Well, it has been quite a while since I posted anything.  Life got really exciting and hectic at the end of the summer.  The end of camp is always a bigger deal than you ever remember it to be, and this summer was no exception.  I had more things on my plate in the last week of camp than I anticipated, and I still have some unfinished ones that I really need to get around to, especially now that my hard drives are back in town.

Getting home from camp, I had the worst travel day that I have ever had.  It started with bad omens in that we missed being able to go to the post office to mail home one last box of stuff.  Why the post office closes early on Saturdays, who knows.  However, from there, things only went downhill.  On the drive down to the airport I managed to get in a car accident that basically totaled my parent’s truck.  Thankfully everyone was OK, but it was not a good situation (not that any car accident is).  It all started because i had to slam on the brakes as there was another accident that had occurred, and everyone was stopping.  It is probably good that I hit the car in front of me as opposed to going around it as the embankment was very steep and the probability of rolling the truck would have been high.

So, I call my parents, who rush down to pick us up and get us to the airport.  Amazingly, we get there with a little time to spare, which is a good thing.  Why?  Well, when going through security, I got stopped because something showed up when they put my carry-on through the X-ray.  Turns out that I had one of Ruth’s bags in my carry-on and it had her pocket knife in it.  Needless to say, the knife got tossed.

After getting on the first plane, things seemed to smooth out, and for the first time that I had done any major travel with Ruth, it was good.  On our connecting flight from MDW to SLC we managed to snag our own row, with no third person, so we were very happy.  However, upon our arrival back in SLC, there had to be one more thing that would go wrong.  One of our bags decided to take an extended trip around the country, so it didn’t make it to SLC that night.  In fact, when I walked into the baggage office and showed them the claim ticket, they already knew about it.  The good news is that they knew where the bag was and they managed to get it to us the next day.  For that we got a $50 travel voucher which is pretty nice.

That weekend did get better though because we had tickets to see The Lion King on Sunday night.  The Lion King is quite possibly one of my most favorite musicals ever.  The music is great, the costumes and head-pieces are spectacular, and it is just a fun show to see.  If you have never seen it, you should.  I had been lucky enough to have seen it on Broadway back when it was new, and I had always wanted to see it again and see how they would get it on tour.  Well, even slightly scaled back to fit in trucks and in smaller theatres, it was a great show.  I still have the music stuck in my head.

Come Monday it was back to work.  Possibly the first thing that my boss said after “hello” was something to the effect of: “Can you push your schedule up a week and hang the show early so we can fly our scenery?”  What was my response?  Well, in traditional me style I just said: “Of course.”  So now I had to round up a crew and get to work to be able to start a week earlier than I had planned.  That is life at the theatre, always unexpected.

So, things are finally starting to settle down and get back to a normal rhythm.  I have plans to go camping on Labor Day Weekend, and then I am helping to lead services for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and then we are doing the show.  I have to figure out my ski-pass situation and all the mundane things that come with being back in the swing of things.  Now that things are normalizing, life is pretty good.

The other thing that happened that is a major time suck is Words With Friends.  It is a iapp for iphone, ipod touch, etc. that is kinda like scrabble, and I love scrabble.  So I am totally hooked.  If you play or want to play, you can get if for free, and then look me up: Icewolf08!

On a side note, I did drop the ball on organizing Bloggerstock for August due to all that stuff I just mentioned.  So, we have pushed the August topic to September for anyone who is interested.  You can get the full scoop at the Bloggerstock Site.

Time really just seems to fly and stand still all at the same time.  We say it all the time at camp (and I probably say it here a bunch as well): “The days are really long, but the weeks go by fast!”  Days like today (though most days at camp) just seem to go on and on and on.  I suppose the fact that this morning started at least an hour earlier than normal was probably a contributing factor.  I had to get up early to go down to the river and meet the riding staff and a bunch of kids to go swimming on horseback.  They do this a few times every summer, and this week we are doing it twice.  This morning started pretty grey, but it wasn’t bad, and it cleared pretty nicely.

It is hard to believe that we are halfway through the summer already.  We have been at camp for twenty-some-odd days and there are only twenty-some-odd days left of camp.  Next weekend is Parent’s Weekend.  That is always the most exciting weekend of the summer (I say that in quite a facetious tone).  Some of us look forward to the prospect of getting gifts from parents as tipping is not allowed.  Some think that it is a great time to network with parents many of these parents are pretty prominent people.

