April 28, 2011

Backs against the wall
We feel the fire burning white
Hot like the love we had
This is how we lost the fight
Holding onto something here
Words ashes in our mouths
Smoke pouring from sky-cast eyes
We’re strangers in this house
Angry hearts and angry thoughts
Ring false throughout our world
Another love another dream
Fall victim to the hurt
I told you once
The three words we craved
But they weren’t enough
To make us stay
The blood we drew
Can’t be returned to our hearts
Another life we wanted so badly
Gone but remembered in scars
Embittered by the battle
We count our casualties again
And the lies we tell within our minds
Make child’s-play of our sins
Cast aside we clutch our pride
As we watch each other burn
Another song sung for too long
The memories return
Counting to infinity
Our minds wander through the past
Carried home to the charred remains
We weren’t strong enough to last

Mei Johnson

Food Blogs

There are so many amazing food and recipe blogs out there, it's quite difficult to keep up! Everytime I think about all the stuff that I'm missing out on and could never catch up on I feel overwhelmed, but only in the most delicious, drooling, artery-clogging, diabetic coma-inducing, and loving way possible! So here are some blogs that I want to keep track of. I will do my best to remind myself to check on each one of these at least once a week, but, sadly, I can make no promises as I'm easily distracted! I'll also be editing and updating the list as I go along. Hopefully this post will serve not only as a way to keep track and keep up, but also a way to keep in touch with all the delicious rumblings and lustful food thoughts running rampant through my body and soul. I see this post scurrying down a horribly irresistible and seriously brain-plumping rabbit hole of dark and deeply delicious fabulousness. But I must be brave and face the ravishing beast head-on! Thus, let the feasting begin!


Taste Spotting: A collection of deliciousness from throughout the interwebs! Their tagline? "A community-driven visual potluck." Oh man, the deliciousness that is collected on this website is too much to handle! I could seriously spend hours here, clicking, drooling, and repeating (to steal the tagline from FoodPornDaily.com). They even post their own creations! Such as these incredible looking Turkey Meatballs that have, among other ingredients, pine nuts, golden raisins, and cumin.



Food Porn Daily: Speaking of FoodPornDaily.com! Tagline: Click, Drool, Repeat. 100% accurate. Explore their website and you will be both inspired and descouraged. Food never looked so good ... or so sexy! But sexy in a "classy" way .. *wink*



The Winter Guest: Tagline: Food seen from my kitchen in Spain. Yes, you can see, feel, touch, hear, and sense the overwhelming jealousy that is oozing from every pore and hazy floating orb in my existence. A recent delicious find is this Vegan Butternut Squash and Tomato Soup. Be still my beating, gurgling, gluttinous stomach!



Food Gawker: Another heinously incredible collection of deliciousness, a la Taste Spotting. I want to cry when I look at the amazingness staring me down. I drooled first, therefore it won. But I couldn't be happier in my defeat! But are all the recipes coming exclusively from The Winter Guest? I can't tell, but this one sure is amazing! My Grandmother's Migas will definitely be given a try! Take one for the team ... I mean, it's the least I can do!

The Family Kitchen: Family friendly, indeed. Or at least that's what I'm assuming, as their host site is "Babble: for a new generation of parents." Quite tasty things can be found here! Such as this gorgeous Chocolate Avocado Cupcakes. Though personally I'd rather just go at the avocado sliced on a plate, sprinkled with lime and salt. But hey, I'll try anything chocolatey and delicious at least once!

Bittersweet Baker: Now this site makes me want to cry with the sugary deliciousness that oozes through the pixels in my screen. Raspberry Curd? Why not! Homemade Marscapone Cheese? Bring on the Giada recipes! (Granted this recipe came from another site that I'll have to mention later ... twist my arm!) Chocolate Crinkle Cookies? Don't mind if I do! This is an incredible find, indeed.

Baking Obsession: As promised, here is where I found the Homemade Marscapone Cheese recipe mentioned earlier! Chocolate Banana Cardamom Jam? Who'd have thought?! Well, it turns out Baking Obsession done thought-ed, created, and succeeded! Sigh. So much to try, so little time!

Poires au Chocolat: Contrary to the name, this isn't all about chocolate, but it is all about deliciousness. Tagline: "Don't tickle your tastebuds, seduce them." But my tastebuds are not the only seduced parts of me blindly groping the Fresh Mint Ice Cream laced with Dark Chocolate, its Black Cherry and Marscapone Tart with a Gingernut Crust, its Rose-Poached Pears, and its Homemade Nutella!

The Baking Bird: What a great name! Kylie, the creator, combines all her favorite things in this blog: "baking, cooking, food, photography, ayurveda, interior design, art, and last but not least, birds!" (Imagine sung to Julie Andrews' "My Favorite Things".) She also generously provides links to other delicious sites, such as Joy the Baker and her recipe for Curried Sweet Potato Soup with Goat Cheese Biscuits! Yumz.

Joy the Baker: What delicious fun things! It's a great site to roam around! Heres a goody: Pumpkin Pie Pop Tarts with Maple Glaze. And the pictures are fabulous, of course! Lavender Vanilla Sugar? Who'd have thought! What a fabulous idea! Christmas gifts? I think so!

The Little Teochew: "Food. Family. Fotography." There is a distinct emphasis on Asia (yes, this includes South Asia), but there are also some really wonderful recipes that don't necessarily have or need a cultural, culinary home. Some of my favorite mouthwatering recipes of Glazed Lemon Buttermilk Cupcakes, Yogurt Cake with Blueberry Sauce, beautiful Chinese Dumplings, a Roasted Pumpkin Quiche, and Watercress Soup. There's also a great recipe of what they claim as Easy Lemon Curd! Be advised, Alton Brown, you have competition.

All Day I Dream About Food: A blog that perfectly describes my obsession. "I Dream About Food." It's true. I do. And if I could have my way, I would Live Food. The tagline? "Adventures in cooking, baking, and eating the results." Jealousy, you are my perpetual foody friend. Anyway, this blog is calming on the eyes, but gets my stomach gurgling and my foody brain whirring in anticipation! They have 27 fun recipes that are gluten free, and 38 that are purported to be low carb. Mother, you might even approve! Please pass a couple of thick slices of the Rosemary Olive Oil Quick Bread (Low Carb) to go along with the Spicy Green Tomato Soup with Crispy Pancetta. And for dessert, how about we have some Chocolate Creme Tarts with Hazelnut Crust (Low Carb and Gluten Free) with a healthy scoop of Basil Ice Cream (Low Carb). Oh, Fall, how I adore your food combinations!

Three Many Cooks: A blog about the delicious things that go on in this family's kitchen. Well, the kitchen seems to belong exclussively to Mom and her two daughters, but there's more than enough love in their kitchen to make up for any people they banish from their counters, stovetops, and kitchen floors! The most recent offering are Salvadoran Papusas with Curtido and Salsa Roja. How fabulous! And a recipe that I am ridiculously eager to try? Grand Marnier Souffles. I'm very much looking forward to doing some more exploring on this site!

