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!)

July 17

******Incomplete, but not sure what should come next in the entry.******

Friday, July 17, 2009

I am so super tired. Thank goodness we don’t have to do 2am wake ups tonight! I have a ton of catching up to do.

Right now there are a whole mess of us in the HC watching the Sex and the City movie. There’s Emily T., Nicki, Sarah Du., HMA Sarah, and Mallory. Most of the campers were gone by about 4:00pm, and we were fabulously clean and packed, except for a few things of Robert’s (because Orlando hadn’t labeled them and because I was too excited to be done) and Harry’s (because it was scattered all over the place and again I was too excited to be done and have him gone). Oh well. Harry was so freaking excited to go home, as were Hugh and Jack and Terry.

Before the village meeting we all ran over to clean Eagle, and then we had the village meeting. We all got “Life Savers Awards,” and I even got one from Orlando for “doing everything” – thank you very much. And I got one from George for being “so accommodating” when he was in our cabin. It was embarrassing, but nice. We found out that we have to move out to our new cabins after the meeting, not on Sunday before the all camp meeting there. How obnoxious. I really wish they would just tell us directly instead of letting us hear it through the grapevine. Harumph. But yeah. I’ll be working in Goldfinch this coming week with Mel, Breanna (from Eden Wood I think), someone else who I can’t remember unfortunately, and Sunny as program staff. After the meeting I took a horrible shower in Goldfinch – I really miss the showers in Blue Heron, Eden Wood, and Whippoorwill. Sadness. But oh well. Emily came by and we went to see if we could bum rides to Wal Mart, but there wasn’t enough room. So we went to the dining hall and had horrible chicken patty and cheese and tomato sauce sandwiches and chips and carrots. I also had some cookie dough ice cream and some mint chocolate chip ice cream. Yum! There were four of us that sat there for about an hour and a half, Sarah the HMA, Emily T., Sarah Du., and myself. It was great.

After that I came back and talked to mom on the phone for about a half an hour and it was great. I really miss home. Reddy is getting her head shaved so that her nubbins can be removed, and she is getting one of her teeth jerked – the tooth that gets big and infected on her little furry cheek. I miss her so so so so much. I feel so homesick whenever I think about her. And I get all teary eyed and so super homesick whenever I think about being in an airport, being on a plane, on my way home. I can not wait to get home!

Today I didn’t get up until 7:05am, which was fortunate because Sarah Du. and Lisa walked in right then. Actually, Sarah was already there, but I’m glad I made it up. Orlando and Sam were slow getting up, but whatever. I’m used to it. I decided we should get Robert ready first, and that was me, Sarah Du. I think, and Orlando. We got it done, and Sam and Lisa took care of everyone else. It was great – we were ready to go before 8am and we got to breakfast by only a few minutes after that! It was amazing! We had horrible stuff for breakfast that included cantaloupe and banana bread muffins. It was incredible … ly awful. So I just ate a bunch of cantaloupe and some blueberry bagel and some cheerios. I chased Terry around and talked to Megan some, and it was just very chill. We went back to the cabin and did lots of showers. I did lots of showers, to be exact. I showered Jack, Andrew, and Hugh. While I was showering Hugh, Sarah Du. came in and wanted me to come outside. She told Orlando to take my place, and so I went out to see what was up.

Surprise! Andrew was on the floor with a death grip on the first bathroom’s door, yelling for the film to his camera. Sarah was trying to get him up. Apparently he had pushed himself out of his wheelchair so that he could continue attacking the door with his closed fist. Lisa apparently was inside with the film and camera, riding out the storm with a locked door and a great sense of humor. I helped Sarah raise Andrew so that he could use his walker, and he calmed down and we helped him back into his wheel chair. I slipped into the bathroom and Sarah took him to Arts and Crafts. It was scary because he kept pounding on the door and yelling. But it was hilarious all the same. We finally got everyone over to Arts and Crafts by about 10:45am, where Andrew was distracted for the most part, but he was still asking about his camera. We went to music with George after Arts and Crafts, but Harry refused to go in and so I sat outside in the hall with him and read him notes and just chilled with Sarah Du while she did behavior reports for Andrew for earlier.

