So it has been a while since I did a normal update on what has been happening in my life.
I did put up those Maymont photos from Sunday and had a great time with the girl friend. It is "our place" and I really enjoy it there, I enjoy it a ton more when there isn't as many people there as there was this past Sunday but hey, everyone wanted to go out in the nice weather and enjoy the park. It is really a great park that runs completely on donations and I guess what is left of the Maymont family. They take care of the plants, animals and the park on mostly donations and volunteers that come when they can and fix it up! You can even go to the website (maymont.org I believe) and you can adopt an anime which means you send money every week or month I think and it covers what is need to take care of the animal like food and probably maintenance of the cage and it's own doctor :P
I have actually been thinking about working at a large park or something like that and work on the landscaping or ecology or botany of sorts at these places. Of course Maymont isn't hiring hardly ever for a "paid job" and I might just go everyone once in a while on a Sunday or something and just volunteer to get some experience in something that I enjoy and it is also benefiting the community for many others to enjoy. I also have been checking around Lewis Ginter botanical Gardens to see if there is a job opening but not really. I have been trying to find something part time so I could take my classes over the summer but they only have a un-paid internship that is about Public-relations and marketing. I honestly feel that it would be cool to do but I really need something that can pay because gas isn't cheap and it is hard to start out after college with a non-paid job. Kinda hard to move out when you do not get paid. the other job was a conservatory agriculturalist which I need to have a permit to use pesticides and I would be like a team leader and such, here is a list of the responsibilities below for that;
- Preparation of seasonal displays (including GardenFest of Lights).
- Chemical applications as required and directed.
- Use and preventive maintenance of assigned equipment, tools, vehicles and irrigation systems.
- Professional, positive and appropriate social interaction with co-workers, supervisors and guests.
- Performs duties in a manner consistent with a public garden serving multi-generational families, and in accordance with directed practices and procedures.
- Installation of plants, maintenance and monitoring of assigned garden areas.
- Supervision of assigned paid and unpaid staff.
- Cooperation with other staff in accomplishing Garden mission
- Design input and plant suggestions for collections and seasonal displays.
- Complies with provisions of the current Employee Handbook, all published personnel policies and the requirements job description.
Yeah quite a bit of things and I think I need a better landscaping experience before I can even apply to a job like this. Heck I feel like I need to work at a flower store before this if I head the seasonal displays haha.
Anyways I might try to volunteer there as well, that way I think I might be able to get in for free if I do. It is a nice garden and I really only go once a year if that and it usually is at night for Gardenfest of lights. I wish I could go more but to go in the summer in the day it still is like $10-15 per person to go in. Another benefit of Maymont is go as much as you want and it is free, unless you give a donation :P
Also, I am kinda looking into maybe working at a greenhouse over the summer and dropping my other retail job. Problem is that a lot of the places don't stay open that late and if I wanted to work at my internship and also a greenhouse or nursery I would have to leave somewhere half day from the internship to get there and work to close, which is 8pm or earlier on the week and weekends at the nurseries around here. I can't complain, I would be doing something I am highly motivated to do, get paid probably the same amount that I get paid now if not better and I don't work as late. Just the safety of knowing the job I am at is really flexible as to when I can and can't work because of vacation and summer school and even during the actual school year they have not let me go if I can' work for an entire week. I know that a nursery would expect more from my in this Spring and Summer time as that is there season to sell! If I can I am going to try not to work on the weekends but if I have to work on the weekends I prefer it to be Sunday.
I might give it a go and see what they will give me and what kind of hours that are demanded for me to work. If it is a great place and they are really nice to me and such then heck, they might let me take off when I really need to and also be flexible for school and might want me to stay on for the fall and into next year. Plus I feel if I ever really need to go back to my retail job they would let me, except they are not hiring right now at all so they probably wouldn't take me back till our "season" to sell haha.
Just a lot to think about now that I really am down to one more year of schooling till I am out and into the work force and probably going to have to look for a place to move into with someone. I was going to hold off the moving into a place for a while since I was planning on leaving the country for like a month and a half for Japan but right now (and because of family and possible health reasons) I might not be able to go to Japan as planned next year and might have to wait it out. My parents and others are already happy that I didn't set anything into stone for this Summer which was the original plan haha. Guess me being lazy and setting up things paid off lol. I really don't think it is that bad as the media is saying. I constantly stay in contact with people and companies that are in Japan then and now and it might have been a stand still for that first week but they are really stating to set everything back up. They still are having controlled power outages to conserve electricity, also there is a lack in paper supplies. Two main companies that produce paper produces over there got hit with the quake and they supply 15% or something of the paper over there and some magazines or publications now have to cut back from what they produce till they get back. Same with the companies that produce the ink for printing.
There are still definitive problems with one or two of those nuclear power plants in the north East that are still causing problems and still sound like the are progressively getting worst but I was not ever intending on going to that part of the country. Furthest North I was going was Tokyo and as far south as Osaka or Kobe. Much to mull over till next year and I still need to put in everything to re-new my passport.
I think I have chatted for a while now and I probably should get back to work on somethings here. They are backed up with a bunch of things haha
Have a great day!
