July 12

Sunday, July 12, 2009

It’s about 9:15am and I’m sitting in the Lodge eating Black Pepper and Sea Salt chips and stalking via facebook Matty, whose birthday is today. I wanted to call him now, but I doubt he’d be up, much less coherent at 10am EST. I took an okay shower this morning, but whatever. It’s funny and sad that I can’t and don’t take nearly as many showers and I thought that I would. I only get a shower about twice a week, and one of those is during my time off, if I’m lucky. It’s disgusting. And yet we’re all used to it and we all just laugh about it. Odd and gross but hilarious and what a strange thing. I’m doing laundry right now.

Today we’re moving village locations, so now Matt’s village is located on the woods-side of camp (away from the beautiful sun and breezes) where I’m thinking all the mosquitoes hang out. I’ll be in Irish Rose this week with Hannah (back from a case of the swine flu), Orlando, and Jared (don’t know who he is) plus Sam B. as the program staff who is staying in Wassie. I think I may be missing someone, but oh well.

Yesterday was a lot of fun. After I ended the last entry, I put the computer back in Whippoorwill and then went down for a little sun on the waterfront with Rachel S., Emily T., and Sarah B. It was great. The water felt amazing (we only went in up to our ankles), and the sun was blistering, so it was fabulous. I called Michael who said that I should call Linda. Yes, I know I should, but I just texted her during the baseball game later in the evening.

After the lazy fun in the sun, we went up to the dining hall to stock up on some food. Once everyone was gustatorally satisfied, it was about 2:40pm and so we made our way to the front gate where the big yellow bus was parked and waiting. We were scheduled to leave at 2:50pm (yeah, super early for a 6:10pm game). The bus driver was an older man, probably mid sixties, with white hair and horrible orange-tinted aviators. He had a really thick Minnesotan accent and was also super impatient. I think he thought that we were the campers, but whatever. We got on the bus (Rachel saved us seats) and realized that only about half of the list had made it to the bus. There were only about 30 of us on the bus, but we decided that we would just go ahead and leave seeing as it was past 3pm.

The entire way into the city the bus driver drove with his iPod headphones in. I don’t know if he was actually listening to music, but that was extremely illegal and freaked out both Rachel and me. No one else seemed to mind or care or even notice. It was very disconcerting. It was a great ride in except for the headphones and the impatience of the driver, but hey whatever.

We got to the game by about 5pm, and we all scattered to get tickets and to see what was around the stadium (Metrodome, to be precise). Sarah B., Emily T., Rachel, and I went to the front where all the concessions and booths, etc. were set up and just walked around. I fell off a curb for some reason, but didn’t get scraped up too bad. We had cheese curds, I salivated over $7 beer (didn’t buy – not worth it), and Sarah and Emily bought $5 Twins t-shirts (youth sizes). We made it into the game by about 5:45pm in time to see the bear mascot do the first pitch thing. We sat about halfway up the upper deck between Center and Left Fields. Great view – could see everything! There was this big ceremony for we didn’t know what – something to do with the hall of fame I think – and the game started late at about 6:30pm.

What a great game! I texted Linda (she didn’t respond b/c she was at work) and Trevor (throughout the whole game), and called Billy. It was such a great game – so glad I went! The White Sox won, but I didn’t feel too badly since the Twins won on Friday night and they play again tonight. There were several comeback attempts made by the White Sox, and there were some great plays on both sides. Lots of fabulous double plays, attempted stealing of bases, catches, bats, and many, many foul balls that made the fans super happy. I got really annoyed at the Twins fans because they would boo little kids with White Sox paraphernalia on whenever they came on the jumbo-tron fan cam thingy. Don’t boo little kids – they’re adorable! Leave them alone! That’s partially why I decided to cheer for the White Sox. The end score was 8 – 7, but the bottom of the 9^th was sooooo much closer than that. Twins were last at bat, and there were two runners on first and second, I think, or maybe second and third, with one out. The batter hit it perfectly, and the Twins scored 2 runs. Now the score was 8 – 7 and the entire stadium was on their feet clapping, yelling, cheering, going crazy. Next at bat was walked because the pitcher hit him, so the bases were once loaded with 2 outs. Last at bat was a guy that everyone loved, possibly Morales or maybe Lariano, I can’t remember. Something Latino. He hit it really well and got one guy back to home, but the Sox executed a beautiful double play (just as Trevor had predicted), and so the Sox won 8 – 7 much to the ire of the fans. But the fans were pretty good about it, saying repeatedly that it was good game, really close, but that the comeback came too late.

The game ended at about 9:30pm and we made our way out to the bus. We were the first ones back, followed by Sunny. I called Mickey and supposedly about 20 people were sitting out in front of the stadium (our bus was located in back by gate C), and they began making their way back. Instead of attending the game they had just gone shopping. I overheard Jo on the bus saying that she had spent $70+ on a hoodie and sweatpants. Dear goodness. I don’t understand. But we made it back, minus two people who had gone to meet Ashley at a pub, and plus four people who had come from who knows where. We were absolutely starving so the obliging bus driver took us to Wendy’s. Begin the fiasco.

Wendy’s lobby was closed, and they wouldn’t let us walk through the drive through, and so our pissed off bus driver took us through the drive through in the bus. There are a million pictures of it because everyone took out their cameras and started taking pictures. It was amazing. The poor staff at Wendy’s had to deal with the fact that their manager wouldn’t let us in to just grab food and go. And then they acted all pissed off at us. Rachel made a very good point: they’re fast food; fast food wants your money; they wanted our money. It was amazing. As we drove up into the drive through, it was touch-and-go as to whether or not we would actually be able to make it through. Luckily there was no overhang over the window. We had about 4 inches to spare on either side of the bus. Our driver was a pro. As we drove up the employees looked absolutely flabbergasted, laughing and eyes bulging. Stupid Wendy’s manager. But we certainly made their night, and now they have a great story to tell! We ordered through one of the bus windows and got our food. It seemed that about 10 minutes into the ordering, a lot of cars started coming by – very amusing! They had to drive around and the staff had to deliver the food to their cars out in the parking lot. 45 minutes later, we all got back onto the bus and left, and as we left the employees who were standing out in the parking lot “taking a break” I presume, waved at us and laughed as we drove off.

We got back at about 12:15am, and Sarah and I went back to Whippoorwill where we did a little more packing and then I lay in bed and read for a while (until about 1am). I slept really well. I listened to Kat Flint’s Go Stripes Faster just before falling to sleep, and it was a great song. Love it.

Oh, I forgot. On Friday night at Chipotle Brenda called and we talked for about 15 minutes. She had some great gossip about Dad and some 38 year old woman named Angela who is part Italian (I think was the story). Brenda got the story from the Derops, which means it’s probably pretty reliable. Haha. Supposedly Dad met Angela at a party and after a week or so she moved in with him. She only stayed for a couple of weeks, but she had a 16 year old son who would come over all the time. Dad kicked her out because she was “too high maintenance” which is totally a Dad thing to say. This could go two ways: either she dumped him and he just didn’t want to admit it, or he dumped her because she thought that he was going to be her sugar daddy and he loves his money more than he loves her. Speculations abound. She supposedly had long dark hair. Interesting.

It’s about 9:40am and I’ve got another 20 minutes or so before my laundry will be done. They’re cleaning and organizing in the Upper Lodge, and they’re putting all the Respite luggage in here since it’s the last day for Respite and people will start arriving to pick up the campers. I’m going to go check on my cell phone which is charging on the counter.

Okay. I’m going to try to remember the rest of Thursday (the dance, specifically) and then try to remember Friday.

Thursday:

Dinner cookout

• Cheeseburgers, green beans, chips, Toasty Fridays (s’mores with peanut butter)
• Burgers cooked by me, fabulous
• Green beans heated up by Sunny, really good
• Campers, happy
• I built a great fire!

Dance

• Everyone in their dresses except Nicole who doesn’t really follow through on stuff like that (group participation when it comes to dressing up, etc.)
• Melissa stayed with Amanda
• Everyone got to dance with their “date”
• So much fun – haven’t been to a more fun dance
• The campers actually danced and we had a great time
• Sarah B. told me later that she had to keep following Kristin who was stalking (prowling for?) VL Matt – he would be talking to a group of campers and she would just be standing at the back or a little ways off watching – she was super grumpy at the end of the dance – I gave her the sequin hideousness that I was wearing to cheer her up (she asked for it and I gave it to her)
• Ernest was a blast
• All the ladies had a ton of fun – it was great!

