Graduation Weekend

It feels like a lot has happened since my last post. Last week it rained. A lot. Days would start out relatively nice, and then around noon the weather would change and I'd be standing in a downpour. Working in the rain is relatively fun, but it sucks trying to write up the bill or trying to keep anything dry. The worst is that my socks and shoes reach a degree of wetness that I didn't even know was possible for anything outside of a bathroom. I remember after one day of rain, the next day my shoes were still wet and my socks smelled terrible. Anyway, work has gotten relatively easier, the days aren't as long, it seems easier. This Friday I'll be on my own since Doug is going to pick up Katherine (his girlfriend) from the airport so we'll see how I feel about this job after that day. 

Moving on, this last weekend was Shelter Island's graduation. It's funny looking back on those high school years and watching these young kids celebrate it. As Daniel Tosh says, "High School? How'd you do it?" It really isn't a big deal yet these kids and parents are throwing huge celebrations. I don't really have much more to say about this (publicly at least) but I just wanted to mention that at one of the parties Empire State of Mind by Jay Z started playing. Predictably they all sang along, I mean it's their song, but I just found it hilarious how much they loved that song. 

Another topic. This damn blog. This is my fourth attempt to update. I've noticed that I've gotten lazier about updating. I think part of it is I feel that my life isn't that interesting and the other part is that I can't really do justice to the the experience that I'm trying to describe. The other thing that I've gotten frustrated with is self censorship. There are things I choose to leave out due to my audience, and then there are words I choose to leave out because I don't want to offend anyone. For example, this is what I want to say: "It feels like I'm writing the fucking news. It's boring." But instead: Writing this blog is like writing for the nightly news. Simply reporting the events that happened are not fun. My final frustration, not having pictures. But that's mostly my fault, no camera and being too lazy to figure how to put pictures on here. 

I've got nothing else to say.

Best wishes,

Vinh

Pop's Day

Happy Father's Day from Shelter Island. Today was pretty legit. I went to Church today with the Binders and it was Pastor Bill's final sermon. I don't know if I mentioned Pastor Bill before but he's big on Shelter Island. He's a very interesting figure. He has a strong presence and seems to have a strong grasp on the world. Surprisingly unbiased towards religion. I'm not saying I'm a born again Christian, but it's refreshing to hear a religious person speak with a different perspective. After Church Doug, Charlie (Doug's younger brother), and I went wake boarding. Some laughs were shared, Charlie made some milestones and unfortunately a screw from the board came loose so Doug wasn't able to take a turn.

When we got back to shore we immediately turned around and hopped onto another boat. This time to go fishing for Father's day. I was super pumped because we had snacks, drinks, great weather, and time. So we set off and we headed towards Connecticut which was mind blowing since that seemed so far away. Along the way Darrin pointed out Plum Island which apparently is a government high security disease research island. When we got there we stopped at a few spots and fished. Katy (Doug's sister) caught the first fish of the day, followed by Charlie and Doug. I tried for a while, but after tangling lines with another nearby fishing liner I succumbed to sea sickness and sought refuge within the boat. The rest of the trip I had my eyes closed and drifted in and out of consciousness. When I came to for the last time we were at Doug's Mother's grandparents' home. We had an incredible dinner and some healthy conversation.

Some things I've realized over the past few days:
-Old habits are hard to break. The last couple of work days I've caught myself being cautious. Not that it's a bad thing, but this is a job with some risks, but it is also done daily by many people across the United States. While the risks are omnipresent, there's still no reason for me to be so hesitant. I learned at a very young age to be very cautious, but since then I've been trying to take more risks and while I have succeed in some ways, I still have barriers to break.
-It's quite obvious why Global Warming's still a problem. I don't know why, but I an avid conservationist. Not in the way that I'll get all up in people's faces about it, but I don't like being wasteful. I turn off lights when I'm done being in the room, I use natural lighting as often as possible, turn off the water when I'm not using it, and try to recycle as often as possible. However, other houses I've gone too, I've noticed people often leave lights on, tvs on, and in general not a lot of moderation is practiced. I think if everyone was a little more conscious of what they are using we'd be in a lot better shape.
That's my version of a public service annoucement.