The Wholesome Home: Tagline: "Fitness from Scratch." Now, normally I shy away (to be honest, run screaming from), any stie that blusters on about health and advice on how to live longer while eating distressingly unappetizing food while exercising until you no longer feel like a human being, but this site has some wonderful recipes. Granted, I'll probably stay far away from their "Health" and "Life" sections, but the "Gardening," "Housekeeping," and "Recipes" departments might find themselves the subjects of a good read. So here is a fabulous little recipe that is both healthy (ick ... even the word gives me the heebee-jeebees) and tastebud seducing (ah, there we go) recipe: Hazelnut Macaroons with Homemade Nutella. Though not a huge fan of macaroons, anything paired with nutella is bound to get my attention, especially if that anything is something that can use up all the eggs that I buy but can never seem to get rid of. Plus, hazelnuts are quite tasty!

The Food Librarian: Interestingly enough, this blog actually is by a librarian! A librarian from Los Angeles, nonetheless! This blog chronicles her "attempt to learn to bake from scratch" in addition to "other musings about food and life" that, to be honest, may never get a "click" from this easily spooked reader. The recipe that has caught my eye is her individual-sized Lavender-Lemon Bundts. Not only are they adorable, but they look absolutely delicious. I am a lemon fiend, and love ideas that pair it with strange yet oddly-sensical things such as lavender. I guess this means I'm going to have to make a run to Michael's to get some mini bundt tins. (Michael's is such a dangerous place for me, but I shall be brave and not emerge with hundreds of thousands of things that I do not really need but that I want desperately.) Anyway, onwards!

Amanda's Cooking: I must admit, I'm intrigued. Savory Chicken with Onion and Thyme Sauce. Billy might enjoy this one! While Mother would probably prefer lighter Grilled Garlic Lemon Chicken Breasts that I would probably accompany with Homemade Pull Apart Dinner Rolls and some Garlic Mashed Potatoes or Julia Childs' Style Green Beans. (I'm actually a huge fan of the original pairing of the Pork in Lemon Juice & Herb Maranade in combination with the Garlic Mashed Potatoes.) What about some Buttermilk Rolls paired with Corn and Red Pepper Chowder? Who is this "Amanda", anyway? I quite like her!

Whitney in Chicago: Tagline: "Cooking, eating, and living in the Windy City." If the Windy City is made of nothing but deliciousness, count me in! Not to mention her "market" is the Green City Market that touts "fresh local delicious" food stuffs! I'm dying to try her recipe for Ginger Peach Muffins, as well as her Vegan Apple Crisp! Another reason to love this blog is the sidebar of TONS of links to other delicious blogs such as "Orangette," "Joy the Baker" (mentioned earlier), "Smitten Kitchen," "The Kitchen Sink,""Cucina Nicolina" ("life in & out of the kitchen" with such happy recipes as Potato-Leek Soup with Bay Leaves, Garlic-toasted Quinoa, and Pear-almond Upsided-down Cake), Happy Jack Eats ("eating. living. taking photos of it all." Including a ravishing Beans, sausage, squash, greens. And fall. recipe that seems too good to be true!), and of course for the fruit lovers out there the Fruitslinger (this site definitely deserves from serious perusing!).

Baked Bree: Now this is a great site. You find Lemon Ginger Steamed Pudding, Butternut Squash Soup with Gruyere Croutons, and Tandoori Chicken Burgers. I just love the step-by-step photos of the proces of making such mouth-watering foods. Plus there are links to fun yumminess like Oreo Cheesecake Balls (from another site that may get perused Three Sides of Crazy) and Accidental Pumpkin Blondies.

Fat Free Vegan: Recently inspired by a good family friend, I've been exploring fun, delicious, and surprisingly vegan-friendly recipes online. One of my recent obsessions is Susan V.'s FatFree Vegan blog, where I've found numerous kid and non-vegan friendly recipes! Granted, anytime I see the "fat free" notice (warning!), I cringe and have to fight the urge to slink away while grumbling "fat free isn't the only thing that matters." But this stie actually is quite fun! I love them because they are, as noted earlier, non-vegan friendly! Who would have guessed that Baked Spinach Kofta with Cucumber-Yogurt Sauce would be both vegan-friendly and tasty, or that I could do a Savory Swiss Chard Pie for the family friend at Thanksgiving and Christmas get-togethers, or that I could replace the traditional pumpkin pie with a possibly even more delicious Applie-Pumpkin Delight or a ripping Impossible Pumpkin Pie??? Or what about a Calamondin (or Lemon) Pie with Oatmeal Cookie Crust??? I think that's one of the things that I love about this woman's recipes: they don't look or sound or feel vegan! Such a fan! Family friend, you are in for quite a treat this holiday!

Cooking Frenzy!

Tonight I've had another stupendous attack of The Cooking Frenzy. Total time: 3 hours of straight cooking and cleaning up!

It all started this morning when a co-worker friend Katie and I enjoyed a fabulous adventure at the Dekalb County Farmer's Market. Fortunately, I found incredible amounts of deliciousness, but unfortunately, I walked out $75 poorer. Worth it? Well, I think so.

So tonight the following was made, cooked, consumed:

• Pan Rustica with knock-off manchego (actually tastes more like queso blanco than manchego, haha)
• Lasagna a Different Way: a sautee mixture of spinach-creamed-corn cooked earlier in the week, mushrooms, onions, garlic, spinach, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper combined with a cheesy mixture of ricotta, sour cream, plain yogurt, oregano, salt, pepper, paprika, 2 eggs, cumin (will leave cumin out next time), lemon juice, and "sprinkled" with shredded poached chicken, all rolled up in really wide, long green lasagna noodles, each big log cut into three smaller logs, and then set up-right in a pan that has been pammed and olive oiled, and cooked at 425 degrees F for 15 minutes covered and 7 - 10 minutes uncovered. They look like delicious lasagna cinnamon rolls! Yummy ...
• Mushroom and Wine Sauce: sliced mushrooms leftover from the lasagna sauteed with diced onions, and garlic, add red wine and lemon juice, include the leftover chicken from the lasagna. Can't wait to have it on pasta! Actually, may even be tasty on its own!
• Chicken Stock ... Kinda: Salted water that the chicken was poached in, add sliced onions, two cloves smashed garlic, mushroom stems, simmer until the onions are translucent and the garlic cloves are falling apart.
• Focaccia with Olive Oil and Salt: Focaccia, grilled on the George Foreman, drizzled with olive oil, and sprinkled with coarse sea salt.

Can't wait to actually taste the completed lasagna and chicken stock! Hopefully I'll get some photos up at some point! While cooking I also listened to some fabulous Splendid Table, wooed into a food stupor by Lynne Rosetta Casper. She's a goddess. Truly.

Yummy!

So this is what happens when you read ...