Paperwork

• Melissa mad because I wanted to finish paperwork right before going into the tent, all she wanted to do was go to bed
• Melissa and Sunny went to the tent with all the girls except Amanda who had gone to bed in her room – Sarah slept inside in front of the door
• I did paperwork, took it to the Upper Lodge, went over it with Matt, and didn’t have to do a re-write on a behavior report – it was glorious
• Slept in the tent next to Kristin – her first time in a tent – she slept very well – she’s definitely a tent hog, though, and so I was constantly trying to push her away or move her feet (sleeping head-to-toe) from my stomach
• Woke up and read a little, went inside to get ready, came back out and people were leaving the tent, so helped them gather their things and go inside for the day

Friday:

Pajama breakfast

• Because we had lake/swimming right after breakfast, followed by showers
• Really awful breakfast of some cinnamon bread casserole thing, cereal, fruit, and other stuff I can’t remember right now
• Amanda ate a ton of sausage (I think we had sausage again)

After breakfast I took Amanda

• We sat on the hill behind the Lodge
• We did some lake time – she sat in the cold water and it was absolutely, side-splittingly hilarious – she freaked out
• We went to the canteen to watch the vending machines – luckily the canteen wasn’t open
• Ryan (counselor) and Chad were there, Chad freaking out because he wanted pop and something from the vending machines
• Vending machine man came to do refills and got a couple hits while trying to defend the cart with all the pop from Amanda
• She did steal a Mountain Dew
• We went and sat outside of Arts and Crafts where she killed ants and put them into her Mountain Dew – luckily she didn’t try to drink it at this stage
• Went inside A&C b/c “Amanda have to go poop? Lady take Amanda to go pooooop?”
• Sarah B. came and we gave Amanda a bath in the HC tub – very nice – very cooperative until it was time for her to get out
• We swung in the swing
• We “played cards” in front of the Lodge – I messed with her OCD and wouldn’t place the card straight and perfectly aligned in my hand so that she would have to fix it
• We made our way at some point to the dining hall where we had pizza for lunch and she immediately smeared pizza sauce all over her new, clean shirt – it was only clean on her for about an hour and a half – Sarah and I just looked at each other and shook our heads – Amanda would be going home a mess because we probably wouldn’t be able to get her back to the cabin to change

After lunch Sarah took Amanda

• I went back with the cabin and we finished packing, sat in the sun, and just relaxed until the talent show at 2pm

Talent show

• Some really great acts
• Almost all the ladies participated – Molly danced, Janine sang, April sang and danced, we all went up and did Tarzan
• Leah was first to go at the beginning of the talent show
• Towards the end was Janine, Molly, April, and Nicole
• A good while after that was Amanda
• Finally was Kristin
• They were all gone by bout 4:30pm

Cabin clean up

• After the four ladies left and there was just Kristin, we started to clean
• Sunny took a shower
• Sarah swept
• Melissa finished vacuuming
• I mopped after Sunny got out of the shower
• Sarah struck the tents (even though Sunny immediately called it, she only struck one tent)
• We were done and down at the Music Room for the Village meeting at 5pm

Village Meeting

• Amy won the 2 ½ pound bag of candy for the “counselor of the first half of summer” (or some other similar awkward title)
• Short meeting

All-staff photo

• Out in the Fishbowl
• A lot of fun
• Most of us were all nasty and disgusting
• Fiascos of cameras not working
• No professional photographer, sadly

Village photo

• All clumped together and had a great village photo – lots of fun and laughter
• Started to sprinkle
• I ran back to the cabin and took a fabulous shower

It’s 10am and I need to go check on my laundry. Yay clean laundry!

July 11

Saturday, July 11, 2009

It’s almost 11am and I’m sitting in the Fishbowl (favorite writing spot outside) looking at the gorgeous lake and enjoying the windy breezes and the coolness of the shade. I’m checking emails (specifically from Mom who is in England – I miss her so much – and it sucks that I’ll be working when she gets back Stateside tomorrow (Sunday) and so I won’t be able to call her or receive her calls). Today is planned a staff trip over to Minneapolis for a Twins game. Definitely planning on only buying a $10 ticket and then trying not to spend any more money. Rachel says that the food is ridiculously expensive and she would rather spend her money on a t-shirt. I think I’ll pass on both counts, but my stomach can be quite persuasive. Haha.

Last night after an absolutely incredible shower in Whippoorwill (definitely going to miss those showers!), I walked down to Brown Thrashers, Rachel’s cabin, where Emily T. and Sarah B. met up with us. I wanted to dress up a little, and so I wore my purple dress and some make up and flip flops (flip flops – what a luxury! I miss wearing them so much!).

Rachel drove Emily, Sarah, and me to St. Cloud for some quality off-camp time. It was so much fun – really great being with them! We went to Old Navy and I bought way too much ($35), then we went and gorged on Chipotle which was quite tasty (certain degrees fresher than Willy’s, but I missed the Tubbiez so much!), raided Target (I didn’t guy anything – imagine that!!!!), and finally to the “Cheap Foods” (or some other hilarious name) for some ice cream/dessert treats. So tasty! At Chipotle I’m sure we were super obnoxious laughing so hard and talking, inevitably, about BMs and personal cares. We all told some fabulous stories, Emily’s about Tim (fat creepy guy who squealed and whined and was all around horrible and loved vacuums – used to have a job vaccuuming) and Warren (I think that was his name, the guy with OCD who took hours and hours in the morning to getready), Sarah and I about Amanda (Sarah’s story about naked Amanda running around on the deck and Sarah trying to shield her with a towel while dodging her slaps and being yelled and cursed at), and Rachel about her amazing campers Roger (loved him!) and horrible John (as in “Leah and John”) and Jordan (helping clean by mopping) as well as some others. We of course continued the conversations at Target and the grocery store.

Emily and Sarah had never been into a proper grocery store, and they were absolutely awed by the size, variety, and sheer numbers of the horrible things that we Americans eat. Rachel and I thought it was hilarious, especially when Sarah marveled at an entire aisle being devoted to cereal.

We got back about 10:45pm and then we all sat up and talked until about 11:45pm when Emily went back to Kingfisher. Rachel stayed and we talked about all of our campers, camp gossip, horrible counselors that we don’t want to work with, etc. until we fell into bed around 1am. Sarah and I talked Rachel into staying over at Whippoorwill instead of going back to her cabin (Brown Thrasher), and we fitted her with two sheets and several sweatshirts. It was pretty funny because it got really chilly last night and so when we woke up, it was considerably freezing. I even crawled into the sleeping bag that I’d been sleeping on! Imagine that! It was amazing. Poor Rachel, though! She was positively freezing!

I woke up at 6:30am and thought, “Oh hell no. I am not waking or getting up now!” and so I went back to sleep pretty quickly. Unfortunately, my watch had other plans and went off at 6:55am, 7:00am, and 7:15am. I was about to just smash my watch (still attached to wrist) into the wall or anything to keep it from going off again, but luckily I was too lazy to do anything other than grumble and snuggle back in. I woke up at about 9am and just stayed in bed playing with my phone until about 9:40am at which point I got up and started getting ready for breakfast. Sarah and Rachel also got up and we went down to the “continental” breakfast by about 9:50am where I had a luxurious bowl of frosted flakes, a blueberry bagel, and a fabulous orange. I need to start drinking more water, though.

We sat and talked with each other and other people for a while and then we split up, Sarah to go to laundry and Rachel and Emily to their respective cabins (I think). I wanted to go on a bike ride up around the supposed resort area that’s up to the left out of camp (instead of turning right to get back to the main road). But sadly when I went over to the bike shed there was not a working bike to be found. All had either busted gear shifts, the brakes were rubbing against the tires, or they looked like they were going to rust to dust as soon as you pressed down on a pedal or even looked at it with too much intent. It was quite frustrating. So I went up and got my computer and here I am! Beautiful day!

Here are some items that I need to talk about but that I probably will never get around to elaborating upon:

Amanda-isms:

• Purty in the paaaaaaah-tty (potty).
• Power in the puuuuuurthy.
• Red orange
• “Pop” generally
• Hold Daddy’s Pop.
• Good pop.
• The use of the word “Lady”
• “Bath tub” that was actually the tarp for the water slide
• “Bath” also referred to the lake
• Pizza in the microwave (on Friday as soon as woke up)
• Could go from dead asleep immediately to manic – it was so freaky
• Lady’s coming/Food’s coming.
• Good job, Amanda, good job. (accompanied by repetitive, painful high fives)
• So quick when she would go to hit or kick you.
• Wouldn’t read her magazines, would just page through them, point at things, look at you, and nod – imitation of her mother, I think
• Had huge stack of cards that would go through and look at (Pokémon, regular playing cards, and flash cards, all the same size)
• Had OCD – way arranged and stacked things
• Wipe your butt nice. Flush nice.
• Repetitive
• No reasoning with her.

