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Kick-Puncher
Jan 20, 2006
How many of your crew members are currently banging each other?

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eschaton
Mar 7, 2007

Don't you just hate when you wind up in a store with people who are in a socioeconomic class that is pretty obviously about two levels lower than your own?
Why does the CCC care about adult employees having consensual sex in their downtime?

(Makes me wonder if it'd survive First Amendment scrutiny, like overly paternalistic policies at public colleges and universities don't. After all, it's not the military.)

A Festivus Miracle
Dec 19, 2012

I have come to discourse on the profound inequities of the American political system.

Kick-Puncher posted:

How many of your crew members are currently banging each other?

8 of my COMET are in a relationship. Among the crews, I'd say about 12 total out of 46 people are in a relationship with another corpmember. You know how its a really dumb idea to date someone in thr military? Same advice applies to the CCC.


eschaton posted:

Why does the CCC care about adult employees having consensual sex in their downtime?

(Makes me wonder if it'd survive First Amendment scrutiny, like overly paternalistic policies at public colleges and universities don't. After all, it's not the military.)

Technically, the dorm is also my workplace. And the state is paying me to work for them. I'd be willing to bet it'd stand up in court.

Everytime a girl in this place starts looking attractive,I remind myself that its just the fact I'm in prison the Cs thats making her pretty. Except the front desk lady, she is legit sexy.

Another effortpost incoming later today. More drama, more boring job stuff, maybe even a picture.

Dick Burglar
Mar 6, 2006
time for you to bone the front desk lady

A Festivus Miracle
Dec 19, 2012

I have come to discourse on the profound inequities of the American political system.

:siren: Drama for daaaaaays:siren:
This post contains serious User Name/Post combo.

Actors in the drama
Dickface: 19 year old with no high school diploma who joined the Cs after getting his felony expunged. His felony? He stole a phone from a 9 year old. He's bipolar and convinced that he has to prove himself as a man. Yes, he's from the hood.
Tiny Dick Blackman: 20 year old with a diploma, and a serious case of untreated bipolar disorder. Wildly alternates between everyone's homie and calling people faggots. Currently on 30 day contract for getting caught with his girlfriend in his room.


I lived with a black guy named Dickface for my first month here until last friday. Last Friday, dickface decides to do his laundry. I'm leaving for a trip, so I get up and start doing laundry. Dickface comes back with quarters and sees me using the machines. Instead of being mildly annoyed, dickface starts berating me for close to an hour, calling me all variety of poo poo. human being, friend of the family, dub (:confused:), kike (even though I'm not jewish), etc. You know, all things they promised you could get fired for in COMET.

I go, "man,i dont want to leave my poo poo in the eoom with this nutjob". I go to my CMD who immediately moves me rooms. Then she takes down a witness statement promising hellfire and wrath. Later, roght before I leave, she calls me into the office to tell me that she talked with dickface, and that actually its fine that this literal crazy man yelled at me for close to an hour, because you see, he's intimidated I went to college and have a degree. :wtc:Thanks CMD. Way to do your loving job. I throw up my hands in disgust, and left for my trip.

After a weekend with cute Americorp lady, I come back. Dickface has rallied his other bipolar friend, Tiny Dick Blackman (TDM for short) to start harassing me. TDM especially starts going for threatening physical violence. Let me just pause to state that I am a large dude. 6'3, fat but strong. I used to work as a bouncer. These dudes are short,skinny black dudes. I know full well these idiots know I will beat their asses one on one, so they're never seperate when around me.

So, of course, I go back to my CMD. I tell her Tiny Dick Blackman is threatening me and she tells me she's not surprised. TDM has already threatened other corp members. Huh, so that whole loving stump speech CMD gave in COMET that "we'll fire you if youthreaten someone or call someone a human being" was apparently all for show. Her advice to me was to start documenting every time TDM or Dickface threatens me. :psyduck:

So,now, I walk around with a pen and a paper in my pocket and document every little passing jibe I get from TDM and Dickface. Its really comforting to know that no one will left a finger to do anything until the number of EEO complaints is double digits. :cripes: I am honestly hoping at this point to get TDM or Dickface to do something retarded so they get fired. Dickface is somewhat discrete, but TDM is an idiot. I hope he tries to punch me out so I can restrain him hard enough to tear muscle and break bone. My policy in the interm is to provoke them at every turn. The more dumb things they say and do, the sooner they get fired.

