Ok so there are times when the conversations at my job are just so precious that I have to write them down so I never forget plus they are just bring joy to my heart.
So a little background: most of these residents come from well to do families so they are accustomed to nice things... I wish I were more accustomed to nice things too. Well about a week ago I was taking a group to the grocery store and everyone in the car started bragging about what kind of cars their mom's drive or all the designer items they own. JV's parents are highly intelligent people and build hospitals or something really smart I have not gotten the whole story and JV is actually very smart as well. Below is a little snippet of the conversation that still makes me laugh just thinking about it.
KB: Well my mom drives an audi
RG: My mom drives a mercedes
CN: My mom drives a lexus
LB: my mom drives a mercedes too
JV: Well my mom is meeting the Dali Lama next week so beat that!
CN: Who is Dali Lama
JV: Oh my god you have got to be kidding me he is only one of the foremost spiritual world leaders.
KB: Yeah I think I know Dali.
JV: I'm not talking to you anymore.
I seriously could not help but laugh, by far my favorite conversation yet.
I'm changing positions pretty soon at my job, I will be the Community and Vocational Coordinator. I am very excited for the new position, but I am really going to miss my residential meetings with them and getting to spend that extra one-on-one time with them. I will just have to figure out how to make it happen cause these guy and gals are the best!
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Disney Land & Parents Weekend
Yikes I have procrastinated yet again with this blog I don't mean to but yet I did. So much has happened in the past few weeks. I got an amazing apartment and two fabulous roomies. We just planned our housewarming party for Oct 8th and it will have a Three's Company theme and I promise lots of pics... well the people coming are all thier friends since the majority of mine are still in TX. I wish I were rich and could fly you all out here. Once everything gets unpacked and decorated I will post pics of the place as well.
Last weekend I took a group of residents to Disney Land to celebrate RG's birthday and it was awesome! His parents paid for us to be escorted around Disney to whatever rides he chose and we would go to the front of the line. *Random Side Note: Disney really does a phenomenal job at Customer Service and getting people through the line quickly and such... Sky Ranch you need to watch the videos a couple more times. Although parking really did remind me of Sky in the summer.* So we stared the day at California Adventure on the big roller coaster that I can not think of the name. Many of the residents did not want to go on this one because it goes upside down so they stood by the railing so that they could watch and this one has a count down to it so that you can prepare. Well many residents were screaming at me and I was trying to figure out what they were saying and completely missed the countdown so as I am cranning my head and looking to the side to try to deciper what the heck they are yelling I suddenly get jerked forward and slam the side of my face against the chest bar all to then realize they were yelling "sit back". Next up was the Tower of Terror, which I LOVE cause it terrifies me everytime, its basically an elevator that goes up and down so quickly that you float above your seat. Well many of the residents started screaming thier heads off the moment the lights went out and I just died laughing. The picture they take on the ride was histrical if we had not been rushed to move on I would have purchased it. The residents all look horrified while me and the other staff member are laughing. While riding Pirates we all sang together "yo ho yo ho a pirates life for me" and chose where everyone would live. They chose the whore house for me without really realizing what it was until RG starts giggling and says, "hehehehe Wendy's gonna be a hooker". So Kati & Trev I guess in the end I will end up a Pirate Hooker :).
They forced me to go on Splash Mountain which I did not want to because it was hot and I didn't want to be wet. I tried to hide but they found me and dragged me on. I am not sure why Disney has not revamped that ride cause I am pretty sure all the animatronic animals are high and there are shrooms everywhere. It is not a good influence for kids at all! It was just down right creepy and for the final drop I ducked so far down that I didn't even make it into the picture and all the residents got mad at me. For Space Mountain CN wanted me to ride with her, but she left out an important piece of information that she is scared of the dark. So basically the ride starts and so do her screams and I'm thinking what in the world is she dying! Then she clutches my arm across the seat and I'm all awkwardly leaning across the seat to try and help her feel better. The ride comes to an end and she suddenly startes laughing and states she wants to go again...whew luckily we were off to the next ride. The haunted mansion was all decked out for the Nightmare Before Christmas because of Halloween, which I actually prefer it the other way but that is because I don't really like the Nightmare before Christmas. I rode that one all by myself because the carts don't stop moving and there is moving walkway as well and I was so clumsily uncoordinated I could not get myself together enough to make it into the correct cart. It was a mess I almost fell straight on my butt! We went on a few more rides that I can not remember, but the night ended with The World of Color, which is a water show kinda like the one at the Bellagio but they make a mist screen out of the water as well and then show different clips from Disney movies. It was beautiful!
