Week 24

Day 161: Jan 18, 2015

What a game. Our team collapsed just like our snow fort collapsed. We played perfectly for 3/4 of the game, but when you are playing for the Superbowl you need to play perfectly for 4 out of 4 quarters. I swear I almost threw up from the stress of it all in the end. Since I am in Seahawks country I am sure I will now have to deal with the rub in but after being a Packer fan in Bear country I will take it gracefully and congratulate them on the win. If nothing else it will make them feel bad for taunting me. It is a trick I have learned through the years. The disappointing day ended on a high note, though. We watched Pitch Perfect on the big screen which is always a pick-me-up. It is funny and cute. How can you go wrong with that?

Day 162: Jan 19, 2015

Even though it was my day off, I did work on the schedule so that we can look at it and fix some things on Friday so I won't have to work much on my office day (because I did the work on my days off)

Day 163: Jan 20, 2015

I can't wait until the weather is nice again- A stream of consciousness poem

I can't wait until the weather is nice again

not because of the normal reasons (it is cold and dark) but for a very different reason

Ok it isn't that different.

I want to be able to sit outside and look at the stars for longer than 5 minutes

I love watching the big dipper slowly rise over Martin's ridge

the front edge of the dipper showing itself first

as if the dipper is dipping into the dark soup that is the winter sky

At first the dipper is only getting the broth of the night sky

but within an hour the entirety of the bowl has begun to scoop up the lighter bits and pieces

The great hand that is controlling the dipper soon realizes that there is meat at the bottom of the pot

He must get that chunk or bit so he pushed the dipper further into the sky above Martin's ridge

eventually he will get his fill of night sky soup and the dipper will move back behind the ridge

And then there is our resident mountain climber

I love him and look forward to seeing him every night and even every early morning

I love watching Orion slowly climb over Buckskin and dance over to Copper

He climbs with perfect form over the first peak and then leaps, as any war hero does, to the following peak

He doesn't have time to climb down Buckskin and then climb up Copper peak

He has a whole sky to cross before the sun chases him away

In some ways, even though I will never meet the myth, I am enamored

Orion is amazing

He has come up every night of my life

Some times he has risen over a great lake

Some times he has risen over vast fields of corn

and now he is climbing up a mountain

Over the last few weeks our regular star visitors have been joined by the Giant

Jupiter

It is hard to know that the bright star between Orion and the Big Dipper is something other than a star

It is brighter than all of the others in the sky

We see it on our wanderings through the labrynth and wonder

“That must be a planet because there is nothing else so bright”

“I heard Venus can be seen every night, is it her?”

It is much too large and bright to be our neighbor planet so we use the technology at hand

We look it up on the internet

NASA tells us that Jupiter is in the night sky and it is probably the “star” we are seeing

I can't wait for the weather to be nice again

I miss sitting on the porch swing just enjoying each other's company

I don't mind that the sun rises at 11:30am and sets at 12:30pm

The snow helps to reflect what little sun we have

I just want to lay outside and stare at the milky way and imagine what could be up there

are there more planets like our own?

Probably

Are there other planets with life on them?

why not

How many star are out there that I can't see?

I know that in Orion's belt you can see what looks like a fuzzy star

In reality it is an entire galaxy

If I could stand the cold for longer I would lay out in the snow and just stare at the sky

How many places can you go to, now, where you can see the milky way on almost a daily basis

(as long as the moon isn't full)

I can't wait until I can fully enjoy the beauty of our night sky

Dancing Orion

The Hand Dipping into night sky soup

Jupiter sparking our curiosity

The Milky Way just flowing through the sky like a stream or a scarf caught in the wind

Day 164: Jan 21, 2015

Let me explain a little about yesterday's entry. A stream of consciousness poem is basically a piece of writing that you do where you write whatever comes to mind as you go. You end up just spilling the contents of your mind onto the page and move your fingers as fast as they go. Yesterday, I was inspired by my walk home. I find myself constantly looking up into the night sky and always being amazed at what I see. We had a variety show last night and someone read their poem. I was inspired to write my own but I didn't really know where to start. That was when I looked up and immediately wished that I had a piece of paper and a pen so I could write as I walked home. It was a wonderful practice.