No matter how you spin it though, Parent’s weekend is the biggest show that camp puts on.  We start buttering up the kids a week in advance.  This past Sunday it all started with a breakfast of waffles and ice cream.  Oh, we also finally got a protein at breakfast that wasn’t eggs this week as well.  I don’t know if it really works, maybe on some kids, but most I think are smarter than that.  It is just interesting that we allow Parent’s Weekend to be as disruptive to the program as it is.  We can’t really, in one week, make the summer any better than it is.  I think we are pretty much in the groove.

Don’t get me wrong, it is a good summer.  It seems like the kids are having a good time.  The staff is having a better time than they should (or something like that).  The oldest boys seem to be having a ball most nights, running around pulling pranks.  I hope they come up with some creative stuff.  They have managed to not be destructive which is good.  That is what camp is about, so I hope that they continue to find creative things to do.  I have some ideas that would take a little bit of work, but would be amusing.  Gotta keep things exciting.

This is the point in the summer though where everything speeds up.  It is like being in a car with no brakes and a stuck accelerator going downhill.  We will be at the end and it will seem like we just started and yet it will seem like we have been here forever.  It is like living in a timewarp, the best one there is.

It is a rainy summer afternoon, no thunder and lighting, just rain.  What would you rather do: sit in a hot sweaty gym and watch a movie, sit in your cabin reading or playing card games, or get out on the field and play an amazingly disorganized game of flag football?  Even if you think you are an “indoor” kid, if you answered yes to either of the first two options, you should be ashamed of yourself.  It doesn’t matter if you are 10 or 26 (or older), or if you are a buy or a girl.  It is much more fun to get out and do something, don’t you think?

That was my afternoon today.  Upon unloading my gear at the girls camp (FA) the heavens decided to open up and it started to rain.  I was sitting in the office while they were trying to figure out what to do with the girls and I said that we should get them out to play in the rain, not just sit and watch movies.  While at first the idea was met with some trepidation, when I got the athletic on board with the idea, it turned into a reality.  We collected a good number of girls, most of whom didn’t really know how to play football at all, and ran around on the field in a crazy attempt to play.  Needless to say, there was slipping and sliding and hyjinx and lots of fun to be had!

After an amazingly low scoring game of three “touchdowns” total between the two teams, someone decided that it would be a good time to go for a river swim.  Over to the river we went, and in typical FA style the girls lined up on the docks and all jumped in together.  I really had no intention of going in as I wasn’t dressed for the occasion.  I wasn’t really dressed for muddy football either, but that was very spontaneous on account of the rain.  In any event, I was thankful that I had the presence of mind to remove such items from my pockets as my cell phone, wallet, and video tapes before even playing football.

Why was I thankful?  Well, once we got down on the docks, the girls decided that it would be a good idea to push me into the river.  Keep in mind that I like to swim and I would have been the first one in if I had been wearing a bathing suit.  The only real bummer about ending up in the river was that I didn’t even have a towel with me and I had to drive back to IA to go to my cabin to change.  There are certainly worse things than that though!

For some reason, whenever I am in the water, kinds think that I am a human jungle-gym.  Of course our intrepid athletic director was quite the instigator of this as she told the kids they could have chicken fights on our shoulders (since we were the only ones who could stand up in the middle of the river).  Well, I had girls jumping and diving off my shoulders and we just had a general raucous time.  These kids are crazy hyper, especially after an extended rest hour.  Sometimes it seems like you just can’t tire them out!

This is the kind of thing that reminds me of why I am here and why I love this though.  The spontaneity and general enjoyment of doing something out of the ordinary is what camp is all about.  Running around and getting muddy and slipping and sliding around the field is just so much fun.  I would choose that over a movie any day, it is just so much more exciting.  Plus, as a staff member, seeing the kids get excited and have fun with an activity/afternoon like this is so rewarding.  That is why we do this.  That is why you have to have at least a touch of crazy in you to be a good camp counselor.

There are photos of this extravaganza, at least the river part, so when i get them I will post them.

Have you ever noticed that the sunset is usually significantly more exciting and colorful on an evening after a storm?  I suppose I could just be making that up or dreaming it, but I think that it is true.  When the clouds break up and the sun gets low in the sky the golden color really shows through.  Summer evenings here in Maine are almost always pretty spectacular, but on a night like tonight, after two days of bad weather, it seems like there is nothing better.