This past week we had our Parents weekend, which started with our golf tournament fund raiser. I was stationed at hole 18 which was "The Perfect Drive". They could donate $40 and advance 350 yards and drop their ball much closer to the hole. I sat there with another staff memeber as well as 2 residents CN and SC. A couple of times one of them would say something like, "oh man that was way off would you like to buy that advance now?" Or they would forget to be quiet while the guys were swinging. CN loved to drive the golf cart around and was constantly asking if we needed to go to restroom. On one of the trips she was trying to move to the side so someone could pass and completely drove me into a bush and then also loved to go over curbs, it was a mess. I had flashbacks of getting shotput from a golf cart and doing a butt slide.
Last night was the family BBQ and I had the job of serving drinks. We only served beer and wine but it was very interesting to see who came back for multiple refills. The winner was 11 glasses of white wine. The beer of choice was Fat Tire. And a couple of residents took about 2 sips and then declared they were drunk, but only when people were looking or playing into it. One wanted a beer and then when no one was looking would pour it into nearby plants. I just sat back and watched it all, especially the parents dancing to the cupid shuffle. I went down to join in and then just ended up standing off to the side laughing histerically, I mean seriously imagine 50 something year olds doing the cupid shuffle it makes for a funny thought. I had one parent ask me if I knew some random person they met in Houston... I really just wanted to respond, "it's the 3rd largest city in the nation... no I don't know your random friend." But instead I politely said, "no I'm sorry that name is not familiar to me." Overall the parents were really nice and it was great to see them having so much fun with the residents.
Sigh well it took me the entire day to finally get this done and technically its the next day... next time I should not wait so long.
Last weekend I took a group of residents to Disney Land to celebrate RG's birthday and it was awesome! His parents paid for us to be escorted around Disney to whatever rides he chose and we would go to the front of the line. *Random Side Note: Disney really does a phenomenal job at Customer Service and getting people through the line quickly and such... Sky Ranch you need to watch the videos a couple more times. Although parking really did remind me of Sky in the summer.* So we stared the day at California Adventure on the big roller coaster that I can not think of the name. Many of the residents did not want to go on this one because it goes upside down so they stood by the railing so that they could watch and this one has a count down to it so that you can prepare. Well many residents were screaming at me and I was trying to figure out what they were saying and completely missed the countdown so as I am cranning my head and looking to the side to try to deciper what the heck they are yelling I suddenly get jerked forward and slam the side of my face against the chest bar all to then realize they were yelling "sit back". Next up was the Tower of Terror, which I LOVE cause it terrifies me everytime, its basically an elevator that goes up and down so quickly that you float above your seat. Well many of the residents started screaming thier heads off the moment the lights went out and I just died laughing. The picture they take on the ride was histrical if we had not been rushed to move on I would have purchased it. The residents all look horrified while me and the other staff member are laughing. While riding Pirates we all sang together "yo ho yo ho a pirates life for me" and chose where everyone would live. They chose the whore house for me without really realizing what it was until RG starts giggling and says, "hehehehe Wendy's gonna be a hooker". So Kati & Trev I guess in the end I will end up a Pirate Hooker :).
They forced me to go on Splash Mountain which I did not want to because it was hot and I didn't want to be wet. I tried to hide but they found me and dragged me on. I am not sure why Disney has not revamped that ride cause I am pretty sure all the animatronic animals are high and there are shrooms everywhere. It is not a good influence for kids at all! It was just down right creepy and for the final drop I ducked so far down that I didn't even make it into the picture and all the residents got mad at me. For Space Mountain CN wanted me to ride with her, but she left out an important piece of information that she is scared of the dark. So basically the ride starts and so do her screams and I'm thinking what in the world is she dying! Then she clutches my arm across the seat and I'm all awkwardly leaning across the seat to try and help her feel better. The ride comes to an end and she suddenly startes laughing and states she wants to go again...whew luckily we were off to the next ride. The haunted mansion was all decked out for the Nightmare Before Christmas because of Halloween, which I actually prefer it the other way but that is because I don't really like the Nightmare before Christmas. I rode that one all by myself because the carts don't stop moving and there is moving walkway as well and I was so clumsily uncoordinated I could not get myself together enough to make it into the correct cart. It was a mess I almost fell straight on my butt! We went on a few more rides that I can not remember, but the night ended with The World of Color, which is a water show kinda like the one at the Bellagio but they make a mist screen out of the water as well and then show different clips from Disney movies. It was beautiful!
