As you may or may not know, I got hired to be the Planet Fitness Fitness Instructor/Trainer not too long ago. The job was rather deceiving at first, and even though my shirt said "trainer", I wasn't actually training inside the gym. From my understanding, and from what managers had told me, I wasn't allowed to "train" members in any way. The classes we offered were general instruction and guidance, but as far as doing a full workout during the class, that was a no-no. But after numerous people asked me about it, and I got a few complaints about how misleading my shirt was, I thought I'd speak with my managers to see if things could change. Apparently there was a slight misunderstanding, and I am allowed to train...kinda.
Essentially, I can now give the members a workout during the classes, whereas before they just did one or two reps to make sure they had down the technique, but they'd have to do everything on their own. I'd show them new things, and they'd do it on their own. But now, I can show the new things, then can workout in front of me and I can ensure they're doing it right, and hopefully they'll have some fun too. Why is this exciting you may ask? Well aside from the fact that it's something more to do...training is fun! Who wants to be a teacher all day...well, maybe teachers do...but I'm no teacher. I'd much rather be doing the hands on classes where I show them, they do it, they sweat, and we go from there. Now I can actually do that.
The managers told me I can't break any of the normal PF rules (no grunting, weight dropping, intimidation, etc) and I can't really record their progress from week to week, but pish posh I'll still have fun. Excited. The manager also whispered that there's talk of possibly starting a pilot program with training that's similar to the Biggest Loser's setup. Since they are our sponsor, that would make sense, but we'll see if it works out or not. Of course, nothing is official (as far as I know) so I'm not going to get my hopes up, but heezy (do people still say that), I'm happy I can train now!
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Virginiadventures - New Start
Haven't posted on here in a while, but I figured it was that time again. I'm done with AmeriCorps (phew), started up classes (for the second time), got a new car (for the third time), out my mother's house (for the fourth time), and started a new job (for the sixth time). Living in a condo with a guy from AmeriCorps and so far all is well. Love having my own room again.
I probably should have rethought spending around 15,000 bucks and then moving out, but it's too late now. Live on the edge or become dull. Dull is bad for writing so the edge is where I'll balance my life, just no pushing allowed. Money is definitely tight, and it's not helping that new things seem to pop up. Leave it to life to be a noose around my wallet. But, there's hope at the end of the tunnel, hopefully. I'm still waiting on a refund check from my school, and hopefully I'll get a rebate check from taxes. If both of those fall through, then at least I get a raise in April, and in May I can start training my own clients again (gotta finish up these crazy classes first). Still waiting on my paycheck from the medium that bought my short story for their anthology, but we'll see how long that takes lol. Realized that I didn't mention it in the blog, but I got a short story accepted for publication in a science fiction anthology. I'll put up a link when it shows up. It is my first paying acceptance, so I'm proud to be able to say I'm a paid author now. Lol hopefully a novel is the next step.
Haven't been writing as much as I want because of the two classes, but I am still writing and submitting a little bit. I can't believe how much I hate being in school again. Possibly because it's the first time (since the first undergrad semester) I took classes that interested me about as much as watching a fly go poo on a pile of manure. Thankfully I'm not in a classroom this time around, but taking two graduate classes in something that's boring is extremely uninspiring. Just ten more weeks and I'll be done, and until then life is mediocre. Sure, It'll add another credential to my already random list of credentials, but I'll probably use it the least out of the rest. How many friends do you have that can write you a novel, certifiably secure your house, make your body look like hot fire, and manage your nonprofit organization? Why you would ever need all of that is beyond me, but there will be that one time you'll need it all and not have it. Then you'll be like gah, I wish Jeremie was in my life. But I'll be somewhere random making a house sweat. Or writing something for the Boy Scouts. Pretend like all of that will happen so I feel better about having all the education no one needs.