Currently Reading: 1421: The Year China Discovered America

Current Page: 202

Total Pages not includeing multiple appendices, footnotes, indexes, and other scholarly crap: 491 (Reaction: AACK.)

Impressions of book thus far: INCREDIBLE! I absolutely love this book! So interesting, so great! Thank goodness there are multiple illustrations, maps, and chunks of pages of glossy fun color photos/pictures scrattered throughout. I get lost reading this book, and I can't imagine these people actually going out and doing all of this! The only thing that bothers me so far is the author's repeated requests that readers go to his "website" for more information. Dude - your book is almost 500 pages long. Just go ahead and add whatever it is we're supposed to find on your damn website. Put in another couple appendices.

I'm totally shocked that all of these incredible achievments have been essentially wiped off the history books, even in China! All these cool facts about: Asiatic chickens in the Americas centuries before the Europeans limped their way over; rose-pink beads from Central America and gold rings with enormous emeralds found on atolls in the Pacific Ocean; the most beautiful, delicate, and incredible porcelein that magically depicted nature and other scenes when water was poured in from the Aztecs that surpassed by leaps and bounds the porcelein skills of the Chinese and was centuries ahead of the Europeans (who couldn't even accomplish the simplest porcelein production until the 18th century); mylodon's from Patagonia (souther Argentina) hanging out in Australia; the backwardness, barbarous, primitive, dirty, ignorant, and uncivilized Europeans; the incredible precautions the Chinese took to ensure their seamen were well fed with nutritious food and were relatively well cared for (ex. grew bean sprouts on food ships to prevent vitamin deficiencies, had trained otters in "aquariums" in the holds that would go out and round up fish into the nets, dogs kepts on ships both to keep down the vermin as well as to consume); and of course the fact that the vast majority of the land masses, waterways, and place names of the world are from European tongues, rarely the original people's tongues, and absolutely none of the Chinese tongues. Incredible. Europe is so damn selfish. And the Chinese madarins were so desperate to erase any and all memories of the extravagance of Emperor Zhu Di, the Song of Heaven that they destroyed everything they could get their hands on. What else hsa been destroyed over time that could have completely changed the course of knowledge, history, and the world? What are we destroying now that may prove crucial in the studies of some academian or simply curious student hundreds of years down the line? *Sigh*

Anyway, here are just some of the fun creatures and things that I've learned from the book so far:

Mylodon: 151: incredible ground sloth from Patagonia (southern Argentina) that stood at least 3 meters (approdimcately 8 - 9 feet) on its hind legs, lived in caves, absolutely incredible looking, I would certainly like to meet one if they weren't extinct





Warrah: 169: fabulous little creature that appeared to be a cross between a fox and a feral dog (probably left behind by one of the Chinese vessels), noted by Charles Darwin, but extinct by the 1860s
- More Info: http://www.messybeast.com/extinct/warrah.htm



Kerguelen Cabbage: 185: saved the Chinese seamen when their beansprouts rations were almost nil at the southern end of South America (found on the Kerguelen Island in the Shetland Islands in the Atlantic)




As a parting note, I'm not surprised that the Chinese highly prize (and love) this fabulous edible: the trepang (a.k.a. the sea cucumber). Enjoy these photos of the delictible little creature. Don't they make you want to rush out, buy one, and take a big bite?! Yum ... ?

Anyway, more to come later as I gleefully wander around this fabulous book!

Today: Lemon Curd!

Today is a lemon curd type of day. (Whatever that means ... it sounded better in my head haha) Heavy rain off and on, strange bursts of sunlight, and for some reason there's a concrete chisel being used somewhere just far enough not to be seen but certainly near enough to be perplexing and annoying. Strange neighborhood.

Julie Wolf, dear family friends from YEARS AND YEARS AND YEARS ago, makes us lemon curd every year for the holidays, but only this year did I attempt to make it. And damn it was good! So simple, but it does take some work and some time. Yay for biceps and triceps from stirring constantly!

In any case, I have elected to use Alton Brown's delicious lemon curd recipe. The only thing I would add would be a pinch of salt, but if you choose to leave that out because of the entire stick of butter that goes into it, who am I to judge. (But seriously ... after an entire stick of butter, what's one little pinch of salt?)

Here's the link!
Lemon Curd: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/lemon-curd-recipe/index.html

Some suggested uses for lemon curd are:
- Diabetic coma
- Clogged arteries

But once you get past those little negative-nancies of the culinary world, there are the following seductive uses of lemon curd:
- On toasted toast (sourdough, wheat/multigrain, french baguette), English muffins, croissants, weird healthy muffins, zucchini or banana or whatever-else you-make breads
- On sugar cookies, oatmeal cookies, bran cookies, pretty much any type of simple cookie (either on top or made into little sandwich cookies)
- In tarts
- In trifles
- On ice cream
... to name a few ...

As you can see, the possibilities go on and on! So whip yourself up a batch and see what you come up with!

Enjoy!

Nashville Flooding - Pets

When people are forced to leave their homes, they leave more than their family photos, their unfinished laundry, their entertainment systems, and the uneaten food in the freezer, they also leave their hearts: their pets. Due to a lack of space, temporary shelters not allowing animals for health and safety concerns, and not being able to locate a roaming cat, these invaluable members of the family are left behind. There is not way to convey to the unquestioning love in their eyes that you will be back as soon as you can, that you really do not want to leave them, and that you truly love them with all or your heart. And that inability to communicate is almost as devastating as leaving them behind in the first place.

In the recent Nashville, TN flooding, I am as concerned about the displaced animals as I am about their owners. Humans can fend for themselves, and so can their pets, but while humans have decades of life in which to find one another again, their animals may not even make it another year. Also, shelters and rescue centers have also be terribly affected by not only the rising waters but also the loss of power, the loss of potable water, the loss of staff members to care for them, and the loss of potential human families to come and adopt them.

Thankfully, there are many organizations stepping up, willing to help furry ones in need. Animal control is offering food and other supplies to pet owners. The Dyersburg ASPCA has sent workers to rescue domesticated and nondomesticated animals from the floods and devastation. Online news sources, blogs, and television news stations are also generously giving paper, internet, and air time to these furry hearts of many families.

More to come. But please, please, please keep the animals and their families in your thoughts and prayers.

Nashville, TN

Please keep Nashville, TN, her people, and her pets in your thoughts and prayers.

Here are some photos of some of the devastation: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/03/tennessee-flooding-photos_n_561436.html#s88270

No Strings Attached - Joel Thompson

On of my good friends, Joel Thompson, is a member of No Strings Attached, the all-male A Capella group here at Emory University. He is an incredible musician, as he sings, plays piano, composes, arranges, and promotes music. It's fair to say that music is his life, and I can't imagine him without it.

This past weekend No Strings Attached had their end of the semester, Spring 2010 concert, and it was phenomenal. Hilarious with great music - what more could you ask for?! Many of the songs in their repertoire for the night were arrangements by Joel, my favorite of which was Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me," sung by another member of the group (to be verified later when I can track him down!). It made my heart melt and my soul yearn for even a minute chance to have even a fraction of a hundredth of a percentage of the experience and emotion conveyed in the song. It's a wonderful song, it was a great arrangement, and it was phenomenal soloist.


