweetened machine coffee. Yum. I believe there’s something to be said for in-office nap time (haha). I just don’t think my body has adjusted yet to 12-hour days (up at 6am, home at 6pm…whoohoo). My computer hasn’t been setup yet so I’m using the SGA computer in the office kitchen – no big deal, though I am excited to actually start using my office at some point. Haha I guess I just get giddy over silly things (like my sweet LLCC name tag) even though being an adult scares me out of my wits.
Work is definitely slow-starting. I’m just at a loss as to where to start. I begin planning one thing and an idea for something else comes along and then suddenly I have five different screens up with eighteen different project ideas running through my mind…*sigh* it’s exhausting trying to keep up with my own mind sometimes (which is surprising considering A) how tired I am and B) the fact that I’m usually a slow kid LOL).
I’m just ready to dive deep into a project. Planning is definitely a skill I’m going to have to acquire quickly as this isn’t the kind of job that can do without. Oh well, that’s what this is about, right? –saving the world while also discovering life skills you never knew you’d need. Haha well I’ve amused myself long enough, time to get back to work…is it lunch time yet?