Working the Gas Station=Solitary Confinement

Although I've made one giant blog post, I feel I need one more for the day to be complete.  I completely forgot to mention my day yesterday which was full of new experiences.  I picked up a 6 to noon shift working in the gas station.  At first, I was nervous.  Nervous a member would freak out on me, nervous someone would spill gas that I'd have to clean up with the weird kitty litter stuff, nervous some creeper would come while I was alone out there before the sun came up, but mostly nervous someone would catch on fire and all hell would break loose.  Luckily, exactly zero of those things happened!

I think it's worth explaining a little bit about the gas station.  It's said to be the most boring job you can have at the Club.  You are basically just there to be available to members if something goes wrong or they have a question.  I, however, do not think it's the most boring job at the Club.  I had a great day out there and, beside the gas fumes, I have no complaints.  I started the day completing the tasks on the little opening checklist which I'm pretty sure not many other people do.  I only say that because I cleaned bird poop off of at least five pumps (ew!).  I also checked the receipt paper in all of the pumps because people tend to get severely upset if their receipts don't print.  Luckily, I only had two people who had receipts that mysteriously didn't print (the paper was totally full, I really don't know what happened), but I was able to remedy the problem by handwriting a receipt (hello, you only need to know how much you spent and possibly how many gallons at what price.  I can easily write that out for you, no worries).  Once I was done wiping the pumps free of bird poop and filling the receipt paper, I took refuge in my little house (a little shed building complete with a phone, fan, emergency shut-off switches, and another gas associate's collection of Victoria Secret lotions and body sprays).  I spent my day studying for the final I took this morning, making a list of things to do this summer when school is finished, and just thinking.  It was awesome!  It reminded me of working at Ben and Jerry's (now, that was a great job!).  For a good amount of time, I was able to sit, stare into space, and just think (or not).  It was really relaxing to be away from all sorts of distractions or tasks and be able to just be.  I wouldn't mind working out there once a month or so (any more often would increase my exposure to gas fumes too much, I fear).

Just for fun (and because I'm more likely to complete these things if I expose them to the public that is the internet), here is my list of things to do this summer:
1. detailed house cleaning (clean bathroom, kitchen, living room, vacuum, sweep and swiffer wet, clean out closet and donate clothes, clean off desk, and clean out kitchen cabinets)
2. back-up photos to DVDs
3. repost craigslist ads
4. make at least one image for the Tim Burton series
5. sew a simple skirt
6. paint an Edward Scissorhands portrait
7. make some hair accessories
8. make a bow cuff bracelet (from an adorable pattern I found on another blog)
9. try out at least five new recipes
10. print and frame engagement photos for Mom, Sis, and Grandma
11. finish reading Bonk, the Poisonwood Bible, and one other book (to be determined)
12. limit internet time to one hour a day (that's a tough one)
13. workout at least every other day
14. have a Tim Burton movie marathon
15. organize and store school paperwork from semesters past
16. visit a museum
17. go through all magazines and sell them to Half Price

Pretty hefty goals, but I feel confident that they can all be done (especially the more fun items).  Like my second grade teacher, Mr. Toran, always said, "If you believe it, you can achieve it" (yes, I remember what my second grade teacher used to say, he had a poster of it after all and an awesome story to go with it involving drinking water out of running shoes).