April, Janine, Nicole, Molly

• All extremely high functioning
• All except Molly love their stuffed animals
• All except one (can’t remember which) work at Options, a warehouse company from what I could gather
• April
• Downs Syndrome
• Knows all the dance moves to NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye”
• A joy to dance with and be around
• Stuffed animals: Cookies and Cream (raccoon from the canteen) and Wolfy (brought with her)
• Scolds Molly a lot and was told several times by Nicole to “just leave her alone” or “she’s okay” or something to that effect
• Janine
• Boyfriend named Dustin
• Extremely thin, gets cold easily, brags about how can eat anything, brags about how doesn’t need any exercise
• Stuffed animal: Grizzly (black bear from the canteen)
• Nicole
• Very touch, very affectionate, maybe bisexual?
• Loved the attention from Kristin
• Loves very much Nathan, the son of the people with whom they live
• Boyfriend, but I forget his name
• Stuffed animals: Snowball (white signature bear from the canteen) and another one that I can’t remember right now
• Something seemingly wrong with her every day (head ache, cold, allergies, tired, etc.)
• Molly
• Cochlear ear implant on left side – I was always too afraid of hurting her to take it off or put it back on so Melissa and Sarah did that for the most part
• Really, really thick glasses – thicker than Greg Lawson’s!
• Can say “Mama Mia” and can make singing sounds
• Signs extremely fast and needs to be asked to slow down
• Highly amused with my attempts at sign language
• Loves to dance and sing and be around people who are dancing and singing
• Prefers April to Janine and Nicole

Alright, I’m going to try to remember some of Thursday during and after my time off. And all of Friday. I don’t see this going well. Haha.

For time off Sarah D. and I took Melissa’s care to Target in Buffalo where we wated lots of time but had a great time. She bought a phone and I bought stuff that I didn’t need, namely Black Pepper and Sea Salt chips and I think candy and I think some other things that I can’t remember. Oh, yeah, some thongs. (To you, Z, thongs feel like a perpetual wedgie. Not sure if I’ll ever get used to the feeling.) Sarah bought a cheap phone for her to use to call her Aunt who lives in Minneapolis. We had a great time. Sarah really likes Christian music, so I pretty much just atrophied there and back while listening to the Christian music station that Melissa’s radio was set to and Sarah sang. I just didn’t say anything. We got back by about noon and I stayed in the cabin to put things up and enjoy the last fleeting moments of time off. I accidentally fell asleep and didn’t make it to the dining room until 12:40pm (lunch started at 12:30pm) and Melissa was pissed. Oh well. I got two plates (tacos – ugh) and went to eat with Amanda. I sat in the grass and just watched her eat and found several four leaf clovers as well as two five leaf clovers! I think I’ve saved them somewhere …

I think I’ve already written about her horrendous behaviors somewhere, on paper, so I’ll just briefly say that it was about the tarp (the “bath tub” = “water slide” from Wednesday) spread out to dry on the hills behind the lodge. We made it back to the cabin, put on her bathing suit, it was quite a struggle, Melissa yelled at me to put shoes on Amanda and I just *argh* couldn’t take it and so shouted back to her “Yeah, I got it!” as I was chasing Amanda back out the door after Sarah helped me put shoes on her, and we came back to the water front where we sat in the grass, she under the big tree by the waterfront gate and me a good ways off, well out of striking distance. I got an ant bite on my ass, which pissed me off to no end. It hurt, and then it was so itchy. Kind of funny in retrospect, but other than that, ugh. At about 2:35pm Melissa came down to replace me so that I could go with everyone else to the concert over at Camp Courage.

When I got back to the cabin everyone was moving slowly, and so Sarah and I tried to get them going, but then someone had to go to the bathroom, meaning that everyone now had to go to the bathroom, and so that took forever. We got down to the main gate by about 3pm, 10 minutes late, but that’s okay b/c Miranda (who was driving us) didn’t get there until 3:05pm and then when she brought the bus up the wheel chair lift wasn’t working (for Halie from Cardinal). Nikkita from Cardinal also came with us. Sarah D. accompanied them b/c Elizabeth was a CIT and there was only room enough for one of Cardinal’s counselors to come with and CITs are not allowed to be alone with a camper, much less two.

We finally left by about 3:15pm and made it safely, if late. The concert was a state sinfonia from Minneapolis. It definitely made me miss playing in the symphony and all my music buddies at school and at home. It was quite nostalgic. As soon as we got there Nikki started having a behavior (grabbing with a death hold onto Sarah’s hair). Sarah went behind a building away from all the campers and Camp Courage staff, leading Nikki by Nikki’s grasp upon Sarah’s hair), and I got Miranda. I hung out with Halie until Miranda had everything resolved (Nikki and Sarah got picked up and went back to Camp Friendship). Halie is so cute, but amazingly heavy for her size! I was astounded! But she was so cute – she loved playing with hair! After Miranda came back, I went and sat with the rest of the group and wrote a behavior report for Amanda while listening to the music.

At the conclusion of the whole thing, we went around trying to find someone to thank for inviting us (Maria, who we eventually found), and we also looked for a bathroom which we also found. Yay. I “danced” with Halie out in the parking lot (singing and rolling her around forwards and backwards and in circles in her wheelchair) until the bus came around. When we got back, Sarah went to go relieve Melissa and the rest of us made our way to the cabin. We didn’t get back until about 5:30pm exactly and so April and Janine came with me to pick up the picnic stuff and take it to the campout location (The Flats).

Lunch time. Later!

It’s about 2pm and I’m talking on the phone with Michael. Gossip, gossip, gossip! Sat with Emily and we listened to some of her music on youtube. I’m going to go sit down by the waterfront with her and Rachel and Sarah B., and hopefully I’ll have time tonight to remember more from Thursday, yesterday, and today. I really need to call Linda – I’ll probably do that today at the baseball game. I’m also taking pen and paper to the game in case I feel like writing while I’m there.

Later!

July 7th

******Handwritten on the actual date, but typed in on July 23, 2009.*******



July 7, 2009



It’s ~10:45am and I’m 15 minutes into a 45 minute break. Just tried calling Billy, but he’s probably doing court stuff (went straight to voicemail). I’ll quickly (try anyway) go over yesterday and today. I get Thurs. am off so I’ll hopefully be able to do some serious writing then.



Sarah Barrett has been absolutely amazing wif Amanda. She’s from Australia, so maybe Amanda likes her accent…who knows. In the am Melissa was supposed to take Amanda, but Sarah and I got her ready and went down to breakfast. I don’t remember what was for breakfast, I just remember not eating it, opting instead for granola. I vaguely remember sausage and white bread with only one side toasted. I do remember rushing Kristin through her b-fast b/c she had to go to Horse ‘n Around @ 8:20am. Now I’m starting to remember heinous amounts of ketchup so there were probably scrambled eggs. In any case, Sarah and Amanda ate outside. We got Kristin off t other session after some moments of minor panic when we couldn’t find HMA Tiffany for meds. After breakfast Melissa took Amanda and I think we went to Arts and Crafts. My hair feels so gross from the chlorine, and my skin so dry! Okay, I only have ~15 mins left, so here are some pts to be elaborated upon later: A&C (party/princess hats and dance invitations), A had a behavior when leaving cabin before A&C (M & S took care of it), nail polish party (Nicole and I did each others’ nails, A painted M’s fingers up to the knuckle), baking for 2 hours in pm (cheese, raisin scones, A had a behavior b/c M & I wouldn’t let her under her shoe laces w/ her teeth, Barb in front of campers got very testy and confrontational about how we handle A – Melissa had to leave room after it all to calm down from Barb – B asked why we let A hit us), lunch (M & A sat outside, chicken nuggets, fries, oatmeal raisin cookie), took food out to them b/c Sunny got food for everyone except them, rest hour was for most parts restful (A didn’t sleep, but everyone else incl M did, S & Molly napped briefly in common room, I wrote thank you notes, Kristin drew beside me), forgot! After nail polish party we paddled around the lake (canoe: me, Nicole, April and then me, Janine, Molly; paddle boat: Melissa, A, Janine, Sarah, Leah, Molly) & then we sat in grass while S went to get the bruise on her toe checked out (dropped something on it @ work), after lunch went to baking for 2 hours (already talked about that), followed by canteen (A had minor behaviors but was okay for most of time except for sitting on counter – I played ping pong w/ Kristin), dinner (Spaghetti & meatballs, I tried to eat dinner outside w/ A – no luck, just ended up chasing her around the dining hall trying to keep her from grabbing food, hitting), slapping campers to get their attention and then putting fingers into their faces for high 5 or count of thumb’s up). She didn’t eat but after all left Sunny & I sat and ate – really buttery good garlicy bread!