So yeah. The CCC,folks. I'll post about the other stuff I did this week later.

McNally
Sep 13, 2007

Ask me about Proposition 305


Do you like muskets?

A White Guy posted:

Her advice to me was to start documenting every time TDM or Dickface threatens me. :psyduck:

So,now, I walk around with a pen and a paper in my pocket and document every little passing jibe I get from TDM and Dickface.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKukWdXaELA&t=761s

tyler
Jun 2, 2014

Missed the part where them being black had anything to do with the story.

Internet Wizard
Aug 9, 2009

BANDAIDS DON'T FIX BULLET HOLES

Nostalgia4Murder posted:

Missed the part where them being black had anything to do with the story.

Well you see they're from the hood, therefore

Mike-o
Dec 25, 2004

Now I'm in your room
And I'm in your bed


Grimey Drawer
:gas:

A Festivus Miracle
Dec 19, 2012

I have come to discourse on the profound inequities of the American political system.

Sorry fellas, been a hard week and rough day. TDM and I almost got into a fight at dinner, so I'm waiting for the RS to come talk to me. Not trying to be a racist turd burglar, its just how I think of those two charming gentlemen.

Kawasaki Nun
Jul 16, 2001

by Reene

A White Guy posted:

Sorry fellas, been a hard week and rough day. TDM and I almost got into a fight at dinner, so I'm waiting for the RS to come talk to me. Not trying to be a racist turd burglar, its just how I think of those two charming gentlemen.

Victims of society? Who the gently caress gets a felony charge from stealing a cellphone?

Glad you want to hurt some people instead of resolving these issues like an adult. Seems like the CCC was a good choice after all!

Dick Burglar
Mar 6, 2006
To be fair, he never claimed to not be a piece of poo poo. Not his fault you had your expectations too high :colbert:

jk gently caress you op

LtCol J. Krusinski
May 7, 2013
Sounds like my experiences in jails and psych wards a lot more than it sounds like my military career. Not bitching, love the thread, just an observation.

Also I never stop being amused when white people get called friend of the family. It's happened to me a few times in the past few years and I never have a good comeback just a belly laugh that usually makes them madder. It's even weirder when a black guy calls you friend of the family. I didn't know what the gently caress to do at that point because I have to constantly make sure I'm not saying aloud what I'm thinking most days. And I'm usually thinking all manners of racial epithets.

Keep documenting and reporting the little punks, you'll be better off in the end if it never escalates to violence. While I'm sure your confident in your ability to win a fight the stakes are stranger and higher at your age and in your position. Also a small guy that stabs you is just as deadly as a big guy.

Whatever you do don't sink to their level of poo poo talking and name calling. That's just about the worst thing you can do. Totally bad move.

A Festivus Miracle
Dec 19, 2012

I have come to discourse on the profound inequities of the American political system.

Never claimed to hold the moral high horse. You can't pretend to float amongst the stars when your rear end is firmly in the mud.

And yeah, as mich as I would love a fight (no, a fight sounds good but rarely is), I'm documenting everything. TDM is gonna get fired for physical threats, and thats for the better. Whats weird is that this was never his quarrel. He made it his, and hopefully he suffers the consequences for it. gently caress him, and gently caress anybody who thinks the rules of no snitching apply anywhere beyond high school.

In other news, one of my COMET sisters took a ride in a cop car today. I suspect it was for suicidal threats, so thats probably the end of her.

Will make a post on what we did this week tommorrow when this particular shitshow is sorted. TDM has til monday before the investigation concludes, so I'm going to walk with a watchful eye for the next few days.

A Festivus Miracle
Dec 19, 2012

I have come to discourse on the profound inequities of the American political system.

