10's and 18's

The protein drink saga ended and I walked back to the dorm in the rain. As I made my way in, I saw my dorm mate exercising and decided to join him where we did over 600 pushups together. As I was working out, I couldn’t help but to think about what the doctor said earlier regarding exercising and losing weight and how I should stop exercising. I could not imagine this journey without any type of exercise!

Last night was an evening yard but the weather was not cooperating as the rain continued. I stayed inside writing and waiting for “Heroes” to start. I had a multitude of letters to return because when the mail came earlier I received 9 pieces of mail which by the way is at least 2 weeks or more behind! One of these pieces was the monthly bulletin from Gamblers Anonymous. This is the second time I have received this and it certainly keeps me in contact with the fellowship. I love reading the inspirational letters each month because they are filled with experience, strength, and hope. I do keep in touch with so many dear friends from the Program and every visit I have received has been from a friend or friends in the GA Program. Now I am able to receive the monthly bulletin and the only missing thing is a real live meeting. Unfortunately, I will have to wait another year before I can attend a meeting. In the meantime my dear friends and this bulletin will be sufficient. Receiving this from GA does wonders for me and I am so glad I have been added to the mailing list.

I was able to secure a “prime seat” to watch Heroes. I was not disappointed with last night’s installment but once again the commercial interruptions seemed more than usual. Much like last week I wanted to talk about the episode but no one was interested in engaging with me. I realized it was a lost cause on my part and quickly returned to my bunk when it was over. I did want to mention that Eric Roberts (probably better known as Julia’s older brother) had a role on “Heroes.” He was an accomplished actor prior to the arrival of his little sister but as of late, I have not seen him in anything. I was surprised by his appearance and he did get older since the last time I saw him but this is what happens with everybody.

Last night being a “school night” I immediately went to sleep when the show was concluded. I needed a semi- good night’s sleep because the firefighting class started up again this morning. I woke up freezing and needed the extra blanket. Some of my dorm mates sleep with their wool hats on to keep warm.

The unlock after breakfast arrived a few minute late and I made my way over to the gate where I met up with other members of my class. Everyone was very serious because the big test for the 10’s and 18’s was today. The 10’s are the FIRE ORDERS and the 18’s are the WATCHOUT SITUATIONS. We were already to take the test and get it over with. Thankfully, the class was not cancelled but the fire captain we had for the first 2 days was off and we had a replacement for him. We were given 35 minutes to finish the test which I completed in 6 minutes. I breezed through it without any problems and checked it over twice. Everyone also breezed through it and mostly everyone was done in 15 minutes.
We still have 18 people in the class and as I have mentioned only 17 will move on to Day 5 because the vehicle which moves us to the hillside only fits 17 people.

The entire day was spent watching videos and the Fire Captain gave a 5 minute lecture on the safety of our tools. We were subsequently quizzed on this lecture and all but two of my classmates received a 100% on this quiz and the other 2 got one wrong. We did see a very interesting documentary produced by PBS on the huge wild fire in New Mexico back in 2000. The fire started as a “prescribed burn” – which means it was intentionally started by fire fighters to clear out dead brush – but quickly got out of control and burned thousands of acres while destroying 235 homes. This was a very tragic series of events. The documentary also detailed the work of a group of fire fighters from Southern California called the “Hot Shots.” This is an incredible group of men and women who travel around the country between May through November fighting the most difficult wild fires. They are paid $10.00 an hour – plus overtime – and are on the road for almost six months away from their families. These are incredible people who are dedicated to fighting these fires and are obviously not in it for the money. I was very impressed with their tremendous work ethic and determination. This documentary was the best video we have seen and also the most recent. All of the other videos appear to have been made in the 1950’s but the message was clear – SAFETY COMES FIRST!