Work and Play

I have been working for the Dover branch of Labor Ready for the past month, getting odd jobs here and there; through the work, I have met quite some interesting characters. From bosses that go by the name of Nugget, to those who race cars on the drag strip and pick up trash on the speedway for fun. The most interesting, and close to home character I have met so far would be a man I met at Exeter Rent All. He has been in and out of college, lives the music life, and currently works at the Rent All center to make his way as a general supporting job, but during his free time, he works at mastering tracks and albums for musicians; sometimes even recording their work. He had gone on tour, worked his way through college to pay for his education, and found himself working back in New Hampshire. I liked listening to his story, and it really gave me some perspective on where education can take you. It took him to Berklee College of Music, then to Keene State College, then all the way out to Minnesota to a college where he went for classes on music mastering. This is a glance into a future that I could have; working to pay for college as I am attending classes, working afterward to pay off the education, and never working less than two jobs at a time. I can see it.
While working at the Rent All center, I also have gotten to speak with a couple of people who have moved over to America from Romania and Serbia. The accents they bring with them are simply wonderful, and they are a blast to work with. There is (apparently) a trick to speaking with people that don't understand the language you speak, and vice versa; try using the words they use. If they use plenty of the short words, and no contractions, go for it. Use common words, and make eye contact, and hand speech to get your point across. I suppose it is a good trick to know, if you go to another country.

When I haven't been working through Labor Ready, I have been going from place to place working for the family, hiking through Pawtuckaway state park, and going to Mel Flanagan's Irish Pub in Rochester NH for the Irish music sessions. Though July has been a blur, I do remember the good times I've had; I suppose that's good, seeing as I don't recall anything bad happening. The following pictures are from said Pawtuckaway trips.  

The hikes in Pawtuckaway have been a blast. I went earlier in the month with a good friend of mine, also a fellow musician looking to work his way though college, and we had a blast. We started off biking through the parking lot, and then down a long mile and a half hill, which was possibly the smoothest speed we had gotten through out the entire ride. Then we entered the trail system. I'd only been in the state park twice before, and neither time brought me through from the parking lot, so I had no clue where we were in relation to where I've gone. Then again, the places I've gone in Pawtuckaway are a mix of mountain and boulder filed, so I'm glad we didn't try that on bikes.  

For the most part, we really didn't ride our bikes, we just pushed them up hills and trudged alongside them. It was a haul to get anywhere, and even the smallest downhill was met with a cheer. We got through one part of the round pond trail, and then took a dirt road up to the other leg of the loop. Where the first leg of the ride was all up hill, this was down. Somewhere between hill one and twenty six, my rear wheel had decided to go on strike. In an act of defiance, it bent, and caused a strange wobbling motion that prevented me from shifting gears and disengaging the rear brake if I even touched it (there is no front brake). There was a point where we were riding smoothly downhill, when the hill took a turn, and a sudden drop. My smarter, more cautious friend started using his brakes on the washboard descent, but as I came barreling up behind him at ninety miles an hour, I yelled out “Brakes are for those who can't steer”. This picture was taken a couple of miles before the steep hill, and I'm glad: Imagine trying to take a photo when careening down a hill.

Apparently, that was enough to taint his ways, and turn him into a haphazard biker for a short time. The steep hill ended abruptly at the foot of the boulder field, where the trail goes underwater for about thirty feet or so. We had our lunches at the foot of that hill, and then made our way around the water, and to the end of the trail. Sadly, we ended out onto a paved roadway of unknown direction; round pond road. We turned right out of the state park, and rode about three or four miles before we came to the Nottingham town beach. It was about then that we admitted we were lost. Thankfully, technology came to our rescue, and we phoned a friend, who came, and, after a couple of wrong turns, got us back to the parking lot. We were lost for a little over two hours, but it was a nice two hours all the same. Total biking distance was about ten or twelve miles. I felt that it was a pretty good day. Repeatable, even. 

This is a picture of my friend, just after a good coast down a hill, to the edge of the Round pond, right by the foot of the boulder field. 

This would be after the stop at round pond. Actually, this would be past the point we knew where we were going, and to the point of getting lost. Too bad I forgot to bring a swim suit; the water was nice and cool, after all of the biking. This is from the Dam right next to the Nottingham town beach, where we got some helpful directions from a couple of locals. It turns out that they believed it would be faster for us to go back through the trails to the entrance of the park. It turns out, it was faster for us to utilize our network, and phone a friend to get us to the parking lot. It was also nice to catch up with an old friend while in his town. 