Day 165: Jan 22, 2015

I got second in a pool game and my dad comes tomorrow! It is all very exciting!

Day 166: Jan 23, 2015

Today was pretty great. I got my work done early and my dad is here. It was a wonderful chill afternoon. Vespers was very powerful tonight. One of my fellow cooks had a mentor die this week so vespers was rough. I ended up going over to where he was sitting and just held him for a while. He didn't need me telling him that it was going to be alright. He just needed someone to be there. On a happier note, I am going out on Monday and it will be just what I need. I have been in this village since the end of October. I haven't even gone down to the lake or really gotten out other than a short hike here and there. It is time.

Day 167: Jan 24, 2015

Today was my last day of work for something like ten days. The shift went smoothly and I was able to take a nap in the afternoon so that was good. My dad signed up for the games tournament and since I was tired I didn't really feel like I needed to be with him while he was playing cribbage in the tournament. We met back up before dinner and hung out. After dinner and vespers Dad, Pat, young Ruth and I played Settlers of Catan. It was a ton of fun except that there was a line dance going on in the same room and the caller was practically yelling into the mic that was already fairly loud. Oh well, what ya gonna do?

Week 23

Day 154: Jan 11, 2015

Today was the big day! We found out the gender of Shane and Meredith's baby. So I was entrusted with the envelope and making the reveal cake. Since it was my day off, someone who was on the shift actually made the cake and then I came in and did the color/icing part. I had to be very sneaky because Shane was on the shift. So I took the gender reveal cake rounds down to the walk-in fridge and brought some of the frosting with me. I wanted to be quick and not spend all of my time in the fridge so I made a border of white frosting around the top of the bottom layer of cake. I then mixed up the pink (It is going to be a girl!) frosting and put it in the middle. By having the white outside I was able to bring the cake up as soon as I put the second layer on top. I, then, carefully washed the now pink bowl and knife in the downstairs bathroom so that no one would see even a hint of any color at all. When it came to the cake cutting no one had any idea and the cake worked perfectly.

Day 155: Jan 12, 2015

Today the new directors came to town. At this point you should have figured out that we cannot allow such an occasion to pass without bringing out the Holden Hilarity. The theme for today was Dr. Seuss so in the morning we decorated the bus in a Seussical manner and when they arrived we welcomed them with a who-ville style song. Everyone was in costume. J-termers were dressed in random things from the costume shop and many had their hair up around water bottles to make their hair look whovian. We had Thing 1 and Thing 2 who were renamed as Chuck 1 and Chuck 2 (One of the current director's name is Chuck and one of the new director's name is Chuck) and I was the Cat in the Hat. I found a black velvet dress, attached a white paper stomach, put on a red fabric tie, painted on whiskers, and put on the hat. It was a pretty great costume, if I do say so myself.

Day 156: Jan 13, 2015

I made risotto today for dinner and the shift went wonderfully. We were basically done with dinner by 1pm. That meant that we spent most of the shift deep cleaning the kitchen. In the evening there was a showing of a movie about Bonhoeffer which sparked some conversation which was very interesting. I also spent part of the day trying to figure out scheduling things so that people could have what they want. I think I figured something out that will hopefully make everyone relatively happy. No one's off days are switched and people are working shifts that they generally like to work. I just hope we don't have a bunch of people wanting to go out because we are already tight on staff.

Day 157: Jan 14, 2015

A calm non-routine day off. Because the cooks had to work on the village's last stop day (a day when no one works) all of the cooks are entitled to an extra day off. Right now we are trying to make up for 3 of such days (a stop day, Christmas, and New Years) which means that I am trying to fit in one a month between now and March for all of the cooks. There are a few of the cooks who either had an off day on one of those days or just wasn't here yet but I don't want to try to figure it out so I am giving the same number of makeup days to everyone. Today was my first one. It makes this week easier because I worked a shift yesterday and then I will have a three day week. It makes for a nice change. I did some work things in the morning, though. I wanted to make sure that staffing knew that we could use a few extra short-term staff for February and March and I found out that we are getting two people to help for the end of January into February. That at least helps to cover when I will be out at the beginning of next month (I am so excited for the out!). Other than that little bit of work I mainly just kept a low profile/ I did some knitting, reading, and meditating. It was a nice, chill day.

