Westminster House.

Looks like my life is going to get a lot busier now with my second job. More on that later. It was a pretty fast but good week. On Tuesday, I went to the musical “Camelot” which is a remake of the classic musical that came out some years ago. I really went to it not knowing what to expect and overall it was an OK musical. Lou Diamond Phillip played the role of King Arthur and unbeknownst to me, before becoming an actor his background was in theater and I have to say that he did a mighty fine job as the lead and he has a good singing voice. I also did not expect the musical to have some humorous dialogues. The acts that took place after the intermission went by really fast and I thought that was a little disappointing because it just seemed rushed. I’m glad I saw it and I’ll be looking forward to the other musicals that will be coming.

Joel and I went to a concert by this baritone named Nathan Gunn who is reputed to be one of the premier baritones in the country. Now, I’m not an opera fan and I think a lot of it boils down to me not being exposed to it, but I do appreciate someone who has an amazing singing voice and let me tell you, his was remarkable. The first part of his concert was songs from different German operas and he did a marvelous job. The second part was songs from different English operas and I should say that he was out of this world amazing. I have been told that I should at the very least make it to an opera and I probably will. The one thing that really struck me while listening to Nathan sing in German was the fact that I had no idea what he was singing about, yet you could feel and see his passion in the songs. Talk about a way to captivate the audience. I’m really glad I went.

So, the big question on your mind is probably where is my second job and what does my job entail. Well, I’m working at Westminster House which is a residential facility for adults with psychological disorders. The goal is to teach these adults life skills with the hope that they will be able to “graduate” and live on their own. Alas, I found out that with some of the residents, that will never be the case which is sad in so many ways. There are classes during the day for them taught by people who work in the agency and one person has a job mowing lawns and removing snow. All in all there are fifteen residents at the house where I worked over the weekend which is not going to be my regular location. There are two houses in total and the one where I’ll be working is a coed facility. So much can be said about the residents, but overall they are a really neat bunch of guys. My orientation was over the weekend, and trust me there’s a lot to be oriented specifically because of the population that we’re dealing with. Because I worked two days in a row, I got to know some of the residents pretty well and I have to say that I’ll be missing them when I start at the other house. I won’t be surprise if I have one or two shifts at this house which will be fine by me. It takes a special someone to work with these residents and overall, I got the feeling that they will treat and respect you the way you treat and respect them. Eight hours go by pretty fast especially when you have to go through the different duties while you’re there. Part of my job is to prepare meals for them and I made a pork roast last night which was pretty good. Each facility has a huge menu book with menus that are prepared by the nutritionist, and that’s how you figure out what they are eating. I get to eat with them if I so choose, but I did not over the weekend. Once I’ve gotten my feet on the ground, I truly believe that this will be a very enriching experience for me and the residents and I’m definitely looking forward to starting at the my regular house. As I get more accustomed to my job and the residents I’m almost certain and that I’ll have stories to share with you.

That’s pretty much how the week and weekend went. It was a fast one, but a very good one for sure.