Summer Vacation

It's funny how fast things move. Seems like yesterday I was just coming up here, to school, but suddenly I'm three semesters done and heading home for summer break. I plan on returning to school for a fourth semester before I leave on my mission.

As I procrastinate cleaning by playing video games, I'm slowly beginning to realize that it's over. I don't have any more homework. Finals are finished. I finished my last day at work. It's done, complete.

But at the same time, I feel so confused. I don't have anything I need to do right now? I have nothing due? I feel like there's something I'm missing or forgetting. It's from 3 semesters straight of perpetual homework, I bet.

Ah, well, at least it's done. Mayhaps I can actually sleep for once while I'm home.

I can has Logic.

I work a hand-to-grit job as a custodian for my University's kitchen. We have 8 of us on the night crew, 1000+ dishes, a 300x300 floor to sweep and mop, 70+ garbage cans to empty, and a frickin' crapton of stuff to organize and put away.

Oh, and some 200 pounds of food to throw away.

Despite that I become really worn out by this job, despite how "easy" it might sound, the part I hate the most is the amount of food we throw away. We throw away unopened, clean, perfectly packaged pans of lasagna, salad, chicken, and all sorts of delicious meals. I don't understand. I had it explained to me once that it's because of health code violations.

Somewhere in there, I think wasting that much food is a health code violation. Or at least that it should be.

The part that caught me the most today was my Student Leader. He's barely older than me, also a student, and does the same labor as me, but tells the rest of the crew what to do. He's a fun guy, who enjoys video games more than me and is studying to do some fun stuff.

So basically, here's the throw-down of how we do things (at least when I take charge, behind his back):

1. Sweep the kitchen (thoroughly)
2. Organize the dishes on the conveyor belt (the first wave)
3. Scrub first wave
4. Send first wave through the dish-washer
5. Repeat for the next 4 waves of dishes until all are done
6. Put said dishes away and organize them
7. Mop the kitchen, scrub the designated room for the day, and clean the dish-washer and river
8. Put down the mats
9. Book it home, to try and forget today's work

It's the same for him, except he wants to scrub right after we sweep. I don't think he realizes that the area's we scrub are high-traffic most of the time. This means we'll scrub them, which consists of drowning the floor in cleanser and bringing all heck down on it with scrub brushes, and then have to watch the catering crew other workstations trample all over our now-shiny floor. Somehow in his mind, this means we'll get out earlier. I asked him today, and his response was, "I want to get out at 8:30." To which I replied, "we won't. We'll have to mop again." Then he basically told me to screw off, which I adequately and appropriately replied the same way. We do this every day, but never mean anything by it.

Anyway, this is basically how my boss looked to me:

So yeah, that's work for me. He's not even the worst. My boss's boss is incredulous, and makes no sense. She goes on crusades every day to try and impress her boss, whether it means making us stay an hour later, or us all going home throwing up from smelling too much grease.

I decided to just move past his derpative logic and just do the work. Even better, I realized that if you apply his tactics to any kind of leadership, you can get away with awsesome stuff. In case I'm ever a leader of anything unimportant....


Screw Logic. I does it my way.

What about Camping?

Ever since I was little, I enjoyed being outdoors. I love camping. Being out in the wilderness gives me a larger appreciation for the creation of this world. It's so marvelous. Not to mention it's nice to just rough it for a couple of days. Nothing like having to sleep uncomfortably and wake up at ungodly hours in the morning, just to find your bud caught and is cooking a dead fish.

However, I don't like going camping for extended periods of time. A week is the max length I can go, before I start itching for home. A few days, or even just overnight is perfect. I love the smell of fire and smoke, the feeling of clean air on my face. Heck, I even enjoy feeling sore for a couple days from hiking. It feels real.

Real? Yes, I said real. We live in a world surrounded by so much virtual entertainment and ideals that it's hard to seperate what's real and what's not. I would know - I don't know how much time I spend thinking about video games and all their complexities. I forget what's real. I don't deny that. However, I feel it's helped to grow and appreciate what is real, and what's not. As weird as it sounds, I have a profound love for my friends because of this. They are the standard of reality in my eyes. I hope this makes sense! I must sound like I'm just rambling.

Anyway, back to camping. Here is a photo I shot from Mt. Lassen a while back. That was quite the adventure, something I'll have to share sometime. Cheers!

From One to the Next

Typically, I might start with some fluent, near-sarcastic, but appropriate remark about my subject. But for now, I'll stick to the basics and give a simple introduction. My name is Zachary. Or, if you want my gamertag, since I'll be referencing it a lot, Xacheiree (notice a similarity?). I'm a college student, working into my sophomore year. I graduated from high school a year ago, and am preparing to serve a full time, 2-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or the Mormon Church, as it's been nicknamed. I won't give any other information, such as where I'm from, my full name, what I do, and all that jazz, for the sake of simple security and privacy. I feel the information I've given is enough, since that's all I'll be referring to.

It's my hope that my posts and thoughts will be of some use to you. Now please, understand, my posts will be biased. They will be one-sided. That's because I intend to just give my opinion. Of course, I'm not going to flat out say I'm right on everything - I try to be as open-minded as I can be. But if there's something you disagree with, or something that I say that you think is biased, then heck, it probably is! Either way, I hope you enjoy my blog. Cheers!

-Zachary, Xacheiree