I find it hard to remember my pre-YSI work schedule now. It's funny how quickly a long held routine, once abandoned, becomes like a dream of a past life. I think that routines, by their nature, are meant to be forgotten like this. A routine is something we do with very little thought. They're the skeletal systems of our lives, existing underneath the surface and causing very little excitement. We always remember when the routines are broken, but have no need to remember them when they are serving their function.

I haven't worked at YSI long enough for it to become routine. The fact that I have a different bunch of kids every week keeps me on my toes. This week's group continues to be relatively easy to manage, although the most energetic hiker often has to be reined in so that the tired younger kids can keep up. In the end we all get where we are going though. The girl who got stung yesterday was understandably reluctant to venture back into the visitor's center, but decided to join us when I got the Gopher snake out.
We also let a newt go in the pond, which was a lot easier to do than reaching into the murk to catch the slippery little rapscallion first thing in the morning. The newts now all cluster out in the middle of the pond, as if they know it's summer camp time.

cds I listened to while fighting off a cold: Eduard Artemiev "Zerkalo (Mirror)/Stalker" soundtrack (more bootleg Tarkovsky), Green Crown "Washed in Her Blood", and Strafe Fur Rebellion "Vogel" (with umlauts that I can't include because I don't know how to - luddite me...)