Week four...almost done...

Sorry that I haven't been very good on updating this blog every week, but being a counselor in this summer seminar does keep you busy. So what have I done that keeps me busy you ask? Well within these past couple of weeks since I have updated I have been on field trips with the kids to Disneyland, Universal City Walk, Electronic Arts (a videogame company), Mann's Chinese theater (saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix for the second time), work the camp store, take kids to the health center, hang out with the kids, study for TExES PPR exam, and read a couple of books.

Disney was awsome and I'll post pictures tomorrow (hopefully) which some of which are pretty good shots if I say so myself. Electronic Arts was sweet to go to and learn what all kind of people work for EA and plus they sell their games at a discounted price there at EA (most expensive were $20 for XBOX 360 games). After listening to some of the speakers at EA talking about that all the workers that make the games (designers, artists, producers, and programmers) all need to have a strong foundation in their math kinda makes me want to apply there. However there would most likely be a slim chance I will get a job there at EA. Mann's Chinese theater was a cool experience to go to, also the hand and footprints outside of the theater was a lot smaller area than I last recalled.

With this being the last week, it's going to be rather busy because the kids will be finishing their final papers, projects, and presentations. Since I have been here I have been helping the ballroom dancing class out because they need guys for dance partners. However last Wednesday I realized I wouldn't be much of help because the dance class's performance is this coming Thursday night and I'm heading back home to Texas on Thursday morning. I am very fortunate that one of the other male counselors will be filling in for me, hopefully he will be able to learn all the steps by Thursday. I am a bit disappointed on coming home early because all of the kids performances or presentations are on Thursday and Friday.

Tomorrow I'll be going to the Dodgers vs. Giants game with the kids. So hopefully either tomorrow morning or Wednesday I'll post some pictures and more information as to what all I've been up to. Until then...

Week One has come and gone...

Well, a week has gone bye for the Summer Seminar and things have been going alright. At the beginning we started off with a bang with our orientation for the kids. Within orientation some of the counselors came up with a couple of songs to help the kids out remember the rules for the program. Now I was able to record both on video with my digital camera, and fortunately for you I was able to post one of the two songs on Youtube.com. So here is the video.

Within the first week we've already sent a kid home for smoking pot and I've caught a boy with two girls in his room with the door closed (fortunately they weren't doing anything). All of us counselors have been busy with our various jobs and committees that we are a part of. For me, I've been given the job of Camp Store Manager. So basically I'm second in command for the store that Summer Seminar runs. With this I've made up a time sheet for my fellow counselors to sign up for shifts to help run the camp store. Also I've been in and out of the store making sure everything has been running smoothly. Now with the camp store we not only sell candy and little odds and ends; but we also allow the students and counselors check out movies, portable DVD players, video games, and video game systems (Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Nintendo Wii). For all this checking out of electronic items, we've been using a sweet program call Delicious Library. With this program you could keep up to date with your collection, and also see who has what of your collection if you loan stuff out (which is perfect for us). As for some of the other counselors' jobs, some of them drive the students on field trips, organize the field trips, organize lunches for the students on field trips, TA's for some of the classes, and errand runners to name a few.

Along with performing various jobs for the summer program, we are also chaperones for the various field trips that the students go on. For example this past weekend everyone went to Santa Monica Beach. While there the students could actually go the beach, the pier, or check out the Promanade for stores to shop at. For me, I grabbed some lunch with a few of the counselors and saw a movie. I know that doesn't sound very fun, but I've already been to one of the beaches here in L.A. and I also wanted to try and stay out of the sun which didn't work out very well for me (I still got sunburned from walking around).

Now one of the coolest things I've come across so far here at USC was that this past Saturday before we left for Santa Monica, a golf company Almost Golf was on campus and had set up an urban golf course for people to try out their practice golf balls. The course that they set up was pretty sweet, inventive, and hard as well. Now the course was set up in the quad of USC (basically this is a very large grassy area right close the dorms that we are in), and on the course they incorporated water hazards by using inflatable pools and a couple of fountains that are in the area. With these water hazards, we had to hit the ball out of the water since the balls could float. I was fortunate enough to get a photo of me hitting a ball out of one of the fountains, but at the moment I can't post the picture on this site at the time. This was an intersting experience and wouldn't mind trying to play urban golf again.

I think that's about it for now, I've got some events happening later in the week that I'll fill ya'll in on. Well, until my next post...

Some pictures from California...

As I promised, whenever I finally get around to and available to post pictures, well here are some.

Some of the first items that I saw was the gas prices,

and the traffic of California. It's scary and kinda impressive that residents of Los Angeles can turn a 3 lane highway into a 5 lane high way:

Also while in California I got to play some golf...

Well, what else did I do...I got to see the fireworks with all of the counselors...

Sorry that's it's kinda hard to see everyone in the picture, but the shot was at night. Anyways, so far the program has been going well even though there has been a couple of bumps, but from what everyone that has been a part of this program before says that this summer is the best one so far. Well I hope that ya'll enjoyed some of the pictures.

An update from California...

I know it's been a week since I've updated, and I really wanted to have more posts while I'm here in California. However, I've been having an internet issue here in the dorms of USC. I have been unable to get internet (wireless or ethernet) the room that I'm in. Well anyways here's what has been going on so far.

I am all settled down in my room that I have all to myself, so the first thing that I did was push the two twin beds together to make basically a king size bed. Also I now know what my dad had to deal with in his college dorm room...no a/c. Fortunately the summer program gave all of us counselors box fans for our rooms, so I have mine propped up in the window to blow in cool air into the room.

While here I've gotten to meet and know the other counselors of the summer program. These counselors are from all over the U.S. Most of them are from California or the L.A. area, but there are counselors from Wisconsin, Georgia, Oklahoma, Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida to name a few. As for the kids, they come from all over the world. On my floor, there are a couple of kids from Texas. One kid is from Houston and the other from Dallas. Also I've discovered that there are at least 3 kids that are very talented on the guitar. So it's a lot of fun to just hang out with the kids and listen to them play.

So far here at the program the kids have been busy with their classes, and the field trips are starting up. While here in the summer program, the kids get to go on field trips for their classes. For example, last night the electric guitar class went last night to see Queen Latifia sing jazz and got to here some other jazz groups. Also the video game programming class will get to go to Electronic Arts and Nintendo before the program ends. Along with the field trips the counselors and the kids get to hang out and play games when they are done with homework. Like last night we gave the kids an opportunity to play card games, board games, and Mafia. For those that don't know what Mafia is, it's a group game where you have members of the group are mafia, sheriffs, and nurses and it's basically a witch hunt to figure out who are the mafia members. Also here in the evenings we've played some touch football in one of he large grass areas, and last night a bunch of us counselors played some dodge ball after lights out.

I've had lots of good times here, but all with the good you have to take the bad. We've already had a kid sent home due to smoking in his room, and the kids are definitely trying to see what they can and can't get away with. Like last night a couple of kids on my floor were a couple of minutes late to the floor meeting so as counselors we had to give them work details even though they were in their rooms with their door closed. Yes, they were on the floor, but they were still late to the meeting.

Well, that's it for now since this post is already pretty long. Until next time...