It’s ~9:40pm. Everyone of the campers has just gone off to bed after one last scintillating game of UNO. Whoo! I so need a shower. After dinner we all went back to the cabin and sat around (I think) and then went to the evening program (“Birthday Games”). Oh – I think everyone just chilled and several went to sleep for a bit. We went late b/c everyone was napping. We stopped @ A&C to pick up our party/princess hats and wore them the entire evening. I’ve never felt so great while looking so ridiculous! It was really great b/c I was given looks by campers that I know they must get on a daily basis – I’m so glad that I experienced that! First was the egg race, then music, then gym relay. It was so much fun. Amanda didn’t participate, and Sarah stayed with her. She had gone for a bath right after dinner @ the HC. So I think Sarah just stayed with her until she went to sleep. After the “b-day party,” everyone went back to the cabin and I went to retrieve the brownie cupcakes from the A&C kitchen. I got back and everyone was ready for bed. We had the nasty stale cupcakes and then sat up talking and laughing together until ~10:15pm @ which point everyone went to sleep. I slept in the hall outside Amanda’s door, and man I was out! I only woke up 3 times to Amanda’s “night terrors.” Woke up at ~7:00am this am but stayed in bed, b/c I felt like I had slept so well! Matt came in ~7:30am and I talked to him briefly and then lay back down. Amy came over ~9:40am and I got up to wake everyone up. They did a PJ breakfast b/c we had swimming right after breakfast. But I got Amanda into her suit straight away. Breakfast was pancakes, bacon, and applesauce. I ate the pancakes and bacon. Amanda inhaled everything. Oh I forgot – last night @ dinner I got Amanda to take her pills by bribing her with her “school bag” and Tiffany luring her with a breezie-pop (that she never got). I can’t remember if it was this morning or last night @ dinner but Amanda was running down the V-House stairs and before I could get to her she went sprawling (luckily) in the clover. I can’t remember what she wanted initially, but we went into the dining hall and she had Sarah rub her “owie.” And she went up to the main and special diets windows asking for pop as if she were @ the canteen. Unfortunately, Barb was in the spec diets window and showed Amanda where the oranges are located in the big bowl. That was last night. Now apparently she has seven oranges – obsession! We’re going to talk to Matt about moving the fruit bowl. Anyway, after breakfast we came back and sat around, then swimming @ 9:30am. It was pretty chilly. Amy was counter and Nikkita from Cardinal found us. Swimming was great – Amanda loved it! Nicole and Janine sat out. Molly had such a great time! There were 3 cabins in there – so many people! When we left at 10:30am and it was cold! The first to leave were Sarah and Amanda pretty early on @ like 10m, then Melissa and Nicole/April/Janine @ ~10:10am, and finally @10:30am Kristin, Leah, Molly and me. It was so cold! We got back and everyone did showers, etc. and postcards and I went on a 45 min luxury break. When I got back I saw Amy and Amanda heading off (later we saw them outside laundry, Amanda seated and worshipping the pop machine), but everyone else was still in the cabin. We were super late to “Animals @ Camp” (Sarah Jo) across the way to see the chickens and pet the sheep. Kristin got some attitude and they were skiddish about the bulks of the sheep. They (Sarah Jo really) were letting the sheep out into the staff parking are ato clip the grass out there. We cam back and went to the waterfront for our floating picnic. No Amanda, no Sarah, no Amy. We waited for a while but I went to go to find them. I went to the dining hall and on the way I saw Emily T. and Amy M. and Matt hauling picnic supplies – I thought they were ours but I went into the dining hall anyway to look for Amanda and Sarah. I didn’t’ find them so I ran back down to waterfront. Whaddaya know – the food wasn’t ours. Phooey. So I went back to the dining hall and got the food and drinks. Luckily Matt came up to help. Of course Sunny didn’t offer to help even though she was there the whole time. We motored out to the lake and I went to throw the ball of weeds that our anchor had become. So heavy and nasty! Sunny was no help. Whatevs. We had ham and cheese sandwiches with chips and cookie. Oh, and orange koolaid. Everyone seemed to enjoy their food (even though they ran out of turkey and so we got ham and they were stingy! Poo on them!). When we got back Sarah and Amanda were sitting beneath the big tree by the waterfront gate. Of course Melissa bolted with the campers as soon as Sarah mentioned she hadn’t eaten lunch yet. Amanda and I sat there for a good hour and a half, me not speaking and her just flipping through her magazines/books, playing with her Pokemon and playing cards, and organizing her accumulation of 6 oranges. What put an end to her quiet was probably an increase in # of people@ waterfront and the fact that 2 of her oranges had rolled beneath the fence and into the water. She freaked out, yelling, pushing, and slapping. Unfortunately she was able to get in a good swat on a camper (yay paperwork) and a couple good blows to me (including one on my head/face which would have probably landed on my chest if I were taller, but oh well). She just would not calm down. I got a cut on the middle finger of my left hand from being pushed and dragged along the fence as she tried to make her way to the gate. Luckily I didn’t wear my glasses today, otherwise it would have been really bad! Eventually I was able to get Amanda to sit down and hold her oranges (that had been retrieved for her quite a while ago), she smelled her oranges, yelling constantly for her “red orange” (not sure what that means to her), and just being loud and super demanding. I stood ~6 feet away from her, my body always between her and any others, and I spoke to her in a reassuring (@ least I thought) tone, telling her that she had all her oranges. After I was whacked in the face, Miranda and Elle radioed for Matt to see if he knew where WW was – apparently he caught them as they were making their way to music. Melissa switched out with me (of course she didn’t get there until Amanda had already calmed down and most of the people were gone) and Miranda and I walked to music. I didn’t get teary-eyed or start feeling shaken up until Elle and Miranda asked me if I was okay. Apparently that face whack was super loud and my head did some funny/strange slow motion thing haha – I kinda wish I could have seen it! In music they were planning for making a music video! So much fun! We finally decided on “John Jacob Jingleheimerschmidt” and “TARZAN,” a favorite that we sing @ least 15 times a day – a particular favorite of Molly! Oof I need a shower. It’s already 11pm! Grrrrr … our staff room smells like burned popcorn. Ew gross. After music was a boatride – everyone in attendance, including Amanda, and it was so great, so relaxing – Melissa and I got our tan on. After boat ride everyone except for Amanda and Melissa went to A&C where we made bead bracelets & necklaces. Such fun. After that was dinner and we had wild (& other) rice casserole w/ chicken, celery, carrots, and mushrooms, plus corn and rolls (I actually can’t read this word, but I’m assuming it’s “rolls”). It was so good! Janine ate so much – it was incredible! Sunny took 2 plates out to Sarah & Amanda, and Sarah (& later Matt & Sarah Jo) comforted Leah for something- not sure what. After dinner I took Molly and Kristin to A&C to finish the beading and the black-paint-on-crayon-and-then-scratch stuff. Kristin got bored and got attitude and Molly got pretty frustrated @ the beads (really poor eyesight), but I tried to occupy Kristin by teaching her how to make lanyards and I tried to help Molly whenever she asked. She’s trying to teach me sign language, and she finds it very amusing when I practice or try to talk to her. The evening program was firetrucks, but they didn’t stagger times for cabins to come @ diff times, and so it was just everyone up @ the front gate singing songs and trying to keep everyone occupied. We eventually got our turn (one of the last cabins to go) ~ 7:30pm, and I then took Molly to use the gym bathroom. We met everyone @ the dining hall to get ice cream, which actually turned out to be rootbeer floats! Yay! Oh, on way to evening program I ran back to the cabin to get Kristin’s camera and drop off her artwork and ran into Amanda and Sarah sitting b the side of the dirt road/track behind the cabins by the water. I offered to switch but Sarah said she was okay. During ice cream social Charlotte came and ate with us which was nice for the ladies to have a new face. Tomorrow am Melissa is going to leave and Emmy is taking her place. When we got back Amanda was in bed and everyone else stayed up and played several rounds of UNO. I did a behavior report for Amanda’s episode form this afternoon. Geez – time for bed! It’s 11:30pm! Hopefully I’ll get up and take a shower in the am! Oh. It’s Sunny’s turn to sleep @ the door in the hall and I’m super nervous. I hope nothing happens tonight! Oh – later I need to talk about last night’s “unclaimed camper” who sat, lay, and somersaulted in the middle of the musical chairs-esque event – of course she was nonverbal and it shouldn’t have surprised us that she was actually Kayla’s camper. Kayla just didn’t speak up when the questions were asked, “Who’s camper is she?” Frightening. She’ll never be our counter! So tired! So ready for bed. Oh! Camp gossip! Couples! I can’t remember them all, but maybe in the am when my brain is fresh … er …

July 5th, etc.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve last updated/written. I’m not sure how well this is going to go. I’m going to start out with the bullet point method and see how far I can get. It’s about 9:30am CST and so I have about an hour until brunch/breakfast. I have clothes in the laundry, and I hope that everything gets done by the time I’m back “on duty” at 11:30am. Poopy.