Best wishes,
Vinh

Out at Sea

Yesterday, Doug and I woke up earlier than we would've liked to to go work for a few hours. We visited six pools and were finished at around 11 o'clock. We went to a local monastery that had been converted to a fitness center for reasons beyond me. After a terribly unmotivated work out I for some reason could barely handle the weight of my own body and laid down for an hour or two. Doug's mom (Susan) was kind enough to make us a late lunch and some of Doug's friends came over. Initially we were all excited to go out on one of Doug's boats and wake board, tube, etc. but as we hit the water we realized it was a little colder than we thought it would be. It was incredible really to be out on the water. The wind rushing by, the ocean water misting as the boat's hull cuts through it. It was a very surreal feeling being able to look out in a direction and see miles and miles of water. I attempted miserably to wake board. I managed only to successfully water board myself. Either way, I enjoyed the attempt and even though I never managed to get up, there'll be plenty more tries in the future.

Today, Doug and I went to woke a little late because we overslept. I was hoping we wouldn't have to go into work today because of an early morning storm, but I guess rain or shine pool boys go to work. Day started out pretty rough as I spilled liquid chlorine on myself on two separate occasions right off the bat. It also rained for most of the day while we were at the pools, but the rain jacket I was wearing from Binder Pools kept me pretty occupied. The rain drops that were on the jacket would stay in beads and even when I tried smear the water with the other sleeve, the jacket couldn't break the surface tension of the beads. It was a thing of natural beauty. Once I got over the rain jacket we were able to get some real work done. At one of the pools I found a Turtle in one of the pool skimmers! Thankfully he was still alive and swimming. It was a pleasant change from the usual dead insects or chipmunks we find.

It's been about a week now that I've come out to Shelter Island and I can honestly say I'm enjoying myself. Naturally I miss Northfield, hell I even miss Texas still and it's been almost half a decade since I left there. But I do like New York. It's something different. The pace of life is a little quicker than I'd like, but I can respect the area now. I don't have the same bias I did about the East Coast when I was younger. Something I've come to realize is: no matter how you may try, you can never make another person understand why you think where you come from is the best place on Earth. The people I've met here in New York have a lot of pride in the fact that they are from New York or Long Island, and it's interesting because from my viewpoint, New York is as great as any other place I've visited. It's fantastic, but so is Seattle, Los Angeles, or Savannah. It's the same reason why people give me the same blank stare that says, "So what?" when I try to explain to them why Texas was great.

“Alexithymia: difficulty describing feelings to other people” 
(http://www.goodmorningandgoodnight.com/?p=6576)


Best wishes,
Vinh

Binder Pools

First day on the job. At first it was pretty cool, I enjoyed going around Shelter Island, seeing different pools, cleaning them, playing with chemicals. There's a large number of hispanics employed by Binder Pools and a majority of them speak Spanish so it's possible I'll be able to speak some Spanish by the end of Summer. Anyway on to the actual work. Today I followed Doug and Chuggie around to get trained basically. Pool maintenance goes like this: Clean skimmers, use water vacuum to clean bottom of the pool, test pool water for pH, chlorine, alkalinity, and cyanuric acid, decide on chemicals to add to pool, collect chemicals (accidentally inhale fumes), add chemicals to pools, and clean filter. Honestly the job is not difficult. The hardest part is remembering which chemicals are which as they all have similar color, somewhat similar texture, and all have the same type of container. There are also different types of filters and they each have their own procedure. I started working at about 8 this morning and we cleaned pools until about 7. In total we cleaned 18 pools, but visited 21 pools total. It was a long day, but money's money. I also realize that that is redundant and obvious, but truth be told isn't that why anyone does any work ever?

Anyway, bed time. Work starts again tomorrow at 8 and we'll probably visit just as many pools again.

Best wishes,
Vinh

Day 1

So I left Northfield this morning at a slightly delayed 5:50 a.m. Didn't really bother me that we were leaving late since I was exhausted from not sleeping due to last minute packing. I would definitely say I had a good time in Northfield before I headed out to New York. However, I had perhaps a little too much fun as I could not seem to finish packing. This morning was strange because even though I had flown many times and left many times, my mom seemed extra worried this time around. Most times going up to the airport I usually take a little nap, but this morning I couldn't fall asleep. This trip seemed much more permanent. As if I was going away for last time, even though I knew I wasn't.

