Sunday, July 17, 2011

Last post from Oregon.

Okay, I'm a little drunk while writing this one. By a little drunk I mean about a jumbo margarita and 4 beers drunk, but we'll get through this. Thank you spell check! Sorry this won't be the most artistic writing I've ever done, but I'm trying, all right.

I'm done with college, like for real done. I've finished my last class and have a job lined up. Cool right? Sad too.

Right now I'm sitting in an empty dorm room, Forest 103, on the Southern Oregon University campus. I don't have the keys to the room. It's not even mine anymore. My car is outside ready to head back to Utah. Fully packed, but without a sober driver to operate it. My room consists of a laptop, a laptop case, a hat and my cell phone charger plugged into my cell phone. I used a friend's keys to let myself back into Forest hall and put the keys under her door.

Actually that's a lie. I put the keys under the wrong door, but then I realized this and dug them out with my car keys (this was a process) and got them under the right door finally.

What a journey this has been and what a fantastic ending. College was one of, if not the best experience in my life. Field camp was quite possibly the best class of all of college. It was so appropriate to wait until the end to attend it.

I met so many interesting people here. People from Riverside to Seattle to Tennessee to "Northwest P-A." The world is so huge, it's astounding to me just how little I know about it. It's also slightly frightening just how little I want to know about it. Now I don't mean this in a geologic sense. I want to know as much as I can about our planet, but culturally, I like the place I call home.

I don't like that you're likely thinking I'm a sinner for drunk-blogging, I don't like that it's cold for 6 months out of the year, but I think the general trend of my last few blogs is that Utah is a great place.

Enough about that. I'm going to miss Ashland. It's a crappy town, there is nothing open passed 10pm besides the bars, which I didn't really go to as often as some of my peers. The people here are all a little off. Maybe I'm not going to miss Ashland, but I had the greatest group of 30 people that I got to spend the last 35 days with. Some of them were a pain in the ass to work with, but nearly every one of them was an awesome person who I can say I consider a friend.

Geologists are a unique breed. I don't know that anyone ever wants to be a geologist, but as an old roommate of mine said - you are just kind of born into it. It's true. I feel like I came her a geology student and I'm going back to Utah as a geologist. Maybe this is just because a professor of mine told me this, but really, it was an experience.

Some people seemed to be unhappy here. Those people are not geologists, they are earth science students. What Hilt, Four-bit, Cole and South-fork did for me was make me a geologist. It's like.. that stupid saying where having sex "makes you a man," well having geology field camp makes you a geologist.

Tomorrow I start my exodus back to Salt Lake. I'm excited though. It'll be a happy trip back. I get to see my friends who I've missed very much and hopefully be a better person. Not only did I learn a little about geology here, but I feel it was a life experience, something I can grow from.

I'll probably be back tomorrow, late evening (assuming I wake up at a reasonable hour from my empty dorm room without sheets). I can't wait. I can't wait to tell everyone details of my experience here. I suppose I could have just done that in my blog, but what's the fun in that? :)

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Contentment in transition

Right now it is 11:30 on a Friday night and I'm sitting here in the science building of a school I barely know. I've more or less finished the project that I have due at 8am tomorrow morning. I just need to add some photos and finishing touches to it. There are three other people in the room. People who I barely know, but consider friends. I'm listening to some Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and feel absolutely starved. I'm in a town in Oregon called Ashland where there is no all night diners or fast food places and I don't have a kitchen to cook anything in or anything back in my room to eat besides peanut butter sandwiches and Cheeze-Its. However I really can't think of too many times in my life when I've felt happier that I feel right now.

It's strange. I'm still 7 days away from finishing field camp. Alyssa emailed me today which made me feel a little sad and nostalgic, but I just feel like right now is kind of a point in my life where I'm finally grown up.

Earlier tonight I got on my email to check if my friend had sent me a google plus invitation and instead found a job offer from a company in my inbox. A job offer that will pay me nearly three times as much as I have ever made before at any job in my life. I emailed the man back to let him know that I am happy to accept it. I'm not exactly sure what the job will consist of. I do know that it has something to do with working on the Sevier Lake Potash deposits in Central Utah, but I'm not sure specifically what.

Another monumental thing happened tonight. As I was observing the three people who I'm in the classroom working along side I was noticing that none of them were actually working on their project. I thought I'd check my cell phone which was in my pocket and found quarters which I got back as change from purchasing a project folder today. Out of curiosity I checked to see what change I had an there in my hand lied the last quarter to my 50 state quarter collection. A tarnished and well used 2005 Denver mint California quarter. I know it sounds silly, but I have a thing for quarters. I think it stems from my Grandma who used to give me cool coins for my birthday. I still have them and they're one of the few tangible memories I have of her. My state quarter collection is something I started after her death. It was my goal to collect all 50 through normal circumstances, meaning no purchasing them on ebay or specifically requesting states as change from cashiers. To have finally completed it is just a huge life accomplishment for me.

Earlier tonight I informed my family of my job and one of my friends who happened to be on Facebook at the time, but I'm not really said anything else about it to anyone else except the people who were in the room and heard me proclaim, "Holy shit, I just got a legit job offer for XX dollars an hour from a geology company," as I read my email. My family and buddy were all very happy for me. I feel like I've come so far in the past few years, it's really exciting. Maybe I still have 7 days left here in field hell, but I'm a geologist. I never thought I'd be a geologist, I never wanted to be one, but I've ended up as one. I'm celebrating by spending my Friday night posting a blog and writing a landslide report. Sounds like what a responsible adult would do, right? However tomorrow I'm going to be at the Redwoods and Crescent City with other friends of mine. The following day I will be at Crater Lake on Mount Mazama and plan on being just sober enough to walk most of the time. Maybe I've still got some growing up to do. Hell, I'm only 25. Screw the gray hairs and Utahans that try to tell me I'm old. I've still got a lot of learning to do.