Thursday afternoon:

* Don’t remember

Friday:

* Morning was nice, super late wif Ellie b/c had Neb and then wanted to smoke out back on the back porch
* Had Danishes, cinnamon flat thingies, scones, and other such pastries as well as baked egg (didn’t eat) and sausage
o I shared whatever pastry I was eating wif Eleanor
o Took our time at breakfast and then walked back up with Eleanor and Deanne
* Sat outside wif Eleanor after breakfast and Krystel asked me to help her set up the “carnival” that was to start at 10:30am.
o I set up the “knock all of ‘em down” cups
o I helped set up the obstacle course
o Campers seemed to have fun
o Eleanor slept through it all until Kristina (person in charge/village leader of the camp) came and woke her up to make her participate
+ Angry at Kristina b/c doesn’t know the campers at all -has she not been watching Eleanor all week?! Eleanor has very, very little range of motion in her arms! She told Eleanor to pick up/take and throw the ball at the cups to knock them over. She said, “Come on. I know you can do it. Here’s the ball. Open up your hand. Come on. You can do it. I know you can.” I said, “Her hands don’t open and her arms don’t move.” She responded, “Oh.” And just through the ball for Ellie. WHAT THE FUCK?!
+ Ellie was the only female total assist – wouldn’t someone have noticed that?!
+ Very frustrating. So now I def know that no one noticed that I did a ton of work with Ellie and with everyone else – no one noticed that things got done because I did them.
* After carnival went inside and someone gave Ellie her meds. Finished cleaning up, etc. and packing. I can’t remember exactly what we did.
* Campers left after talent show
* Cried about Barb and Eleanor leaving
* Eleanor’s caregiver/pick up person was very rough with her in the wheelchair when getting her into the vehicle
* When cleaning the cabin, I started bleach spraying and wiping down the mattresses, and I got bleach on my khaki capris. Very peeved. And then Sam Miller told me they had already been done, so I ruined my pants for nothing. Poopy.
* Quick notes:
o Wii
o Shelley picked up by Lauren who only had one place in her car
o Courtney and Uneeka will maybe come and get Kylee, Sarah, and myself.
o Watched The Proposal – Hello, Ryan Reynolds with no shirt!
o Richard Simmons workouts
o Didn’t get back to Camp Friendship until about 1:40am
o Wandered around trying to find a cabin list.
+ Found a camper: Victoria
+ Counselor asleep and probably told her just to go to the HC by herself – bad counselor!!!!
+ Finally found one from special diets person
+ I’m in Whippoorwill and Sarah is in Cardinal
+ Took stuff to Whippoorwill but stayed in Cardinal wif Sarah so she wouldn’t be by herself
+ Took shower, not draining, bathroom still flooded, oopsies
+ In bed by 3am
* General notes:
o Ma said she will miss me
o Kristen went around collecting everyone’s addresses so she could write them
o Ann did that, too
o When packing her things on Thursday we were joking around and she said something and I responded, “But I love you!” and she responded “I love you, too” – and it made me tear up
o Who is this happy little boy named Caleb?!
+ Dancing with chocolate cake (Wednesday or Thursday)
+ Spitting
+ Participating
+ Canoeing – loved it!
+ Walking around on own without stroller

Saturday:

* Woke up at 8am but went back to sleep until 8:30am
* Got call from Rachel – going to Annandale for parade and carnival – leaving at 8:45am
* Rushed to get ready, Sarah declined to go b/c wanted sleep and wanted to go to Target
* Ran and changed and met them: Barb, George, Rachel, Emily
* Parade was okay, lots of flags, lots of families wearing matching t-shirts or other paraphernalia
* Lots of advertising and a heinous amount of “queens” and “princesses”
* Had ice cream at like 10am
* Ran out of candy by the time they got to us – we were at end of parade route by the Camp Friendship Respite group who had come out
* Used church for restrooms and a/c
* Cloudy and a couple of drops early on, but then super sunny and hot – got sun burn, but hopefully it’s not bad.
* When left, George went back with the Respite group and so it was just us four girls
* Carnival!
o Walked there from our parking spot – not that much walking
o Bought water, hotdog, and chocolate cookies – tasty – only $3 total
o Fried cheese curds – so amazing! – super expensive @ $5
o Wanted chips or fries by resisted
o Found deep fried snickers bars, but didn’t get one – thought of Steven Duvoison, though! Need to call him …
o Was with Rachel S., Emily T., and Barb
o Sat in shade on grass behind concession stands and ate our food and just talked – I took a short space-out nap (not an actual nap, just where you stop paying attention and just look up at the trees or whatever)
o Walked back to the car
* Back at camp about 2:00pm
* We all split up and rushed to get our things ready b/c wanted to join the staff trip down to Minneapolis for the “Red, White, and Boom” events
o We made it on the trip, Sarah, too! We left at 3:05pm.
o There were 7 of us squished into the mini van (I say squished b/c George takes up an astonishing amount of space) – Uneeka drove the minivan, Courtney drove the high-top van with a bunch of other people
o Our van: Emily T., two of the Polish or Russian or something support staff, George, Sarah, Me, Barb, Uneeka
o Sarah and I had a dance party all the way there – only ones dancing – there was lots of Richard Simmons
o Stopped at a Wendy’s for snacks and directions b/c exit signs were confusing
* Red White and Boom
o Got there kinda super early – dead – no one there except a band playing country music and lots of people eating at the restaurant across the way
o Walked around with Sarah, Uneeka, Courtney, Kylee, and Sharon (I think that’s her name …) – walked towards down town – no one around – super creepy
o Sarah and I eventually split off from the group and just goofed off taking pictures
* I had to pee so went into a Macy’s and wandered around looking for a bathroom – super confusing, no one around, really quiet and creepy
o They have a food court inside Macy’s!!!! A big food court!
o Found the bathroom
o Sarah waited and spelled things to herself (found out later she was actually doing sign language letters)
o There was another woman in the bathroom, so after I was done, I just waited for the woman to leave and Sarah would see her – it was really funny when she realized we weren’t the only two in the bathroom
o Lots of bed-lying-in in the bedding department – so super comfy compared to camp beds! Def could have slept for a while in them.
o Wandered around and then went back to the Starbucks in the food court.
o My Debit card isn’t working and it’s pissing me off. I’m going to have to call the bank. It’s so weird and irritating.
o Macy’s closed at 7pm and so we had to leave – super confusing trying to get out of that place, and they had us exit through the Associate’s door and we lost our sense of direction trying to find it – but eventually went in the right direction
* Kept walking and found Target
o Found Uneeka, Kylee, Courtney, and Sharon in there
o Spent 2 hours looking around
o Wanted to find a camera battery charger but they didn’t have one – very sad.
o Found lots of movies that I want:
+ Lars and the Real Girl
+ Waltz with Bashir
+ The film about the girl and her dog who are trying to get up to Alaska – heard about it on NPR
+ Charlie Wilson’s War
+ Four Weddings and a Funeral
+ Gonzo
+ I still want WallE
o Talked to Brenda
o Bought food for dinner – making roastbeef and cheese sandwiches – also got my favorite chips and more chickadees – also more Raisinettes b/c they are my life
* Walked around some more, went back via Hennepin – tons of bars and gay clubs and bars – really wished for Michael, Leigh Ann, Aparna, Jackie, Mummy, etc.
* Walked by the library – skate boarders – filming and taking pictures – eventually got shooed away by a security guard – warning from watch people across the street: “5-0, 5-0, coming out of the building – 5-0.”
* Fireworks
o Wanted to stand on bridge to watch the fireworks, but went to sit with Uneeka, Courtney, Kylee, Sharon on the grass – better place – made sandwiches and ate lots
o 10pm: beautiful fireworks! Even had some hearts and a smiley face!
o Talked to Dad during the fireworks
o Reverberations were amazing – I think one of the best parts of the whole thing – def set off some car alarms
* 10:15pm: at end went back to car, but people didn’t show up until after 11:30pm – so much for common sense
* Tried to stay awake on way back – played the “if” game wif Sarah, Emily (slightly tipsy – vodka lemonades), and Uneeka – had more dance parties
* Matty called at around 12:45pm CST – SUPER DRUNK – at Myrtle Beach wif friends from school and home – very affectionate and made me miss him a lot – “Just so you know, I love you so much. I mean, you’re my fucking sister.” And also “I will probably never ever be so excited to talk to you. But I love you.”
* Got back, took incredible shower in Whippoorwill and slept very, very well in Cardinal

Sunday:

* Up at 8:45am
* Laundry – need to go check on it – oops
* Matt’s back
* Lots of talking
* It’s about 10:20am and I need to go
* I miss furbrain!!!!!!