This past week we had our Parents weekend, which started with our golf tournament fund raiser. I was stationed at hole 18 which was "The Perfect Drive". They could donate $40 and advance 350 yards and drop their ball much closer to the hole. I sat there with another staff memeber as well as 2 residents CN and SC. A couple of times one of them would say something like, "oh man that was way off would you like to buy that advance now?" Or they would forget to be quiet while the guys were swinging. CN loved to drive the golf cart around and was constantly asking if we needed to go to restroom. On one of the trips she was trying to move to the side so someone could pass and completely drove me into a bush and then also loved to go over curbs, it was a mess. I had flashbacks of getting shotput from a golf cart and doing a butt slide.
Last night was the family BBQ and I had the job of serving drinks. We only served beer and wine but it was very interesting to see who came back for multiple refills. The winner was 11 glasses of white wine. The beer of choice was Fat Tire. And a couple of residents took about 2 sips and then declared they were drunk, but only when people were looking or playing into it. One wanted a beer and then when no one was looking would pour it into nearby plants. I just sat back and watched it all, especially the parents dancing to the cupid shuffle. I went down to join in and then just ended up standing off to the side laughing histerically, I mean seriously imagine 50 something year olds doing the cupid shuffle it makes for a funny thought. I had one parent ask me if I knew some random person they met in Houston... I really just wanted to respond, "it's the 3rd largest city in the nation... no I don't know your random friend." But instead I politely said, "no I'm sorry that name is not familiar to me." Overall the parents were really nice and it was great to see them having so much fun with the residents.
Sigh well it took me the entire day to finally get this done and technically its the next day... next time I should not wait so long.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Best Job EVER!!! Well unless you are Anthony Bourdain
So I have discovered as much as I want to blog and think it is a great way for me to keep up with people I am a procrastinator at heart, so excuse my tardiness in posting something new... not that I have a large following :).
For this post a top 7 list (why 7 because its my list and I like the number 7) of why I have the best job ever! Well I truely believe Anthony Bourdain has the best job ever but I think working with the people I do I have a very close second.
7. Its basically stress free - no minute details or campfires or even stupid OE to deal with. La diabla is out of my life forever!!! Hurrah!!!
6. I have set days and set hours and if I work over that then I get paid... what a concept to pay people for the extra time they work for you. So those 80+ work weeks are gone. Although I am going to start looking for a second job to fill some more hours of my day and to bring in some more money so I can enjoy some of the perks of living in gorgeous Orange County.
5. The staff I work with all work together as a team to serve our residents. No more fighting or bullying or underhanded tactics to make your department look good. Again La Diabla is out of my life... can you tell how excited I am?! I'm actually dancing a little jig just thinking how happy I am to never have to deal with her again... :) Although there an numerous staff at Sky that I miss dearly and if it were up to me I would force them all to come work here cause they would be amazing additions to the team.
4. I get to go on fun outtings and help our special needs residents become confident independent people. Like last night we went to a wonderful Mexican food restraunt and well it cost more then expected so we had to come up with a plan B when most could not afford a full price movie. There were a couple of melt downs, cause lets be real no one enjoys when the budget runs out quicker then expected, I've had a few melt downs myself. But it was nothing that a little Golden Spoon frozen yogurt couldn't fix. Cinnamon frozen yogurt go get some... SOOOO GOOD! And as LR always says, "It is not easy being an adult." So true I should have stayed in college forever.
3. God humbles me nearly everyday, cause really nothing humbles you quicker then helping scrub the dirty grout in someone else's bathroom. But yet I would rather do that with these residents then have to deal with another snotty retreat group leader who need ice every stinking hour.
