So this is pretty much about my day at work, but today didn't qualify as a Lifeguard Insanity day.
The ocelot raced to the crest of the final hill before she reached the river. After she had topped it and had begun her descent, she overreached her stride and fell in a tumbled heap the rest of the way. Finally gripping the ground as it leveled out, she skidded to a halt at the feet of the head patroller. Grinning sheepishly, she rushed out to her post.
She had almost been late. Not quite, but almost. Even coming close to doing such a thing had given the cat's heart quite a stir. [yes, pathetic, but true; I have yet to be late to work, and being late it a huge deal down at the pool] Normally she was at the river quite in advance, but today had been a bit different.
Earlier, she had gone to visit the malamute with the bluebird. The dog was in a grove where injured animals went to recooperate. He had hurt his head horrendously [do you see that unintentional alliteration? Bow before the Alliteration Queen!] when he had fallen from a boulder and slid down a rocky landscape [yeah, so that's nowhere close; I'm trying to hury through this!]. He was doing quite well, considering the injuries he had sustained. However, the ocelot had lost track of time during the visit and had soon gotten quite behind her schedule. Now, disheveled and somewhat out of breath, she parked herself and the top of the bank where many animals enjoyed sliding down into the water.
After having wandered along the bank for some time watching the visitors at the river, a small gnat darted into the ocelot's eye. She continued moving in a hop-along fashion while using one paw to extricate the irritating insect. Just as the remains of the bug were removed, the ocelot was suddenly no longer on solid ground. Her paws grasped at empty air for the barest of moments before she was slipping in the mud of the bank and crashing into the shallows. A nearby patroller nearly burst with laughter and, after assessing the absurdity of her situation, the ocelot joined her. She rolled playfully once in the shallows before resuming her position sopping wet.
The sun set without anything eventful occuring beyond the usual idiot visitors that tried to get themselves killed. The ocelot was in a rather pleasant mood, actually. Nothing had gone terribly wrong and the weather was kind. But while all the patrollers were taking a short break from their labors, the ocelot felt something pounce on her back. Hissing and yowling, the ocelot spun around, fruitlessly attempting to erradicate her attacker.
The mole had leapt on her from behind. He tumbled away chuckling to himself. The ocelot rather wanted to show him her claws' sense of humor, but she thought better of it. Outwardly shrugging off her indignation, she tried to regain her former giddy mood.
Okay, so that was NOT the best example of my writing skills, but that's all right, right? If it isn't, it doesn't quite matter to me anyway. But today was pretty amusing. I fell in, much to the amusement of my co-workers, and I am obviously not sick because when the mole tried to pick me up from behind I flipped out and greatly desired to cause him physical injury.
Friday, July 29, 2005
Sunday, July 24, 2005
Faith Walk
As some of you may have known, I was at girls' camp last week. If you didn't know before, now you do. While the experience was wonderful, I have a few major things to share. But first, the minor things. My "nationality" changed many, many times a day. I started as an Irish máthair, then became a Scottish drunk for a skit, then I put on a lei/skirt and did the hula, I got called German for my outfit, my pajama pants tucked into my socks looked rather Arabian, and I was spurting random Spanish words and shouting "Arrrrrrrriba!" all the time. I got to the the Fire Patrol and light/supervise the lighting of all the fires (why they let me do that I'll never know). I danced in the thunder, lightning, and rain for an hour or more on Friday. The full moon was breathtaking up there. Now that I've got through all that stuff, here's one of the big things I learned up there. Well, I suppose I've always known it, but it was more illustrated by a change in perpective.