At about noon Orlando brought Robert out and we went to change him. Harry came with. Orlando failed to properly remove the brief, resulting in BM on the Hoyer Lift swing. Yay. But I cleaned up and took over. We had to get him back onto his own Hoyer sling which is not compatible with the camp one, unfortunately, and so we had to recruit people to help us do a manual transfer from the bed into his chair. Unfortunately, it was about 12:25pm when we got to this stage, and so the camp was deserted – everyone was at the dining hall. Sarah went out and recruited Jon, Matt, and Cindy to help out, and so we were able to smoothly and easily get him back into his chair. It was amazing. After that I stayed behind while Orlando and Sarah took Harry and Terry (or Harry and Jack, can’t remember) to lunch; Robert was scheduled to be picked up at around 12:30pm. Interestingly enough they didn’t actually show up until about 2:30pm, but whatevs. I sat and did crossword puzzles and talked to Robert while we waited.

Everyone came back from lunch and Terry wet himself, which was really unfortunate because it was super late, and even though he luckily had some clean clothes, he had only one pair of shoes. Luckily only one shoe got sopping wet, and so I changed him and Sarah took his shoe and his washcloth to the laundry to dry after I washed them out. Yay. Terry went around with only one shoe for the afternoon until his caretaker arrived at about 3:30pm, which was great because his shoe was dry by then.

Everyone except Robert, Lisa, and me went to the talent show, and apparently it was a good one. I’m sorry I missed it, but I’m glad that we stayed back because I was able to finish packing everyone up and Lisa S. started cleaning. Yes. She was incredible – she got the whole back done by the time they got back from the talent show.

The first to leave was Robert, and he was so happy to be going home to see “Rusty” and “Boo” (his dog and cat respectively), and his caregiver, Cheryl, seemed glad to see him. Next to leave was Harry, and he was even more happy to leave and go home. He went right to the gate and to his car, and it was incredible. Absolutely incredible. I told the caregiver about not being able to shave him, and she said that it was okay, that they were used to him looking like that because only one person really is allowed by Harry to help him shave. Then Terry’s ride arrived, and while Lisa S. and I walked him out, Sarah ran to grab his shoe. We waited for her behind the Nature House where we talked to him and I cleaned the pizza off his face. Sarah lobbed the shoe as us when she was close enough, and it hit the railing with a really loud thud. We were laughing so hard. We turned the corner and there was Terry’s caregiver; I really hope she didn’t see any of it! He never walked so fast, and he literally scrambled into the car when we got there. His caregiver seemed really, really nice. Next was Jack, and he never walked so fast! He was so cute! I almost cried when he left, and Chet told me as we were walking back to the front gate from the parking lot that Jack came to camp in the winter. I really want to come back – that would just be absolutely amazing! Penultimate to leave was Hugh, who ran to the front gate, calling “Mary! Mary! I go see Mary!” and he clambered up into the van so excitedly. It was great! Very sad to see him go! Finally, Andrew was left, and he left by about 4:15pm. We finished cleaning up, and then we were done. I was very sad to see Andrew (who apparently goes by Andy) go home, and he gave me a great, big hug.

After the meeting, we did that cleaning thing.

It’s gross, sad, and weird that every time I do a personal care, I get super itchy, especially on my face. It’s so awful! I can't scratch my face with poopy gloves! ::Sigh::

I’m not going to be able to do Wednesday and Thursday. So I’ll just do some quick things.

Robert always asks if you will help him, if you will get him something, if you will be his girlfriend/boyfriend (he asked Lisa to be his boyfriend, and he asked Sam to be his girlfriend), and if you have something for him. I called him materialistic and Sarah laughed.

