The Things I Miss..as of right this second...

I'm secluded in Nemo, Texas. So, in conclusion, I was trying to write this super meaningful paragraph about things that I miss and why i missed them, but you see how far that got. So here is a list, because lists are very grown up.

As of right now, I Miss...(the first few are no-brainers)

1. Kevin, of course, that's a given.
2. Hanging out with my sister, walt and the girls...and my mom and dad and luke
3. being with friends and playing 42 at the chicken
4. riding Mulligan without a care in the world
5. being able to 'sleep til i wake up'
6. the smell of the barns at the Oklahoma City Fairgrounds at Nationals
7. the roar of Kyle Field when A&M scores a touchdown
8. a comfortable bed
9. quietness
10. teaching lessons, believe it or not
11. snowboarding
12. good cell phone reception
13. normal music
14. Bailey
15. taking students to shows/competitions
16. being in New York with Luke and Andrea
17. sleeping without waking up every hour

but mostly, right now, i think i miss the feeling that I have made a difference in someones life.

This summer has been a strange one, full of mixed emotions. Don't get me wrong, I have really enjoyed being a lifeguard and the duties involved with it, but I really miss the teaching aspect of camp. I miss the horses too.

computer revived

For the time being, my computer has decided to work again.

So, here are some pictures from camp...just a couple to give you guys an idea of what I'm doing...kinda.

During the week we have Secret Pals and mine got me this wicked awesome little bow and arrow set. I spent the entire day on Friday shooting things, and people. Best Friday Ever.

Team Lifeguard...We are what we are, don't judge. From L to R: Me, Erin, Sydney

For my Birthday last weekend, a big group of us went to Six Flags. It was mostly people from College Station, but a few from camp came as well. From L to R: Erin, Megan, Sydney, and me.
Team Tuesday! Since I'm the only person from Aggieland I decided to get a little extra help on Team Tuesday by raising the T Star Aggie flag in the staff unit...hehehe...i'm awesome.
Always "happy" at camp.
Erin and I re-enacting Romeo and Juliet during staff week.

So much to talk about

So much has happened in the last month. One thing that hasn't happened though is getting a job, other than the camp position i have at the moment. But, on the list of things that have happened is:

1. Becoming a certified Lifeguard

2. Turning 24...woohoo?

3. having a dead computer

There's more, but thats the general idea. So, as of now, I don't have a computer. Lame.

On the up side, I do finally have post-grad pictures!

Graduation!!!!

I'm working on it! haha. Apparently, I didn't end up with any pictures from graduation, so I'll have to get those on upon my return home! Amber and I are going to take nice "senior" pictures tomorrow or Thursday, so eventually, I'll have something up.

In short, graduation weekend was amazing! I didn't trip or fall while walking across the stage, though one of the masters graduates not only tripped and fell, but also drop her diploma and her cap while trying to shake the President Loftin's hand...you couldn't help but chuckle a little to yourself. She took it in stride though and shook it off.

I felt honored to have been able to share my graduation ceremony with one of the 1999 Bonfire Collapse survivors. After being paralyzed in the collapse, he was finally able to return to A&M and finish his degree this year. It was a very touching moment to see him cross the stage.

The weekend also brought a huge celebration with my entire family. My sister was able to come with the twins and she even stayed the entire weekend! Everyone had a great time and it was a perfect ending to such and amazing period of my life.

And this is for my good friend, John Varner, who has said such nice things about my blog! I love him to death and wish him the best as he moves into his engineering career with Union Pacific!

Congrats to all of the 2010 graduates! Kennedy, John, Gonzo, Antonio, Danny, and I'm probably missing people...so sorry!

As soon as i get pictures, they'll be up!

As it All Comes to a Close

What a ride this college career has been. From the rough beginning at UNT to the beautiful finish at Texas A&M, it is a journey I will never forget.

I will attend my last class tomorrow and turn in my last assignment. Its still seems surreal.

Graduation is officially 10 days away. My entire family is coming into town, and it's going to be a party up in here, no kidding. Pictures to come for sure!

Going Back to Camp

Ah, Stevens Ranch. After emailing one of my old co-workers who is now the assistant director of the camp, I came to find out they were still in need of a lifeguard. At first I turned the position down because I didn't think I could get in a physical condition to pass the lifeguard swimming test, but after a little research, I decided it just might be possible. It'll be weird not working with the horses, but I think it will be a good change of pace. Something new and different to add to the resume.

Anyways, I'm pretty sure I'm a natural at this whole saving lives thing...need guarding? I got ya covered.

Helping the Community

Everyone at the end of the day
L to R: Jenga, Chris, Zach, Corbin, Ms Teetes, Matt, Kevin, Funke, Katie, Reimers, Me and Jr.

Every year Texas A&M hosts The Big Event. Big Event is one day set aside to thank and give back to the community for their continued support of our amazing university. Last year was a wonderful experience, so our Bonfire group, Dunn Hall, decided to participate again.

This year we were to help a former Aggie, Ms. Teetes Class of '94, redo the landscaping on her property. About an hour after we started, a couple of the Big Event committee members came to see how the project was going and informed us that we had one of the biggest projects of the year, which made our small team of 11 people even more determined to finish the project.

We broke for lunch around 2pm, the time at which most groups are finishing their entire projects. I'll be the first to admit I did not think we could actually finish the project. At 4pm, we finally finished the front yard and inside of the house, which involved clearing the yard down to dirt, spreading new fill dirt to even out the yard, laying new sod, building a barrier to keep the yard from eroding into the driveway, redoing a garden, and repainting the bathroom and stairway. About this time we decided to call the Big Event Committee and let them know we would be late returning our tools because we still had the backyard to finish which is when they decided to accuse us of not having enough people to finish the job in a timely fashion. Hmmm....Thanks for appreciating our commitment to the job. After that pleasant phone call we decided to take our time finishing the backyard.

After we completed the project, Ms Teetes donated the extra sod and fill dirt to the "broke college students have a horrible yard fund" and Corbin and Kevin were able to load it up and take it home to help their pathetic backyard recover from the insane amounts of rain. During the clean up process, one of our friendly Big Event committee members decided to show up and see what actually took us so long and, lucky for us, was so nice as to take all our tools back for us...actually, we stacked the tools behind his car and suggested he take them back, since apparently they needed out rake and shovel so bad.

In the end, we were able to finish what seemed like an impossible project. Ms. Teetes was so grateful which made all of our efforts more than worth it. She is an amazing women who deserved what we were able to give her.

starting off..lots of sod and dirt

chris and jenga tackling the garden which started out as a vine/bush covered mess

Zach was put in charge of the Barrier to keep the yard from eroding. Glad to have a few engineers on hand since the job ended up being a little more intense then originally planned

Reimers and I purchased this sleeper couch from the garage sale next door. It served us well during the job and has actually graduated from our intended purpose of taking it to chilifest to replacing a couch in chris' house. It's really comfortable...