Friday morning we went into one of the many bunches of aspens at Shalom and set up a Faith Walk. We twisted a rope in and out and around lots of trees through many natural obstacles. The YCLs (youth camp leader, which I was) were then assigned to be a good voice or a bad voice. Two of the seven were good, the rest were bad. I was a bad voice. The other girls were then blindfolded, set on the rope, and told to follow it and not take off their blindfolds until they got to the end. I was positioned rather closer to the end, though I wasn't the last voice, and I was right next to a tricky clump of aspens (well, probably one aspen, but you can't quite tell when you're above ground, can you?). When the girls would come to me, I'd tell them that the trees were coming and if they grabbed my hand I would help them through it. Most times they wouldn't trust me and they would hit their heads on the trees. Then, shortly after the trees, I had tied a black ribbon onto the rope. When they approached it, I told them that the path took a sharp turn to the right and they needed to follow it. Most of them trusted me after hitting their heads on the trees, so they grabbed the ribbon. At that point nearly everyone remarked on the difference in texture. I--being a pretend minion of the father of all lies--told them that we had run out of real rope and we had to make due with ribbon. At that point, the majority would reach back to the real rope and discover my deceitful ways. However, a good number would trust me and continue. I then got 'twixt them and the rope and nudged them away. None could really find their way back without help at that point. Now, some few would listen to me when I told them to grab my hand before the aspens. Then I'd tell them that if they let go of the rope they could quickly skip the trees and I'd get them right back to the rope. Only one fell for that, but it was pretty sad when she did.
Most of you who regularly read this will now discern that the rope held the same meaning as the iron rod in Lehi's dream ("Hold to the rod, the iron rod. 'Tis strong and bright and true," I love hymns). Anyway, after seeing what small success the other "demons" had, I discovered that my sickening success had been due, mainly, to the clump of trees (representing trials and tribulations, in case you needed a little help jumping to that conclusion). The one girl who grabbed my hand and let go of the rope did so to avoid the trees, but she ended up in more trouble than if she had just ran into the trees (she tripped a couple times before I led her back to the rope feeling quite guilty). The one's who followed the false rope did so because they had just gone through the clump of trees and didn't like what they had just experienced. They followed the ribbon to avoid further complications of that kind.
Now let me speak plainly, shoving the real lesson I learned right in your face. Satan will try to tempt us strongest at the most inopportune times in our lives. If we're already having a hard time, that's when he's going to try his hardest to get us to turn away from God, because that is when he has the best chance. It is when we are feeblest, as we have just, or will soon, or are (etc.) having a difficult time and are already grasping for things to keep us afloat. But it is at these times that we need to be most aware, the strongest, and the most prepared.
On a lighter note, my paper plate award (due to the above incident) was "The Deciver [sic]: 'Take my hand.'"
Friday morning we went into one of the many bunches of aspens at Shalom and set up a Faith Walk. We twisted a rope in and out and around lots of trees through many natural obstacles. The YCLs (youth camp leader, which I was) were then assigned to be a good voice or a bad voice. Two of the seven were good, the rest were bad. I was a bad voice. The other girls were then blindfolded, set on the rope, and told to follow it and not take off their blindfolds until they got to the end. I was positioned rather closer to the end, though I wasn't the last voice, and I was right next to a tricky clump of aspens (well, probably one aspen, but you can't quite tell when you're above ground, can you?). When the girls would come to me, I'd tell them that the trees were coming and if they grabbed my hand I would help them through it. Most times they wouldn't trust me and they would hit their heads on the trees. Then, shortly after the trees, I had tied a black ribbon onto the rope. When they approached it, I told them that the path took a sharp turn to the right and they needed to follow it. Most of them trusted me after hitting their heads on the trees, so they grabbed the ribbon. At that point nearly everyone remarked on the difference in texture. I--being a pretend minion of the father of all lies--told them that we had run out of real rope and we had to make due with ribbon. At that point, the majority would reach back to the real rope and discover my deceitful ways. However, a good number would trust me and continue. I then got 'twixt them and the rope and nudged them away. None could really find their way back without help at that point. Now, some few would listen to me when I told them to grab my hand before the aspens. Then I'd tell them that if they let go of the rope they could quickly skip the trees and I'd get them right back to the rope. Only one fell for that, but it was pretty sad when she did.