******Handwritten on the actual date, but typed in on July 23, 2009.*******

July 5, 2009

It’s ~ 10:50pm. In a cabin (Whip) with Sarah Barrett, Melissa S., and PS Sunny and Relief Staff Kayla. We have some amazing campers this week, with only one 1:1 (Amanda Robinson, first time away from home, super strong, pretty overweight, has learned and displays intimidation tactics from mother – getting really close/up in face/repeats over and over again/raises voice when you don’t respond immediately). Four of our campers from the same group home (Nicole 26 yo, Molly 34 yo, April 29 yo, Janine 24 yo), and they are the most amazing campers ever! I love them! We sat on Nicole and April’s room and had girl chat (except for Kristin Beske and Leah who were asleep). Kristin is amazing as well – super sweet and so patient when Amanda throws her things on her puzzle on the floor. She said her cousin does it, too. And I think this is Leah’s 3rd week @ camp b/c she’s def been here when I worked Brown Thrasher and for Respite. She loves saying “So I’m stuck with you, huh?” and then giggles. Amanda’s definitely going to be the most challenging, and I’m almost 100% positive that I’ll come out of this week with @ leaset bruises and probably scratches as well. Whoever is with her has tocarry her wrist bands in pocket b/c she chewed/bit them off within 15 minutes of having them on this afternoon when she got here. She was our first camper to arrive, and instead of unpacking her and being able to stay @ the cabin, I was told by her mom every little thing (for which I am eternally thankful) while we followed A andtried to keep her out of places she’s notsupposed to be and refusing to buy her pop. Obssessive about pop? My-ass check yes. While her parents were checking her in in the gym, A and I wandered around (me trying to keep her from bothering the check in staff, or caregivers – sticks hand or whatever she’s holding into her victim’s face and gives orders, with volume escalating the longer you take to respond or the more you refuse to perform the task(, and we spent a good chunck of time in a seat pulled up right to the glass of the vending machine, watching it like a television, repeating “chippies” and reading/listing all the snacks she wanted. She is also absolutely fixated upon pop. It’s gonna be a long week with her, but I hope it’s a pleasant surprise & she’s not horrible. That sounds horrible but whatevs. I’m falling asleep as I write this. Melissa went out to her car to get her stuff and charge her crack-berry. There are some things I want to elaborate upon later: how to have Amanda “go to potty” (go in as if you are going into stall & she’ll come), Campfire Extravaganza (Molly participated, I volunteered my bracelet, I got soaked b/c was in “Great Big Bonfire” skit – but so much fun – I gave wet hugs to people!), Sunny going for my bag of chips instead of being hyper-aware and jumping up to see if the noises we heard were from Amanda getting up – she didn’t even ask), Nicole to the HC for headache (walked by water, hammock swing). So tired. I know I’m forgetting some things. Maybe one is that I really really miss my puffy. I miss her so much – so much fur and so much cuteness! Oh, today is Shelley’s birthday! I wanted to nominate her for the good humor award for letting all the sitting, tickling, and Michelle-ing going on. She said she wanted to nominate me for the all-star award for having to “work with complete twats.” I laughed so hard. Courtney today was really friendly, and it was really cool – she ate brunch with us and then put cool whip on all of us. It was really funny. Tonight @ dinner Amanda refused to eat the food (dry, super dry, Z-approved chicken, baked potato, green peas), and so I made her a turkey and cheese sandwich with ruffle chips and a brownie and a cookie. Sarah eventually had to take her outside to eat. I don’t know if she actually ate or not. I’ll ask tomorrow am. I really miss Reddy. Mom is going to the UK until next Sunday (week from today) – I don’t know what I’m going to do since I can’t do early am phone calls to her! Billy – you’re up! Hopefully I’ll get a morning walk in tomorrow. People are still shooting off fireworks! Wish I could have set some off this year! But it was a really great 4th of July this year. So hard to believe it’s already July! Okay handwriting is seriously going downhill – bedtime f’shizzle. Night!

Catching up to do ...

These are all quite a bit out of order, but here we go! I'll edit and embellish later.

Love!

~ Mei

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

11:45am in common room waiting on Pam ("Maybe I can poop!") and then back down to do the high ropes course. I really want to do the high ropes course! Last night in the tent was so much fun: Sam J. (Counselor), Deanne Perez, Kristin Wivell, Ann Hassing, me. We sang songs (Sam and I, with Ann laughing and saying "Dear God not this again! Oh, please!" and when asked which song we should sing she would respond "None of the above!" at which we would all laugh and then Sam and I would sing even louder), talked, lauhged, and had a great time! Even Kristen, who was at first extremely reluctant to go.

My hand feels weird when I write. I'm not sure why. Pam's done. More later.

It's about 3:45pm right now. Marie is lying down and we're missing gardening. I like it here - so calm, don't have to block door, cleaning crews come in every day, larger staff bedrooms, ropes guy is gay (LOVE IT!!!!). But there are some things that I don't like - lock closet is the staff bedroom, disorganization of supplies, staff text and use cell phones during work hours, I have an allergy cough, I miss CF people and the space to walk, the staff don't label the clothing like you should, staff bedroom is a wreck. On the other hand, I have been able to read here and the tent we slept in last night is pretty darn new and even though it rained last night and the fly was much too small (it was from a different tent but the staff didn't think to go get another fly) we didn't get wet - and there's a stereo in the common area so we have had several dance parties, also the water is actually potable! And we went to do arts and crafts (iron bead patterns - Red White and Blue for Fourth of July), followed by high ropes course with North Dorm and everyone went and participated to various extents!

At the high ropes course Deanne, Amanda, and Kristen did it! I really want to try it sometime! It looks fun! Lucnh was soft taos and they ran out of lettuce (snappy food service lady when I asked for more for the table), Arts and Crafts special interest session (I went with La, we did tye-dye, got dye spilled on me by Krystel but whatevs, don't really care b/c a good introduction to interesting stories "from camp"), canteen where everyone bought tons of stuff and Kristen cried b/c she ran out of money (she came with about $50!), now chilling on common area.

Some more things I like about here: I can do puzzles, they ahve baskets with utensils/plates/etc. on the table, they give you your tray (you don't have to tell them numbers), recycling containers in every dorm/dining hall/building, lots of play ground and other swings, good showers (gonna take one tonight - can't wait!), everyone is so chill and friendly (*7/2 note: not chill, incompetent*).

"Allie" here is the "Veronica" of CF ... without being interesting and without being able to competently work with other staff and campers. She drives everyone nuts. It's kinda amusing. Blabs campers' personal business super loud and super public.

Time to wake up Marie. Need to talk later about Ann, Deanne, Deb, Amanda (on latter at ropes), Kristen (reminds me voice-wise of Kara from middle and high school). Also, I am enjoying being able to snack occasionally! Yay! Love the black pepper and salt Archer Farms chips - my life. Def miss Annie, Emily, Rachel, and others! Hope I can get back to CF on Friday ... need to talk to and bribe Derek ...

Addendum written Thursday, July 2:
Tuesday night's evening program was looking for the silverware that had "gone missing." We had to eat chicken nuggets, spicy fries, and greenbeans with our fingers, which did not amuse some of the campers. But it was fun ... kinda. I was on TO from Eleanor b/c Sam Miller wanted to work with her, meaning I got to spend time with the other campers which was great! But I did miss Eleanor who would call "My!" (instead of "May").

Marie wanted to go for a walk so we walked down to the waterfront and she sat while I went into the woodsy area to find a suitable bramble in which I could hide and pee camping-style. It was pretty darn funny, actually. We came back up the big hill and joined North Dorm in front of the dorms for the singing station where we had to sing the "Camp Eden Wood" song super loud. Nancy was hilariously cranky and was not having any of Tracey which made us all laugh so hard we "almost pissed ourselves" (yay, Z, I used your expression!). I don't know if Marie can see far, but she refused to read the lyrics and so just made up melodies and word-esque sounds until the song was over and then she began asking questions again. South Dorm was on the basketball court doing that station, and so we just went with North Dorm to the Arts and Crafts station where they drew "Wanted" posters of who they thought had stolen the silverware. Marie and I waited there for South Dorm and then walked with them. The gnats were horrendous, and it was torture sitting down by the basketball courts for the evening program's conclusion. We all made a run (well, as much of a run that is possible with Marie using her walker going up a hill of not-so-flat terrain and talking and stopping and pausing to look around and ask about other things and taking her time while complaining about the bugs) for it back to our cabins.

