Done

Finely done. The graduation was fantastic. I fortunately have a two week vacation! Myself and one of my best buds are going on a Hot Springs road trip in Northern Cali. I leave tomorrow and come back Tuesday. My first day of work is May 17. The first 13 weeks on the job I am with a Field Training Officer. I've been told that the 13 weeks of Field Training are intense. During the 13 week training I am critiqued and scored by my performance. It's 13 weeks of real life scenarios. Fun! I can't wait. 

I've had request to keep up my blog. I wasn't planning on keeping it up past my academy but I will try my best to share what I can.  

My first cup of coffee in uniform. 

48 hour count down

Graduation is coming closer! Yesterday I gave my interpretive presentation and did fantastic! I had a lot of fun presenting. It was kinda like American Idol. I presented in front of my classmates and a panel of four evaluators. At the end of the presentation the evaluators critiqued my performance. They only had wonderful things to say. They loved my presentation. It's such a relieve to be done. Today and tomorrow all I have to do is listen to my fellow classmates present there interpretive programs. 

Five Days

Only 5 more days till graduation! 

Today was the last written test! I passed. 

On Sunday I have to put on a 20 minute presentation. I have chose to talk about Rip Currents. The past few days I've been doing a little research and writing out an outline. 

I can't wait to be done. Finally! 

I've also been busy putting together a slide show for the graduation. I had volunteered to put one together. Boy, it's been a piece of work. I have looked at over 1,000 pictures. I hope it will turn out okay for graduation. A lot of people will be watching. 

Closer to the End

I am ready to go home. My nerves are at the bitter end. Im not depressed or angry just frustrated about being here. I want my own life back. I want to be able to workout again, travel, read a good book, eat some peanuts at a ball game, take a hot bath, have In n Out Burger, have a coffee with my sister, sit in a house full of my family, have a beer at Dukes, wash my car, bodysurf, free dive, sleep in a bed where I don't feel springs, I want to be anywhere but here. The time in class feels longer and longer everyday. I don't even pay attention any more. I'm just going through the motions. I have no idea what the instructors have been talking about. All I know is that the last three days have been about the environment. In other words, a bunch of hippies have been lecturing me. I say that out of respect, I do care about hippies and the environment. Unfortunately, I'm just too drained to really care. It's funny, the last two days the instructors took all the cadets on a tour of Asilomar. I have lived here, at Asilomar, for 6 months. The last thing I want to do is walk around this place, especially when there are 40 mph winds. I hate to complain, but I'm ready for this academy to come to an end. I know it's only 10 days, but everyday feels like 10 days. During class, I imagine I'm on a tropical beach, sitting next to a gorgeous man and drinking a Mai Tai. When I'm not daydreaming I'm writing Haiku's or drawing nonsense pictures. The lectures are boring and I feel like I am going crazy. I've talked to some of the other cadets and they have similar feelings. We're all ready to be done. I feel bad for the instructors, the vibe in the classroom is pretty low. We all want to care, we're just to tired. 

Apologies for the negativity. 

I just want to go home and go vacation.

Snow

Last week was a bore. Not much to share. It's a shame that everyday felt like a waste of time. I'm hoping for some improvement next week. The weeks feel longer because I am near the end. 

Luckily, I had a little inspiration that got me through the long days last week. The inspiration was Lake Tahoe!! I went to Tahoe with one of my friends in the academy. He works ski patrol up there so myself and another cadet went up with him to get out of Monterey and relax. It was an amazing and beautiful weekend. Lots of fun and full of rejuvenation.

Lunch with a view!

Butterflies

If you didn't already know I am in the city of Pacific Grove. Pacific Grove is home of the Monarch Butterflies. This weekend it was beautiful, there where butterflies everywhere, in a lame way I found them to be a bit symbolic. In five months 42 of the cadets have been trained to be peace officers. We started off as caterpillars struggling to survive the transformation. Every test, every scenario butterflies fluttered around in out tummies.

Finally we made it to our last five weeks.

The past five months I have been going through the Police Officer Standardized Training (POST). I've taken about 30 written exams in the past 23 weeks, had over 13 scenarios, learned defensive tactics, how to drive in an emergency and much, much more. It's been a long journey. Monday was my last POST test. I passed! POST is done. Thank God. Being done with POST is a weight off the shoulders.

So, you might ask, why I'm still here? For the next five weeks I'm learning about the high standards, the expectations, the qualities and the responsibilities of wearing the "Stetson". Not only am I a law enforcer but I am also an educator, a naturalist and best of all a lifeguard. This means, for the next five weeks, I'll be learning all about the State Parks rules and regulations, how to give an interpretive talk and how to better protect our natural resources.

Around here we call ourself the "Generalist." We wear many hats. Who could ask for a better job. Lifeguard, law-enforcer, interpreter, maintenance.... you name it. What fun!

Today I am off to the Monterey Aquarium and Point Lobos for some interpretive instruction.

Mini Road Trip

After all the testing and stress of last week I decided to take a break from Monterey and go up into the city of San Francisco. It was a last minute decision and I have a friend that lives downtown that let me use her couch. I had never been to San Fran and I haven't picked up my camera in months. My plan was to walk the streets and get some pictures. San Francisco was not a disappointment. Everywhere I went it smelled like a mixture of marijuana and a dirty homeless man. The people there are trendy and beautiful (besides those on the streets). I saw some very attractive men (I could  live in San Fran)! The roads were confusing and I didn't care for the tourist. The shopping was excellent and I loved all the art. 