Here at camp the light streams through over the mountains in the distance and the river, then through the tall pine trees that line the high bank, and across the field.  I don’t think you could ask for a better backdrop and lighting when we walk out of dinner and then as it gets later in the evening and taps get played.  The silence and stillness during those moments when everyone in camp stops to listen to the bugle is quite magical.  If you have never had the opportunity to stop each evening, reflect on the day and listen to the floating melody of taps on the bugle (especially when played by a great camper) then you should.  I suppose it is kind of an American thing, but I would imagine that anyone from anywhere would appreciate it.

The evening after a day or more of rain is also special because kinds want to be out and enjoy the remnants of the day.  We take advantage of every moment of daylight that we can get, but the games and activities that get played are much more interesting than those during the course of a regular day.  Little pickup games of anything as long as the equipment is out and available.  It is a tim when everyone is actually in camp together and there are enough people around to get a decent game going.

Evenings are always a peaceful time.  Sure, sometimes we get a little hyper, or we have a dance night, but for the most part, it is one of the best times of day.  The world cools off (most of the time), people relax, and this is when the bonds of great friendships show.  Everyone has a friend and everyone hangs out together.  It is a beautiful time that hopefully everyone stops to appreciate sometimes.  You don’t have to be in a special place like camp to stop and appreciate the summer evenings.  It might have a slightly different effect if you live in a city, but I would imaging that if you stop and reflect, it is pretty similar.

All things considered, it is kind of hard to follow my last post.  Needless to say, it has been quite along week.  We have a saying at camp: “The days are very long but the weeks go by too fast!”  It is so true.  Sometimes I wonder if shows like 24 could really happen in the span of a single day, but when I look back at all the things that happened some of the days this week, it seems a little more plausible.  We seem to really be able to pack a day full of things to do, especially when you wake up at 7AM and go to bed at 1AM.  Which by the way, I am still not sure how I manages that most of the summer.

Last Monday seems so far away, heck, so does yesterday.  I know that I went on the camping trip on Monday, but that seems like years ago.  In the span of a week I have driven hundreds of miles, gone camping, scuba diving, played guitar at two campfires, wrote a tribute to a dear friend, got signed up to play camp-counselor 2-on-2 beach volley ball, and so much more.  I was actually very happy that for the most part today, my services were only required for the setup of the big screen so that our Spanish “mafia” could watch the World Cup finals.  It was actually a relaxing day and the heat wave has mostly broken it seems.

All these things have gone on, and while I was sitting at campfire, watching the embers drift in the thermals I was thinking that tonight would be a great night to write.  Well, here I am getting back to my computer and I feel like I have just hit a block.  I don’t really know why, other than the fact that I feel like I should be writing more than just the summation of the things that have happened over the past week.  There is something so mesmerizing about watching the embers from the fire dance up into the sky.  That is probably what made me think that it would be a good night to write.  Watching that always reminds me of the scene in the movie The Right Stuff where the embers from the aboriginal fire seem to fly up into space.

Today was just one of those days, all the best intentions, none of the motivation.  I have a list of things that should get done, and I probably could have checked a bunch of them off today, but I didn’t.  In truth, I didn’t really do much of anything besides play guitar and eat today.  It seems like all we do on Sundays is eat.  Mostly because we have a late breakfast, but lunch is at a normal time.  The sad thing is that we manage to have both one of the best meals and the worst meal of the week on Sunday.  I am sorry, cold-cuts on rolls that are not big enough for a sandwich just does not a dinner make.

Unfortunately, while it sounds like many of the thoughts and ideas that I put down on last week’s comment card were applauded, odds are nothing will change.  I missed most of the staff meeting this week because I was setting up for the World Cup.  I heard through the grapevine that some of the admin liked my ideas for making the daily schedule better, but often times this is one of those organizations that won’t change because they think the way things are is tradition.  Well, it could be better and I wish that we could get it there.

Life is good though.  Camp is fun.  Maybe if I play my cards right I will get to go on another trip.  That would be a lot of fun.  It is just nice to do something different as the day-to-day routine here can get old fast and when you have lots of kids out of camp on trips, hiking, at competitions and at the lake, it can be like a ghost town.  In some ways, it makes the job easier, but it can also make it less fun, especially for the campers.  It seems though that for the most part people are in good spirits, so that is good.