So without further ado, here is his big solo, the only solo he has agreed to in his years with NSA. He is singing Stevie Wonder's "You and I."

Enjoy!

Capoeira Day

Today, anyway, I'd like to present some Capoeira!

Capoeira is a Brazilian martial arts form that is inextricably linked to the history and culture of Brazil. Even with over 400 years of history, only recently has it truly has become a worldwide sensation. Mental and physical flexibility are required; though those two sound simple, when combined they present a formidable challenge. For more history and information, check out some of the links below!

Find of the day is ...

The Fabulous Group: D1 Autre Monde (D'Un Autre Monde)
Incredible Capoeira Video: http://mapage.noos.fr/d1autremonde/demo.html

They are truly out of this world. I greatly admire not only thier physical skills but also their passion for Capoeira and their unreal improvisation skills. As they twist and spin and truly take advantage of their bodies, they remind me so much of the grace, athleticism, and bonelessness of cats!

Here are some fun links:

Capoeira Science: http://capoeirascience.com/

Capoeirista: http://www.capoeirista.com/

Planet Capoeira Magazine: http://www.planetcapoeira.com/

I hope you enjoy these!

Sarah Duncan is a Music Video Star!

I LOVE this music video by Hot Water to the song Laduma. It is absolutely brilliant! The music is amazing and the lyrics and video are just wonderful and inspiring! ("Laduma" is what they call when they make a goal in soccer, and the man who's excitedly yelling in front of the television for his kid is commenting on the game.)

"Laduma" - Hot Water
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4V9s9xQwTw


PLUS:

My wonderful friend Sarah Duncan is featured in it! She's laughing hysterically with her sister, her sister's boyfriend, and her family friend at 3:17! Please watch the whole thing, not just the part she's in!

I hope you become as addicted to this music video as I have!

Currently obssessed with ...

Shemar Moore and Hot & Spicy Barbecue Chips ... is there any way to combine the two in real life?

"I'm the fish with the carnivorous teeth!"

This is such an amazing video. Quality. I cannot describe to you how happy this video makes me feel everytime I watch it. Dibs on getting to be the Shark if this is ever recreated!

DJ Format feat. Jurassic 5 - WE KNOW SOMETHING

New Transitions

Graduation: May 10th, 2010

Location: Emory University, Atlanta, GA

State of Mind: Ready but Resistant

Coping Strategies:

The Daily Monster: http://www.dailymonster.com/344_loves_you/

Sporcle: http://www.sporcle.com/

And so here we go ...

Many apologies to all you (non)readers out there. I have been completely and uttler neglectful of this blog, and only remembered it Labor Day weekend when I went home for a surprise visit (a belated Happy Birthday present for Mom) and was talking again about the experiences that I had. My family (which of course includes great family friends) is so great, and they were interested in everything. They patiently sat through hundreds of photos, dozens of videos, and hours of raving, ranting, mumbling, grumbling, and dreaming about camp.

I do greatly miss camp for many reasons, but I am also glad to be back in a non-camp environment for an equal number of reasons. One thing that is really upsetting me is how much I'm already taking for granted all of the things that I missed so much at camp. For example, I am slowly losing the wonder that I had upon my initial return from camp that the water in the coming out of the sink faucet and coming out of the shower did not smell or taste like a bloody nose, and that the water in the toilet bowl is not stained a permanent orange-, yellow-nasty.

I'd like to go on in more detail about all of the things that I miss and all of the things for which I am truly grateful, as well as all of the difficult (paradoxical, confusing, abastract) transitions with which I've been struggling . But right now I just don't have the time to do so. Hopefully this coming weekend I can clean up more of the blog entries (I haven't posted since the end of July! Shame on me!) for posting and also keep up with some more recent thoughts and entries.

Much love!

July 25

Saturday, July 25, 2009

It’s about 1:30pm and I’m sitting in the dining room of Sarah Du’s aunt (Holly) and uncle’s (Attie) house. It’s an adorable, tiny house with two floors, two bedrooms one-and-a-half baths, and it’s just so cute. It’s ridiculously clean, nothing like my house will ever be, but it is really nice. The shower is out of this world. I cannot believe the heaven that is that shower. Insanity. I’ve taken two showers so far, and hope to take at least one more. Yes, a heavenly shower.

This morning I got up at 5:30am and went with Sarah, Holly, and Attie to Stillwater, MN to do some racing (Attie ran the 10 mile, Holly ran the 5k, and Sarah and I walked 4.2k of the 5k and jogged the last .8k) and then went to the Stihl World Championship of Dogs and Logs. Holly sponsored Sarah and me for the race at $30 a person. I want to send her flowers.

The 5k was really nice, very beautiful, and Sarah and I had a ton of fun cutting up and not taking the race seriously at all. I think Attie was running the 10 mile because he’s running in a marathon either next weekend or the weekend after that. The Twin Cities Marathon, I think. But yeah. We got there at about 6:45am and went to register and get everything blah blah blah. My number was 2250, and we also got a cool little chip to wear on our shoe to identify us as part of the race. Woot. After we registered we still had quite a bit of time and so Holly and Attie went to get some tea/coffee from a little café thing that was making the buck from all the runners and their friends and family. We then caught a bus up to the starting line, where we sat in the cold chilliness of the morning for a long, long time. No cute guys anywhere. Several members of a cross country team, though. They all look so young, but they’re probably just in high school – I felt so old. There was also a bridal party there – what torture. The wedding is actually today, and I wonder at the sanity with which the decision to get up at 5:30 in the morning and run was made.

Throughout the race we took lots of photos and just had a great time. Holly finished in about 35 minutes, and Sarah and I jogged in at just under 50 minutes. We were laughing as we crossed the finish line, and so I didn’t care at all about the time. Attie came in at about 1 hour 15 minutes (I think) – insanity – so hardcore. After the race, Sarah, Holly, and I waited for Attie at the finish line and I took some creeper shots of very attractive male runners coming in from the 10 miler. Nice. When Attie came in we were very happy (Holly was worried because Attie was taking so long). When he finally made it in he looked like he had only done about a 5k at a good pace – so impressed – thoroughly intimidated. Haha. We all went to the line of delicious fruit (bananas and oranges) and bagels (got a cinnamon raisin bagel) and chips (didn’t get any) and then went and got our t-shirts. Nice! We then split up and while Holly and Attie went for some food, Sarah and I went for some Dogs and Logs.