Day 158: Jan 15, 2015

Irv's diner! It was so much fun (the shift) but also so very tiring. It is only 7:30 and I am ready to go to bed. We were cooking burgers to order (basically) and were serving people for a solid hour before we got a chance to eat. There was music, dancing, homemade buns, malts and bacon. Hard to beat. We even dressed up in 50s fashion. It was exhausting but I got to yell at people as if we were in a real diner. To end the night, Terry, our local brew master and mechanic, had a birthday party! It is always fun to gather and celebrate.

Day 159: Jan 16, 2015

An uneventful day.

Day 160: Jan 17, 2015

My dad comes to visit in less than a week!!! The snow is falling in big flakes and has been falling all day. It is beautiful.  

Week 22

Day 147: Jan 4, 2015

Wow, I don't think I have had a sinus headache that lasted this long in a while. I did get to go out and enjoy the company of other today, though. It was nice to talk and have someone talk back.

Day 148: Jan 5, 2015

The J-termers are here!!! It was so great to see so many familiar faces get off the bus. I am still trying to recover fully from the “crud” so I tried to take it easy this morning and napped in the afternoon. I ended up skipping vespers because they were doing something outside and I figured I probably shouldn't be outside for that long yet and Pat felt the same so we ended up heading to my room to watch Bones and now I am going to go to bed early-ish.

Day 149: Jan 6, 2015

Another day, another shift.

Day 150: Jan 7, 2015

The shift went really well today. There were only two of us on the shift but it was an easy meal and with help from J-termers we were able to get all of the end of shift done before the meal was over and we were out of the kitchen before 6. It was amazing.

Day 151: Jan 8, 2015

We did it again! We were cleaned up and out of the kitchen before 6! I was really happy to get out early because I was hoping to make it to a tai chi class that started today. It was a really nice class. I had been thinking about adding meditation into my daily routine and this type of tai chi has both a movement aspect and a meditation part. It was a nice way to close out my work day. Now it is time to prank Benji. Let me explain a little. Benji doesn't even kind of make his bed. I am talking no sheets at all. So, Alex and I decided that we are going to pull a neatness and make his bed. We aren't going to touch anything else but when he gets back he will come home to a freshly made bed. Can it be called a prank if you are doing something nice for them? Yeah, I think so.

Day 152: Jan 9, 2015

So I spent 15 minutes this morning alone in the kitchen not knowing if I was going to be alone on the shift. Someone else ended up showing up and I actually would have been fine alone but it was an interesting beginning to the day. I know I could have done the shift alone because we spent over an hour shelling garbanzo beans because it makes the hummus smoother. We didn't have to do it but it seemed silly to give people hour long breaks and it was kind of fun to figure out the best ways to shell them. The whole shift was nice and relaxing which was what I needed at this point in the week. Benji came back today and came up to me while we were cleaning up and asked if I knew who made his bed. It took all of my control to not smile and to tell him that I had no idea why anyone would do that. Alex ended up spilling the beans which meant that he had to help Benji rearrange the bed. Apparently, Benji had just switched the mattress and the bedspring but had left the sheet on the bedspring rather than switching it to the mattress. When Alex saw that, apparently, he had to laugh and made/helped Benji to move the fitted sheet and actually make his bed.

Day 153: Jan 10, 2015

It was a pretty darn good day. There wasn't anything particularly different but that was ok. The one thing of note was the dance party that the kids hosted. They even played the music for it. I don't think I have seen that much energy in one room in a long time.