2. I laugh all the time, so many quotable moments in a day. Like SN asking me to help her look at her calendar to help her find a boyfriend. Man if she can find herself a day I might ask her when my date it is too. Or when JV asks me to stop asking so many silly trivial questions, when all I asked was what his favorite TV show was, but I learned that your favorite TV show changes too easily dependent upon your mood for the day. Now isn't that the truth, I don't know if I could name an all time favorite TV show. Oh and last weekend I laughed so hard when I was driving them all home and they were talking about missing an old staff memeber Adam and they wanted to drive out to see him. I expained that he lives in Tennessee now and that would be at least a 3 day drive and what where we going to do when we got there, to which they said, "Go to Chucky Cheese, because everyone likes pizza and it would be fun for Adam's son." When planning the details MT was going to bring dessert & sunscreen, CN was going to pay for 2 tanks of gas because the minivans were fuel efficient, and DR was going to bring the beer & cigars and could we make a side trip to Vegas to win more money. SN said she would bring Justin Timberlake cause he lives in her closet and we would need some entertainment. To which DR said we would need bodyguards so he would call up Hulk Hogan cause he probably needs a job now that his wife took all his money. Eventually the trip had so many people that we were going to have to call John Travolta to fly us in his plane. Seriously I was laughing so hard I was crying, now they were just being silly, but it was so histerical because a lot of their logic was spot on. It sounds like a fun trip that I would love to go on.
1. My whole job is about loving people where they are at and helping them process through life independently. These are young adults that are very high funtioning, but just need someone to assit them and I am so blessed everyday I get to work with them. They teach me so much about myself and wake up everyday joyful and ready for a new day of work, if they would let me work 6 or 7 days a week I would, but I also tend to be a workaholic.
So those are my top 7 reasons why my job is the best around. Oh and for those who also read my facebook statuses CA BBQ is so subpar to TX BBQ it is not even funny. Here they seem to think that if you grill it and put a little sauce on it then you barbequed it... not so much. Sigh I guess when I go back I will just have to gorge myself on some real BBQ.
Hopefully I will keep this blog up to day more often. Next weekend is either the Cheesecake Factory or a Rodeo... lets see if I get type cast again. :)
For this post a top 7 list (why 7 because its my list and I like the number 7) of why I have the best job ever! Well I truely believe Anthony Bourdain has the best job ever but I think working with the people I do I have a very close second.
7. Its basically stress free - no minute details or campfires or even stupid OE to deal with. La diabla is out of my life forever!!! Hurrah!!!
6. I have set days and set hours and if I work over that then I get paid... what a concept to pay people for the extra time they work for you. So those 80+ work weeks are gone. Although I am going to start looking for a second job to fill some more hours of my day and to bring in some more money so I can enjoy some of the perks of living in gorgeous Orange County.
5. The staff I work with all work together as a team to serve our residents. No more fighting or bullying or underhanded tactics to make your department look good. Again La Diabla is out of my life... can you tell how excited I am?! I'm actually dancing a little jig just thinking how happy I am to never have to deal with her again... :) Although there an numerous staff at Sky that I miss dearly and if it were up to me I would force them all to come work here cause they would be amazing additions to the team.
4. I get to go on fun outtings and help our special needs residents become confident independent people. Like last night we went to a wonderful Mexican food restraunt and well it cost more then expected so we had to come up with a plan B when most could not afford a full price movie. There were a couple of melt downs, cause lets be real no one enjoys when the budget runs out quicker then expected, I've had a few melt downs myself. But it was nothing that a little Golden Spoon frozen yogurt couldn't fix. Cinnamon frozen yogurt go get some... SOOOO GOOD! And as LR always says, "It is not easy being an adult." So true I should have stayed in college forever.
3. God humbles me nearly everyday, cause really nothing humbles you quicker then helping scrub the dirty grout in someone else's bathroom. But yet I would rather do that with these residents then have to deal with another snotty retreat group leader who need ice every stinking hour.