Dogs and Logs is basically lumberjacks doin’ their thang and dogs doin’ their thang. It was a lot of fun watching the dogs, but not so much fun watching the lumberjacks. They were filming it in the hopes that ESPN would pick it up, but I don’t know if ESPN was actually there or not. If I couldn’t tell they were there, they probably weren’t. But it was a huge production, really nice equipment, huge setup, and lots of people. The dogs were incredible! I took lots of photos and videos, and completely wore out my camera’s battery (the new one I got in the mail with the new charger! So excited that I finally have a camera!). I really wanted to buy Billy a $15 t-shirt touting the event, but I resisted. Got to pet a couple of adorable dogs, ate some fried cheese curds, used a porter potty that was actually insanely clean (probably because I was the first person to actually use it) and amazing because there was hand sanitizer inside, took pictures, and tried to find as much free stuff as possible. I restrained Sarah from going over to the Go Army and National Guard tents – she wanted the free stuff and to climb the rock wall thingy that the National Guard people had set up.

We met Holly and Attie at noon at the car and drove back. I stayed awake for the most part, but Sarah passed out and her aunt kept looking back and chuckling to herself and talking to Attie in a language that I have no idea. Maybe French? Dutch? Some language from South Africa? I dunno. Anywayz …

Just talked to Billy on the phone for a while, and it was nice. He is very much looking forward to the little vacation with Mom out in Santa Fe. I really hope that he can enjoy himself and not just worry about the depositions he’s been taking for the case involving the overzealous, extremely over reactive, crazy liability restraint case of a tiny kid on a cement floor by several big strong full-grown men. Yesterday while I was sitting in the grass waiting for everyone to gather so that we could leave, we talked about everything that I have learned and everything that is so crucial to understand and all the mistakes that are made simply because of a lack of communication. But another thing that I have learned while at camp is that communication only works if specific parameters are met, and that’s not always a guarantee that you’ll get them all: everyone is committed, there is time for sufficient and clear communication, situations allow for everyone and for time, and proper and sufficient information communicated – which is, once gain, never a given. I made the following comments/observations:

• Paperwork never, ever tells you the things you need to know, either because things are intentionally left out so that the client looks better or because the person filling out the paperwork is so used to the particular behavior/characteristic/way of communication/tics that they don’t think to include them.
• It is extremely important to talk to the caregiver directly with any and all questions, and it is equally important to be both tactful and honest.
• Restraints are last resort only, and if the individual is better left alone and this realization comes while performing a hold, communicate with any and all other staff and (well, we did this with Laurice) count off and run in different directions.
• Bill’s job as advocate is extremely difficult because he must try to be a translator between the parent and the schools. The schools have no way of relating to or even knowing what the parents and caregivers go through on a day to day basis, 24/7/365+. The schools only have a couple hours a day with the individual, 5 days or less a week, less than 45 weeks a year, and thus have very limited and virtually no context for the individual. Likewise, the parents have the onus of having to try to explain the specifics of how they would prefer that their child be treated, how to deal with every little thing in order to be consistent, and try to convey the grind of having a child with a disability. It’s a horrible world of miscommunication and willful negligence of the parents and children and the school systems. I’m pretty sure I was a lot more coherent on the phone with Billy than I was just here, but yeah.
• It is extremely important to thank the caregiver, to thank those who work with the people with disabilities, and just express thanks.

Yesterday was interesting. The last day. And that change, “It’s Friday. It’s Friday. It’s Friday” got all of us through that last day with the campers.

Need to talk about:

• Laurice’s behavior
• Living in Wasie
• Holly and Attie
• Chili from Whole Foods – Wheat bread from Whole Foods – delicious fruit
• Vocal cat - pronounced Oon-tsu I think ...
  
• Incredible shower

One of the most important lessons that I’ve learned while being at camp is that frustrations result in behaviors. Unless spontaneity is a characteristic of the disability, the individual often does not spontaneously erupt into a behavior. There are always warning signs; there are always patterns; and there is always a way to prevent or lessen the extent of a behavior. Now, whether or not the resources are available to prevent or diminish the severity of a behavior is there is another issue entirely, but there is always something that can be done under ideal circumstances (which do not exist, but you get my point).

Another extremely important lesson that I’ve learned is that trying new things is equally as important and using techniques that are tried and true. For example, Emily and I took five of the ladies of Goldfinch bike riding, and only one had ever been on a bike before. They were three-wheeled bikes, granted, but bikes nonetheless, and they all had an incredible time. Trying new things also applies to working with individuals during every day interactions as well as behaviors – sure, what the caregivers tell you has worked in the past, but don’t be afraid to try something new. For example, with Laurice you had to ignore her and just walk and she would follow you. The more you fussed over her and the more you asked of her vocally, she would just absolutely refuse. But the other day walking back from a meal Emily asked me to take her (bad idea b/c she hates me like noneother), and instead of walking in front of her, I just walked behind her. I think it only worked because she saw Emily go that way and was just following, but it worked to walk behind her, letting her go her own way unless she wanted to go into a building.

We had campout Thursday night and only five ladies were allowed to join us. Emily and I set up the tents after dinner, and it was nice to get away from the cabin. All of Matt’s village was camping out behind Mildred Thompson Hall. Lydia (oxygen machine), Gloria (don’t know why, but she was disappointed that she couldn’t go), Amy (sleep apnea humidifier machine thing), Mary (didn’t want to and so I guess her caregivers allowed her to opt out), and Laurice (swamp creature) did not go with us, but Julie P., Julee C., Livia, Kim, and Karin went with us. Because it was forecast to have isolated thunderstorms on Tuesday, our campout got moved to Thursday. But there were also isolated thunderstorms predicted for Thursday but whatever. So Thursday came and the dance was so much fun – Kimmy chase the guys around, Gloria danced by herself, Karin sat on the edges in a chair, Mary and Livia and Julee P. sat at the table on the end of the basketball courts, Laurice wandered around and finally made it to the table where she hated Sam and loved Emily, Julie walked and danced around by herself, Amy and Lydia danced their socks off, and I went around trying to get all of them involved. At a couple points I sat on the grass between the PC and the courts and rubbed Peter’s head (he’s a camper from Eagle and was one of Derek’s campers). He was adorable, and so cute. He just loved the contact, the pressure, and probably the motion. Ryan was in his usual janitor costume, but then traded to a graduation robe, and later for some sort of jacket and a horrible mullet wig. Sarah told me today during the walk that he had a girlfriend at the beginning of the summer, but I think he and Kara are dating. Eh, whatevs.

