Saturday, July 18, 2009

It’s about 5:15pm and Mel, Sunny and I are talking boys. Sunny has a guy named Peter from school, and Mel and Peter from here at camp are interested in each other and are just casually dating. They asked me about me and I lied and said that I left someone in Atlanta. I didn’t lie about the super cuteness/hotness of him, but saying that “I left someone” implies that I actually had him to begin with, which is a blatant lie. Eh, whatever works.

Mel talked about how frustrating it is that Peter wants to just be friends even though they both have feelings for each other and that it’s so hard for her to have to keep waiting and waiting and waiting – he’s kept her waiting for 7 weeks, which is a ridiculously long time when you think about how long summer is and all that jazz. She really likes him, and last week was his last week working at camp. She’s pretty bummed, but hopefully they’ll get to see each other. His parents love her, and this morning she had breakfast with them. How cute!

Today was so much freaking fun. I went to In Hot Water, a little café in Annandale with Sarah the HMA, Sarah Du., and Emily T. We parked and went to the little Annandale farmer’s market where I bought a potato cheddar loaf, which actually had potatoes in it which shocked me. It was pretty funny to actually see chunks of potatoes in the bread. We then went into the café and there was Derek. "Camp Goggles" – so few choices that you just look at everything male and think he's attractive. So cute. We sat with him and talked over our coffee and I had cheese and toast which was incredible.

We got back and played in the ultimate Frisbee tournament – it was so much freaking fun!!!! On my team were Nicki and Sarah Du., and we just cherry picked our favorites and got to the finals and played against the undefeated Cheese and Gravy team. My favorite subs Grace, Tyler, Cheyenne, and Derek. Oh my goodness.

After the Frisbee tournament we descended upon the dining hall and had leftovers from the previous week, and it was a lot of fun. After that we went to play volleyball, but I just sat and watched and talked on the phone to Michael. This was followed by some lake time with only Derek (21 years old) and Charlie (17 years old, super flirty with Annie) swimming because it was so bloody cold, and some more Michael-on-the-phone time for me out on the dock dipping my toes into the water. Mallory acted as lifeguard and lamented the fact that she couldn’t swim, too. After that Nicki and I went with Mallory to the pool where there was a Brit fest: Jon, Emily, Barb, and Matt. Plus some non-Brits: Michelle (lifeguard) and Steve. They were all having the best time taking pictures of each other underwater with Emily’s baller waterproof camera that can actually take pictures underwater! I was super impressed with the camera! Most of the pictures were pretty creepy, but some were really good! After that I went to the cabin and sat out on the porch and talked to Linda. I went and filled out some more maintenance request forms for Irish Rose and got the cabin folder. I took a very unsatisfying shower and talked with Sunny and Sarah (who was over to borrow the hair straightener) about clothing choices – Sarah would wear her dress with the white top, Sunny would wear my black dress, and I would wear my purple dress. No heels allowed. Make-up required. Accessories optional. It was fun. This all ended about 4:45pm, and so I came in and sat on this bottom bunk to start. Mel came in around 5pm, and she and Sunny and I talked and joked around until about 5:25pm when Sarah Du. called me and asked where we were – she was with her aunt and they were getting her things together and just waiting around. We finally started walking about 5:30pm and passed Sarah and her aunt going in the opposite direction – Sarah was headed to A&C to get nail polish remover for her toe nails, and her aunt was headed out to the car. We picked up another member to our little party, Brianna, who is from Wisconsin, works in the kitchen, lives with the support staff in Spruce, and is super nice and seemingly extremely shy. She hates being the only American in Spruce, and feels left out – so I invited her to come over and hang out with us in Goldfinch whenever she felt like it if we were there.

We got to the “Thank You Event” (“Staff Recognition”) and sat more towards the door, and I got punch that tasted like the liquid strawberry Jell-O is made of before it sets up in the fridge – and Jell-O that hasn’t had nearly enough water added. It was disgusting. No one in our group drank it except Sunny and Kayla. Sarah B. and Emily T. showed up and sat with us, as did Kayla, who later deserted us to go cling to the few Eden Wood people who had come down. A couple of New Hope people came down, but not the ones who I really wanted to see: Shelley, Kylee, Courtney, and Uneeka. Supposedly they wanted to go to Duluth instead, and also there were other reasons but I don’t know what those were though I can probably guess (Mickey came back to CF on about Wednesday, and Charlotte drove them down). Harriet, Anna, and a couple others drove the 3 hours down for the 2 hours of event and then were turning around and driving the 3 hours back. Supposedly it’s not so grand up there, because there’s nothing up there to do and so it’s very difficult to keep the campers entertained. And the computer (only one computer for the whole camp) is locked up every weekend, and so they aren’t able to use it. There are only 3 cabins, and last week they only had about16 campers. I would be going absolutely insane.

The Staff Recognition event went well, with delicious Dave’s Bar-be-cue, of which I did not have nearly enough, and vanilla ice cream and enormous chocolate chip cookies. I wish I had gotten seconds on the bar-be-cue and just skipped the dessert. There were several speakers, and between each Chet read thank you emails, letters, and notes from the staff and campers that had been sent. I really wish they would share those with the cabins. I know they must get a lot of them, and I think it’s unfair that they don’t share the notes with that cabin’s staff. They should let us read them, and really get a feel for the good work that we do. I think that would be a pretty cool addition to the procedure – that way we get the thanks from the campers and their caregivers – the people who really matter. Meh.

