deadline pressure: chapter one

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peak:

Still high from yesterday's experience.

valley:

No real low yet. It's early though... and still plenty of time for one. :-)

noise:

Percy Sledge:
"When a Man
Loves a Woman."

talked to:

Jeremy.

thoughts:

Jessie.
Firefighting.
Sleep.
Alex.

	saturday, july 15th
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Quote Du Jour: "I have no ambition in this world but one, and that is to be a firefighter. The position, in the eyes of some, may be a lowly one; But those who know the job, believe his is a noble calling." - Chief Edward Coker, Fire Department of New York City.

As of Thursday night, I have the basic classes under my belt to be a certified firefighter in my home state. This is a very cool thing. It means that I'm several steps closer to reaching this dream of mine than I was at the beginning of the summer.

"You must go back to school."

"You must go back to school."

"You must go back to school."

Okay, I think that helped. :-) I have to tell myself that sometimes. I can not lose sight of the importance of a degree... even if it is in my second choice of career fields. The dream will wait. School for now. The dream for the rest of my life. That sounds like a plan to me. (0231)

Yesterday was a cool day. I was supposed to go visit Alex and get some work done around campus. However, I had quite a bit of work to do at my current job... so I stayed in town. For a little while, I was down about not being able to make the trip. Late Friday afternoon, that feeling ended.

A supposed crack house (actually, it was a crack "trailer") was on fire in a shady neighborhood in my hometown. While I attempted to get some good photos of the fire, we noticed a brush fire in a nearby city park. I put down the camera and went to work with an officer to smother the fire out. It was a little to big for that... and I was rewarded for my efforts by being given the nozzle when the additional truck we requested arrived. It was as if some of the things I had been learning were actually going to use. What can I say... it was another very cool moment.

We ended up making three trips to the crack house before the arsonist won the war in the final battle (it was fully involved upon the first due engine's arrival). And it's days like Friday that make me wonder why anyone would want to have a job other than firefighting... I do believe this is something that I really want to do. (0243)

I'm not a pyro-nut... Or an aspiring arsonist... I do not like to see bad things happen to people regardless of whether they are "good" or "bad" people. My philosophy is this: "If there is never another fire or accident for as long as I live, that is fine with me. But if there is gonna be one, I want to be there to help." (0245)