Kawasaki Nun posted:

Victims of society? Who the gently caress gets a felony charge from stealing a cellphone?

Glad you want to hurt some people instead of resolving these issues like an adult. Seems like the CCC was a good choice after all!

As I heard him explain it, the real reason he ended up with a felony was because the 9 year old lied in court and he (dickface) had prior misdeaminors, including what was apparently an epic footchase through the big Macy's store in New York.

Dude got out of Rikers, got his poo poo together, got his felony expunged, and then learned nothing because of the crazy man nonsense he seems to have devolved into lately. It makes me sad and angry. I really liked the guy before he became a giant prick and it makes me mad that he sucked TDM, a dude who was already unstable, into drama with which he had nothing to do.

My RS told me, as she filled out the statement, that my COMET was the worst she had seen so far. :smith: What I've realized is that my attempts to hover over the drama have been futile. I've been intimately involved with it. You can take the boy out of high school, but sadly you can't take the high school out of the boy. :eng99:

A Festivus Miracle
Dec 19, 2012

I have come to discourse on the profound inequities of the American political system.

Triple posting for content:
Last week I went to the hospital. Hospital said probably a rotator cuff injury. And the doctor I visited midweek agreed. I've been on a steady diet of ibuprofen and occassional PT since. I'm going back next week, and I hope to the all powerful atheismo he says its fine for me to go on grade.My mind is still boggled that I haven't gotten a 500 dollar bill yet. Thanks California taxpayers. Anyhow, that means that I was on in-camp this week.

Because the CCC loves using loving railroad terms so much, theres a reason its called In Camp. Regular workers in railroad building camps back in the 19th century would go to work 'on grade', literally the grade of the railroad. The other people, who did logistics type stuff worked 'in camp' ie inside the main camp were the workers would normally sleep.

In Camp in this great modern age is loving. Boring. Practically it means you're basically Supplys bitch boy for however long the doctor has sentenced you to it. Mopping the same floors,vacuuming the same carpets, changing out the trash bins constantly. Imagine 10 hours of Field Day,4 days a week, except you're hurt and no one gives a poo poo how well you clean. One of the older guys took me aside after the usual "stop being a little pussy and get back on grade" ragging and told me that the longest days are in camp days. Holy mother of gently caress was he right.

Intersperse two hours of cleaning with an hour of hiding out in a bathroom trying to avoid getting caught looking at your phone, and you have an idea of what we did all week. The Supply dude, Joe, is a pretty cool dude and didn't really push it with the cleaning. He also took me out a few times to do other stuff, like prep the trailers for crews going on spike. We spent a good three hours at the CHP storage building trying to back up trailers into the correct position. Dude sucks at backing in trailers.

On the plus side, PT is cancelled for two weeks, so I've been focusing on running. My mile times slid below 11 mins today. And I got to talk to hot front office lady a little this week. Additionally, my specialist homie from kitchen told me I'm going in kitchen next week.

So ends my brief encounter with in camp. Hopefully its my last.

Ceiling fan
Dec 26, 2003

I really like ceilings.
Dead Man’s Band
Yep. The jargon is different, but making light duty while recovering from injuries a hell of pointless and mind-numbing scut work is 100% military.

Edit: Remember though, they are not punishing you for the crime of getting injured. No, not at all.

A Festivus Miracle
Dec 19, 2012

I have come to discourse on the profound inequities of the American political system.

Holy poo poo, an update post.

So, I've been in the Cs for about 5 gawddamn months now. Things have changed. I've moved centers (from Tahoe CCC to Central California Coast), most of my COMET quit or got fired (Down to 7 now). I've lost about 40 pounds, I'm S212 (basic chainsaw) trained. I'm also an Americorp member with a ~special~ program that bucks, limbs, and bucks and limbs fells dead trees killed by the drought throughout the Sierra Nevada. I spike out for 8 days, come back for 6 days.

