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?