July 16

Thursday, July 16, 2009

It’s about 8:10pm and I’m sitting at the little round table in Irish Rose’s living room after having just helped Harry to bed. We tried to go to the dance, but he would have none of it, and though I got him into the gym at least for 30 seconds, he immediately bolted and we eventually went outside where we ate a brownie and he expressed his wishes to go to bed. Verbatim: “It’s bed time. Time for bed.” He rolls his r’s, and I am super jealous that he can do so with so little effort. I do my best to keep up, but to no avail.

It’s sad, but I don’t get to take as many showers as I thought I would be taking here. So the giant bottle of shampoo that I wasted money on is never going to be used while here at camp. I’m still trying to get through the little travel bottle of shampoo that I brought with me in my doo-wah, and I have another little bottle as well that I have to get through! This is sad. And I feel super gross whenever I think about it too hard for too long, which I try not to do – think about my hygiene and me in general that is.

I want to call Mom right now, but one, I might “get caught,” two, the other campers could come back at any time and that would be ruinous, and three, I really need to update so that I don’t forget.

For Wednesday night, all of today (Thursday) and for tomorrow (Friday), I am unofficial cabin leader because Orlando is incompetent and the rest of the staff is relief and/or program staff. We have really good relief staff: Lisa S., Katie Moyers, and Sarah Duncan, and for tonight we have Jaime who gives massages to campers. Unfortunately, I was not aware that we were supposed to take campers to get their massages, and so Andrew has missed his appointment as did Harry (though Harry’s was by choice because he adamantly refused to go – I don’t think he likes to be touched at all – when Lisa and Orlando tried to shave him with and electric razor this morning he flipped out and wouldn’t let them near him). Speaking of the devil (Harry), here he comes out of his bedroom. I knew it wouldn’t last. How obnoxious. Back to doing crosswords, I suppose.

I just wrote him a note and he went back to bed … for now.

It’s been a while, and so I’ll do my best to remember the rest of Tuesday, all of Wednesday, and apparently all of today. This will be interesting.

Overall, we (Hannah and the rest of us, but I’d like to blame Hannah) forgot to take the guys to their special interests. We forgot to take Terry to the Cookie Monster every day Tuesday through Friday from 9:30am until 10:20am. Katie actually took him today because we remembered, and we’re going to try to remember for tomorrow as well. I thought that Hugh was actually in Cookie Monster, and so she took him, but Barb was a saint and let Hugh stay as well as Terry join. Four of the six guys are in Hook, Line & Sinker (Harry, Hugh, Robert, Jack), but we forgot as well Tuesday and Wednesday, and when we tried to go today, the trip was cancelled as was our boat ride because there were white caps out on the water. The poor guys. We’ll try for the Cookie Monster again tomorrow, but unfortunately the fishing trip was never undertaken.

Tuesday evening when I got back we just did a lot of sitting around. Sadly, this cabin does a lot of that. I wish that the other counselors would be adventurous with me, but they just seem(ed) lazy – making them sit inside instead of walking around or sitting outside on our picnic table. The common area in this cabin is very small, and so there isn’t much room for error, especially with two people who utilize wheelchairs, one of whom is in a full-body chair b/c his spine is fused. Whatevs. That night the evening program was “Motorcycles,” and was moved up to 7pm because of the fear of inclement weather (is was awfully dark grey, very windy, and extremely intimidating). There were about 10 motorcycles that came out, mostly from some group in Annandale called the Annandale Riders or something (sincerely sorry for trivializing the group’s name), and they were absolutely incredible with all the campers. I hung out with Terry, and he actually sat up on a motorcycle! I was so impressed and proud of him – I thought for sure he would run away (well, “run” is put in a broad context, I suppose I should say “wander”) because of the crowd, but he climbed atop the motorcycle and it took quite a bit of coaxing to get him down. After the motorcycle sit, though, he did move towards the Lodge where we sat inside flipping light switches until he decided that it was time to venture back out. We went back to the cabin and waited for the rest of the group, which wasn’t far behind. Everyone was in bed, again, before 9:30pm and the counselors just stayed up and talked. Well, Sam, Hannah, and I, really, because Jared went on an errand to get cigarettes and Orlando went somewhere, presumably to smoke. I hate when he comes back from his “breaks” smoking and he reeks of smoke. Especially this morning after the 2am wake up. What the hell does he need a cigarette at 2am for?! Anyway, moving on … Sam asked Hannah about her tattoo, and she said the it hurt a lot especially on the bone and she feels that she has a square chiseled into her ankle. Eesh. They discussed pricing, etc. It’s awfully expensive to put yourself through that much pain and torture … my word. Sam talked about the plugs in his ears (he’s trying to make them plugs, anyway – right now he just has gauges – I think that’s what they’re called …). Hannah talked about having her nipple pierced and how badly that hurt – they used a size 12 needle, hollow, I think is what she said. Dear God – that sounds horrible. Found out sometime yesterday that Jared also has his nipples pierced, both, and that it hurt like hell. He says he can tug on them and it freaks people out. I should say so!!!! Gawd. Anyway, that was the rest of Tuesday.