Most of you who regularly read this will now discern that the rope held the same meaning as the iron rod in Lehi's dream ("Hold to the rod, the iron rod. 'Tis strong and bright and true," I love hymns). Anyway, after seeing what small success the other "demons" had, I discovered that my sickening success had been due, mainly, to the clump of trees (representing trials and tribulations, in case you needed a little help jumping to that conclusion). The one girl who grabbed my hand and let go of the rope did so to avoid the trees, but she ended up in more trouble than if she had just ran into the trees (she tripped a couple times before I led her back to the rope feeling quite guilty). The one's who followed the false rope did so because they had just gone through the clump of trees and didn't like what they had just experienced. They followed the ribbon to avoid further complications of that kind.
Now let me speak plainly, shoving the real lesson I learned right in your face. Satan will try to tempt us strongest at the most inopportune times in our lives. If we're already having a hard time, that's when he's going to try his hardest to get us to turn away from God, because that is when he has the best chance. It is when we are feeblest, as we have just, or will soon, or are (etc.) having a difficult time and are already grasping for things to keep us afloat. But it is at these times that we need to be most aware, the strongest, and the most prepared.
On a lighter note, my paper plate award (due to the above incident) was "The Deciver [sic]: 'Take my hand.'"
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Lifeguard Apathy 1.0
So, today I feel extremely bleh and bleher. It is way too hot and it has been since 8:30. I don't really care about all that much right now. To illustrate the extent of my weariness, I will share a happening at work today. As head guard, I have the responsiblity to assign guards where to go when they first come on the shift. As I was doing this, my tone was flat, I was slouching worse than usual, and I had a general tired look on my face. One of the guards was feeling a bit more perky and sympathetic. So, he slung my arm over his shoulders, scooped me up, and walked around to the concessions area. Upon reaching the horizontal freezer, he asked if anyone would open it, but no one would, so he just dropped me on top of it. All this he did without a word from my lips, without a twitch from my muscles. And after he had put me down I sat there for a couple of minutes until I decided it was time to rotate again. Now all of you that know me well think I'm deathly ill, but I promise I'm not. There's just a severe lack of enthusiasm and dislike for the sun/heat. I should go vampire and hide away in my basement. If only I didn't work outside. And guess what. I have to go back to work in approximately two hours. Oh goody.
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Lifeguard Insanity VII
Just when you thought you were safe from these kinds of posts...
Due to extreme boredom at work, I have again resorted to writing love songs. How I manage this I have no idea. This one was written for the combined efforts of a guy and a gal, but I feel like I'm missing some lines. I also wrote the girl's part too high for me to sing and the boy's part too low. How I could do that while I was singing this whole thing to myself I'll never know. Anywhere I type -------, that is a place where I think I need more lines, but I currently do not have them.
_________________________
There Isn't a Doubt
Gal: ---------------
---------------------
But now I'mwith you
And there isn't a doubt in my mind
That any place better than the here and now
Would be impossible to find
Guy: --------------
---------------------
And now I'm with you
And there isn't a doubt in my heart
That I would never survive
If we were ever to part
Gal: And there isn't a doubt in my soul
Guy:....................................................doubt in my soul
Gal: That this is where we should go
Guy: There has never been a path more clear
Than the one I see right now,
Right here
Both: Together forever with you
No matter what we must go through
Gal: We have a bond; no one can break it
Guy: Nothing can make us deny it
Gal: I know that we can make it
Guy: If there's an obstacle, we'll defy it
Both: There isn't a doubt about it
There isn't a doubt anywhere
----------------------------
-----------------------------
-------(repeat lots)-------
Together forever with you...
_____________________________
I really need to find out where these things are coming from. I never would have thought I had it in me if not for lifeguarding.
Due to extreme boredom at work, I have again resorted to writing love songs. How I manage this I have no idea. This one was written for the combined efforts of a guy and a gal, but I feel like I'm missing some lines. I also wrote the girl's part too high for me to sing and the boy's part too low. How I could do that while I was singing this whole thing to myself I'll never know. Anywhere I type -------, that is a place where I think I need more lines, but I currently do not have them.