My new C1 is a competent but complete rear end in a top hat. 28 years in the Cs, close to retirement (aka gives zero fucks). This guys got more :chiefsay: poo poo than I can care to think about. He literally failed me on an evaluation for being too 'smirky'. Apparently my facial expressions are not up to par with the CCC standard.

AMA about polesaw ( never ask to use one ). AMA about felling my first tree perfectly, than loving up my second and third. AMA all the gay retarded poo poo that happened with my COMET and the center I was at. AMA the center I'm now at (and :lol: at anybody in the National Guard base right next to my center).

tyler
Jun 2, 2014

Faaaaaaarrrrrrrt

The Orgasm Sanction
Dec 30, 2006

Svelte
Gay retarded poo poo pls.

Mike-o
Dec 25, 2004

Now I'm in your room
And I'm in your bed


Grimey Drawer

Nostalgia4Murder posted:

Faaaaaaarrrrrrrt

EBB
Feb 15, 2005

gimme some of that co-worker drama poo poo

Zeris
Apr 15, 2003

Quality posting direct from my brain to your face holes.
pics

A Festivus Miracle
Dec 19, 2012

I have come to discourse on the profound inequities of the American political system.

The Orgasm Sanction posted:

Gay retarded poo poo pls.

rear end in a top hat roomate: fired for :420:
rear end in a top hat roommates friends girlfriend: quit
Farty roommate at Tahoe: Quit because his girlfriend quit to get gender reassignment surgery. Half Mexican white supremacist. :wtc:
rear end in a top hat roommates friend: Despite threatening people and being an rear end in a top hat, dude hasn't gotten fired
Tahoe CMD: hosed me out of half my volunteer hours and tried loving me out of my certifications.

Girl on my new crew: Woke my C1 up last spike rubbing one out with a vibrator.

A Festivus Miracle
Dec 19, 2012

I have come to discourse on the profound inequities of the American political system.


When I stop being drunk as gently caress I'll give you some asssome pictures of some of the cool poo poo I've seen. Also, how to fell a tree the wrong way, illustrated.

Kawasaki Nun
Jul 16, 2001

by Reene
Who or what have you hosed so far over this 5 month period, aside from your hand and / or oven heated melons?

A Festivus Miracle
Dec 19, 2012

I have come to discourse on the profound inequities of the American political system.

Kawasaki Nun posted:

Who or what have you hosed so far over this 5 month period, aside from your hand and / or oven heated melons?

Honeydew heated over a warm oak fire. :negative:

Though, thankfully, my double chin is now safely hidden behind a well-trimmed beard, and I've noticed girls looking at me. I wear size 40 jeans now, and my uniform pants keep falling off my rear end. I've gotten tremendously stronger since I joined the Cs. I can do almost 50 pushups and 122 crunches. One thing running a chainsaw with chaps on in triple digit heat is good for is dropping tonnage. Each spike I come back looking a little thinner, a little trimmer.

This center I'm at now is blessed with an really high female population (almost 1:4 :suicide:!) for a Cs center. But at the same time, loving around in the Cs is a terrible idea. "There's no secrets in the Cs" is a very literal and accurate saying.

Kawasaki Nun
Jul 16, 2001

by Reene
Jesus Christ you hosed a melon?

A Festivus Miracle
Dec 19, 2012

I have come to discourse on the profound inequities of the American political system.

Kawasaki Nun posted:

Jesus Christ you hosed a melon?

You know, I was gonna respond with some lame non-sequitor or bad joke, but than I realized that the Cs has so normalized me to hosed up poo poo that yes, the idea of taking my dick and plunging it into a melon does in fact, sound like a great idea.You know, if I asked my C1 if he's ever caught a Corpmember plunging a loving watermelon, he'd probably tell me yes.

kill me.

20 Blunts
Jan 21, 2017
What's your felling process like? Just notching and bombing them over? Have you experienced any barber chairs?

Hyperlynx
Sep 13, 2015

Peetown Manning posted:

What's your felling process like? Just notching and bombing them over? Have you experienced any barber chairs?

Are we taking about trees or melons?

Zeris
Apr 15, 2003

Quality posting direct from my brain to your face holes.