After the dance we went back to the cabin, got ready, and finally made it out to the tents by about 9:45pm. While we were getting ready, some campers started their showers (showers number 3!), and during the afternoon Sam had fast-packed a lot of people, which was really cool. Mel, Julee P., Julie C., and I were in one tent, and Karin, Kim, Livia, and Sunny were in the second tent. The tents were book-ended because we only had three staff. We had a great time talking and laughing, but then Josh went over to Sunny’s tent and told us to be quiet because other campers were trying to sleep. Karin got extremely huffy and mad and started yelling because we were whispering, and so we had to calm her down. I (and Mel later agreed with me from her standpoint) had a really, really hard time falling asleep because Julee C. kept biting down, doing her little chomping, teeth-smashing sounds. It was horrible. So loud and so repetitive and so agonizing to listen to. Torture. Absolute torture. I just wanted to tape her jaws closed. Finally somehow I fell asleep (it took a really, really, really long time), but then awoke at about 3:00am to the rain and the occasional misting through the sad, leaky tent. But nothing to be worried about. I kept repeating “Rain, rain, go away, come again another day … please!” in my head and fell back asleep. Unfortunately the rain did not, in fact, go away, and so at about 3:30am Matt and Josh swept through all the tents and told us we had to go back to our cabins. Argh. So we got everyone up, into their shoes, gathered everything, and trudged back to the cabin where we got everyone back into their bunks. Livia ended up sleeping on my sleeping bag, so I just slept with a sheet. I slept horribly – kept waking up every 30 – 45 minutes and thinking, “This is awful – I am getting no sleep and this is possibly one of the worst nights of sleep ever at camp.” Maybe if I had thought happy thoughts I would have slept better, but I doubt it. But yeah. It was horrible. Absolutely awful.

Sarah and I are watching the second Transformer’s film, and I’ve having a hard time with believing and even watching it. It’s just so corny and I really am not liking it right now. Sarah is loving it, though. I’m thoroughly confused. I personally would prefer a comedy or more of a human action film, but whatever.

We stopped for a while and are now surfing the internet for a new iPod for Sarah since hers broke as soon as she got here. We found a refurbished one from the Apple store, purple, 8G, nano for only about $100. She’s pretty intrigued. I’m in love with some BOSE on-ear headphones that run a good $170, and so I am stuck. Which is a big bummer. I looked some up on eBay, but got purchase shy because they were so cheap. I really want some, but I don’t know when I would ever use them, seeing as I like to hear what all is going on around me, and studying with headphones on is always a dangerous option because one might fall asleep.

Now we’re trying to watch Year One, and it’s pretty hilarious so far. I kinda really like the horrible, sick humor that it has. Tee hee hee. But it’s not working. Sadness. So she’s just clicking around. Now we’re watching it. It’s bootleg, but it’s still pretty funny.

“The muscle tribe of danger and excellence” – Jack black’s new tribe name

Sarah’s not enjoying Year One because it’s making fun of the Bible.

In the morning we were all super slow to get up, and get everyone ready. We had a breakfast of cereal and fruit, and then we went back to the cabin for more showers and more packing. I helped Mary take a shower, and then we went for a massage with Jaime the massage therapist. We then made our way over to the gym where some people played with the basketballs and others just sat there. VL Matt plastered a football to my face – I’m lucky my glasses weren’t broken and that I didn’t come out of it with any bruises. But my right thumb is really in pain – I’m hoping it’s just sprained, but whenever I do anything that pushes on the bottom knuckle or tries to move the bottom knuckle I feel a significant amount of pain. It seems to be getting better; like I said, I hope it’s just sprained.

After gym we went to Arts and Crafts where we did collages, beaded bracelets, and other such fun activities. Emily took Laurice back to the cabin so that she could get a suppository. Sunny ran everything back to the house, and the rest of us went to lunch – disgusting pizza – even more disgusting than usual. I just had some salad and two oatmeal cookies. Everyone else ate a lot, though.

On the way back from lunch I was with Mary and realized that I had left my backpack in the dining hall. We went back and she whined, but I gave her more cookies and she was at least amenable. I was pushing Mary back and we had gotten to in front of the Lodge when her walker’s wheels got stuck in the sidewalk and she went over like a soft ton of bricks. Luckily I was able to at least ease her to the ground even if I couldn’t actually keep her upright. She was laughing at me when she was on the ground, and when I asked if she was hurt at all anywhere, and she said no. Oh well. After we got back we did more work and cleaned up for a while. At 2pm everyone except Mary went to the talent show, and Mary sulked in the bathroom being moody because I kept checking on her. Sadness for her. So I just started cleaning, sweeping and mopping the entire back area except for the bathroom and staff room. When they came back at about 3:30pm I had run out of things to clean and so was just sitting with Mary in the front room. Amy had left at about 2:30pm and that was very sad. The other ladies left in bunches, which was pretty amusing. Laurice was the second to last person to leave, and Gloria was the last to leave.

Everyone except Gloria was gone by about 4:15pm, and while Sunny dodged any and all cleaning tasks, Mel and I cleaned the bathrooms and Emily took Laurice to her ride. Eventually I got Sunny to do the floor in the front bathroom, but that’s all that she would do. Emily vacuumed the living room. When we were done we went back to the staff room to pack all of our things, and then we went over to the meeting at about 5pm. The meeting didn’t start until about 5:15pm because Minnesota Loon still had a camper (her caregivers had “forgotten” to come and pick her up), but she came over and sat on the porch with Amy Mitchell while we had the meeting. It was a short meeting with lots of stories and laughter. After the meeting we went back to the cabin to finish packing and move our stuff to our cabins for next week. I’ll be staying in Wasie, and Sunny switched with Brynnan (from Minnesota Loon to Pine) because of Orlando. Sarah Du is stuck in Pine. Yay crappy cabins.

Sunny helped me move my things into Wasie and I helped her move her things into Minnesota Loon. Then Mel went to get her car, I went out to the grass by the front gate to call Billy, Sunny went to check email, and Sarah was still moving her things from Brown Thrasher to Pine. We left about 6:30pm and made it in by about 7:30pm. Sarah’s aunt picked us up from Rainbow Foods where Mel had gone in to get some food for this weekend for herself, and we came to Holly and Attie’s home. I hope I get to take a picture of it – it’s just so cute!

Holly was super nice, and she had chili from Whole Foods ready for us. I took a really long, fabulous shower, and then ate. Very delicious. The three of us sat and stood and wandered about the dining table and talked about lots of things. We laughed quite a bit and were just having a great time. I was in bed and dead asleep by about 10:30pm, which was so nice seeing as I had to get my butt out of bed by 5:30am this morning.

It’s almost 6pm and Sarah is passed out in the recliner across from me. We were watching Burn Notice on the screen. I’m going to go pee and then try to call Mom again. We’re going out to eat at Bucca (some Italian food place I think) tonight, and I’m super excited! I’m gonna eat to store food to last me through next week – no camp food!

July 23

Thursday, July 23, 2009

It’s about 8:07am, and I’m sitting in the upper lodge munching on the remaining crumbs of the black pepper and sea salt nectar of the gods (or I suppose just munchies of the gods) and porking down raisinets. I’m so hungry. I’ll go find some food about 9am when most of the cabins have left the kitchen. I’m also listening to NPR’s morning edition.

