Vaction’s Over

Faces to the Names:

I woke up for my last day of “freedom” feeling very sore; guess that’s what happens when you’re a gym rat for a couple months then take an entire month off.  I’m not exactly sure what happened but I woke up startled sometime around the 7AM range, it was very weird but I went back to sleep.  I had another strange dream, making that bizarre dream #4 since getting out here in Flagstaff, in the time between my startling wake up and my official wake up time at 9:30.  I won’t get into it too much but it involved me running for my life then having to get extremely violent.

I took advantage of doing nothing today…well…of not having to leave the house.  When I woke up I had to bundle up a little bit then I jumped on my computer and finished filling out the online forms for my resume on the job website where we find all of the ranger openings. That took about 2 hours, thank you everybody that volunteered to serve as references for me…I may have to use you in the future. Feeling frisky, I went ahead and applied to two parks that I’m not expecting to get hired at but I wanted to get a little bit more experience with this unique application process.  The first park I applied to was Manassas National Battlefield Park in Manassas, VA. That’s kind of by Dana, Eric, Riggs, & Mason so that’d be cool! The other one I applied to was Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park out in HAWAII! I’m sure I’d have a hard time getting any work done out in Hawaii but I had to gain this application experience.  Both jobs are seasonal so they wouldn’t last longer than 6 months but they’re a good way to get my foot in the door.  Manassas has government housing available and Hawaii doesn’t; so that and the fact that there’s only 1 opening make the chances of me working out there look kind of bleak.  My applications aren’t official until I find some way to get an online copy of my transcripts from Stockton. Yet another headache.  You need to have some new ID # from the school in order to make this whole thing happen and the paper I got in the mail with my number on it is home somewhere.  I tried calling Stockton to remedy the situation but silly me forgot it was MLK Day…so I’ll have try again tomorrow. I’m glad I’m figuring all of this stuff out now.  This way I can get some of these iffy seasonal applications out of the way before I lay it all on the line for the full time gig at park I really want out in Philadelphia.

The day progressed and it was almost time for meet & greet session that the ranger Facebook group set up so I had finally get dressed…after all it was 3o’clock.  Nick & Arkansas were ready to rock but not before my puppet show starring Martha the Hippo as a park ranger.  We made our way through downtown and I saw a somewhat strange site; some dude was skateboarding down the street wearing cargo shorts & a tanktop…IT’S NOT THAT NICE OUT FOOL!  We found the Beaver Street Brewery, which we discovered before we left that Jane’s son works there, and made our way in.  Two of the students beat us there but hadn’t started a group up until they (most likely) overheard us explain to the host that we were meeting a large group there.  Noting the look of familiarity on his face as we walked toward us, I extended my hand and introduced myself to Curtis aka CJ.  Taking his cue from our handshake, another Nick came over and introduced himself to us.  We set up shop at the end of the bar where there were some tables we were able to adopt and one by one more of my future classmates found their ways to us.  Good thing for Facebook because I was able to flag down complete strangers based on their profile pictures…but I’m not a stalker or anything haha.  Before I knew it, just under half of our class was gathered around sharing stories about where we came from, what we did before this, and we were collectively relieved that none of us felt ready for the outdoor running in this altitude.  I earned “freak” points because nobody thought anybody would remember anybody’s names but I had everybody’s names and states pegged as soon as I heard them.  Along with Nick, Arkansas, Jake, Travis (whose real name is Richard but goes by his middle name because his father is Richard as well), and myself were Curtis (Arizona), Nick (Alaska), Christine (all over but now Arizona), Owen (New York), Stan (North Carolina), Sean (all over, Utah/Nevada border, now Arizona), & Eric. (originally Texas now Washington State)….it’s a gift hahahaha. 

Just about everybody has some sort of experience working in a park somewhere and they have a lot of knowledge about previous classes and the workings of the NPS.  Curtis informed me that we’ll have one “event” known as Fight Night where after being dog tired from exercising you enter a pitch black room where loud music is then played and instructors throw stuff at you, jump you, and beat you up and you have to defend yourself the entire time. FUN!

Thanks to previous ranger trainees, here’s some other things I have to look forward to over the next 13 weeks:

This one isn't from NAU but it's supposedly ranger training...I laughed.  I;ve been through this before and I actually sang after it...weiner

I got a burger & some water and the 3 Double Ds were ready to bounce so we said our goodbyes and headed out the door.  Good thing we did because I still had boots to shine.  That little activity was delayed by Arkansas & Nick wanting to stop someplace else to eat since nothing tickled their fancy at the brewery so we stopped at the most bizarre burger joint I’ve ever seen, Diablo Burger.  Apparently it was some organic burger place.  It only had 4 tables in it and a small counter to sit at to eat.  The people at the table behind us had an issue with their burger so the manager brought it back to the cooks and told them he needed a “refire”.  I was instantly taken back to my Chili days when I heard that and I thought…hey I know that phrase, I can work here.  With that, the manager wrote on his chalkboard “Looking for strong FOH (front of house) folks.  I guess I really COULD work there!  The place reminded me of one of those coffee houses where soul patched, beret wearing hippies would have open mic poetry nights…and the music was doing anything to help its cause.  Maybe I can’t work there after all hahaha.  The kids were done eating and we set sail for home.

This is the weird jug we poured our water out of

This is Diablo Burger, we're sitting next to the kitchen...it's small. That's the manager writing the "Help Wanted" message.

..but hey...they brand their burgers!

I finished polishing my boots, even though I’m not really impressed with my work, fine tuned any personal trimmings I had to do, and then showered up.  Don’t ask me why but I just watched Pee Wee’s Big Adventure while typing this up, I also talked to Laura about her preparations for her big move.  It’s just around the corner!

So tomorrow’s the big day.  Six months of preparation and anticipation all comes down to tomorrow afternoon.  It’s a pretty sweet deal that I get to sleep until 9 every day…minus every other weekend.  I’m definitely nervous about these next 13 weeks.  This is a dangerous job I’m looking to get into.  I’ve always been a little apprehensive about the training involved in encountering and eventually detaining, by one way or another, dangerous individuals… but it’s definitely something I can master. I can’t go into this sucker with the words “can’t” or “no” floating around my brain. I just hope this huge risk pays off and I get picked up somewhere SOON!

Whoa.  I'm watching The Goods now and the first time you see Piven & his crew they are having breakfast at a strip club in FLAGSTAFF!  Cool. I'm not sure where that place is though. hahaha

I’m not sure how detailed I can get with my posts in the future, don’t want to give away all the tricks of the trade so I’ll play the Triple F by ear going forward.  Thank you everybody for reading it!  It’s a blasty blast writing.

Wish me luck!

Talk to you soon.

MOUNT UP!!!