Adventures in Babysitting

When I'm not being a summer custodian (I don't like the word "janitor," for some reason), I am a summer babysitter for a family with three children, ages 5, 3, and 1. All three of them are really cute, and we often go visit playgrounds, parks, the library, or even the grocery store. However, these outings have led to some interesting situations in which a variety of people ask me questions about the kids, like how old they are, if we live in the area, or if their hair color came from their dad, since it obviously didn't come from me. The questions leave me in a somewhat awkward position, seeing as option one would allow me to just answer the questions, leading the people to believe they're my kids, and option two would have me inform them that I am just the babysitter, making them feel slightly awkward. The questions also leave me wondering....do I look old enough to have three children already? Do these people notice that I'm not wearing either an engagement ring or a wedding ring and assume that I'm an extraordinarily young single mother? How should I accept compliments like, "Oh, you have such beautiful children!" when I'm not even remotely related to them? One time I said something to the effect of, "Well, I'm just the babysitter, but they are cute, aren't they?" The lady replied, "Oh really? You look just like them!" I'm not convinced I agree with that - I have brown hair, blue eyes, and a ton a freckles, while they have red hair, brown eyes, and no freckles - but it was interesting nonetheless. Maybe one day I will write to an advice column and ask for tips on babysitting interaction-with-people propriety.

Observations Continued

I realized that my right foot turns out more than my left foot. I find this weird, and probably caused by childhood ballet.

Also, I'm finally going to get a new oboe bag today. It's about time, considering my old one weighs about 500 pounds depending on how much music is in it at any given moment.

Observations

Things upon which to think for today:

-Surprisingly, I have the day off, at least until 3. This was unexpected.

-I keep getting sick. Still. It's summer. After taking allergy medicine, diagnosis ≠ allergies. WHY? Bring on the apple juice and vinegar...

-Lie to Me is on tonight! I was introduced to it at the beginning of the summer, and it's my new favorite show.

-I just ran out of milk! No!

-I need to be practicing more, because I have to do a recital in November. As currently planned, the repertoire could possibly include Bach (definitely), Molique (definitely), Mozart (maybe), Hindemith (maybe), some random modern piece whose composer I've forgotten (hopefully not), and the Herzogenberg oboe, horn, and piano trio (definitely). I also need to become sweet at making reeds, which means that I need to buy more cane, which requires spending money. Dislike. I'll go practice once I finish writing.

-Up until yesterday, it had been awhile since I did any landscaping-type work. I forgot that working with dirt means that it gets ground into the skin on my hands for days, and it won't come off just by washing. But I am washing my hands, so I guess that brings some new meaning to the expression "good clean dirt." And I also feel very productive, having gotten some good work done.

-I recently discovered a whole bunch of PhotoBooth pictures of my brother and me that are absolutely ridiculous. Example A:

To avoid the risk of exposing both of us to public ridicule for being quite un-photogenic and certifiably crazy, I will refrain from posting the rest of these pictures, despite the fact that I find them amusing. Maybe I'm the only one who thinks so.

-And finally, "Dude, DC on the 4th?" "Dude."

Life Lessons from the Custodial Closet

This summer, one of my two jobs is being a member of the custodial team at school. (Is it legal to discuss this at all in the blogging world? Or online? Or anywhere?) I thought it would be just a normal menial labor job....you know, the kind where you go to work, do stuff, and come home without really thinking about anything. I was wrong. This weekend, a large group (around 1,600) of members of one particular Christian denomination (to remain unnamed) came to campus for an annual conference. I was stationed in the campus student center for the past two days, which meant that I cleaned and re-cleaned and triple-cleaned the entire building after each meal. It was an interesting phenomenon, being on that side of the spectrum. I've been to youth conferences, and I know that I never gave the cleaning staff a second thought. I mean, I'm not asking for any credit; that's part of the job, really. Some people did comment, though. Three people said something to the effect of, "Oh boy! Do you hire out? Come to my house!" One lady went so far as to say, "Do you want to be adopted? I could use the help, and you'd really like it, I'm sure!" I laughed, though I wanted to say, "Well, no, actually, I rather like my own family. But if you want to pay me more than my current hourly wage and give me 40 hours a week of work, I'd be happy to become your own personal housemaid!" Then there were the people who took the precious time out of their own busy conference schedules to say in that lovely condescending Christian-ese tone, "Oh, dear, thank you so much for all your hard work!" Maybe I'm being to critical, but that usually led me to think something along the lines of, "Well, I was already aware that you are a Christian, seeing as you're attending a denominational conference, and while thank you for thinking of it, I don't really need to be witnessed at because I'm one too. This just happens to be the most convenient summer job around." There are also the people that observe that we're cleaning and somehow misinterpret the job as custodian/information central/carpenter/waitress/servant. As I was wiping down tables in the dining hall, one man asked, "Oh, would you mind just taking my plate and tray over to where you put them when you're done? I'm talking." Before I could answer, the man next to him told me to keep cleaning and he would take it, which was very kind of him. I was a little ticked off, until some verses I memorized a long time ago came to mind: "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus....Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life." So being a custodian hasn't turned out to be just a summer job after all. It's a daily reminder that I am a servant to a much higher authority - one who believes and specializes in outstanding customer service.