A White Guy posted:

Honeydew heated over a warm oak fire. :negative:

Though, thankfully, my double chin is now safely hidden behind a well-trimmed beard, and I've noticed girls looking at me. I wear size 40 jeans now, and my uniform pants keep falling off my rear end. I've gotten tremendously stronger since I joined the Cs. I can do almost 50 pushups and 122 crunches. One thing running a chainsaw with chaps on in triple digit heat is good for is dropping tonnage. Each spike I come back looking a little thinner, a little trimmer.

This center I'm at now is blessed with an really high female population (almost 1:4 :suicide:!) for a Cs center. But at the same time, loving around in the Cs is a terrible idea. "There's no secrets in the Cs" is a very literal and accurate saying.

I love everything about this, never stop posting

A Festivus Miracle
Dec 19, 2012

I have come to discourse on the profound inequities of the American political system.

Peetown Manning posted:

What's your felling process like? Just notching and bombing them over? Have you experienced any barber chairs?

Conventional pie cut followed by back cut, or boring out the hinge wood depending upon how dead the tree is.

For goons unfamiliar with terms:

Pie cut: You do your standard gun cut (that is, you cut about a 3rd of the way into the tree) and then do a sloping cut that meets the back of your gun cut. The resultant piece of wood looks like a slice of an enormous cake.
Back cut: you go on the other side of the tree, cut about a third of the way in, and hopefully the tree falls over on the slim piece of wood left over (the hinge wood).
Stump shot: The tree can literally jump back when it hits the ground. Your insurance against getting nailed by a 10 to 100 ton tree is the difference between your back cut and gun cut, that is, how much wood is between those two cuts. Too low(e.g. below your gun cut) will cause the tree to sit on your chainsaw, or even worse, fall backwards. Too high, and the tree will sit on the chainsaw, destroying your bar or causing an uncontrolled fell.
Boring the hinge: dead trees can becoming ludicrously stable. By boring out the middle section of your hinge (that is, shoving a chain saw through it), it allows you space to put wedges in to get the tree going. Doing this on live trees might cause it to go where ever it wants to. Don't do this on live trees.
Dutchman: if your slope cut isn't perfect, you end up with slightly too much hinge wood on one side, altering the fall of the tree. Too much on the left equals a tree that falls right and vice versa. This is called a dutchman. A really bad dutchman can cause the tree to twirl around the stump, potentially killing you.
Barber chair: Dead trees (and live ones) can split straight up the middle as you're cutting it. The tree falls, the back end jumps up in the air, and falls on either side of the stump, potentially killing you. The resulting stump looks like a barber chair, hence the name.

I've never personally seen it happen, but I have seen a stump where the tree barber chaired.

Next post: A Sawyer boys talking about felling trees the wrong way.

A Festivus Miracle
Dec 19, 2012

I have come to discourse on the profound inequities of the American political system.

Since I'm on the topic, Here's a real good video of a barber chair. Generally speaking, trees like to barber chair if they're dead, real loving dead (for example, bark missing in the middle of the trunk is gigantic :redflag:), or a live tree that's grown into a very materially stressing situation (for example, a tree with a more than 60 degree lean will almost certainly barber chair if its big enough and cut incorrectly), or a tree that's grown into an extremely weird shape (for example, an upside down L shaped tree will barber chair, regardless of how it's cut).

How to cut trees, wrong.

