24 and counting...

It’s been another crazy busy week here in Iowa there was a lot to get done because most of us are going to be away on our SPIKE projects for the next month.

I spent the early part of this week competing in the AmeriOympics, which was a day of athletic competition between the two campus units, which are Oak and Cedar. I’m on the Cedar Unit, which I quickly learned is made up mainly of drama kids, band geeks, animal lovers, vegans, knitters, etc… AKA the kids that were always picked last in gym class. Oak on the other hand is made up of all the jocks of campus because two of the teams are the fire teams who had to complete an intense physical fitness test to even be considered for the team. So from the start it really wasn’t going to be a fair competition and I mean no disrespect but it was literally like someone thought combining the special Olympics and the regular Olympics together would be a good idea and that people might still be surprised by who takes bronze, silver, and gold. We didn’t stand a chance and my team lost all of the 7 competitions we competed in except for kickball, which we tied so it wasn’t even a legit win.

Needless to say my teams moral was bruised and battered but luckily we were about to have our own chance to shine because on Thursday we were competing in the coffeehouse/talent show. Originally I had come up with this awesome idea that our team should do a dance to a popular pop song so I suggested Party in the U.S.A by Miley Cyrus. I was quickly vocalized that no one was very jazzed about the idea even though I volunteered to take one for the team and play the part of Miley. So we decided on We’re All In This Together from High School Musical which I don’t really see how that is any less embarrassing but we all agreed to do it (although there were several times where people threatened to leave because they felt we were just going to embarrass ourselves). After weeks of rehearsal we got our chance to perform it and there had been quite a bit of anticipation throughout campus on how it would turn out because a lot of people were a little skeptical of grown adults dancing along to HSM. Understandable. We were given the coveted finale slot on the program and we totally rocked everybody’s socks off and people thought it was really funny because we incorporated a lot of NCCC jokes that referenced campus jokes or training we had learned such as the gyrating CPR move which I will take credit for coming up with. Let’s just say our coolness points went way and people are constantly asking us to do the dance for them to which I fake modesty and tell them I couldn’t possibly….then I hit the music and bust a move like Zac Efron. Anyways you can see for yourself if you check out the link.
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=542585482610&ref=mf

So when I signed up for NCCC I thought it was going to be like college without the homework. I was horribly mistaken. Every person on my team has a rep role such as peer helper, photographer, VST(Van Safety and Tools), capper, etc…We all kinda got to pick our roles and I chose yearbook and Media Rep. Yearbook I picked because it will probably be the only thing this year that I will make that I could possibly add to my portfolio for future jobs. The Media Rep I only took because someone threw out the name Anderson Cooper, maybe you’ve heard of him, and said that last year he did a story on one of the teams and some lucky media rep got to correspond him. Or at least that’s what I was told, with my luck I’d probably be stuck talking with his personal assistant but all I’m saying is don’t be surprised if you’re flipping channels and see me on CNN 360 chatting it up with Anderson or possibly conversing with Barbra Walters on 20/20 about my love for my country. Dare to dream. The position has turned out to be a little more intense than I thought it would be and I’m really regretting dropping out of AP English after sophomore year in high school because I’m already running out of interesting adjectives. Last week I spent several hours with my co Media Rep Alissa writing my first press release and sent them out to papers in the local area describing the current job my team is working. Tomorrow we’ll be leaving at 6:30 in the morning and heading North to Jackson, Michigan (which happens to be the birth place of the Ritz Cracker and I’m praying there’s a factory where I can go see how they squeeze the peanut butter between the two baby crackers). I’m going to be working at a YMCA environmental camp as a cabin leader where we’ll be leading mainly 5th and 6th graders from Toledo, Illinois. It should be interesting dealing with kids who are just entering puberty and I’m sure many hilarious stories will ensue.

On Friday I turned the big 24 and this was the first time I’ve celebrated a birthday outside of Washington so that was strange but a fun new experience. On the morning of my birthday I got up in front of the Friday community meeting to announce when and where the knitting club would be meeting this week and then someone shouted out that it was my birthday and lead nearly 200 people into singing happy birthday which was ridiculously awkward and I never know what expression to show on my face when people are singing happy birthday to me so I probably went through 20 facial expressions before finding one that felt natural. Later that day I found out that girl on campus named Victoria was celebrating an 11/13/85 b-day which excited me because I’ve never met someone with the same birthday and I let her know I was upset that she didn’t come stand with me during the mass happy birthday sing along and that I felt bad for snagging all the birthday attention away from her. I asked her a lot of questions about the day she was born just to see how similarly our lives began and I found out that while I was born in Walla Walla General Hospital she was birthed on the toilette seat in her parent’s home in Maryland. I thought that was kinda weird but went along with it and played it off like it’s a totally normal thing to be born on the crapper…

P.S. Thanks to everyone for the letters, packages, phone calls, texts, wall posts, etc. on my birthday. It meant a lot and I'm so lucky to have you as friends!