Bed Bugs, Boston, and Best Friends

The last few weeks have been full of work, play, and other interesting things like bed bugs in the room next door. Gross. The bed bugs entailed the removal of everything from the surrounding rooms (ours) so that they could be sprayed with bug killer. That would have been great, except for the fact that they checked our room for bed bugs and determined there weren't any...before they sprayed. Oh well; better safe then sorry, as the saying goes.

After church this afternoon we decided to go into Boston to walk around the Prudential Center. While there, I tried on a pair of jeans, costing exactly $155.00. INSANITY. But I figured I'd try them on anyway, just to prove to myself that the extra money didn't necessarily make them better. So much for that. They proved to be the best pair of jeans I have ever tried on my life, fitting exactly the way every pair of jeans should. If I'd had $155 in my pocket at that moment, I would most certainly be $155 poorer than I was when I'd walked into the store. (http://www.lordandtaylor.com/eng/womensapparel-Denim-New_York_Dark_Wash_Bootcut_Jeans_-lordandtaylor/136909, if you're curious). So I have a new life goal: become rich, buy nice jeans. Possibly the most superficial, materialistic life goal I have ever had, but they were really nice jeans.

I also had Cold Stone ice cream for the first time in my life today. While it was delicious and the mixing process was rather fascinating, I have to say that my loyalty still lies with Ben and Jerry's. It just tastes better.

Finally, I think I have the best friends in the world. I visited a best friend who has a new apartment in Danvers the other day, and it was absolutely wonderful to catch up with her a bit since I hadn't seen her for a long time. I'm visiting home next weekend and I get to bake with another best friend for a bridal shower - super excited! I haven't seen her in an even longer amount of time, which is really quite sad. And I get to hang out with my other best friends pretty much every day, which is the most phenomenal way to spend a summer break, in my opinion.

Summer vacation? Montreal!

It's been awhile since I've updated anything here. The lack of writing is mostly due to the fact that summer started, and life, believe it or not, got crazier. I guess in a sense it just got different, but the amount of time I spend in my room has significantly decreased, thanks to the 6-day-per-week work schedule that organizes my time. It looks like this: physical plant work on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday from 7:30 am until 3:30 pm; babysitting Monday and Tuesday from 10 until 3, babysitting Thursday from 9:30 until 5, and church on Sunday. I guess that means I don't have too much time for a Sabbath rest, but Sunday afternoon can count for that, most likely. The rest of my time should be spent practicing, but I have yet to figure out how to work that in as the music building closes a full five or six hours earlier than it does during the school year. Inconvenient. Luckily, I should be able to practice tomorrow morning from 7:45 until 9-ish, which should help my embouchure get back in shape.

Since the last time I wrote anything, I journeyed to Montreal! It was lots of fun. We visited several churches including one with the second largest copper dome in the world (St. Joseph's Oratory), saw the Bodies Exhibit (I would strongly recommend it for anyone who is not squeamish about the human body), and ate lunch at a very good restaurant next to the underground city. Getting to St. Joseph's turned out to be more of an adventure than we planned - including a uphill 15-minute hike - but the views, the church, and the organ (!) were totally worth the sweat and inhalers involved in the arrival. It was gorgeous:

And the organ was magnificent!

We got a bit lost on the way back to Vermont, but the GPS saved us and we got back in time to see the sunset over Lake Champlain in Burlington.

Overall, a most excellent day trip.

In addition

I realized that every time I write something and finish it, I think of about a hundred more things I want to say. All of these things of course slip my mind as soon as I go to write them down, but I thought that if I perhaps started right away, I wouldn't forget.

I had the most wonderful evening last night! It started with dinner at Chipotle with some of the world's greatest people. I had never had Chipotle before, so it was a new and excitingly different experience. We lingered for a long time after we'd finished eating, discussing our college ensembles, music technique, the role of women in orchestras, study abroad programs to Salzburg, portraits, etc. We then decided to watch Star Trek VIII: First Contact, which was a whole lot of fun as well as a culturing experience. On the way back home, while laughing over the fact that I, thanks to the laryngitis, sounded like the Nazgul from Lord of the Rings, things took an interesting turn when we witnessed a car accident. That part of the evening wasn't so wonderful, but it was somewhat thought provoking. It's so easy to forget how incredibly fleeting life is. We think of death as being a long way off, something we don't need to think about until we're old and "ready" to leave the world, but it doesn't always work like that. If that car or our car had been in a slightly different place a few seconds earlier, we could have been involved in the accident as well. That being the case, why should I be complaining about simple things like a cold or too much work or a particular circumstance that didn't quite go exactly as planned?

In chapel this morning some members of the senior class expounded upon their lives while at Gordon. They talked about what they wanted to do with their lives, and how Gordon had changed who they were. It made me think about what I wanted my life "signature" to be, and how I should live in relation to that signature. I came to the conclusion that I want my life to be a reflection of who God is, and his love for his precious creation. "What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?" So here I stand: let my life be solely for the glory of my God and for the edification of his people.