First tree I ever felled: Cut it almost perfectly. My only real mistake was cutting slightly too much hinge out during my back cut. Things go to poo poo south if you cut the hinge wood. The idea of the hinge wood is that your tree falls in a certain direction (in the pie cut direction), tearing the hinge wood out of the stump on its way down. The hinge wood is supposed to guide it down, like a hinge on a door (get why it's called hinge wood now?). If you cut your hinge wood, your tree will maybe falls in the direction of the pie cut, probably fall backwards toward your back cut, or may even fall sideways, or hell, even twirl in the air. Don't cut your drat hinge wood too close. Anyhow, I felled it almost perfectly. Pie cut was great (no dutchmans). The tree was deader than poo poo, had to bore out the middle. Bored successfully, put in my wedges, smacked those fuckers till she went down.
Second tree: Pie cut was dutchmanned. I didn't fix it correctly. It fell about 15 degrees to the left of where I wanted it to go. Whoops.
Third tree: Back cut was too low. Tree fell off the stump, and landed in a creek, thankfully not killing me in the process, almost parallel to where I wanted it to fall. Whoops.
Fourth tree: Felled with a pole saw(gently caress pole saws forever). Pinched the pole saw on the back cut, but thankfully the tree was small enough that I just gave it a good kick and it fell off the stump.

And before you ask, there are actually quite a few different saws in this business.

A pole saw is basically a weedwhacker with a chain and a bar on it, generally intended for chopping troublesome limbs off trees. It's also hilariously underpowered, amazingly hard on your shoulders (because you're have to lift it up to use it), and will wobble like crazy when you extend it out to it's full extent (about ten feet). Add in that pinching it is A Real Bad Thing because now you've got a chainsaw stuck in a tree, meaning you need to have someone climb the tree to get it out, or hopefully, have someone with another polesaw get it loose for you. Additionally, your supervisior will inevitably ask you to chop a limb off a tree that's too high to reach with holding the polesaw at waist height. Hope you like having a hot motor sitting on your chest as you strain to reach the limb he wants you to cut off. Also add in that it's super easy to pinch a polesaw in a branch because of how difficult it is to correctly cut a branch, and you have an idea of why I hate polesaws. Oh, and don't forget that for dumb OSHA reasons, you have to wear chaps while using it, even though cutting yourself with a polesaw would take some amazing gymnastic abilities or a positively idiotic swamper. And double Oh, don't forget that you have to stand under or near to under the limbs you're chopping off, meaning that you stand a real good chance of getting whacked in the face by that limb if you're not careful or get too overzealous when you're cutting.
There's also another monster in our tool room, called (correctly I think) a misery whip. It's basically a motorized version of a whip saw, generally have a ten foot long(or longer) bar on it, with two powerheads on either end that power a monstrously long chain. Used to fell real fukken big trees, it's heavy as gently caress, amazingly hard on both operators to use, and eats gasoline and bar oil like no other machine in existence. We've thankfully avoided using that thing, though my C1 keeps jokingly threatening to bring it out.

A Festivus Miracle fucked around with this message at 08:30 on Jul 18, 2017

Nostalgia4Butts
Jun 1, 2006

WHERE MY HOSE DRINKERS AT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUIpFeXT6QM

stay till the end to hear a pure canadian

start around 4:00 to get to it

A Festivus Miracle
Dec 19, 2012

I have come to discourse on the profound inequities of the American political system.

Clearly dude's been doing it for a while.

1st part of the of the video he's sizing up the tree. The triple stump and loaded lean meant the guy recognized the situation. 2Nd part with the cutting up of limbs, he's clearing his escape routes. Then he performs what's called a Humboldt Undercut(note how he stops after his slope cut to aim the tree), and then cleans up the cut to make it even (ie remove dutchmans). Finally, he doesn't borecut, but instead backbars the tree. As soon as the tree barber chairs, chainsaw out, runs away from the tree.

To back bar is to cut with the top part of your bar, as opposed to the bottom.This is generally a bad idea because the way the chainsaw operates. The chain moves in a counterclockwise direction. By backbaring or incorrectly using your bar nose, the chainsaw can kick up and back towards you. Called kickback, it is the number one cause of upper body contact with a running chain. This isn't so bad on standard chains, but semi-skip and skip chains (there's fewer teeth so each tooth is moving with much more velocity) have serious safety issues with regards to kickback. They're also much more commonly used in logging and arborist work for how quickly they cut.

Anyhow, awesome vid. I'm gonna share it with the C1 who does S212 training because that is a pro felling.