Friday night my friend took me into Oakland to a hip, artistic warehouse to see her friend sing. The place was a hidden joint behind a dark trashy alley. It was an odd place and I was a little concerned about where she was taking me. Inside the warehouse there was weird psychedelic music playing and art was hung on the walls. The whole place was it's own culture. There were about 40-50 people there and I was introduced to most. The warehouse had a second story. Upstairs there was a living room, a kitchen and more art hanging on the walls.  I later learned that this warehouse was someone's home. It was a lot of fun and very interesting. Later that night we met up with some other people at a small dive bar. You couldn't see a thing in the bar because it only had red lights. It was a entertaining night and the people I met were real nice and fun to talk with. 

The rest of the weekend I got lost in San Fran. It was so much fun. I got around by bus and never really knew where I was. I did some vintage shopping, went to the California Academy of Science, the Fisherman's Wharf and of course I saw the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a fun weekend and I can't wait to go back. Sunday I took my time driving back to Monterey and made a few stops off  Highway 1. 

I may try to go back to San Fran next weekend to take some more pictures and do some more vintage shopping! I great weekend that was well deserved. 

Only six more weeks! 

Scenario Test are Done!

Finally, all my scenario test are done. 

I had four test today and was real nervous about all of them. I had Ambush, Mentally Disabled, Building Search and Use of Force. Another nerve racking day is over. 

The best part, I was one of seven cadets to get %100 on all my scenarios! I'm so glad it's over. 

Simunitions

Last week we also had Simunitions. The Simunitions were set up scenarios of a person pulling a gun out at you. It was kind of like paint balling only we used the same guns we carry out in the field. The rounds in the guns were little pellets with paint and they hurt when they hit. I ended the day with a few bruises. 

All the cadets put in some cash to have a BBQ for lunch. I introduced the cadets and instructors to the famous Hookha-pa-luka! Most of the cadets and instructors tried it and those who did loved it.  

Remember the protection cup I had to buy? Fortunately I didn't have to wear it. The ladies got a flattering "eve-leaf" for protection. Thank God I had one on....

All I see are Orange Cones

I was really looking forward to EVOC week. I thought to myself, "how hard could it be to drive a car?" Let me tell you, it's hard when you are taking turns at unbelievable speeds, have other cars coming at you and the big scary word "test" is on your mind. Also, cones are everywhere, all you see are cones, it's difficult to figure out what is and isn't the course. If you hit a cone, it's a fail. Fear, fear, fear lingered on all week and you only get two shots to pass a test. If you don't pass you're packing up your bags. Driving the car fast was a whole lot of fun. But passing the test were a bit challenging.

The first day was the most stressful. There were four different courses. The first one was driving foward and backwards with small sharp angles I had to maneuver in and out of. The second course was a small narrow course with drive-ways I had to drive in, out and around in. Both the courses had a certain amount of time I had to complete it in. The third test was parallel parking. I couldn't believe this was the test I had to remediate! I'm good at parallel parking, during practice I nailed it every time. When it was time to test I ended up being to f

ar from the curb or "cones." It was embarrassing because I'm an experienced parallel parker. My remediation went well, but it caused nerves for the rest of the week. The last test was the skid-car test. We had a skid car, which is a vehicle with training wheels. It took me awhile to figure out the skid-car. It was fun because you get to skid all around an empty parking lot. The way it skids is the instructor in the car is able to control the front and back tire positioning. He is able to get the car to fishtail and I have to be able to gain control of the car. 

The hard part of the week were remediation. Remediation is not fun and they're difficult to watch. It's hard on all the cadets when someone has to remediate and unfortunately there were quite a few. I can't watch people remediating because the moment someone fails I would just start crying. We have all come so far and to lose someone this far in the game would be awful. 

The next two days weren't as difficult as I thought. Stressful for sure but not as difficult. There was a large course set up for us to maneuver around in. One of the test was code three driving and the other high pursuit. It was fun driving fast and I am relieved I passed all my test and the week is over.

This isn't me driving, but it's a non testing course we got to have some fun with...
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This is me backing up. I got up to 51mph in reverse...
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I wish I took more video during EVOC. There were a lot of stuff I would had liked to share but I was just too busy. I had a lot to take care of being C.I.C and trying to stay focus on passing.

The EVOC training was at the Marina Airport. At the airport there is a skydiving school. On Friday the pilot and some other guy from the school came down to watch all the cadets race and speed around. They both started placing bets on the cadets. It was so much fun racing! I spun out once right at the end of one of the races I was winning. When we were done racing the pilot mentioned we should skydive sometime. I thought that would be fun so, one of the other cadets and I spontaneously went skydiving today. It was my second time diving and my buddies first. It was so much fun. My instructor and I did a couple back flips when we jumped out of the plane. Seeing all of Monterey and all across the valley was awesome. Scary thing while we were there was one guy broke his leg and another person made it to the ground with the reserve parachute. It was crazy, a few of us saw in the far distance a loose parachute slowly floating down from the sky, scary thing to see when know bodies are connected. As a beginner diver you tandem with someone else. The girl that came down with a reserve chute said she had know idea that her chute didn't open. Luckily she got filmed during her jump. It'll be a great video. The video will be her instructor pulling the cord to release the chute and nothing coming out and she'll be there happy as a clam.