I probably should have rethought spending around 15,000 bucks and then moving out, but it's too late now. Live on the edge or become dull. Dull is bad for writing so the edge is where I'll balance my life, just no pushing allowed. Money is definitely tight, and it's not helping that new things seem to pop up. Leave it to life to be a noose around my wallet. But, there's hope at the end of the tunnel, hopefully. I'm still waiting on a refund check from my school, and hopefully I'll get a rebate check from taxes. If both of those fall through, then at least I get a raise in April, and in May I can start training my own clients again (gotta finish up these crazy classes first). Still waiting on my paycheck from the medium that bought my short story for their anthology, but we'll see how long that takes lol. Realized that I didn't mention it in the blog, but I got a short story accepted for publication in a science fiction anthology. I'll put up a link when it shows up. It is my first paying acceptance, so I'm proud to be able to say I'm a paid author now. Lol hopefully a novel is the next step.
Haven't been writing as much as I want because of the two classes, but I am still writing and submitting a little bit. I can't believe how much I hate being in school again. Possibly because it's the first time (since the first undergrad semester) I took classes that interested me about as much as watching a fly go poo on a pile of manure. Thankfully I'm not in a classroom this time around, but taking two graduate classes in something that's boring is extremely uninspiring. Just ten more weeks and I'll be done, and until then life is mediocre. Sure, It'll add another credential to my already random list of credentials, but I'll probably use it the least out of the rest. How many friends do you have that can write you a novel, certifiably secure your house, make your body look like hot fire, and manage your nonprofit organization? Why you would ever need all of that is beyond me, but there will be that one time you'll need it all and not have it. Then you'll be like gah, I wish Jeremie was in my life. But I'll be somewhere random making a house sweat. Or writing something for the Boy Scouts. Pretend like all of that will happen so I feel better about having all the education no one needs.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Won another contest
Hooray! Happy to announce that I've won another short story contest. This one is for a weekly contest, but it feels good just the same. If you want to read the story just click on the link and read away. As you can see below, there's the wonderful badge =). Enjoy
http://www.litfestmagazine.com/2011/10/weekly-short-story-winner-after-1953-by.html
http://www.litfestmagazine.com/2011/10/weekly-short-story-winner-after-1953-by.html
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Iowanna do that - All mostly there
The results are in. My last project with AmeriCorps is scheduled to be in the place where I started; Camp Courageous in Monticello Iowa. Neither excited nor disappointed to be going. The plan is to be a special needs camp counselor for two months. I’ve never done that before so it will definitely be a learning experience. Of course it wouldn’t be my AmeriCorps experience if something hadn’t gone wrong or bad, and the powers that be made sure to find a way to punch me in the face, even at the end. This project is pretty nice. No manual labor, catered food, beds, showers in housing, laundry on site, wi-fi, and even a kitchen. The downside? It’s not a very big side, but we have to work 7:30-9:30 mon-fri. What really hurt though was the fact that our original third round project was given to another team. Sound dumb, well it is. We were robbed of the project for the third round, and then instead of giving us the project back for our last round, they gave it to another team and gave us the other project. But I can’t be mad. Like I already illustrated, I wanted a nice housing situation at the end and I got it. But come on AmeriCorps! I wanted to paintball. Jeez. I think this situation fell on us because some of my teammates are lacking on hours and the Camp Courageous project has plenty of hours. Not sure if that’s the reason, but it’d make sense. Did I mention there’s essentially no cell service at Camp Courageous? Oh well, guess we’ll see how the project turns out…better not feel like the super wash spin cycle at the Laundromat.
Speaking of Laundromats, my dumb butt dun did it again. I put yet another nice cell phone through the wash before I had it for a year. Sorry sis, and thanks for letting me have it. Wish I could have had it for longer because I really liked that phone. I’m starting to think that me being distracted hardly ever results in something good. I don’t know what was distracting me, but I definitely saw my phone in my pocket, and still washed it. And it wasn’t until 30 seconds after the water had started destroying my communicator that I realized my phone was getting its sudsy suds on. I know you guys think I’m a germaphobe, but I promise I wasn’t trying to get it extra clean. At least I was able to salvage the sim card, so if you ever decide to text I’ll still get it.
Being here has really shown me how little free time the Corps provides. I want to write, but I have barely any time. You see how long it took to write another blog didn’t you? I still have weekends to write, and that’s still good, but sheesh I just want to write all the time.