Yesterday, Wednesday, here are the main things.

Arts and Crafts in the morning, followed by Music with Kate. Arts and Crafts was fun. We did scratch painting (color very hard with crayons on paper with a glossy, waxy feel then paint the page in black, and finally use a stick or something to scratch designs – scratching the paint off the colorful crayons – the effect is pretty darn cool) and something else that I can’t remember. I felt very badly for Kate because she couldn’t get much out of anybody except Robert and Hugh (who would call out for the Beatles, Johnny Cash, and Elvis at different points usually when she was playing the song he just requested). She did a very admirable job, and I think the guys enjoyed it. Harry, of course, was not present, because he was still in Arts and Crafts “watching cars” from the window with Jared who was finishing up some projects for the rest of the campers who didn’t want to or couldn’t participate.

After music we made our way to the see the bunnies and the hermit crabs. I got pretty ticked off at the other counselors because they were just sitting and talking to one another, ooing and ahing over the animals, and paying very little attention to the fact that Terry and Harry were both wandering off. Luckily Grace was super nice and would take Terry on little walks around the nature building, and Harry was for once kind of compliant. The bunnies were ridiculously adorable, though, and it made me want to get one even though my common sense screams “NOCTURNAL ANIMAL! NOCTURNAL ANIMAL!” as well as “Where the hell are you going to keep that thing?!” Orlando was terrified of the hermit crabs which was hilarious, and that was about it.

Picnic was next, and the kitchen staff has gotten super stingy in prepping us with food for the picnic. They don’t give us enough for people to have seconds, and the food is of course sub-par. We had turkey sandwiches with orange American cheese, chips, chocolate chip cookies, and orange slices. We didn’t give the campers orange slices because one, we have campers who can’t chew very well, two, we have campers who will most likely find some creative way to stuff and smear and splatter the oranges and their juices in horrible places and all over their clothes, and three, because we just didn’t want them to have them. Yes, horrible counselors we all are.

After lunch Matt pulled Hannah and then me aside to do a sort of review of what we thought, etc. He asked a series of questions and I got to vent about Orlando (which I probably shouldn’t have done in hindsight) and requested flashlights for campouts. It was interesting. Of course whenever you are in a situation like that, you never remember the super “important” things that you’ve been wanting to ask about for ages and ages, but I did remember to ask him to ask Jon for a minute of his time to see if I could switch work weeks with Danielle – I’m supposedly off the week of July 26^th and she’s supposed to work but she wants the week off and I want to work – hopefully something can be arranged.

It’s distressing to see that there are not recorded BMs for Terry. I will make a note to ask the counselors if they have noticed any BMs for him for the past week. I am very concerned. It’s pitiful and gross, yes I know, but it’s very important. Imagine you eating two helpings a meal, three meals a day (not the best meals, might I add), plus snacks, walking around a lot, and then not shitting for a week. Yeah, that’s what I thought.

Today I saw Orlando feeding Robert, which was a no-no because Robert can very well feed himself. In fact, Robert had fed himself up until the point that I guess Orlando was tired of waiting for him. It was ridiculous, but I didn’t say anything.