2. I laugh all the time, so many quotable moments in a day. Like SN asking me to help her look at her calendar to help her find a boyfriend. Man if she can find herself a day I might ask her when my date it is too. Or when JV asks me to stop asking so many silly trivial questions, when all I asked was what his favorite TV show was, but I learned that your favorite TV show changes too easily dependent upon your mood for the day. Now isn't that the truth, I don't know if I could name an all time favorite TV show. Oh and last weekend I laughed so hard when I was driving them all home and they were talking about missing an old staff memeber Adam and they wanted to drive out to see him. I expained that he lives in Tennessee now and that would be at least a 3 day drive and what where we going to do when we got there, to which they said, "Go to Chucky Cheese, because everyone likes pizza and it would be fun for Adam's son." When planning the details MT was going to bring dessert & sunscreen, CN was going to pay for 2 tanks of gas because the minivans were fuel efficient, and DR was going to bring the beer & cigars and could we make a side trip to Vegas to win more money. SN said she would bring Justin Timberlake cause he lives in her closet and we would need some entertainment. To which DR said we would need bodyguards so he would call up Hulk Hogan cause he probably needs a job now that his wife took all his money. Eventually the trip had so many people that we were going to have to call John Travolta to fly us in his plane. Seriously I was laughing so hard I was crying, now they were just being silly, but it was so histerical because a lot of their logic was spot on. It sounds like a fun trip that I would love to go on.
1. My whole job is about loving people where they are at and helping them process through life independently. These are young adults that are very high funtioning, but just need someone to assit them and I am so blessed everyday I get to work with them. They teach me so much about myself and wake up everyday joyful and ready for a new day of work, if they would let me work 6 or 7 days a week I would, but I also tend to be a workaholic.
So those are my top 7 reasons why my job is the best around. Oh and for those who also read my facebook statuses CA BBQ is so subpar to TX BBQ it is not even funny. Here they seem to think that if you grill it and put a little sauce on it then you barbequed it... not so much. Sigh I guess when I go back I will just have to gorge myself on some real BBQ.
Hopefully I will keep this blog up to day more often. Next weekend is either the Cheesecake Factory or a Rodeo... lets see if I get type cast again. :)
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Welcome to Melisstonia!
I finally have my blog up
So I have been in beautiful Cali for a little over 2 weeks and I have finally gotten my blog up and running. It is still a work in progress but it is up! I don't really know what I am doing so bare with me.
The drive out to CA was long and a little rough but thanks to my amazing aunt Val I got here in one piece. While in the process of the move I decided that it would be a good idea to climb around on my furniture to rearrange so that it wouldn't shift during the drive. Well to get to the furniture I decided it would be a good idea to stand on a particle board shelf and well I fell through it and dislocated my pinkie toe... OUCH! I had a few more hassles with the Penske people (they are cheap but have REALLY bad customer service). We only drove 4 hours the first day, but made up time on the second by driving 16 hours (we crossed a couple of time zones and gained 2 hours plus woke up at 4am), and the third day drove 5 more hours. Arrived at 1pm on Friday and then got to wait for movers only to fire the ones I set up and hire some guys who were on site and available. After a very long day of standing we finally got to drive over to my aunt Barbara's house (where I am staying) and had a wonderful dinner.
I am now working at a fabulous organization called Casa de Amma, which is a residential facility for special need young adults, and I LOVE it! I am starting my third week and can not wait to get back to work. I'm still looking for an apartment, something that is within my budget, which gets a little bit tricky in this area, but I have faith. Plus since I have switched to a non-stressful job I am thinking of finding another very part-time job so that I can have some mad money. I miss my TX family & friends dearly, but am so excited to see what is around the next corner.
The drive out to CA was long and a little rough but thanks to my amazing aunt Val I got here in one piece. While in the process of the move I decided that it would be a good idea to climb around on my furniture to rearrange so that it wouldn't shift during the drive. Well to get to the furniture I decided it would be a good idea to stand on a particle board shelf and well I fell through it and dislocated my pinkie toe... OUCH! I had a few more hassles with the Penske people (they are cheap but have REALLY bad customer service). We only drove 4 hours the first day, but made up time on the second by driving 16 hours (we crossed a couple of time zones and gained 2 hours plus woke up at 4am), and the third day drove 5 more hours. Arrived at 1pm on Friday and then got to wait for movers only to fire the ones I set up and hire some guys who were on site and available. After a very long day of standing we finally got to drive over to my aunt Barbara's house (where I am staying) and had a wonderful dinner.
I am now working at a fabulous organization called Casa de Amma, which is a residential facility for special need young adults, and I LOVE it! I am starting my third week and can not wait to get back to work. I'm still looking for an apartment, something that is within my budget, which gets a little bit tricky in this area, but I have faith. Plus since I have switched to a non-stressful job I am thinking of finding another very part-time job so that I can have some mad money. I miss my TX family & friends dearly, but am so excited to see what is around the next corner.
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