So, things have been just a little crazy the last week or so. I'll try to explain slightly in a concise, short(ish) entry, because I'm exhausted and may become incoherent shortly.
First, this experience is all kinds of crazy. I know I've mentioned this before, I'm merely reiterating. It really is very similar to college in several ways, except everyone here has this one really big thing in common; a love of IC. Well, I use the term "love" loosely, as we've all come to Invisible Children from different places. Some of us are "lifers," those people that got involved their freshman year of high school (or earlier), lead their club at school, and won Schools For Schools, eventually culminating in a summer trip to Uganda. There are several of these people here, and they are INCREDIBLE. They tend to have an awesome dedication and drive, and in every way seem to be normal teenagers or early 20-somethings, until you bring up terms like Uganda, LRA, child soldiers, etc. Then you discover that they are packed full of information and heart, and I love it. One such example of this is my teammate, Ali. She worked herself to death in high school managing her S4S club and has wanted to be a Roadie for years. Ali has already been such a resource-she motivates me when I'm worn out and dragging, and her personal stories of her trip give me new insight.
I often find myself needing this, because I'm in the other group: the IjustdiscoveredinvisiblechilrdrenandIfoundmyselflovingitanddoveinheadfirstbutthatmakesitallkindsofchallenging kind.
I'm finding that approaching it from this perspective has its own beauty as well. I think our team is particularly beautiful because we are a mix of the two. Zach and Ali have both been involved for years, whereas Terra and I both came to IC more recently, and these two types of people both bring unique perspectives to a screening, and to the living environment here at the house.
The first week of training, we had to learn how to tell our "IC story." This doesn't just mean telling how you came to be a Roadie, but being able to tell the story to different groups of people from varying backgrounds, for different lengths of time, and make it effective every time. That being said, I've decided that "what's your IC story?" is the "So what's your major?" of the Roadie world. So I'm learning how to tell my story and keep it fresh, just by telling it to my roommates and random people we meet.
Not that we meet many people, my life has been mostly booking for the last week. BOOKING. It means working on a database all day, making cold calls, returning calls, writing emails, that kind of stuff that 99% of us generally consider to be kind of awkward. Fortunately, it got better. A lot better. So much better that I now look forward to going in each morning and attacking my contacts again. Not ferociously, mind you, just in a kind, gentle, IreallyneedyoutoagreetothisscreeningandsendinyourscreeningagreementsoIcanringthegong kind of way.
Speaking of the gong-IT'S AWESOME! OK, awesome when you get to ring it, sometimes annoying after listening to it for 12 hours, but still always special. The gong means we have a screening in, the gong means we are one screening closer to our goal, and a tiny piece of the stress can be removed. Eh, maybe not really removed, but it's less stress we will incur in the future.
Anyway, I have gotten to ring said gong once (yesterday) and hope to ring a couple more tomorrow, its just difficult depending on people to come through. Just another lesson I have learned unintentionally so far.
The rambling I promised to avoid has set in, so I'm going to go put on my jammies and try to pass out. This is more difficult than it as initially, because San Diego decided to have a heat wave. The typical climate here is so mild that people don't turn on their AC, which is awesome! I have no right to complain, though, because its still consistently cooler (and much lower in humidity) than home.
Ooops, there goes the rambling again....
Goodnight friends, I hope you're all already asleep.
Much Peace.
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