Week 21

Day 140: Dec 28, 2014

It was a slightly stressful shift. I think partly because we had done some planning for one sauce, which then we were told that we couldn't do, and we were told that another part of our planning was not going to work (it would have in the end). I was ready to roll with the punches but my fellow lead has not lead as much so he wasn't quite as ready deal with the change. It made things a little more stressful but in the end it all worked out. Clean up took forever but that is part of the gig. That was pretty much my work day but some of the village children had much worse days than me. There are currently at least 3 kids in the village who are puking their guts out. I feel so bad for them and I really hope it doesn't spread much more.

Day 141: Dec 29, 2014

The Holden Village Winter Olympic Games have officially BEGUN!! The opening ceremony went off without a hitch. The olympic song blasted from the PA system into the clear night sky as candles, held by villagers and guests alike, lined the road up to the flame's final destination, the top of chalet hill. The torch was carried around the tailings and up through the candle light to the Olympic Cauldron (a very large pot with lots of wood soaked in accelerant). The Cauldron lit and its flame lit the night sky, seemingly beyond what the moon had the strength for. The events begin tomorrow and I am participating in the all-day knitting competition. By the end of the day, I must have a completed project that will be judged on the quality of the work. I feel pretty confident, but that also might be the effects of sitting in the light of a sun-replacement lamp for an hour. Following the opening ceremony, Alex, Leah, and I spent about 3 hours making 175 participation medals. That is more than enough for everyone in the village but we wanted to make sure that we had enough for everyone who wanted one. In other words, we sat in the living room with a tv show on in the background and cut circles, punched holes, cut and tied strings and glued on ribbons for 3 hours.

Today was a fun filled day even before the Opening Ceremony. After work, a couple of people who work in the kitchen and I went for a walk down the road. We ended up walking for about 45 minutes and throwing snowballs at Josh while he was making a snow angel down by the creek for 15 minutes. It was really nice. The only downside was that we had to get back for a staff meeting which was kind of crummy. Following the staff meeting, many of the same people who went on the walk gathered in Hallie's room to bask in the light of her sun-replacing light. It led to some great tired induced conversations and everyone seemed at least a little happier afterwards. It is now almost midnight and we finished the medals about 20 minutes ago. I really think I should go to bed.

Day 142: Dec 30, 2014

I won a marathon in the olympic games!! It was a knitting marathon but a marathon nonetheless. We had 8 hours to finish a project and then it was judged by the village. Eight of us started at the beginning of the day and only four turned in their projects at the end of the day. I decided to go all out and I decided to make a meerkat from a book I got for Christmas. I decided on the meerkat because it was cute enough to get people excited about it but also simple enough that I thought I could get it done it the allotted time. It turned out really cute and I am really glad that it got the award I think it deserved.

Day 143: Dec 31, 2014

Tonight was an amazing shift. Everything went ridiculously smoothly: food was good, was ready on time, and the shift was relatively relaxed- which is how I like to run my shifts. Soon after eating we headed to vespers together where I got to talk to a first grader about his highs and lows of the year. Then, a group of us headed out to the other side of the creek where there was a candle lit labyrinth. It was crazy cold out but it was nice to walk the labyrinth and think about the past year. I did walk very quickly on the way back, though. The festivities continued in the dining hall where there was a pinata and all of the kids got a swing at it. Since they didn't completely break it I was called upon. I smashed that pinata to smithereens. It was great. As I am sure you have figured out by now, the village is a little unique. We celebrated the New Year at 10pm- midnight Minnesota time- with a disco ball drop. After the ball drop many of us headed outside to the street for a dance party. The party is going on until midnight but I cut out early because I get to work the morning shift tomorrow.

Day 144: Jan 1, 2015

Work went well but people are dropping like flies from the sickness going around. We now have two cooks down. Because of this, I decided to sleep most of the afternoon to give my body as much of a chance to fight it as possible.

Day 145: Jan 2, 2015

Welp, I got the “Holden Crud” (aka the flu)

Day 146: Jan 3, 2015

A day filled with sleeping, coughing, and wet kleenexes.