This morning I woke up about 6:00am but refused to actually wake up my brain until about 6:30am. I had a really strange dream that is better left unremembered. Anyway, I got up at 6:30am appalled that I had wasted my time off already and got ready. I walked out to get more toilet paper for the bathroom and I saw Lydia, getting dressed for the day. I walked by Amy’s bed and saw and enormous mess. I couldn’t believe it! Her bed rail was on the ground, her humidifier thingy (for her sleep apnea) was completely disassembled, her suitcase was on the opposite side of the hall (instead of being under her bed!), and there was water from the humidifier thingy all over the floor. I finished getting ready and then cleaned up the mess. All I kept thinking about was, “I’m on TO, but I’ve got to help Amy.” Sigh.

Bad idea: I’m playing online Scrabble while trying to write this and listen to NPR. Rawr.

It’s already 9am. I can’t believe it. Ridiculous! I went to breakfast and missed it, so I just got half a blueberry bagel and half a chocolate chip bagel. I went and got water at the HC. Matt, Kara, and Cindy kicked me out of the Upper Lodge because they’re doing placements today in an all-morning meeting. Argh. So I’m outside in the Fishbowl at the table, looking at the beautiful water and enjoying my TO. Alright. On to more exciting things. Such as trying to describe my campers as quickly as possible so that I can maybe do something else.

Well, instead of writing this, I put titles and descriptions to all of the pictures I’ve just uploaded to the Photobucket site shared by Rachel, Annie, Emily T., Sarah B., and myself. I can hear them doing stretching on the Green with Ernest. Such great music!

Wow. Instead of doing anything further on this entry, I’ve just watched a bunch of Schwartzenorris, which I heart so much and have just now remembered to check in on. My favorites are “You’re the Best” and “A Whole New World” and “Never Had Friend Like Me.” They’re so great! It’s been about 4 years since I’ve last watched them! So funny! Anyway. Let’s see if I can get at least a little bit done for now.

Here are some brief descriptions of the campers.

• Julee
  
• Piranha
• Always hungry and gets super grumpy when denied thirds, had a bit of a moment yesterday at lunch because “couldn’t wait that long” for dinner
• Her joints and muscles ache, she says because she’s not getter her pills, we say because she’s not used to walking around so much
• When walking, she stops every 20 feet or so to bend over and take a break (looks like she’s trying to poop in the woods)
• Sits down a lot
• Hates going to bed and will fight you on it but will eventually go on her own
• Julie
  
• Has a great time
• Loves helping
• Carrying backpack
• Helping carry packout supplies
• Likes to dance
• Likes to give really painful massages
• Likes to eat quickly
• Likes to just walk around quickly
• Very sweet
• Doesn’t talk much
• Really likes Katie Moyers
• Has a great smile and laugh
• Back scratching is also a favorite of hers
• Amy
• Obsessed with males
• Loves to pick favorites
• Me, Nicki, Brynnan
• Loves swimming and water
• LOVES Chris, the fishing guide
• Thinks VL Matt without his shirt is sexy
• Drinks a ton of water
• Finally had a BM yesterday – we celebrated
• After dinner last night we just sat there and hung out at the dining table and talked. We got some cake from Jacki Wallace (it was her birthday and Barb baked a cake and we all sang to her in the dining hall), and I snuck a piece to Amy. We had a great time.
• Lydia
• Calls everyone “Shorty,” “Shortcake,” “Kitten,” and other such endearments that are said to make the person laugh (I think …)
• Large
• Gets up super early and just sits in the living room
• Has an oxygen machine for night time
• Very sweet
• Loves hair – liked playing with my hair yesterday when I wore it down
• Prefers female attention
• Gloria
• Very soft-spoken
• Likes to fish, likes to swim
• Must be encouraged to participate in highly competitive moments (ex. when all were trying to decorate the volunteer last night, I had to encourage her several times to jump in there and do something)
• Likes to dance – again, must be encouraged
• Showers with a shower cap so she doesn’t get her braids wet
• 
  
• Karin (she prefers it pronounced: Kah – ren)
• LOVES, CRAVES, DEMANDS attention, preferably full attention of every staff member in the room
• Very cranky and impatient when told to please wait or slow down
• Curses and threatens staff and others
• Hates Laurice but won’t move when Laurice comes near – kinda like Leah and Amanda from two weeks ago
• Loves to read and do crossword puzzles – looks up every answer in the back
• Whenever someone else is getting attention, she runs over and buts that person out of the way and gets the attention for herself
• Livia
  
• Asks repetitively about
• Boys
• Camping
• Grass
• “Sleep in the tent with Livia?” – I just respond with “Everyone will sleep in the tents.”
• Walks with a knee brace and scares the shit out of me when she is walking around without it
• Threw her seatbelt into the water on Monday or Tuesday
• I asked her why she did that and she said it was because she didn’t like it any more
• I asked her if she liked it now, and she said yes – interesting
• Asks repeatedly for her seatbelt even though she also repeatedly says “Seatbelt in the water?” “Seatbelt hiding in the water?” “Staff find the seatbelt?” “I can see it!”
• Not sure how much she processes
• Laurice (on her application, though, it says “Laurie”)
• Mary Ellen (she goes by “Mary” here at camp)
• Very moody
• Got mad at me yesterday because at breakfast I told her that she had to eat food – I left her alone and just worked with otheres
• Was over it at Arts and Crafts when she asked for my help
• Difficult to get her up in the morning
• Very emotional, whiny often
• Uses one of the 4-wheeled rolling walkers but doesn’t like to walk a lot – you have to make compromises and bargains with her
• Has a boyfriend named “Alan” (I think) and is crocheting him an afghan because “he doesn’t have any warm blankets”
• He just bought a house at 200 Jefferson or something like that on the corner
• She’s mad b/c her “stupid staff can’t find his house!”
• Has lots of pinching bruises on her especially right arm – maybe from him?
• Does she even have a boyfriend?
• Reads trashy romance novels
• Kim (“Kimmy!” as she refers to herself)
• Laughs loudly at everything
• Has a huge crush on George (and all males, but especially George)
• Calls all males “guy” (ex. Hey guy!)
• Very enthusiastic, usually the instigator of the laughter and applause
• Gives hugs and kisses, but I only accept high fives from her
• Also has picked up scratching backs from Julie C.
• Loves to pick out her name (pointing and saying “Kimmy’s name!” or “Kimmy!”)
• Ladies do spontaneous rounds of applause and laughter

Here are some things that Harry said last week that I think about and almost, not quite, not even close, but maybe just might think fondly off, miss him.

• Harry is spoiled rrrrrrotten! (most of the time said “spoirrrrrrotten”)
• (say something) and have fun! (ex. Go to McDonalds and have fun! See Mom and Georgey soon and have fun! Grand Lake Casino and have fun! Etc.)
• Harry is from Ar-kan-saw! (which, I found out the last day her was here, was the name of his group home, that he wasn’t actually from the state of Arkansas)
• Carrrrrrrracas!