Anyway at the airport as I was waiting for my flight, a group of older "gentlemen"  were also flying and many of them were sporting Florida Marlins apparel. Very interesting considering they all obviously hailed from Minnesota. The cool part about this story is that one of the men's sons was making his major league debut that day and they were flying to watch him pitch.. Skipping ahead, I arrived in Chicago and for some reason it just seemed really busy and hectic. I never felt rushed before when flying, but this time I did. I checked my ticket on the runaway to see how long my layover was. I arrived in Chicago at about 7:20. My flight didn't leave until 8:50. Despite the fact that I was running on virtually no sleep, I still didn't sleep much on the flight. When I regained consciousness we were on the runway and I thought, "This is it. Here you are on Long Island. What were you expecting?"

I met Doug at baggage claim and at first I didn't recognize him until he did his trademark two handed wave. We then drove towards Shelter Island and Doug told me about the area. It's incredible really how different the area is in comparison to the midwest. While Minnesota was a change from Texas, it wasn't quite that same feeling. Going from Minnesota to New York reminded me of going to Australia. Everything just seemed different. We arrived at Doug's house and it was a very homely place that wasn't overly extravagant which is interesting considering how much money I think Doug has. The backyard has a incredible view of the bay and there are even a couple boats to take out. Doug and I crashed for a while until his siblings came home from school and we ended up hanging out with several of Charlie's (Doug's younger brother) friends. The quite the group of characters and provided for some cheap laughs and crude humor. As the day continued Doug and I passed the time playing some Frisbee, Halo, and traveling around his hometown. Doug's dad (Darrin) seems like a nice guy, but he also gets down to business.

Anyways, tomorrow's my first day of working for Darrin. I'm pretty nervous since it looks like I'm just going to be thrown into the fray, but  it doesn't seem like too complicated of a job.

Best wishes,
Vinh

Post Graduation and ends

There's about a week left before I leave for New York. Departure has always been a strange time for me, whether it's holidays or graduation. Maybe it's because I'm the youngest in my family, but I always seem to miss people the most. I figure it's the unknown is what really gets me. What happens to them? Are they happy? Are things working out? Do they miss what they're leaving? This comes up because this last Sunday was St. Olaf's graduation. Although I didn't know many seniors, the ones I did know were incredible. Realistically speaking I will probably see this group of people once maybe twice more as they move on to a new stage in their life. Do I wish they could stay at St. Olaf with me so we can laugh and put off the rest of our lives? The little kid part of me says yes, but the more mature (yet reluctant) part of me says no. I guess that's really all it is. When people are leaving you wish they could stay, but you know that's what life brings. I've reflected on this many times personally and always reach the same conclusion, yet my feelings never change. I suppose it's like a young child giving up their teddy bear or blanket. A familiar comfort we all must out grow.

The other reason these feelings surface is my own personal departure. The summertime is usually a time when people are more relaxed and the days are easy going. So what better time to make up for the time you've missed during the school year? However, the summer is also the best time to travel since there are little to no obligations. I've spent summers traveling and I've spent summers in Northfield. Reflecting the both I've made better memories traveling, yet I still find myself wishing I was staying in Northfield. I suppose it's because I know this is an opportunity to spend time with people I've missed. Realistically speaking, this will be one of the few remaining times I have to see these people as they too will go on to new things. And so will I, at least I hope.

Anyway, on to more pressing and less angsty matters. I have not given any serious thought as what I am packing or what I will even do in New York. My brother Long once told me that his friend likes to pack light for trips because "it makes the trip more interesting" and I have readily adopted this mindset. So far the only things I am bringing for sure are: clothes (obviously), running shoes, cleats, and a laptop. That strikes me as too little. But I honestly cannot think of anything else I could need. The other thing is what am I doing in New York? Doug has outlined our days as such: Work, workout, ultimate, and party. As great as that sounds I'd rather not spend my days in New York doing only those things. I hope to do some sight seeing naturally and take in the U.S. Open, but what else is there? Volunteer work is a possibility. I mean there must be something more, it is NEW YORK. I also sent my itinerary to Doug today, which in retrospect was probably a little preemptive seeing as how there are still 6 days until I arrive. This is probably because I've been trying to plan my college major and that has me thinking of the future, which sends me into a panic. Anyways, back to leisure on a beautiful day in Northfield.

Best wishes,
Vinh