We Were Promised Jetpacks - Moving Clocks Run Slow @ Borderline

The Return of Dexter

Thank God!  It had been far too long since I found myself rooting for a serial killer.  With the delay of the start of Mad Men I was in dire need for a good television series.  Dexter seems to be back to his roots and anytime Colin Hanks is brought into the mix, good things happen.

It's been quite sometime since I've blogged.  No surprise there, every time I blog it usually starts with something like "Well it's been 3 months since you've heard from me" so let's keep that trend going.

The new academic year has had a different sort of flow to it.  I can't tell if I have found a balance that is making things easier this year, or if I keep pretending that I found a balance so that makes everything ok.  The EC baseball team is off to it's best start in team history at 3-1.  We have minimized the mental break downs and that has made everything all that much more enjoyable.  Ironically, the team a few blocks away set a new standard for meltdowns.  The only positive thing the Boston Red Sox did for me this fall is bring home the fact that everything I preach about chemistry, camaraderie, respect for one another is so important...even in sports. You can't be successful without it.  I'm excited to begin exploring leadership development a bit more and hopefully incorporate it into a full time position.  Fingers Crossed.

Welcome Back!

It has been far too long!  I have attempted to reconnect with this blogging device but failed miserably a couple of times over the past few months.  It took MASC camp to get me back into the swing of things.  I have been fortunate enough to be a part of this organization for over the past 10 years.  It is a place, that no matter the state of mind you are in entering the week, you leave centered and focused. Surrounded by such amazing people gives off such a contagious vibe that you can't help but get excited about the work that you are doing.  There are so many things in life that I take for granted, especially relationships that I have with friends.  The week reminds me what is important and the time that should be given to those who constantly put me in this place of happiness.

I'm so grateful for the opportunity that I have to work at this camp.  To watch students go through this incredible transformation in such a short time is truly inspirational.  Working with 3rd year campers can be challenging...these students have been through the camp 3 times already, they have already made their connections, have their group of friends and they don't need to rely on the staff members as much as those in the first and second year camp.  For this particular group of students, the third year of camp becomes more like a farewell tour.  It's a time for them to be reminiscent on their experiences in student council and in high school.  During this week there was a different feel for the group that we were working with.  They were passionate about giving back to the organization that gave them so much.  They wanted to show the camp how grateful they were for their experiences.  They connected with the staff in a way that had not happened in previous 3rd year groups.  I felt a strong connection with this group, which in turn made it a heck of a lot more difficult to part with them on Friday.  I am so thankful for the time spent with this group and I wish them nothing but the best as they head in to their senior year.  In this post, I put a couple videos from the week as well as a picture from an egg drop game. (I did not facilitate this but I had a lot of fun watching)

Catch up

I haven't been all that nice to the blog lately.  Not really sure why.  I think for a while it was because I'm afraid honesty can be hurtful...but I also don't want to go on lying in this either or avoiding things.  Let's focus on some good though shall we.

It is baseball season.  You wouldn't know it because it is snowing out my window right now but believe it or not it is time for baseball.  The Emmanuel team has begun practicing and it's been a nice way to break away from the work routine.  It is funny, I see these guys everyday for a couple months but when the season ends, even though we are at the same place, I will go months without seeing the very same guys until baseball season starts up again.  It's almost like everyone went home for summer vacation and then we get back together again in the fall.  I think we are going to struggle again this season.  We have a great group of guys who are going to have a lot of fun and probably work harder then every other team we face...unfortunately we are up against a really strong league.  We will overachieve in the sense that the majority of our games will be tight and if we learned anything from losing tough games in the fall we might have a shot at going .500 in the spring.  We have to remember that this team won 3 games this past fall...which at first sounds sad but in actuality over the last 3 years they had only won a combined 3 games, so we'll take it!

It is also the time of year when job searching occurs.  THANKFULLY, this is the first time in a couple years that I can relax during this time period and just do the interviewing.  It's an exciting/nerve wracking experience for all of those beginning that process and I wish you the best of luck.  It's been nice catching up with my former students who are finishing up their grad programs and are going through the placement exchange and all that fun stuff!  I'm also excited for the group of my friends who have decided to go back to school and have gotten in!  Congrats!

Oh! And I don't think I have talked much about the improv classes I have been taking at ImprovBoston.  I finished my first 8 week class and am about to start Level 2.  My friends do a pretty good job reminding me that it's a waste of money because I haven't gotten any funnier...but I'm really enjoying it. It's an odd group of people that I'm working with but we laugh a lot and it gets me off campus and into Cambridge at least once a week...that I can appreciate!

Well, I guess this is a start to get back into the swing of things, blogging that is.