Had no idea today was Deviantart's anniversary. Wow! Happy bday!!! WOw. 9 years. n_n

Yesterday marked the end of my summer team building and job skills program.

Towards the end of the school year, I received an envelope from my teacher, who wasn't sure if it was supposed to go to me or my sister, talking about the summer program. It was to be held at a local tech school, and it was all about job skills and stuff. My aunt and I thought It sounded like something I could really use since I'm one of those people who has trouble folding a pair of trousers... I could use some job skills lol.

She signed me up without a second thought... we hardly knew anything about the program when I signed up for it, we just wanted something for me to do with my summer.

On the first day I was surprised to be lectured by one of the teachers "I know it's hard for all of you to sit there and listen to me, but remember, you're getting payed for it". The staff who ran the program pretty much beleieved that everyone who was there was there for the Stiffen that we would receive for completing the program, and that none of those kids -asked- to sign up for it, just because they wanted to do something to imporove themselves and give themselves a better shot in the work world... My mouth hung open. I had no idea I was getting money for doing this.

Apparently the state or something pays for the program... Any journal lurkers from P.A., if you want I can give you specific information about this program. It doesn't just run in the summer, and It's fabulous..

So anyhow, this is what I've been referring to as "training" for the past few weeks. This program.

In training, we got to explore the different courses that are taught at the tech school during the school year, and do a lot of hands on stuff... my first week, I was back in the kitchen in Culinary, slipping and sliding with pots and pans...

There's nothing like being told to go into the walk-in fridge to get a tub of mayo on a steamy hot day in the kitchen. Aaah I want one. I actually know some of the basics of cooking after coming out of this program lol. I learned how to chop lettuce and stuff very fine... made meatballs, cookies, grilled cheese.

I realized that I'll need to buy some vegetarian cook books. The smell of raw meat is freakishly potent to my nose for some reason or other. It makes me absolutely sick to my stomach. After helping to make meatballs, I washed my hands, arms, everywhere where the meat might have toutched my skin... I clawed with soapy passion under my nails beneath water so steamy hot, I could have boiled pastini in it. I washed my hands and arms numerous times, and it was just hopeless. The scent of death was burned into my hands by the flames of hades that day. I came home and begged Tina to take me to Mike's (her husband) house and let me jump in the pool. Only then, after soaking in chlorine for a few hours, did my stomach settle, and could I once again breathe. I'm beginning to consider becoming a vegan more and more. This is not out of mere compassion for animals... this is trauma. x_x

The Culinary teacher got a little peeved with me when she told me to crap a cup, and I brought her a 2 cup measuring cup... I guess it's easier if you just have one cup, but I never minded measuring things out... I spend the first day in culinary giving her the wrong idea, in my confused misery. She'd said something like "here go do this since you don't want to cook." and I broke down crying a bit. I told her I wasn't trying to be non-cooperative, I hardly ever stepped foot in a kitchen, save for at my old job... and there, my job was not to fetch brown sugar and measuring cups, but to "scrubba nice!" and "remember to closa da faucett!" I know I can be frustrating to teach. People tend to think I have a lot of bratty intention behind my miserable expression, when often, it's an expression of perplexity, or contemplation.

I understand why people misread me now, at least. One reason is my tendancy not to tell people when I have a problem. If I would have told the teacher right up front, I'm having trouble understanding some things, and I'm new to cooking, I could have solved a few problems a little earlier. I don't speak up when there's a problem, but rather, tend to let it be a problem longer than it needs to be. Hopefully this training has helped me to become a little more assertive, and able to step up and handle things... I feel like it has.

The other reason people misunderstand me a lot is just in my body language and appearance. I always look tense, and tend to hold an awkward posture. I'm working on these two things at the moment, with much success. The thing I can't change is my face. Let's face it, I look like a B**** xD Even my makeup looks like a b****.

In Culinary I also learned a bit by reading the many cans of chemicals. I did some steel polishing one day when I wasn't being given anything to do, and I had very stupid fun doing it for some reason.



The second subject I went into was public safety. I learned a bit about the laws of the state, and about the laws that might change for juveniles a bit... Did some circuit weight training in this class. I'll never do a chinup X[ Ah, got lectured on my teams poor teamwork skills...

I learned CPR and some First Aid, but I need to get certified on my own time for CPR.



In the car shop, I jacked up a big ol truck, and learned how to change tires, and take the tire off the rim... How to deflate and re-inflate tires, and how to tell when a tire's worn out and needs change. I memorised the 3 classes of fire extinguishers. o_O

Most of my effort in the auto class, I think, went towards sweating. We were made to wear goggles for protection, but the problem was, they would keep fogging up on me... I must have had steam coming off my skin or squirting out my eyes. I was not breathing on those goggles. I'll probably be bringing my car to the tech school's shop some day, just to say hi to the teacher and nose around at what people are doing.


In art class we started off with basic portraits and proportions... He gave us paper and a pencil and told us to "just try it". The teacher was really pleased with my drawing lol. I might be going to tech school for art next year. I don't know yet... I have a schedule all set up already but if I can, I want to go. The art teacher talked to use about how competitive the art world is and about art schools, and for him to have told me to consider art as a career was an encouragement after discouragement. I felt like, if a teacher could say that, after I'd just sat there and listened to him say things that made me feel like "wow. I'd be a starving artist." maybe I have some hope lol. It was one of the most motivational pushes I've had in a long time, not to my ego, but to my confidence.

The other day, I took one thing I learned about this summer- silkscreening, on a little walk. Down to a silkscreening place in town. They said that they didn't need any help at the moment, but to look up one of the other silkscreening places in down, and that they'd call me if I was needed. I mentioned that I'd gone to the program, and that I might be going into tech for art next year, because he asked, and the guy really seemed to approve. It never occured to me that I might be able to hook a decent first over-the-table job designing and silkscreening very easily, and very soon.



The last class of the summer I took was a little shorter than the rest, and I didn't get to do a whole lot.. It was a computer class. In this class all we really did was do some job research, and learn some of the basics of flash animation. -slow smirk- I just need to get the right software, and my rein of evil shall begin. I know flash! Eeeeheeeheee I can use tweeeeeeens!!!!!! (I'm aware that a basic understanding of tweens is the lowest form of flash animation.) Eeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


So yeah... that's pretty much what I've been learning as far as the different "classes" go in my summer training. We had many guest speakers and lectures though too, and I could talk about a ton of more things... maybe some other time, maybe I'll just keep those memories in my head. This summer, if not a lot of fun, was very informative and useful, just like I hoped it would be when I signed up for the program. It ended on a bit of a bad note, but I'll get over that.