on the eve of tetons/yellowstone

tomorrow marks day one of the second week of training. all of our classroom stuff is done, and now is our chance to prove ourselves in the real world of travel by taking a mock trip to yellowstone and the grand tetons national park. so what does that mean to me?

well i've learned just about everything there is to know about the park, and am supposed to give a detailed speech on the importance of forest fires. also, i'm in charge of planning children's games, so...studying hasn't necessarily been work.

also, some bright person decided to put up a slack line in our back yard of the condo, so i've become spiderman. i now have the ability to jump up onto the line (which is like a tight rope, only made out of a strap, not a rope) and land perfectly balanced on the line, walk all the way across, and turn around. a little more practice and i'll be doing backflips and ironing on the thing.

i'm quite excited to go on our mock trip, and look forward to practicing the skills i've been learning. one of the great things is that part of our job description is, in essence, to become better people. i mean, i'm learning about all different types of places and people, i'm leading strangers and teaching them about what i've learned, and i'm serving them hand and foot. i couldn't have asked for a better job. this is who i want to be, regardless of employment.

in other news, i've decided that ron paul is my candidate for president. he's under the republican ticket but his views are more aligned with a goldwater republican. he ran under the libertarian ticket in '88, he's a pacifist, and he's generally for a smaller government socially and economically. hopefully i can get my democratic friends to decide that he's the best candidate for democrats to vote for, even when compared to current democratic candidates, but, check him out, decide for yourself.