After the speakers, etc. there was a little slideshow put together by Sam which was okay. There were some great pictures of campers that we all loved, and there were some videos of fabulous campers, as well. The sound system was crap, but a bunch of us moved up so that we could see and hear better. There was a video of me and Deanne coming out of the lake at Camp Eden Wood after her dip in the water. It was so great to see her again. One of the speakers was David’s dad, and I cringed as he spoke throughout most of his part. He used expressions such as “special needs” (sounded negative as he said it) and “deal with people with disabilities” (vs. “work with people with disabilities”) and told stories about David that made David seem like a horrible, moody, behavior-ridden child (which he is not!!!!!! He just has Asperger’s and he’s not challenging at all!) and was very derogatory towards Minnesota and said things like “parents of people who have disabilities don’t choose it, it just happens and you have to deal with the consequences” (made my stomach turn) and just really made me feel horrible that David/other parents/the staff/etc. had to sit there and listen to it … which makes me wonder what kind of verbal/psychological abuse he gets at home from his father and mother. We all love David, and we’re all glad that he’s finally going to get to go home, and we were all just so flabbergasted by the things that his father said. In the end his father tried to make it up, saying that he and his life are so much better for having David in his life, and that he is ashamed of all of the horrible jokes that he had made about people with disabilities in his life. It was interesting. And Kelsey’s father got up and spoke and towards the end of his section talked about how whenever Kelsey is shipped off to Respite and/or week camp, he goes and visits his girlfriend. I know he was trying to cast it in the light that he doesn’t have to worry about her when she’s at camp.

After the event we all milled around outside by the picnic table and everyone was taking pictures, especially with people from Eden Wood and New Hope – we miss them so much! Anna came down, and it was nice for Sarah Du. and Anna to reconnect. We decided to go to the Pickle later with a bunch of people, but first Emily and I went back for our wallets and then we just hung out in Wasie while Amy straightened Lisa’s hair, Katie ate trail mix, and Sarah B. just chilled. Sam (boy Sam) joined us eventually and just seemed really awkward. We left and walked to the place at around 9:00pm, and it was just a great walk. Sam didn’t come with us then, so it was just us six girls. On the way we saw Tyler riding towards us going back to camp and told him to come and join us, which he did later on. I talked to Lisa a bit and she’s super nice and will actually talk to you, which surprised me because, well, I don’t know, but maybe it’s something about her face or expression? I dunno. But it was nice to actually get to talk to her.

There was a live band (I think the acronym for them was BLT, but I don’t know what that stood for), and they played country, some 80s, and just some really fun dancing music. There were a lot of people there, and they asked us why we didn’t hitch a ride with them, and we didn’t really have an answer. In my mind I was saying because I wanted to ditch Sunny and Kayla, but of course I couldn’t say that. There was Barb, Christy, one of Christy’s friends who is somewhere else either EW or NH I dunno, Sunny, Kayla, Crystel, Lorna, and a bunch of others. It was a bunch of us. We immediately started dancing and having a great time. Throughout the night I had a Corona with lime and a screwdriver (the night’s special, and it sure had a kick). Maybe I just should have had a couple of screwdrivers – a lot cheaper and more alcohol. Whatevs. Another crew from camp showed up about a good while after us and Derek was with them. I swear, if Derek didn’t have a girlfriend oh man would I be in trouble – I try to keep away from him as much as possible so that I don’t think about doing anything. Argh. Definitely have “camp goggles.” At the end of the night, Emily T. and Sarah B. admitted that they had little crushes on Derek, but I didn’t admit mine. I’m a selfish bitch, I know. Anyway, we all danced and drank and had a great time. At about 10:15pm the pub staff started going around asking for IDs, b/c apparently you’re not allowed in pub after 10:30pm if you’re under 21. I got stamped but mine wore off b/c I was so ridiculously grossly sweaty, but whatevs. The Eden Wood crew except for Crystel and including Sunny, Kayla, etc. left then, but the rest of us stayed on. Sam and Lisa left about 10:45pm because they were under 21 and sadly Derek went with him. I bet it was awkward for Derek b/c he looked to be the third wheel – I hate being third wheel. A bunch of others including Lorna, Erin, Barb, and their clique left to go to a party in Annandale (Brynnan’s I think) which was sad b/c we’re never invited anywhere, but whatevs. It was a lot of fun. Crystel didn’t leave until the very end, and it was great fun. We left about 11:45pm to walk back, leaving Amy and girl Sam at the place smoking outside (Sam wasn’t smoking), and it was Katie Moyers, Sarah B., Emily T., Mel, and me. I didn’t realize how insanely badly I had to pee until we were about halfway back, and so I dropped back in the group and ran up behind a tree in a field to pee. It was hilarious. Luckily no one started hollering for me until I had already made it back to the road and was trying to catch up. The stars were absolutely incredible and they saw some amazing shooting stars. The constellations are so bright, and you can see so many more stars – it was absolutely incredible!

We got back and split up, Mel and I heading back to the cabin. Sunny was there and we talked for a long time, and I found out some other fabulous gossip, and I was able to pass on some really valuable information. Orlando has a crush on Sunny and has told her numerous times, telling her also that he wishes he could take her on a couple of dates. She thinks he is creepy and every time tells him “no way, no chance, nope” but she is way too nice to him – she keeps talking to him and I think he confuses “just being nice” with “flirting.” So yeah. That. I told her that he was 34 years old, and she flipped out. Mel did, also. Super creeped out. But yeah.

(A lot of this entry was written the morning of Sunday, July 19, 2009, while waiting or laundry to be done. I suppose I had better go check on it. I just want to reiterate how much fun it was to play ultimate Frisbee, and how incredibly sore I am. Argh. But it’s so worth every ache and pain and the sore feet that I have!)