It’s crazy to know that I’m on the last leg of my AmeriCorps journey. Used my arms in Milwaukee to cut down invasive species, lent a hand in Mississippi to help clean up Mother Nature’s mess, provided an ear in Minnesota to hear the stories of various veterans, and threw my back in North Dakota mucking and gutting houses. A little over two months and I’ll be free! At least for a couple months, before I have to go be a slave to something else.
Speaking of Laundromats, my dumb butt dun did it again. I put yet another nice cell phone through the wash before I had it for a year. Sorry sis, and thanks for letting me have it. Wish I could have had it for longer because I really liked that phone. I’m starting to think that me being distracted hardly ever results in something good. I don’t know what was distracting me, but I definitely saw my phone in my pocket, and still washed it. And it wasn’t until 30 seconds after the water had started destroying my communicator that I realized my phone was getting its sudsy suds on. I know you guys think I’m a germaphobe, but I promise I wasn’t trying to get it extra clean. At least I was able to salvage the sim card, so if you ever decide to text I’ll still get it.
Being here has really shown me how little free time the Corps provides. I want to write, but I have barely any time. You see how long it took to write another blog didn’t you? I still have weekends to write, and that’s still good, but sheesh I just want to write all the time.
It’s crazy to know that I’m on the last leg of my AmeriCorps journey. Used my arms in Milwaukee to cut down invasive species, lent a hand in Mississippi to help clean up Mother Nature’s mess, provided an ear in Minnesota to hear the stories of various veterans, and threw my back in North Dakota mucking and gutting houses. A little over two months and I’ll be free! At least for a couple months, before I have to go be a slave to something else.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Didn't win, but was an editor's choice finalist in this contest
I didn't win this contest but I was an editor's choice finalist. Here's the link to the story and the shiny banner they gave me:
http://writingcontest.thenovelette.com/jeremieguy/
http://writingcontest.thenovelette.com/jeremieguy/
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Won another contest
Nothing big, but won a tweet-themed writing contest. Another book was the prize lol...I need to start submitting to contest for money again. Oh and I was first place again too...oh yeah =).
This is the link to it if you want to read it (it's 140 words lol) and you can't see the picture.
http://writeononline.com/2011/07/12/june-tweet-your-bio-winners/
This is the link to it if you want to read it (it's 140 words lol) and you can't see the picture.
http://writeononline.com/2011/07/12/june-tweet-your-bio-winners/
Iowanna do that - From Wind to Water
Sorry it’s been so long everyone, I’ve been having some issues with internet. Aside from the fact that I didn’t bring my laptop to Minnesota or Chicago when I went, I’ve had some issues back in Iowa. After I returned from the Windy City, some tornado-force winds swept through the NCCC campus in Iowa. It wasn’t technically a tornado because it wasn’t a vortex stemming from a thunderstorm, but the winds slammed into buildings at more than 130 miles per hour. The winds struck about four hours after I went to sleep. I woke up to the sound of a storm, but didn’t think it was that serious until a fellow corps member walked in and said we had to run down to the tunnels. Of course we all went down there and waited out the storm.
When we were finally able to go back to our rooms, I found the window above my bed shattered and glass scattered across my pillow and sheets. If I had been in the bed when the window gave, I don’t know how injured I would have been but I definitely wouldn’t have been too happy. A water pipe burst upstairs and water flooded my room and a lot of my clothing, but luckily my laptop and camera (the only valuables I had really) were un-moistened and safe. Most of my clothing was soaked on the other hand, but I’m blessed to have treaded above the situation with minimal damage. Many fellow ameri-members weren’t as fortunate, and my prayers and condolences go out to them. There were claim forms that AmeriCorps provided, allowing people to try and receive some form of compensation for their lost articles. I thought of filling out a form for my clothing (especially my shoes because they were expensive), but I couldn’t ask for money without feeling as though I fabricated (get it? Think of what clothing is made of lol) the extent of the damage.
The campus survived but I had to move to a crappier room since my room was too damaged to dwell in. We got orders to help clean up some of the debris from the campus (look on facebook to see some of the pictures) and I felt hope for the future. The project they planned to send us on was amazing. They were going to send us to a YMCA camp and we would have loads to do. Three catered meals a day, cabins with two showers and enough beds, internet access, paintball, rock climbing, high ropes courses, horseback riding, and a gym. But of course, life throws tomatoes at me sometimes. The project was taken away.
