well, crap

Once, someone said they noticed I never put anything too personal on this thing. Well, here. You can see the downs in all their glory.

I've had two dream jobs in my lifetime. I first saw Star Wars when I was nine years old and was absolutely taken, as were most young boys, with the magic on the screen. I couldn't see the movie enough - but eleven times was as many as I could see it in the theatres at the time. Nor, could I read enough about the movie. I read every science fiction magazine there was about George Lucas and the partnership he built with John Dykstra to forge Industrial Light and Magic, and the wonderful computers that they used to control the motion of the cameras as they filmed the elaborate scenes that captured the senses and imaginations of so many young and old. I decided then that I wanted to go into engineering so that one day, I too may have the skills to work on one of those movies.

Well, in 2001 I worked up the nerve to apply for a job at ILM. You can imagine then how enthusiastic I was when they called me and invited me to San Rafael for an interview. Even more exciting was the tour of the magical facilities of their R&D group. I heard wonderful story after wonderful story of the ins and outs of ILM work on computer games, movies and even the new films in the Star Wars saga. Long story short, the interview went well, but not well enough.

Three years ago, I learned of a wonderful organization, Doctors Without Borders, and their contributions in developing and third-world countries. After the tsunami of December 2004, I even wished I had studied medicine instead of engineering so that I could go help such an organization.

After my run in St. Bernard Parish helping with operations and logistics, I wondered if Doctors Without Borders could use someone with my enthusiasm and skills to help with their mission. Long story short, I got the letter in the mail over the weekend that said, thanks but no.

Anyway, I'm back to trying to figure out what the heck to do next. If anyone still reads this (other than my mom), and knows someone who knows someone, I'm all ears. I'm reading a wonderful book that I will blog (once again, the irony that blogger's spellchecker doesn't know 'blog') about soon and I'm still inspired (although a bit discouraged) to go overseas for a year to further this self-directed internship I seem to be on.

In other news, I stopped by Camp Hope today. For those that don't know, Camp Hope is the replacement volunteer camp in St. Bernard Parish for Camp Premier, which stood down on June 1. It really is a marvel to see the new facilities. Not so much because of the facilities, per se, but it is readily apparent how much hard work has gone into the preparation of the facilities. The old-timers, Tom, Crystal, Michael and Andre have outdone themselves, as have the new old-timers I just met, Kelly, Peter and Paul. At one point, I was a week ahead of Andre - he's now on his 18th week. I'm certain there are others that I don't know yet but if I wore a hat, I would tip it to all of you. As of May 29, they have gutted a total of 1394 houses.

I was only there a couple of hours, but Camp Hope is so much more welcoming than Premier ever was. This may be in part because Emergency Communities is on site as well, or because they are in a school instead of a field of tents, or it may be because this determined set of volunteers has weathered FEMA storm after storm, and it is filled with people who believe that they can do anything. Regardless, you should see it if you can take the time.