I'm spiking out for 8 days with sporadic service so I probably won't post much. Hopefully its not just limbing and bucking and I get to fell some trees.

mllaneza
Apr 28, 2007

Veteran, Bermuda Triangle Expeditionary Force, 1993-1952




A White Guy posted:

Clearly dude's been doing it for a while.

I haven't seen anything dropped that professionally since my last Fred Dibney video.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0L1WOnR2KBY

Nostalgia4Butts
Jun 1, 2006

WHERE MY HOSE DRINKERS AT

what does he mean by the crown?

A Festivus Miracle
Dec 19, 2012

I have come to discourse on the profound inequities of the American political system.

Nostalgia4Butts posted:

what does he mean by the crown?

The crown of the tree is the top of the tree and a short way down from that point.

My Dorm Captain managed to dislocate his shoulder surfing and another dude quit, 2 people stay in camp as Kitchen, and our ACL doesn't run saw. One girl chapped herself recently and won't run a chainsaw. So,I've got roughly a 10% chance of running saw multiple days.

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A Festivus Miracle
Dec 19, 2012

I have come to discourse on the profound inequities of the American political system.

I'm back from spike. 8 days later, my crew is down 3 people (mostly leaving for college, one leaving to become a :snoop: 'pharmaceutical farmer' :snoop:). My best friend in the Cs resigned and I found out that I am loving unbelievably allergic to poison oak.


Both my forearms have complementary yellow pussing rashes. They swelled up so bad that I looked swole as gently caress for a little while. Both my shins are also swollen to pretty absurd sizes.

Both my hands also got oaked, causing my left hand to look like a blown up latex glove. My right hand isn't too bad, but still swollen.

Poison oak is insidious. If stinging nettle is like a girl that gives you the clap, poison oak is that chick that loves you tenderly, then comes back into your bed in the middle of the night and cuts your nuts off. If you aren't allergic to its oils, you can actually become allergic to it through multiple exposures (Which is inevitable in any wildland work), and to top that, it actually gets worse the more you're exposed to it. The swelling is so bad that the State of California paid for my cortisone steroids to help bring down the swelling. My next exposure might well put me in the hospital, and another exposure after that could well induce anaphlyaxis. I'm seriously in danger of being put into Tyvek suits for the rest of my time here in the Cs, which while fantastic of weight loss due to the insane sweating they bring on, bring on the possibility of keeling over on grade with heat exhaustion. It never got below 95 fahrenheit the entire time I was on spike.

In center related news, Corpmember Advisory Board (think ASB for Corpmembers, kind of a governing body made up of and for corpmembers) decided gently caress democracy, let's appoint our friends to CAB. A big potential drama bomb is brewing, as a lot of people are really pissed that CAB flagarantly ignored their own bylaws to just do whatever they want.
CV crews continue to drop members like they're hot. 3 people dropped out of my crew, at least 2 are looking for another job right now, and 2 more are in danger of getting fired for being idiots. The third CV crew at my center has been cannibalizing the other crews for members, and it's beginning to look a little thin on the ground for all the CV crews. It's gotten so bad that the CONSUP got up on stage at our community meeting and cajoled,insulted,and pleaded with CVs to stop quitting goddamn it.

On the bright side, our last spike was fairly uneventful. A major fire got about 11 miles away from our spike camp before losing steam, making it smoky for us for a little while. The promised "we fall dead trees" continues to be just that, a promise. So far, I've spent the vast majority of my time on saw bucking and limbing, though I did get to fell a 95+ foot tall, 15 inch diameter tree before the swelling from the poison oak got too bad. I've found that I've actually gotten dramatically better at felling since my last time through - my tree fell almost exactly in line with my gunned target, though my attempts to fix the dutchman I created were so hamhanded that I ended up cutting 50% of the tree. When I went to bore the tree like my supervisor suggested, I noticed that my wedge was coming loose. I literally tapped it with my hand and the tree started commiting. Que me screaming at my C1 to get the gently caress out of the way while simultaneously trying to get the chainsaw out of the tree before it bent the bar in half.


Bonus picture: A spiker boy gets ready for his first day of spike

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