I can’t complain too much though. Even though my first good project was taken away, I still have my health and most of my possessions. Furthermore, we were pulled from the good project to aid victims of severe flooding in Minot, North Dakota. Hopefully it’s not too horrible to help, but in the end I’ll know that someone’s life was improved. Knowing this is enough to let my discomfort and unhappiness slide for a couple of months.
So far the work isn’t too hard but my team is struggling. I guess everyone is stressed from how hot and repetitive the work can be. Or it could be the fact that they think the sponsor is disrespectful. Either way, people are on edge. Had a few interesting discussions on our last day before the weekend, but nothing too serious so far. Our TL is going home for a couple weeks so we’ll see how dynamics change.
After witnessing the damage of disaster down in Mississippi, North Dakota, and even Iowa, I can’t help but wonder what the future will deal out. Mother Nature isn’t happy with our misuse of her planet, and there’s only so much time before she blows us all up. Even if earth’s expiration date isn’t 2012, we still won’t last forever. So what are you guys waiting for? I’m talking to you NASA! Think of some elaborate plan to move earth’s inhabitants to another planet so we can work on destroying that too, one year at a time. Guess I can’t really be mad for the inevitable destruction of mankind. We seem to be the most negative force on the frowning face of the planet. Tragic. Guess we’re finally getting what we deserve.
When we were finally able to go back to our rooms, I found the window above my bed shattered and glass scattered across my pillow and sheets. If I had been in the bed when the window gave, I don’t know how injured I would have been but I definitely wouldn’t have been too happy. A water pipe burst upstairs and water flooded my room and a lot of my clothing, but luckily my laptop and camera (the only valuables I had really) were un-moistened and safe. Most of my clothing was soaked on the other hand, but I’m blessed to have treaded above the situation with minimal damage. Many fellow ameri-members weren’t as fortunate, and my prayers and condolences go out to them. There were claim forms that AmeriCorps provided, allowing people to try and receive some form of compensation for their lost articles. I thought of filling out a form for my clothing (especially my shoes because they were expensive), but I couldn’t ask for money without feeling as though I fabricated (get it? Think of what clothing is made of lol) the extent of the damage.
The campus survived but I had to move to a crappier room since my room was too damaged to dwell in. We got orders to help clean up some of the debris from the campus (look on facebook to see some of the pictures) and I felt hope for the future. The project they planned to send us on was amazing. They were going to send us to a YMCA camp and we would have loads to do. Three catered meals a day, cabins with two showers and enough beds, internet access, paintball, rock climbing, high ropes courses, horseback riding, and a gym. But of course, life throws tomatoes at me sometimes. The project was taken away.
I can’t complain too much though. Even though my first good project was taken away, I still have my health and most of my possessions. Furthermore, we were pulled from the good project to aid victims of severe flooding in Minot, North Dakota. Hopefully it’s not too horrible to help, but in the end I’ll know that someone’s life was improved. Knowing this is enough to let my discomfort and unhappiness slide for a couple of months.
So far the work isn’t too hard but my team is struggling. I guess everyone is stressed from how hot and repetitive the work can be. Or it could be the fact that they think the sponsor is disrespectful. Either way, people are on edge. Had a few interesting discussions on our last day before the weekend, but nothing too serious so far. Our TL is going home for a couple weeks so we’ll see how dynamics change.
After witnessing the damage of disaster down in Mississippi, North Dakota, and even Iowa, I can’t help but wonder what the future will deal out. Mother Nature isn’t happy with our misuse of her planet, and there’s only so much time before she blows us all up. Even if earth’s expiration date isn’t 2012, we still won’t last forever. So what are you guys waiting for? I’m talking to you NASA! Think of some elaborate plan to move earth’s inhabitants to another planet so we can work on destroying that too, one year at a time. Guess I can’t really be mad for the inevitable destruction of mankind. We seem to be the most negative force on the frowning face of the planet. Tragic. Guess we’re finally getting what we deserve.
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