Styling & Profiling.

Now that my mornings start so early and are filled with so much to do, a one day time span feels to be about two.  It's just now about 4pm here and I am really have to scrape far down into the memory bucket to remember my blogworthy moments of the morning.  I'm adjusting well though.  The concept of going to bed early (say 9pm or so) and waking up in time for the kitchens to open (6:30am) is coming more naturally to me than I thought it would.  I'm big on being punctual so it feels good to stay true to that quality despite the jet lag and exiting of my comfort zone.


I think I left y'all last night just before filling out my FMT application.  I felt pretty good about answering everything because I honestly believe I have a lot to bring to the table for such a thing.  Now that the paperwork is aside I will perform my pack test tomorrow.  In case you missed it in my previous posts the pack test consists of walking a three mile loop in under 45 minutes while wearing a 45lb vest.  Though I'm sure I can handle such a thing fairly quickly we all must keep a certain pace as not to jog or run the course.  My walk will begin at around 8:30 in the morning.  So far everyone that I've met who is applying for it seem to be the kind of folk I would get along with.  I can't say I've met many though as there is only one person on my temporary team (which is Pod 7 should I reference later), Tucker, who is interested.

Last night also meant watching a very large game of capture the flag take place between the two dorms.  Myself and two of the friends I've made here so far set up a radio and listened to a really awesome all 90's radio station while watching our fellow corps members dash around.  It feels good to have already bonded with a few individuals.  Sitting around and playing board games, watching TV, and using the computer labs with friends feels so much better than sitting in your room alone.  I must admit that I've pushed myself out of my comfort zone to make friends here and I couldn't be happier about it.

Fun times aside we have meetings for much of today.  We filled out our information for the American Red Cross, Financial/Insurance papers, and lastly we talked about our upcoming physical training.  PT will take place every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday at 5:30am.  I can barely pour myself a cup of coffee at that time of day...it should be interesting to see how I function.  I like the sound of the workout pan though, it certainly looks like it's going to be very full body focused.  Monday I perform my baseline to see where I stand in the gambit of physical fitness.  I really, really need to start working on push ups now.

Oh, I almost forgot!  Today was also our first day using our kitchen.  Though I didn't do anything more spectacular than pour myself a bowl of cereal it was cool to see where we'll be preparing our meals over the course of our stay.

I most excited to tell you about getting my uniforms today!  Though I knew the checklist of items we'd receive would be fairly comprehensive but I have no idea just how much NCCC gear I would be carrying with me to my room today.  I have all the basics such as t-shirts and jackets to some more interesting things like a very cool NCCC jumpsuit and parka.  I still have to wait for my steel toe boots and my Ameritux however.  I'm sure some of you are anxious to see me in my new uniform but I'm afraid you'll have to wait a day or two until I get it all sorted through.  I promise that I will post photos!

Until then you can look at these:

Katie (from Texas) and Taylor (From Concord, NC) doing a crossword.

Two of my pod 7 buddies.  Ashley on the left and Katie on the right.