Stingrays and Cake

Tuesday

Yesterday I got to work with Bruce, one of my absolute favorite people that I have gotten to know during my time at the aquarium. Unfortunately, Bruce had a really nasty fall last week when he was working on renovations for the new exhibit and he tore his rotater cuff which requires surgery next week. So I helped him out all day to repair one of the waterfalls in the new exhibit. In the past few days we realized that it started to leak pretty badly behind the exhibit. In order to better waterproof the Styrofoam rocks, I mixed together a brown and grey two-part epoxy that we pasted over the existing rocks. It was a really sticky and messy process, but it was fun nonetheless!

Wednesday

Today was a really great day and it turned out to be a really great (but also really sad) end to my project. I worked with Education this morning, taking a group of high school seniors on a tour of the aquarium and of the back of house areas. We showed them not only the aquatic life that is in the exhibits, but also the filtration rooms and the food preparation area. I spent the rest of the day hanging out with my favorite animals, the stingrays, in the coastal exhibit. I got to feed them one last time before I headed out. It was so bittersweet because I absolutely loved this experience and I met some amazing people! They even made me a going away cake to celebrate, it was delicious! I can't wait to go back soon to visit!

Jackson Goldberg - Final Day Thoughts

So what have we learned here? I went into this project with an essential question regarding selling ideas, and I'm walking away with a whole lot of answers. From Sundance I learned about knowing your audience and crafting a presentation that simultaneously piques the interest of that audience and underlines what distinguishes your product. That's all great, and what was unexpected about Sundance was how directly my experience there related to my two weeks back in Cleveland. As it turns out, a major part of the creative department is script reading and evaluation, so I got a glimpse at a whole other side to the screenwriting submission process that I thought I wouldn't get to see. That connection proved to be a great asset towards my own writing, as when I sat down to work on my script I had already been given a rundown on the crucial elements of a screenplay. Having an eye-catching opening, using concise language, establishing motivation and distinguishing characters early on, these are what makes a script stand out and convince readers that you have something important to say. Right now I have a completed draft of a thirty page script, and I'm incredibly excited to see where this project goes from here.

The Giant Squid and the Pirate Ship

Monday

On Monday I was with the education department again. I got to participate in my favorite program, the Coral (De)Construction program which teaches elementary school children about just about everything there is to know about coral reefs. Not only is it great to watch the presentation, which I find absolutely fascinating, but it is really amazing to see when the kids are really enjoying themselves and are really immersing themselves in the information.

So, I was about to join a group on a guided tour of the aquarium after Ben had finished with the presentation when my sponsor showed up to ask a favor. He explained that the Guest Services team was short a few staff members and did not have enough people to work the floor and help with the tours. So, I along with the other shadow, was asked to be in charge of the Exploration Station (ES). This is the room where families can come with their little kids to play with toys and color and look at some smaller tanks. It was a little boring at first because there weren't any families in the room. So to pass the time I decided to draw a little bit. Throughout the day I managed to complete my drawing, which is a giant squid clutching a mast of a sunken pirate ship!

After we were relieved, Darwin (the other shadow) and I helped to prepare materials for a new program that the education department is going to run. That basically consisted of cutting turtle limbs out of construction paper for a build-your-own-sea-turtle type of activity. It was a pretty quiet day overall but it was nice and calm for a change.

Cameron Bell - post 7

To change things up a bit, I’ll tell you guys about my first experience where I thought I was about to faint! I have seen some gross things from infections, deep and bloody wounds, to even following an OBGYN (lady-parts doctor) in Guatemala. None of it made me feel like I was going to pass out - this is part of what made me think I was supposed to be a doctor. What 18 year old girl didn't get nauseous at the sign of blood? 

However, on one normal night in the ER, a small thing gave me my first experience. A woman came in very intoxicated with her boyfriend. She was hilarious, but not very nice, making snappy jokes and remarks at both her boyfriend and Dr. Rose. As the professional he is, Dr. Rose laughed with her at her jokes and brushed them off. Through her humor, it was hard to miss the bleeding laceration that was on her forehead, right over her eyebrow. The gash allowed us to see her skull and muscles when pulling on either side of it slightly. She explained to us through slurred words that she had tripped and fallen in her drunken state, hitting her head on their glass table. Dr. Rose took a look (I stood close behind him, still feeling fine) and he quickly told her that she was going to need stitches. She complained and said she wasn't going to let him touch her face. He joked back as we walked out of the room to take care of a few more urgent patients and grab the supplies to stitch her up. 

I was not grossed out by the wound or anything. It was just another cut to me. However, it was 4 am and I hadn't eaten since dinner time the night before. Needless to say, I wasn't feeling my absolute best. We went back into her room and after setting up, Dr. Rose began to stitch her up. I stood directly behind him, in clear view of his work. I watched closely as the needle punctured her skin, the thread was pulled through, and he tied his efficient knots (still felt fine). Six stitches later, her skin was closed and I put on gloves to wipe the blood and put a bandage on her forehead. I was still feeling steady until we made our way out of her room, and I suddenly saw black take over the left side of my vision. I felt wobbly and had to grab onto Dr. Rose’s shoulder to steady myself. I was going down…but I didn’t! I kept myself conscious and took a seat, sweating and dizzy, but I stayed awake! 

