Victory! So sweet! So, money by no means drives the world. It, in no sense, provides the fulfillment that connection with other humans creates. However, I have to say that on a particularly straining Friday when you’ve had reprimands collectively adding to just under an hour and the day is only half-way over, seeing the check that you thought wasn’t going to come until the 15th is something beautiful. The feeling really doesn’t get to be much better than that. Those of you who have been tuning in know that I am a robotics camp counselor. Everyday from 8:30 to 4:30 I work towards, “exposing and engaging youth, particularly the underserved, to STEM* activities through robotics to develop and build positive communities” as articulated by the mission statement. Is work simple? Most definitely not. But does it feel like a chore? The answer here is also no. I’m growing accustomed still to the expectation that I mold myself to the position and also my supervisor. It means restraining my outspokenness on many occasions and learning to as the penguins of Disney’s Madagascar advise, “smile and wave boys, smile and wave”. But having that tangible reminder of the second part of my reason for attending camp, the part that is strictly for my own benefit, proved quite effective in bettering my mood the second half of Friday. Here’s a visual for those of you curious of what a robot could look like (though the one on the left is more along the lines of what our 7-14 year olds create at camp).
In other news, passport things. I set up the appointment at the post office, rushed from downtown, and somehow managed to confuse my father about the location of the CVS we’d visited 30 times before and needed to visit yet again to acquire my passport photo. All of this meant that we arrived at exactly 3:00 much to my relief. As I stood in line behind four other people, and one minute turned to two, which turned to three with no one coming to the front desk to service us, that relief rather quickly dissipated. That very day the post office’s computers had crashed. An employee from the backroom informed us of this after someone took the initiative to bang on the counter for a minute straight. Because of this, the office was closed for the day. I would need to reschedule my appointment yet again. With passport delivery taking up to 6 weeks and a passport being a pre-requisite for a visa, which takes 4-6 weeks to arrive, this bit of news did not please me. As a solution, we simply must pay an additional $60 to the passport fee to expedite the arrival of the passport. September 7th feels ever closer, and the amount of preparation needed versus how much time I have to do it all, is borderline overwhelming. I have to concede that maybe I won’t have the opportunity to finish revising my book before the summer is halfway over. Maybe I won’t finish it until I am nearly gone. Perhaps I can’t pursue that internship at a women’s magazine that is established in the same building I currently work in. I just don’t have the time. Maybe it is enough for now to enjoy where I am and what I am doing as well as the finite moments I have left with my family and friends. I'll take that as a win, and speaking of wins, the election for District 55's State House Representative is Tuesday. My mom is a candidate, and I've been spending a large portion of my time lately helping her campaign. Hopefully, next week I can report that she won.
*STEM= Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math
Want to hear this week's entry in French? Click the audio file below.
*STEM= Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math
Want to hear this week's entry in French? Click the audio file below.