My Worst Ideas

I have always considered myself to be both courageous and creative...this can be good or bad...Many of camp activities have been have been "deleted" by Lee before I even got to talk about them. Normally, Lee will "consider" anything - this means talk about it with you until you are personally convinced that this is a bad idea. He does a good job of entertaining the idea while staring at you the entire time. He placed just outside of the medals at the Beijing Olympic Games in a staring contest - so he's pretty good. But these little gems I dropped on him were thwarted through emails - not even awarded the chance to "consider" the idea with him in his office - which he calls the "parlor." When I do have a good idea, he will let me know that it is good...which is really important. Of course, I like all of his ideas :-)!

So, here are some of my greatest worst ideas ever...

I genuinely thought that cross-country snowboarding would be a good way to fill the Center in the winter months...this was my first ever idea, before I had even participated in an eastern Carolina winter. Lee's email reply was "hahahahahahaha." I thought that he assumed I was joking...so when he asked about it, I said "uhh, yeah, funny joke wasn't it..." and quickly changed the subject to the color of his tie, which by the way, was a neon-flesh tone. Anyway - I thought about it after winter had ended...no snow and no hills make for tough snow sports...and unlike skis, I'm not even sure you can propel yourself on a snowboard.

Hot Air Balloon Rides are always fun, right? I had a guy email me...he was trying to gauge my interest...I though this would be a great idea...The way I envisioned it, kids would slowly rise into the air, being able to see the Albemarle Sound, the swamp, the Town of Columbia, and maybe even the Atlantic Ocean! What an experience...Lee didn't think so...he envisioned children rising through powerlines, fighting stiff ocean breezes, while suspended in mid-air beneath a flaming nylon bag. After I thought about it, he was right. And, I found out that it would cost roughly eleventy thousand dollars to operate a balloon for a day. REALLY BAD IDEA!

The one "idea" I had that I didn't run by Lee was when I decided to go on a special fast one week in the summer. BIG MISTAKE! Other than picking the hottest week of the summer, the idea was virtually fool proof. I would drink lots of coffee to replace the energy lost from eating parsley sparsely...any diet that rhymes is a good idea right?!? Nevertheless, my continuous crying led him to eventually ask what the problem was - and boy did I get it! I was subjected to meat and ice cream poisoning...it is the best remedy for hunger. The diet lasted less than 1 day.

I have had a lot of good ideas, in fact, MOST are reasonable. It's good to have a lot of critical thinkers around here to suppress my creativity from time to time. Being a young professional, I have yet to be subjected to the "On the Job" training of my superiors and co-workers. I am grateful for them...But everybody at the Eastern 4-H Center is susceptible to creating a bad idea. I have seen some doozies - but most are in the realm of fashion - with me the perpetrator of 72.3% of all fashion faux pas'. But, I have a propensity for odd colored pants. Good or bad, all ideas (or lack thereof) are a reflection of your personality. If someone ever comes to you with a "bad" idea, allow them to wonder about it, but as a supervisor you cannot let it come to pass. It is as much fun to have your own ideas as it is to enjoy others' terrible ideas and celebrate their good ones...as long as you are the inspiration behind their ideas. Some people have the ability to inspire creativity...and 100% of the people at the Eastern 4-H Center are the fuel to my creative fire! I enjoy receiving compliments and praise...I also like to impress the staff in the maintenance department, namely Charles. I consider myself blessed to work in an environment were all ideas are encouraged and appreciated, not matter how bad they may seem.

So don't thank me for the "good" ideas, but thank Lee, Nikki, Sara, Teresa, Mittie, Becky, Charles, Bud, and Terri because they either directly or indirectly encourage me...and thank them all for letting me down easy every once in a while, too!