...that i never thought i would do... and will never do again...
for six months in 1998: i was home from school and had nothing to do so our good family friend hired me to work on her ranch. yes. you heard that right. WORK on a RANCH. a.) i don't work. b.) i hate horses. nevertheless, i woke up each morning and put on my wranglers (true, and weird) and headed to the great outdoors. my job included many lovely responsibilities: cleaning stalls, cleaning horses, cleaning tack, cleaning the bed & breakfast, gardening, painting fences, feeding horses, feeding cattle, leading horses from pasture to stalls (and being terrified the whole time), a day-camp counselor, a day-camp photographer, a manure transporter, and enthusiastic gator driver.
the way i smelled at the end of the day when i finally got home and got into the shower was divine. but, i have never slept as well as i did those months. manual labor is hard work! that's why i'll never do that again. well, that and the fact that horses kick and bite.
summer of 2000: i spent the entire summer as a girl scout camp counselor. i started at camp trefoil in provo canyon, but due to canyon fires and a lesbian revolt, i was transferred to camp cloud rim in park city. being a camp counselor sounded like a good idea when i saw it at the (then)ricks college job fair. little did i know what i was getting myself into...
my first week i was pumped! i did everything 110% and gave it my all! i was enthusiastic! i was caring! i was fun! i was awesome! i memorized everyone's name in two minutes! by the time the second week came around i was exhausted and so i stayed for the rest of the summer. perpetual exhaustion. (plus, there was this one week i went from sunday to thursday without a shower.)
it was intense. endless weeks of living outdoors, changing my name to "phoebe", being responsible for 30 eight-year old girls at a time, and remembering all those camp songs really does something to you. not to mention the nighttime collision with a moose that i experienced. oh, and the funny fact that i thought i would lose weight from all the outdoorsy stuff. fail. i gained probably close to 20 pounds largely due to the endless supply of navajo tacos and all-you-can-eat girls scout cookies. two boxes a day anyone?
although i did make some fun friends, i cannot tell you how much i was ready for that summer to end.
p.s. you want to be on a powerful lesbian's good side.
four times between 2001-2003: i played in guitars unplugged. what is guitars unplugged, you ask? only the most popular student activity in the history of byu-idaho! you were basically a celebrity if you played in guitars unplugged, which is exactly why i never pictured myself up there. and singing into a microphone? SO beyond my comfort zone.
i was a part of groups that performed 'worlds apart' by jars of clay, 'drive' by incubus, 'i'll have to say i love you in a song' by jim croce (which we performed at best of guitars unplugged the hugest campus event ever), and 'your song' by elton john.
nowadays i can't even play the guitar anymore and my coolness factor has plummeted.
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12 comments:
Please explain the politics of a lesbian revolt. I'm intrigued.
Also, my friend who goes to BYU helps plan guitars unplugged, and talks about it non-stop. So I'm definitely impressed!
we WERE so cool.
We had guitars unplugged at Snow College and SUU too. I played "Teenage Dirtbag" at a Snoww GU about a week after learning to play the guitar. It was hilarious. BUT The first time I ever hung out with my husband was at a GU show I played at SUU. So yes, I have very very fond memories of that. Even though I can't play the guitar anymore either.
Man, you live so far away. I totally think we should hang out. :)
And I too am interested in the story of the lesbian revolt.
i'm sad that you didn't include your latin admirer in your list of ranch hand highlights. or those couple days that i myself came out and played in the poo with you. c'mon robin.
Awesome! The things we'll do for money! Go you for making it through the whole summer with someone else's 8 year olds (I'd die and I still think it's the coolest that you were in Guitars Unplugged!!
Did you frequent DearElder.com back in the day as well?
no wonder Josh fell in love with you!
Awesome! And I love the hymn number holder behind you in the first guitar picture! :)
I didn't know you followed in your Dad's singing abilities. FUN!
I saw this blog and thought of you.....she looks like she has your style:
http://ashleyannphotography.com/blog/
hope you have a great day!
look at you rocking out robin. i'm so impressed.
when are you going to visit your parents already?? i thought i would have seen you by now...
hurry to the west coast already.
and oliver's car line up had me smiling all day. he is soo cute.
remember when i came to visit and "visiting horses at the barlocker ranch" was on the itinerary {between shopping in carmel and self timer portraits in the movie theater} and i didn't believe you?
i still don't. nope. not even after seeing that picture of you on a horse.
hippy
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