Things to talk about:

• Water Carnival – so much fun!
• Amy in the lake
• Ladies down the water slide
• Livia’s horrified reaction, almost panic, when approached with water
• Karin’s freakouts
• Getting Amy from the water to her chair (Michelle life guard and Sarah B. are goddesses)
• In line for water slide, teased Emily about her British words (“Queue” instead of “Line”)
• Nasty places on fingers from wearing rings
• Sarah Du’s stories (told last night)
• Sitting in urine
• Saggy ball sack
• While telling her stories almost everyone who was left up got up and went to bed – hilarious migration – there were about 4 or 5 of them – very noticeable and very funny – Amy stayed up though
• Mel is so funny and cool
• This morning
• Walked – first time during the week since Orientation, I guess
• Talked to Mom on the phone – Reddy’s surgeries went well – she’s a fighter: didn’t go to sleep until 15 minutes (usually only takes about 5)
• Miss Reddy and miss home so so so so much
• Going to celebrate Mom and Gramma’s birthdays on the 22^nd when I get home
• Going to Sarah Du’s aunt’s house this weekend
• Uncle running in a marathon
• Have to get up (or leave the house?) at 6am – ugh
• Lumberjack festival thingy?
• Last night’s evening program
• Dressing up the volunteers
• A lot of fun – everyone except Mary participated
• VL Matt came to visit last night after the evening program and the ladies mobbed him
• Julie C gave him one of her special massages
• Kimmy held his hand and talked at him loudly and repeatedly about what she did (ex. “Kimmy’s wearing her shirt!”)
• Amy told him how she thought he was sexy without his shirt on
• Lydia called out to him with those pet names
• Karin wanted some attention and so butted in
• Absolutely hilarious

I’ve been wallowing in some delicious BBC. Yes. And sadly there are just two hours left of my TO. Sadness!

July 20

Monday, July 20, 2009

It's about 3:35pm and Matt has just given me a random 1 hour break. Interesting. We have about 114 campers on site this week, and so it's super crowded but not yet as hectic as I thought that it would be. There have only been a couple of behaviors so far, and hopefully that's a good sign. This week I have 10 female campers, and they are for the most part all older, hanging out at the middle age and slightly older range. Here are the names: Amy, Karin, Julee, Julie, Lydia, Livia, Mary Ellen, Laurice (Owasso), Kim (I think), and Gloria. They are all super sweet so far, and Laurice is just absolutely hilarious. She's nonverbal and the things we find most hilarious about her is her behaviors, namely making sounds similar to Chubakah, "charging" me with her walker raised above her head so that she looks like a Terantula, having to leave a trail of playing cards to her bed so that she would crawl like a creature/monster of darkness to her bed, her non-compliance, and her random frightening moments of smiling and laughing and kissing and hugging. I was her first victim of hugging and kissing this morning when we had biscuits and gravy and grapes, and when I was giving her seconds, she wrapped her arms around me and gave me a huge hug. I started laughing so hard I almost collapsed on the floor, and so she was able to get her arms around my head and started kissing and hugging the top of my head, which was even more hilarious. I was so stuck. Emily was laughing really hard, as well, but she was at a safe distance.

We got people ready this morning and did the millions of treatments on people. After breakfast I hung out with Laurice and we walked to the HC because she fell in front of Aspen (her walker got caught in the sidewalk). After the HC we went straight to Arts and Crafts because it was 9:30am by that time. In A&C we made picture frames and I made a bracelet (that I later gave to Amy before the Israel Scouts performance). After A&C it took forever to get Laurice up and moving until everyone else was getting up and moving. We tried to get her to leave a little bit early, but she would have none of it. Sadly enough. Her noncompliance, though cute sometimes, is horribly annoying at others. Haha. Instead of going to the boat ride with the rest, we ended up just walking around the green once and making our way to the gym to sit and wait for the Israel Scouts performance. That took us a good 45 minutes. She hates water and so every time we passed a sprinkler she would do her Chubakkah noises and shake her head. She's like a stick insect, with a giant Richard Simmons wig on - fabulousity!

The Israel Scouts performance was absolutely incredible. There was great singng, bad singing, dancing, lots of pulling dance partners from the crowd, and a ton of energy. It was incredible. I don't know how to describe them, but every song made you want to dance, and their energy and enthusiasm and happiness was very infectious.

After the IS performance we made our way out to lunch, which was macaroni (spiral) and cheese, multigrain baguette slices, and salad. I had some mac n cheese, salad, cottage cheese, and bread. I feel kind of sick it was so rich, but the cottage cheese totally made my day. After lunch we went back to the cabin and did a non-restful rest hour. Only Gloria took a nap, and Mary Ellen went into her room to listen to her walkman and crochet her Afghan (which is ridiculously enormous). That's one thing about the ladies - they all seem to have electronic devices plugged into their ears. It's so strange. Anyway, the rest of us hung out in the cabin, playing cards (Mel and Karin), Laurice chased Emily around (just followed her b/c she wanted to sit with her), listened to our electronics, and made buttons. After rest hour we went for music with George out on the green, which was nice. It was nice to be outside, with the breeze and the sunlight, the horrible tuning, the 3 chords the George knows, and the delicious feeling of grass on bare feet.

Amy is thoroughly boy crazy. Here are some of the reasons why: obssessed with Chris (fishing guide), thinks Ernest is sexy (especially his legs), thinks Sam is not her type (told Emily this while they were in front of Sam), wants to kiss Chris at the dance. Hilarious stuff. Really sassy - I call her sassy all the time and she thinks it's absolutely hilarious.

I really like Grace - she's funny, she's super outgoing, she plays rugby and is super intimidating, she's nice in a sassy way, and she is just a really cool person. I'm super jealous of her in many ways, and so I really want to be her friend. I hope that some week we can work together. She's so funny, and she seems to get along with everyone without being fake.

More later!

July 19

Sunday, July 19, 2009

It’s about 10am and I’ve just put my clothes into the dryer. Late, I know, but at least I’ve actually gotten my butt motivated enough to actually do it. Haha.

I woke up this morning via alarm clock at about 8am, and was just not ready at all to get up – so I went back to sleep until 8:30am at which point I hauled my aching body out of bed (especially my quads and my butt) and got ready to go do laundry and to come and do this journal thing. I am so sore. It’s amazing. I love it. So I went and put the laundry in, and then came in here to the Upper Lodge to write a bit. Have I already said how incredible sore I am? Haha. It’s a great feeling! I really want to play some time when I get back to Atlanta! Hopefully I’ll find some friends willing to let me mess up their team with my participation. It was just so much fun! I am certainly out of shape, though. Geez!

I’m not sure what else to write. The day is gorgeous – the blue sky is out and flaunting its beauty, and the water is calm and speckled with fishing boats, subtly gliding about searching for small scaled creatures to entrap and suffocate until death. Tee hee. Couldn’t resist.

I miss NPR and all news sources so much. I hope I don’t OD on them when I get back home/Atlanta. Speaking of home, I’m super homesick. When I talked to mom on Friday she told me about how Reddy’s getting her little head shaved – I really wish I could be home for that! Do dogs need sunscreen? I may want to mention that to mom in an email … haha.

Later!

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!)