After the campers were in bed, a bunch of us counselors sat around in the far corner of the common area on the broken sofa and chairs and cushy seat and had "girl talk" which basically just means talking. They talked about Fourth of July plans (so far Friday involves "beverages," fire works, a fire, and the waterfront on property, and Saturday involves going into Minneapolis to do some fireworks watching, clubbing, and more "beverages," and a super expensive cab fare back to camp). It was really fun, just sitting and talking. But Kylee and Shelley and I really want to go back to CF on Friday. We didn't go to bed until after midnight.

I know I am forgetting stuff, but I'll hopefully be able to remember and add stuff later.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009 (written Thursday am, July 2, 2009)

Wednesday was great. We had our picnic lunch this day. And Amanda had several freakouts, calling "mama" and "papa" and "Allison" (her sister). The first one happened during baking (around 9:30am) and I just took her for a walk. We explored down some of the trails in the back down the paved trail that winds down the hill. She cried and all that. She also slaps her thigh, swings her right arm and slaps the left side of her face, slaps her head, and just screams and cries. She didn't have any tears, but she had lots of snot and lots of saliva that dripped. I did my best to keep her from hitting herself and to just let her walk around. After about 40 minutes of walking around, we came to the swings and she began swinging and crying. Sam M. came out from baking and we switched places.

Amanda calmed down eventually and was able to join us for the picnic lunch of turkey sandwiches, chips, and chocolate chip cookies. It was great. After lunch was special interest session, and so Amanda, Deanne, and I walked down to take Amanda to the dining hall where her "Dacne Craze" session was. Deanne and I then went up to the Arts and Crafts session to look for coloring books. We settled down outside and colored for a while. The Arts and Crafts special interest were making necklaces from pasta that they painted.

After the special interest session of Dance Craze, Amanda came up the hill with staff and had started up again, but more violent and more hitting and more physical motion as well as actual tears. It was really awful. She's just so homesick. I had been sitting at the picnic table with Deanne (who was coloring) while Amanda (counselor) was pushing Kristen in the hammock swing, but Kriten wandered up. Sent the other campers inside and I sat with Amanda until she started hitting again at which point I gave her a hug and she put her head on my shoulder as she kept sobbing. She eventually started squirming and ended up on the ground hitting and sobbing. I tried to stop the hitting, and led her to the swings where I left her and went back to the picnic table to sit and watch her, giving her space and time. She began to calm down a little, but when she walked up to me she was screaming again. It was rest hour, but she was not going to rest. I made the mistake (or the strategic move) of trying to get her inside where she of course increased her volume and we quickly went out the back (walking past resting counselors). Shelley came out and the "new face" helped calm Amanda who was able to at least stop screaming and sobbing and concentrate on other things. Eventually she calmed down while Shelley and I talked and talked to her, and we brought her inside and she sat in a chair by Kayla and started nodding off, but she kept fighting off sleep. Shelley had the brilliant idea of making her a little pallet on the floor in the common area (she refused to go back to her bedroom), and so we did that. She rested/slept for a few minutes until they started the scheduled dance party, at which point she got up. She was so tired, all I wanted her to do was rest, but she got up and kept going. I don't really remember what happened after that, I'll do my best to fill in later.

Dinner was beef stew, roasted tomato bread from Panera, bananas, and rice kripsy treats with peanutbutter and chocolate in top. It was okay. Eleanor loved it! After dinner we went back to the cabin and started getting ready for the dance. At around 6:45pm Lexie (counselor) took SD (South Drom) over to the "Hickory of Eden Wood" (costume area) so that we could get costumes. Ma (Eleanor) wore a grass skirt and a couple of plastic leis, and I found a hideous green and black tutu skirt and an awful pink long sleeved button blouse thingy. Ann got a pink lacy dress ("for Derek" on whom she has a crush, sentiments vigorously fed by Sam J. and myself as well a Ann who is hilarious saying "Oh God yes!" and "He's so handsome!"). Everyone dressed up - it was great! When we got back to the cabin, there was music going and definitely make up, paint, etc. going on the campers as well as the staff, more so the staff so that we looked absolutely ridiculous. Shelley and Pam attacked me with several shades of hideousity, and Shelley and I then went after Kylee with turqouise and pink and glitter so that she looked like someone had tried to paint a rabbit on her face. There was also tons of glitter. Earlier Kylee had put stuff on Shelley's face saying "I (heart) ND" (ND = North Drom) at Shelley's request. We had so much fun!

At the dance (on the basketball court) I danced a lot with Ma who was absolutely hilarious, saying "Oh, quit it!" and "You're a silly goose!" (responding me calling her a silly goose) and laughing and smiling, but eventually asking when we could go back up to get her a shower and got o bed. Amy (our HMA), Deanne, Kristen, and myself were the only ones who actually danced with Ellie, and it made me sad that none of the other counselors wanted to interact with her. For the most part, the counselors interacted only with the counselors, which made me very sad. Amanda, the relief staff, was really good about dancing with a bunch of the campers. Ann lost her crush for Derek and developed one for Thomas who is gay (tee hee hee), and Marie got to "dance" with Eric (for whom she had developed a "crush" during dinner when she kept talking about "the boys" and especially "that boy that came into baking!"). I tried my best to bribe Derek to take us back to Annandale on Friday, and met and talked to Eric and Thomas who are so young (just graduated from high school; I def felt old even though they were so so much taller than I). Thomas and Eric say that I remind them uncannily of Thomas's friend Morgan - apparently we are the same height, have the same tone of voice, say the same things, act the same way, and look similar. It's was so much fun. One of their campers, the creepy alien-looking one with zero hair and pointy ears and super white and gaping mouth loves his men, and so Eric and Thomas spent a lot of time dodging his advances (which is hard because he requires support when walking, mostly of the draping sort), which was hilarious.

After the dance we all went back up and everyone beat me and Eleanor to the showers. So Ellie ended up doing her Neb at around 9pm and she showered about 9:30pm.

Need to talk about later:

• Shelley and Kylee and I staying up and eating popcorn, Pringles, complaining about Eden Wood staff, sharing stories
• All we talk about are BMs and personal cares - really sad and really funny
• Talked about how Eden Wood is staffed (Shelley's theory: staff chosen who can work independently but who aren't really competent, need "easy" campers)
• Max is a day camper here - and Caleb is here
• This is the perfect camp for Caleb - fewer people, less noise and chaos, more individualized attention, he's actually participating, he loved the canoe (story from Amanda), feels better!
  
• Lysol spray Ellie's chair
• How Ellie became "Ma" and I became "Honey" (started Tuesday)
• Shelley eating off the floor

Thursday, July 2, 2009

My triceps are sore - probably from transferring Ellie. She laughs so much now, and jokes with us all the time.

It's about 11am now and Kylee and I are going to the Kowalski grocery store next door to look for chocolates and other yummy bad-for-you snacks. Then to ride back to camp which will probably take about 30 - 45 minutes. Will try to write notes later.

June 28, 2009

Being written July 2nd, actually. Just found some writing from the 28th. See below.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

10:20pm - in bed - at Eden Wood - a/c - no chasing/screaming/hitting/grabbing/running/cursing/biting/wandering at a run - actual food - campers who listen - campers who interact positively with one another - cool weather - chilly breezes (sweatshirt necessary) - etc. ... is this heaven?! Well, not exactly. Eleanor - smokes the "non-cigarettes," yells at everything and can't tell if she is kidding or not, heavy as all-get-out (had to push her all the way up the hill), total assist eating, incontinence, high maintenance, but also thanks you and expresses exactly what she needs and wants. It's so different being with verbals and participators after last week. I'm getting used to (well, fighting against, really) the immediate thought "they're whining!" when they're simply just able to verbalize their desires as opposed to grabbing/pinching/biting/throwing/running/hitting - what a luxury! And get up and walk - no worrying about tripping over people sleeping at the doors! but I do really miss CF - friends, space, activities, chaos, noise, friends, etc. Sigh. Night!

Addendum from July 2, 2009:

I have more notes from this day, but I can't find them right now. I know they're somewhere, though!

More later.

Love!

~ Mei

Apologies ... from Eden Wood Center (Camp)

So terribly sorry I have been MIA lately on blogs - super duper MIA! This week (6/28 - 7/3) I've been working at Eden Wood Center, one of the two smaller camps in the Friendship Ventures camp consortium thingy. It's located in Eden Prairie, MN, which seems so far (only ridden on bicycle through a small part of it to get to Caribou Coffee which is where my butt is not happily glued to a seat that has been *hopefully* neither pooped, peed, vomited, etc. upon) to be largely suburbia to the nth degree. But that's okay - there is a really nice bike trail and the houses/condos are huge and beautiful with horrifyingly green grass. I have a couple of blogs to write up, and since I haven't been able to really use my computer at all while here (until now, of course), I've been taking notes on scraps of paper (one of which I've already managed to lose - yay - argh) and, fabulously enough, on paper towels!!!!!! Whoo! So here are come of the notes that I've written, non-edited (hopefully that will come later) and certainly non-embellished (which, again, hopefully will come later). Please enjoy! I also have pics that I'll try to upload at some point!

