objektsilver

I went on my much gossiped about SS weekend… and it was hell… There was about 16-17 of us from what I remember and I was in a group of 6, 4 to 2 ratio… Everyone in my group was great for the most part. The girls were troopers to put it lightly there was one of the guys who kept up and two guys who were… government workers is the category that comes to mind… No one was lazy just… some took a while to get there… So we had to build a hut that would fit six people then pile 2’ of leaves on top with 1’ of leaves inside to sleep on…

It started off well, we had the skeleton of our hut done by the time that the instructor came by to check on us the first time… which turned out to also be our downfall… Turns out the log we found was rotted on the very tip… Now we did get someone to stand on the log to make sure but with no center supports, the instructor brought it down like it was butter and she was the butter knife… and it sucked…

So anyway we got that done and get the hut built, not well but it was built… Now we can go search for water and build a fire… o look at that… SNOW… there are no words to express how i felt at this point… Northerns, just start laughing… I’m a southern boy… raised in AL which only had maybe ONE snow day my entire 18 years there… Ive had two since I got to GA, this makes 3… So needless to say its kinda cold… I’m actually doing alright but my counterparts are in walmart gear and sneakers… not the best stuff for snow and 10-15 degree weather with wind…

I volunteered like the moron that I am to be near the door (before it started snowing) because I had a lot of clothing and a better sleeping bag… taking one for the team and also advantage of pee break if needed.. well it was (insert adjective) cold, cramped and windy… I’ve never been that cold in my life and it wasn’t so much that I didn’t have the right equipment… it was more of the angle that I was in that i couldn’t get out of… Because everyone in there was so cramped, I was on my left side and could not flip over on my back which also meant that I could get my sleeping bag in the right angle so I could curl up and pull all he straps… Every time the wind blew, I got some snow in the face… Did I mention the root on my arm cutting off circulation?...

Anyway we ended up surviving the night, about 4 out of the 6 had a nice conversation about how freaking cold it was at 3am before we all actually got to sleep until 8am…

The weekend was great and there is nothing like watching the snow fall at night and hearing the crunch of snow under your feet… I learned a lot about myself this weekend which is more than I thought I would get out of this class… I’m not sure I want to mark this done yet but.. I think I could survive if I needed to but I think I will take the instructors class thats 72 hours in the woods… I’ll think about it… I recommend this to anyone even more so if you have the night I had… It sucked but there are things I didnt know about myself that I know now…

I read once somewhere that if you can not see the beauty in a vineyard full of ripe, shiny grapes but instead the future of the grapes as they rot and fall, there is something seriously wrong with you…

I’ve been unable to see the ripe, shiny grapes for some time now and I think its a part of my mind and body to only see the rotting fruit on the ground.

I’m tired of working in concrete buildings with concrete policies and the quick sand that seems to be inside of them. Some say growing up is when you finally accept that you are no longer in control of your life and you are actually owned by the government that lets you play like you have freedom.

I want to learn but the systems only teach you how to be one of them, a bitch of the system. I want to be friends with people but everyone seems to already be a bitch of the system. If thats growing up then I refuse and if this means staying depressed then that is what I must do because ignorance is not bliss.

I’ve got to get out of here…

So next weekend is the weekend that we are going to spend the night in the woods. We have to build a debris hut to sleep in and we can only carry our “survival kit” which is basically everything that you can fit into a nalgene 1L bottle. I can’t say that I have learned a whole lot but I’m not sure I was expecting to with this short of a class. I’m hoping that we learn a little more when we get to the woods.

I’m debating now whether I want to be a team player or go solo. My future plans would probably point to me being solo as this would give me a bit of real exp on this but the real reason I would be avoid this is my lack of people skills. People annoy me and more than likely, I’ll end up with someone who annoys me so I tend to avoid all social interaction.

I’ll probably end up going solo just for the simple fact that I don’t want to sleep next to someone who toss and turns as much as I do because that would be annoying also =)...

Anyway… I’ve learned a bit and at the very least I have a survival kit even if I do just stare at it and wonder what it all can do =)...