I have no idea what caused this weird episode. Throughout the stitching I felt completely fine. I assume that it was a combination of my lack of food and sleep with very closely watching a deep wound be stitched. I had always been so proud to say I didn't get grossed out! Hopefully I can go back to living up to that! 

Jackson Goldberg - Day 21

With the first draft of the script nearly done (it should be completed by tomorrow, and I'm going to continue working on it after the project wraps up), we made time for a table read today. The truth is, dialogue that sounds great in your head can sound completely ridiculous when spoken. I know in my case, I like to put in a lot of verbal imperfections i.e. repeated words, pauses, "um"s, "you knows" in my dialogue to make it sound more natural, but sometimes that goes overboard and ends up sounding really artificial. So there is definitely a lot of value in these sort of read throughs and hearing the stuff you write spoken out loud. Also important is getting to see and hear genuine reactions from others regarding your script. If someone laughs while delivering a line you thought was particularly funny, obviously that's an encouraging sign. Today I was particularly pleased by the reactions to the central dynamic between the three main characters. I think of it as kind of a riff on the three men from Jaws: the grizzled expert, the overly zealous adventurer, and the straight man who gets reluctantly pulled along. Everyone seemed to enjoy the banter between these characters, which was great to see.

Mac Lesnick - 9

Gradually Faster

     Although I was told that this morning was one of the calmest mornings all year, it eventually picked up in the afternoon. Today I shadowed a nurse, Maria, in the Pediatric Emergency Department (PED). Yes, there were adorable babies there, but there were also kids up to the age of 18. I absolutely loved every minute of it! Even the slow part was nice because it was only in the morning, so I got a bit of time to wake up :). There were only four patients admitted before lunch, but they were minor issues. In the PED, they rate each patient 1-5, 1 being immediate attention/very critical and 5 being someone who probably could have gone to their regular doctor or a minute clinic. Regardless of their sickness, we did treat everyone who came in - even if it was just for a small dose of tylenol. While Maria and I were coming back from our lunch break, at patient with a care number of 2 was being carried in by his mom. This was the first major patient of the day, all of the other patients were 4's or 5's. So we set our bags down and rushed over to the patient's room to help the other nurses and doctors. The boy was unresponsive when he first arrived, but eventually came to as his mom put him down on the bed. All of a sudden, he started thrashing his arms and kicking his legs. No one was able to calm him down besides his mother, and it was only when she would pick him up. Maria told me that the boy have been a preemie when he was born, and it is very common that the NICU kids have to come back to the hospital every so often. Unfortunately, my day ended before I could see what would happen with the boy, but I could tell he had calmed down slightly before I left.

     Another patient, who was admitted later in the day, was possibly the cutest little girl I had ever seen. A few months ago, she was told that she has diabetes. So her parents and she were still getting used to the different eating habits and sugar control. However, that's not why she was there today. She had swallowed a marble and it got stuck in her esophagus. Her blood sugar was also very low, so she needed an IV out in. However, if the girl would've gotten scared while Maria was putting in the IV, the girl would have either thrown up and the marble would've come with it, or she would've inhaled and the marble could've gone farther down and into her lungs. So before we did anything, the doctor decided she wanted to have another x-ray taken to see if the marble had moved at all. It was a great call by the doctor because while Maria and I were preparing OR admittance papers, the x-ray came through and showed that the girl had completely swallowed the marble and it went all the way down into her stomach. Now, instead of needing surgery to remove the marble, she can go home and carry on with her day while waiting for the marble to pass. It was a perfect ending to a very exciting and rewarding day.

last self defense class

Today was extremely bittersweet: it was my last day of self defense. My body is looking forward to the break although my mind is still eager to learn more. I've been spending around 13 hours at Fight Fit a week and with my show, around 20 hours of dance this week. So I am ready to be done moving around so much. For my final class, I brought my sister in. She absolutely LOVED being in class with me and definitely messed around a little. We warmed up doing a rotation that included 30 jumps with a jumping rope, 10 push-ups, and 10 mountain climber runs. After this, we dealt with what happens when someone comes at you with a front facing choke. With your left hand you move their hand ove renough to throw a right cross.

After this, you have to get into a power position (like an under hook and pivot out OR grabbing their shoulder and elbow with your elbows tucked in). It is much easier to show than to explain.

After this, we did a scary activity where half of us close our eyes and the other half randomly comes up to you and chokes you. You have to respond and then have them end up in a hold or on the floor. My sister hated this activity as did I but we understood its purpose. We did this ebcause no one is going to hold their hands out, walk up to you, and choke you. They are going to get you by surpise. Although it did not make this experience less scary. It was empowering to throw a 200 pound guy to the floor though.