_________________________
There Isn't a Doubt
Gal: ---------------
---------------------
But now I'mwith you
And there isn't a doubt in my mind
That any place better than the here and now
Would be impossible to find
Guy: --------------
---------------------
And now I'm with you
And there isn't a doubt in my heart
That I would never survive
If we were ever to part
Gal: And there isn't a doubt in my soul
Guy:....................................................doubt in my soul
Gal: That this is where we should go
Guy: There has never been a path more clear
Than the one I see right now,
Right here
Both: Together forever with you
No matter what we must go through
Gal: We have a bond; no one can break it
Guy: Nothing can make us deny it
Gal: I know that we can make it
Guy: If there's an obstacle, we'll defy it
Both: There isn't a doubt about it
There isn't a doubt anywhere
----------------------------
-----------------------------
-------(repeat lots)-------
Together forever with you...
_____________________________
I really need to find out where these things are coming from. I never would have thought I had it in me if not for lifeguarding.
Thursday, July 07, 2005
Light after Dark
Just to lighten the mood that I kind of set with my last post, here's a little something about what happened tonight (maybe last night, by the time I finish this). I'm so glad I have friends.
The ocelot kept her eyes on the dark waters with a small grin on her lips. Her day had been utterly horrid. Late for teaching younglings how to swim, nine hours patrolling, patrollers failing to come to the river to fulfill their duties, disgusting messes made by the visitors at the river, all had plagued her hours of daylight. But after the sun had set, things started to look up.
By some stroke of luck, several wonderful friends came to the river. The leopard seal had helped clean up the disarray left by the less considerate of the visitors and then had made the ocelot laugh as she settled in for her longest stint of patrolling yet.
Then the kangaroo had appeared. A beaming smile had broken out on the ocelot's face as she chatted with the bubbling visitor.
The next friend to register on the ocelot's radar had been the malamute. After berating him for not responding to repeated messages sent to him, the cat was more than happy to trade several jests with the dog. She also tried to teach him the correct way to slip down the river bank, but he failed miserably.
As the ocelot continued her pacing along the bank, a familiar voice reached her ears. "Blind! Blind!" it shouted. The ocelot turned her head to see the tomcat wading in the shallows. She hadn't seen the other cat for an entire cycle of the moon, so it was quite a pleasant surprise.
The night's patrolling passed much more pleasurably with the frequent sightings of her friends. In a combined effort, they even got her singing happy songs that actually existed, as opposed to her usual inventing of tunes. Before she knew it, the night was drawing to a close.
The dark waters were clearing of visitors and the ocelot idly twitched her tail as she watched the patterns of the liquid. Her eyes were growing wide as though entranced by the dancing reflections of light. Then her mind quickly revived her, reminding her that she had duties to attend to.
She looked back from the bank, trying to find the patroller that she was supposed to be exchanging reports with. But instead of finding her fellow, she saw a black shadow stalking towards her with glowing, malicious eyes. The ocelot hissed in fright and bared her teeth and claws. The shadow stepped into a path of moonlight and the cat's muscles relaxed as she sighed. The malamute looked rather dejected that she had discovered his attempt to chuck her in the water. Chasing him off quickly, she got back to watching the empty water.
I don't feel like writing a satisfying end to this. Anyway, this was actually last week. Now the food (brownies, pretzels, cookies and the like) that the leopard seal's mom left us is gone, so are the many cans of soda, and the water bottles. She is now one of my favorite parental figures outside of my own.
The ocelot kept her eyes on the dark waters with a small grin on her lips. Her day had been utterly horrid. Late for teaching younglings how to swim, nine hours patrolling, patrollers failing to come to the river to fulfill their duties, disgusting messes made by the visitors at the river, all had plagued her hours of daylight. But after the sun had set, things started to look up.