Shit. Nicki just came in to give Harry his pills and now he’s up again. Poop.

Harry can be super creepy. A super creeper especially when he is standing in doorways of other campers when they are sleeping or changing and playing with himself in an absent-minded sort of way. We shut the doors on him and he gets super grumpy, but whatever. Luckily he doesn’t open doors and insist on being a creeper.

I think they’re on their way back. I may need to wrap this up.

July 14

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

It’s about 1:45pm and I’m about an hour into my time off. I didn’t get to start time off until about 12:45pm, only 15 minutes late, but it was still an excruciating 15 minutes. Orlando, Jared, and I were trying to get Robert into some sort of bathing arrangement. First, we tried the tub at the Health Center, but the Hoyer Lift couldn’t get Robert close enough to the water to lower him in, and also he is too tall. So we struggle with that for a good 40 minutes, and then decided to just give him a shower in the bath house. On the way there Jon, Abby, and someone else intercepted us and told us that we were to take Robert to lunch. Seeing as Robert didn’t have any clothing on (I had wrapped just a towel and a sheet around him), we suggested that he actually be taken back to the cabin, have him eat there, and then give him a shower later. Jon sighed and said that it wasn’t “typical” but that “maybe this once” we could. I was a little peeved, because it would have taken forever to get clothing back onto Robert in order to get him to lunch, and yet Jon acted like our suggestion was simply the lesser evil of the options, but still very evil, because Robert was denied lunch time in the dining room. On the way back Robert got huffy and angry and was just yelling that he didn’t want to take a shower. I understand. But we have to get him a shower. I’m kinda glad that it’s happening while I’m on TO.

I have a lot to catch up on: Sunday afternoon, all of Monday, and today up until now. All I really want to do now is call home. I’m kinda ridiculously homesick whenever I get a chance to just think about it. But when I’m super busy I don’t have time to think about it. But yeah. I’m homesick. I want my dog; I want a hug from Mom, Bill, and Brenda; I want a kitchen; I want my bed; I want my dog, I want my dog, I want my dog; I want to lie on the rug in the room with Billy’s Big Brown Chair with Reddy and read or just sleep; I want to lie on the sofa downstairs in the coolness of the basement; I want to wash clothing without the whites and other pale colors turning orange from the hard (rusty) water; I want to walk in the woods with Reddy; I want to be able to just be by myself whenever and for however long I want. Originally I had planned on flying back to TN on the 21^st (Friday) and then going down to Atlanta after an eye doctor appointment on the 24^th (Monday), but I’m seriously considering not going back until the 25^th or 26^th (classes start on the 27^th). I don’t know. I just really want to be home right now. Just for a couple of days, like a long weekend or something. I just feel so trapped up here.

Alright. I’m going to go get some water. I’ll be back soon, hopefully.

What a failed water quest. Neither water fountain in the PC worked. Hopefully there will be water when I go back to check later. If I get to check later. I just bought online a battery charger for my camera. It cost a total of $15, so I hope that it’s compatible and works for a while. I still don’t know what happened to my original battery charger. So puzzling. Maybe I did leave it at Brenda’s … or at home somewhere? I honestly have no clue, and it makes me sad!

Okay, really quickly: the rest of Sunday, all of yesterday (Monday) and the first part of today. I have about 2 hours. ::sigh::

Oh, no. Distraction. Online Scrabble. Intermission. Now I can start typing quickly.

Sunday:

First to arrive was Harry who is autistic. Here are some quick facts that I’ve learned thus far about him (but didn’t learn about the self-injurious acts until yesterday when they scared the crap out of me).