And that's just what I did with the girlfriend. Several weeks later, she and I walked through the place, along with her dog. It was a great walk, with the weather being so pleasant and dry. The air is cool, around seventy two or three degrees, and there was a wind with a little nip to it. It was a beautiful day for a walk, and I only wish that I was clever enough to bring a camera with me when I went. We encountered about two or more dozen red efts on the trail, tons of mosquitos, and one curious tree frog. The tree frog was interesting, as it had changed it's color to the roadway, and I had just barely spotted him, before he leaped up onto my pant leg. I moved him from there to my hand, I tried to move him to a tree, but he decided that he needed to get some serious miles in that day, so he leaped onto my back, and stayed there for a solid twenty minutes of walking. I wonder of they use deer much the same way; as big walking taxis? Who knows.
While out there, we encountered a lady who was wearing some sort of fly netting—not just a head net though, an entire sweatshirt made of the stuff. It was so bizarre to me to see someone wearing something as outlandish as that, I stopped and asked her about her sweatshirt of bug netting. She had replied that it was the best way to keep bugs off, and walked a little faster as she passed. She looked a little concerned as she went by, as though we were weird...maybe it was me, and my outlandishness. Normal people spray themselves with bug spray, others wear long pants and long sleeves. I wear a full out cassock and wide brimmed hat, with a belt and pouches, seeing as I can't reach my normal pockets beneath the big black robe. I guess normal people don't do that, but, I don't know, maybe they should; I didn't get a single bug bite, and I didn't overheat while wearing the thing. It could just be me though.
When hiking with my friends is not an option, checking out the local trails always is. I went with some of the family, and a couple of the new neighbors, and traveled around the trails set by a man who lives locally. He preserved a large section of land for the public to use as a walking trail system, as commemoration for his wife and son. The trails are new, and therefore a little underwalked and in need of a little love, but it is a very nice trail system, meandering here and there from large fields and trees, to a beaver pond. The part of the trail that I liked the most, was the cliff face, of which is part of a whole new trail in the system. The face is perfect of traversing, but upon close inspection, it appears that any rock climbers would find themselves climbing with some sharp friends. As it happens, the entire ledge side is covered in porcupine droppings. Happy trails to those who go for it!  

Making up for lost time

There are just some days that are too slow to actually make a full report of. So, instead, I think it is just as well to post my artwork here. I like this sharp gentleman here, very keen. I drew this a couple of years ago during school, just trying to get a handle on fantasy art pieces, as well as creating depth with the eraser, rather than border lines (though here, there are still border lines). This piece was done with a mechanical pencil, nothing more or less, and as far as art pieces go, this one came out pretty well.

Along the track of fantasy art pieces, I found a trick when working with my pencil; I now work out the kinks with the head and neck only after the rest of the body is drawn. It is nice to look at the page from time to time, and see a finished head, with a rough sketch here or there, but as it happens, if the head is the first thing finished, the piece begins to get tedious. Rather than having to adjust body flaws and sketches to the face, it makes more sense to work out the body, with a rough sketch of the face, and then complete that head and neck later. I have many an incomplete person drawing in my sketch books to prove the learning curve on this one.

Compared to other learning curves, the work that went into something like this was significantly shortened, all thanks to the little factor known as an 'Undo' button. This is a stock image piece that I made during a brief period where I had access to Adobe Photoshop (which is a nice program, by the by). Though I no longer have Photoshop, I do still enjoy working with some of the digital art programs, such as MS paint, or Gimp when dealing with a project too tedious or colorful for me to do out by hand. This piece was just an experiment, something to see what I could do with Photoshop. As it happens, the program was very much user friendly.
Just to add this in as shameless advertising...This is a link to my Deviantart page, where I've posted some of my creative writings, my sketches, and more. I hope that you enjoy what I've done as much as I have

Old Sturbridge Village Trip

The family decided, seeing as my father had the first week of July off, we would go do something together. After a little consideration, and a last minuted decision, we packed our bags for a two day trip to Old Sturbridge Village, in Sturbridge Massachusetts. The village was the brain child of three antique collectors, who wound up working their way up from old tools and clothes, to whole buildings. The place became a historic site in the 1930's, and over the years, the information and placement of objects has become more accurate to what might have actually been found in the buildings, each with a good reason why.

The thing that I took the most photographs of (which may disappoint some people) were the household tools and living quarters. I was less concerned about taking pictures of the great arms of timothy or wheat waving in the breeze, or the museum guides, though, in hindsight, it may have been nice to take plenty more pictures than I did. I did, however thoroughly enjoy hearing about the history of each of the different houses, how they actually moved them from one place to the next, and admired the craftsmanship and care that went into the construction of so many of the tools.
If you haven't gone to Old Sturbridge Village, and are interested in history in any way, shape, or form, I would recommend this place to you. It was worth it for me to go down and spend a night at a hotel to visit the place, and the attendants of the museum are very helpful and amusing in their own ways. Check it out some time.

The tenth day of my life, June 24

Went off to work at Labor Ready again, and this time, it was quite the experience. I was assigned to clean up the Epping drag strip, which was a generally trashy job. In all senses of the term. From the people leaving the strip, to the tons (yes tons) of bottles, clutch pads, wrappers, plates, wallets...That last one I only wish I found. The job seemed to be generally miserable. That being said, I did find that the people working on the trash clean up were some very interesting characters. One of the gentlemen there claimed to have held every employable position at that drag strip; from dish boy, to driver. I was pretty well shocked to hear that he had chosen to volunteer to pick up trash. When I asked him why he was volunteering, he said it was because he loved being at the track that much, and that he knew someone had to do it. I hope to find that level of devotion to something, some day.