By some stroke of luck, several wonderful friends came to the river. The leopard seal had helped clean up the disarray left by the less considerate of the visitors and then had made the ocelot laugh as she settled in for her longest stint of patrolling yet.
Then the kangaroo had appeared. A beaming smile had broken out on the ocelot's face as she chatted with the bubbling visitor.
The next friend to register on the ocelot's radar had been the malamute. After berating him for not responding to repeated messages sent to him, the cat was more than happy to trade several jests with the dog. She also tried to teach him the correct way to slip down the river bank, but he failed miserably.
As the ocelot continued her pacing along the bank, a familiar voice reached her ears. "Blind! Blind!" it shouted. The ocelot turned her head to see the tomcat wading in the shallows. She hadn't seen the other cat for an entire cycle of the moon, so it was quite a pleasant surprise.
The night's patrolling passed much more pleasurably with the frequent sightings of her friends. In a combined effort, they even got her singing happy songs that actually existed, as opposed to her usual inventing of tunes. Before she knew it, the night was drawing to a close.
The dark waters were clearing of visitors and the ocelot idly twitched her tail as she watched the patterns of the liquid. Her eyes were growing wide as though entranced by the dancing reflections of light. Then her mind quickly revived her, reminding her that she had duties to attend to.
She looked back from the bank, trying to find the patroller that she was supposed to be exchanging reports with. But instead of finding her fellow, she saw a black shadow stalking towards her with glowing, malicious eyes. The ocelot hissed in fright and bared her teeth and claws. The shadow stepped into a path of moonlight and the cat's muscles relaxed as she sighed. The malamute looked rather dejected that she had discovered his attempt to chuck her in the water. Chasing him off quickly, she got back to watching the empty water.
I don't feel like writing a satisfying end to this. Anyway, this was actually last week. Now the food (brownies, pretzels, cookies and the like) that the leopard seal's mom left us is gone, so are the many cans of soda, and the water bottles. She is now one of my favorite parental figures outside of my own.
I Was Wrong
These are two separate ideas, the first rather short. Both are untitled, as I just wrote them. However, I'm betting most of you can guess who it's about. If you can't, you can find his relation to me in the second thing.
----------------------------
I thought things were turing around
But I was wrong
I thought that you were starting to see
But I was wrong
I thought that all this time was teaching you the truth
But the path you're on seems to appeal to you
----------------------------
Why do you think that nothing is wrong?
What's in your mind; is everything gone?
What happened to your common sense,
The care you used to have?
I never thought you could fall this far
But I guess you can.
You've hit the bottom and looked for deeper realms
You've made "friends" that only care about themselves
I can't think of where you're trying to go
You don't have any direction
You've gone down a crooked path
Without any kind of correction.
Brother, look at me, can't you see the pain in my eyes?
But my pain is nothing next to the tears our mother cries
Every time you come around this place
You tear at her heart a little more
Can't you turn and see your way back
The open, beckoning door?
----------------------------
Again, they are rough. I'm not good at getting current feelings out. They just all sort of gnaw at me at the same time, so they never come out smoothly.
----------------------------
I thought things were turing around
But I was wrong
I thought that you were starting to see
But I was wrong
I thought that all this time was teaching you the truth
But the path you're on seems to appeal to you
----------------------------
Why do you think that nothing is wrong?
What's in your mind; is everything gone?
What happened to your common sense,
The care you used to have?
I never thought you could fall this far
But I guess you can.
You've hit the bottom and looked for deeper realms
You've made "friends" that only care about themselves
I can't think of where you're trying to go
You don't have any direction
You've gone down a crooked path
Without any kind of correction.
Brother, look at me, can't you see the pain in my eyes?
But my pain is nothing next to the tears our mother cries
Every time you come around this place
You tear at her heart a little more
Can't you turn and see your way back
The open, beckoning door?
----------------------------
Again, they are rough. I'm not good at getting current feelings out. They just all sort of gnaw at me at the same time, so they never come out smoothly.
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