Monday, June 29

Got up at 7am and some of the campers were already up. Ye gad. Ann and Eleanor were the last ones to get up. Went to breakfast at 8:30am (*reminder* breakfast at Friendship is at 8am), but Eleanor and I didn't get there until about 8:45am b/c of her neb (nebulizer) treatment. It's 2pm and rest hour is actually ... restful!!!! People are actually sleeping; people are sitting around just asking questions (Marie, of course, is driving us nuts). We're having special interest during rest hour (bad idea),but the baking is being done in the cabin common room. (insert drawing of south and north dorms here)

I'm super sleepy.

This am when changing Eleanor we got a fabulous surprise of a large (softball-sized ... *commence gagging*) BM, super hard, and super compact. It was horrifying. And guess who was the lucky person to remove it from where it was conveniently lodged/stuck/etc. ... yep, the only one who can competently do personal cares in my cabin ... yep ... me. I had to wrench it out and away. I think I'm scarred. (Haha not really, but the drama is certainly fun.) Luckily Sam J. did a lot of the wiping.

Breakfast was oatmeal (brown sugar, raisins), apple sauce, and baked egg with cheese on top (*ick*). I skipped theeggs. But the oatmeal was fine (later in the day I hot horrible stomach aches and was reminded once again why I should not eat oatmeal, no matter how tasty). I also skipped the apple sauce. Did have a multigrain bagel, though, which was super tasty with peanut butter and banana. Wish they had honey.

I like helping Eleanor (personal cares, eating, etc.) - she's cranky sometimes,it's difficult to understand her, and she makes me smell like nicotine,but she's so funny sometimes - especially when she fell asleep at the zoo today while we were walkingaround! She slept going there, while there, and on the way home, and still wanted to take a nap when we got back! I slept there and on the way back, as well. We saw the apes and monkeys, with Eleanor calling herself a (male) orangutan and me in turns a spider monkey or a golden tamarin. She would point and say "That's me!" and then point at another and say "That's you!" and crack up laughing every time. I love when she laughs! There was ababy giraffe, as well. Sadly, no hippos, but there were bison, lions, a zonked tiger, beautiful snow leapars (I think ... small and white with dark spotting patterns), and a gorgeous puma. They (the campers) also liked the zebras. The Como Zoo was so much fun!

When we got back there were grilled cheese (some even on multi-grain/rye, all thick-sliced), tomato soup, and carrots and watermelon. I passed on the soup but gorgedon everything else, especially the watermelon. After lunch I was goign to take Eleanor to have a smoke (she is fixated on "when can i smoke" and organizing her schedule around when her next smoke is "and then what") on her electric NPROs that are acting up right now unfortunately - they're supposed to help you stop smoking, but they are straight nicotine, just without the tar, etc. - so really they just keep you addicted (*begin the negative comments on my negative comment* haha).

Anyway, La began having a horrifyingly biolent behavior at Katie, grabbing and ripping out chunks of hair (Katie now has a bald spot near her temple), as well as scratching,jabbing, and probably biting. Everyone rushed to help Katie, and shen Katie was extricated, La lunged at Lexie (apparently scratching her in the eye). Most of the staff worked to get any remaining campers out of the dining room (luckily most had left, but there were still quite a few). Eleanor and I quickly exited out front and had a smoke. Lexie came out after a while holding a hand over her left eye, and Amy the HMA ran in witha blanket. You could still hear La's super high-pitched spealing and screaming. El and I went back up the hill (thank goodness she's the only one who utilizes a wheelchair in our cabin b/c that hill sure takes it out of you!), and she told me, "I don't like that fighting girl," meaning La. Oh, I forgot - they tried to team La, but it failed and she ended up making her wai to the floor where she continued to act out, lunging at people and grabbing hold, pulling and biting and screaming, even with five staff working to get her to be still and calm down. Katie tried to do the team, too, even after she was hurt and "got away."

El and I got back up the hill, Katie was (and still is) in bed cryinga nd resting, Ann and Krystel and Inge were playing with homemade play-doh (special interest arts and crafts), and many campers were asleep/sitting around.

Now it's about 3pm and everyone is at archery. Katie got up briefly and went to archery, but was told to come back and rest. It's time to introduce Eleanor: very overweight, very swollen lowerlegs/ankles/feet (Ted's Hose), no teeth (brush her gums with a sponge on the end of a q-tip stick with tooth paste on it), enormous tongue (reminds me of the tongue of the dog that won the "ugliest dog in the world" competition), arms uplled up perpendicular to the floor against her chest with little range of motion (unless given by another individual), left hand in shape of when someone signals to call, right hand a fist but with index finger mobile enough to grab and hold onto her cigaretts (of course), two cups of coffee a day (excellent negotiation skills), great sense of humor, very helpful with her personal care instructiosn (well, only brushing her gums), coughs flem a lot but nothing comes out, total assist in every way, yells as if in pain but most of the time (so far) is joking (but can't really tell so super careful), corn rows coming super loose with grey hairs, blows air out mouth so lips flap and flutter (watch out when she's eating or you'll get splattered!), loves to eat food together (ex. grilled cheese and tomato-soup and apple sauce in one bite), loves sleeping propped so on left side, totally zipped up in a cocoon like a caterpillar, likes to have collar over her nose (pulled up), has hilarious phrases ("Fix my feet!" "I want a smoke" "But I want to smoke!" "When can I smoke?" "Is it fixed?" "Is is charged/charging?" "Where's Eric?!" "But I want it now!" "It's not working! - followed by puffing of lips, etc.), has neb treatments 4 times a day, sleeps whenever she can, no bladder control but will warn you when she's peeing when you're changing her. She's yelling right now from her room where she's taking nap. Be back alter. We're doing cookout tonight. This should be interesting.

Addendum as of today (7/2):
The cookout was actually a lot of fun. Eleanor didn't like going down the paved trail into the woods down to the campsite, but when we got there she had fun kinda. We had cheeseburgers, chips, orange slices, and peanutbutter s'mores. It was a lot of fun. Everyone was afraid of La and she sat by herself at her own picnic table, but Marie parked herself at that table and asked questions incessantly, of course. I helped Eleanor eat, and she loved it. I crunched up her s'more and soaked it in a little bit of milk and she ate it up! It's interesting, every time we eat, all the campers gulp down their food (despite the "Deb - slowly - slowly, Deb - slowly!") and then want to roam around and/or leave right that instant. But they're really good about following directions to stay seated/come back/help out - which is a nice change from running after them whether or not your have eaten, much less finished eating. So after eating, everyone wanted to go back up. We made it back up and we helped Eleanor shower, which was not that much fun - the shower chair has these arms that help when the person is in the chair but are really inconvenient for getting people into and out of the chair. It was a good shower for her, though. I forget what happened later, but everyone was in bed and asleep by about 9:30pm, which was absolutely incredible! I even got to bed by about 11pm, I think! It was absolutely incredible!

Okay, I'm going to call Gramma Becky right now. More in a bit.

Talk wif Gramma was great - I def miss the family back at home!!!! Here are some pix that I need to post before I forget. They're from the entire time so far. I'll try to remember to say where they're from, etc. The captions will be above the photos, and I'll try to stay consistent!

This is the view of Clearwater Lake from the Fishbowl at Camp Friendship:

This is a picture of Adam (plaid shorts, CIT) and Nick (camper, uses a wheelchair but can walk very unsteadily, fascinated by boats/water/motor/etc., loves Adam, loves noises esp. the type of noises that are kinda similar to the Paul Pena's throat singing in Genghis Blues - incredible film - you have to see it! I discovered Nick liked the sounds when I was trying to imitate the boat motor to make Nick smile - he has the best smile!)


Here's a picture of the giant squirrel at Rachel's house. It was ridiculous. And absolutely hilarious!



And here is Eleanor, my favorite camper of the week!!!! She has a great smile!



And here is a picture of Eleanor and myself all dressed to impress for the Camp Dance that was last night (Wednesday, July 1st).



Okay, I'm going to stop for now and write up some more things. Kylee is trying to make her way over to Caribou coffee, and I'm probably not going to be able to post for another week or so, but I'll do my best to squeeze in some more! So sorry I haven't been more consistent with the blogging!

Love to you all!

~ Mei