We went around in a golf cart, picking up trash out of big barrels all around the lot where the race vehicles and concession stands were the previous weekend. The work wasn't strenuous, just hot and a little disgusting. We made fun of it, of course, by driving the golf cart at full speed and 'jousting' for cardboard boxes with a piece of metal we found on the ground. I also came across a respectable number of clutch plates that were abandoned in the lot. I originally wanted to go and turn some of them into an art piece, or maybe into some really strange round knives. After the sixtieth clutch plate recovered, however, I decided against doing anything special with the metal, and will probably sell them for scrap weight or something of the sort.

Through trash and thin, I worked the eight hours I was meant to, and then waited around for a half hour for the boss to get back from somewhere. I had wanted to feel discontent with his lack of punctuality, but when he stated that, with the races, he had been working upwards of sixty hours a week for the past couple of weeks, I understood his situation completely, shut my mouth, and waited my turn to be signed off.

The seventh day of my life, June 21

Today I spoke with the restaurant manager again, this time about the logistic problem that I had (the restaurant being so far, the pay being so low). I half expected him to tell me to take it or leave it, but instead, he told me that it was fine, and that he would keep me on call for whenever he was short a dishwasher or extra set of hands in the warehouse or kitchen. I thanked him for the experience, and made sure to get as much contact information to him as I could. I hope he keeps me in mind in future days. The next task was to stop by a local museum (check it out some time! The New Hampshire Farm Museum), and apply there for an internship. I was greeted there with open arms, and told to start work tomorrow, as it was their dairy day event they needed the extra help with. I am more than happy to work with them, seeing as it is right up my alley to work with historic pieces, reenact, and research as much as I can about the time period I am educating about. I should probably brush up on my people skills with the children, but now that I don't have my long flowing locks, I won't look as frightful as I once did. I should also brush up on my colonial knowledge again, seeing as there shouldn't be any dark ages museums around here any time soon (but I can at least hope).

The sixth day of my life, June 20

I worked my first job from labor ready. It was pretty awesome in its own respect; I got to try out construction clean up, which actually wasn't all that bad. I found it to be pretty satisfying in it's own strange way, when I didn't have to socialize with the other workers. I found that the other people who were on clean up duty from labor ready were not the type that I would like to hang around. Fortunately, it is unlikely that I will be on a job site with them ever again, because labor ready is like that. You don't have to work with the same people every time, nor even work every day if you don't want to.

I was working at pounding rebar into concrete for the creation of supports within a concrete mold that would be used to make cement curbs within the new building. I think I like concrete, and the predictable nature of the substance, but at the same time, it doesn't have the same beauty or reusable qualities of stone. I would love to see a big industry building made with stone rather than cement. Still, that part of the job was nice and solitary; just me, a bunch of steel, and a hammer.

The next part of the job was more monotonous that the last, and much less appealing. Apart form having to deal with the other workers, I was walking around, sweeping up after the messes that the other workers left behind. I think that around hour six on the job, I was reminded why I didn't particularly like people (myself included), and their short sighted reality. I also felt a pang of guilt working in that big building, where there once were trees and a couple of swamps. It is hard to think of the effect that this building has had on the environment, even as itself. It may be an economic boom for the town, but it is a drain on what makes New Hampshire, New Hampshire. This state is supposed to be quaint, colloquial, and small. Being stuck in the past isn't a bad thing, when tourist season comes, plus, I see very few downsides to an older way of life. Back less than a hundred years ago, in my small town, everyone knew everyone, and the community aspect of life up north was tight and sound. Now, I hardly know anyone from my town, and I doubt most of them know me, or what I do. How nice it would be to be tighter knit, though, I suppose I am as much of the problem as I am part of the solution right now.

Back on the work site, I got about nine and a half hours of work in, and then packed up for home. I got my depressingly low paycheck for the day, and then spent my night doing internship application work while resting my feet a little.  

The fifth day of my life, June 19

The fifth day in the real world

“Walk in, sign up, get to work. That's day labor for you.”

I signed up with Labor Ready for temp work. It is always good to be in their systems, and it will give me the ability to learn many different jobs, in a very short period of time. I hope everything goes well with that. I continued working on my research on the Anglo Saxons, which was more than gratifying this time. I learned a little more about the lifestyle of the people during the dark ages, and how the economic designs of the clothing was devised not to look good, or even to fit comfortably, but rather to conserve cloth, and make the least number of seams in the garment as possible while at it. I believe that this was a pretty good way to go about it, even though the garments may not have been all that comfortable to begin with. Seeing as the common materials were flaxen linen and wool, the linen would soften as it was worn, and it would be rare to want to wear wool directly against the skin anyways. Leathers and furs were worn as well, but typically as over garments rather than straight tunics or trousers; they were more used in the forms of cloaks, gloves, armor, and shoes. The basic tunic confuses me though. It was designed with a flared base, and to be around knee length, mostly for mobility and coverage during the whole year. I wonder as to why there was as much flare (or goring as it is called) as there was to the tunics, seeing as it was a time for economic use of material. Why not go for short tailed tunics and good trousers, rather than knee length tunics in addition to trousers. I'll find an answer sooner than later.