• Likes notes written to him
• Likes popcorn, chicken
• Likes to watch cars
• Crams food into his face and does not respond when asked to eat slowly
• Hits (with closed fist and open palm) when frustrated or angry or when hit by another camper
• Self-injurious acts – not listed on his application
• Biting forearms (has calluses, so the caregivers know about the acts)
• Bites one forearm and then thumps jaw with closed fist of other hand while making “woofing” sounds
• Puts one forearm into mouth and then uses his other hand to forcefully hit forearm into mouth
• Bites forearm and shakes head back and forth
• Precursors to actions:
• Hikes pants up super high
• Bites beads
• Gestures harshly, vigorously, and jerkily

Last week and this week there have been a ton of house flies and also green flies that plague everyone. So far they haven’t bitten anyone, but they’re super annoying and everywhere. They just fly around and land on you and crawl and are just absolutely disgusting. And no one knows where they’ve come from! So incredibly annoying. They just make me feel gross.

Okay, I’ll skip in depth introductions, but I’ll go ahead and list the campers in our cabin as well as our counselors. The campers are Harold (Harry), John (Jack) (Lake Owasso Residence, only had one minor freak out, took off shoe before hit table with closed fist in A&C, happened just after he woke up or was awakened from a nap while sitting in his chair), Robert (spinal fusion, very heavy, super clingy, very much attached to myself and to Jared), Hugh (second week here), Terry (first time at camp, loves turning lights off, walks slowly but not nearly as slowly as Jack), and Andrew (moderate mental retardation, verbal, likes to read though whether he actually reads his books is debatable but he can read flyers/papers/etc., uses a wheelchair but can bear weight, very unsteady on his feet, hearing aides, loves to laugh, loves the canteen, bought a rat that he calls “Kitty,” a silver water bottle, and a ball cap, adorable, very nice). The counselors are Hannah (just got back from having H1M1, will leave Wednesday at 6:30pm to go home for a doctor’s appointment, found out that she has her nipple pierced and that it hurt like hell, has a giant (about 4 – 5 inches in height and about 3 to 4 inches in width) tattoo of a cross and some greenery on the outside of her right ankle), Orlando (completely useless, wanders off, not helpful whatsoever unless directly asked or directed), Jared (just got back from being sent home for suspected H1M1 but didn’t have it, dating Kelsey a lifeguard, will leave Wednesday at 12:30pm because working security at a Christian rock concert festival thing this weekend), and me, plus Sam Berg as program staff. Have to do 2am bathroom wake ups. It’s going to suck with just Me and Orlando plus a relief staff or two for most of Wednesday, all of Thursday, and all of Friday.

I just won the Scrabble game, 299 to 177. Yay! I may just play again … haha.

Sunday the campers came and I just spent the entire afternoon with Harry, watching cars, and just walking around. I tried to get him to go to the evening program (Campfire Extravaganza), but he refused to stay and so we just walked around and watched cars some more. He likes to stand in the corner of the fence line at the front gate on the way down to the canteen, right next to the road. He also likes to go stand and/or sit by the canteen talking about how much he likes popcorn and chicken. We had surprisingly tasty lasagna for dinner, and I had some with a lot of salad on top. I’m so freaking thirsty right now it’s ridiculous. I may just have to go spend money on a water bottle, which is ridiculous. Anyway, we eventually made it back to the cabin by about 8:30pm, but he refused to go inside. Hannah finally got him to go inside.

We were all set to do 3am wake ups for bathrooms, but at 2am Hannah woke me up and told me we had to do clean up. Jack had had a massive diarrhea BM in bed and had gotten it absolutely everywhere. It smelled so bad. So that took about 20 minutes to clean up. We ran everyone else to the bathroom, tried to get Robert to use his urinal, and finally made it back to sleep. Jared stayed asleep.

Yesterday morning we got up at 7am and were all extremely sluggish and slow. I was so freaking tired all day, and I am definitely blaming it on getting up at 2am and cleaning up shit. While the other three worked on getting Andrew and Robert ready, I worked with Hugh, Terry, and I think Jack to get ready. We finally finished at 8:30am and went to breakfast, late of course. Breakfast was something I can’t remember because I didn’t eat it, and then we had activities. Hannah took over for Harry for the most part yesterday morning, but then after lunch I was with him.

In the morning we had baking for two hours (“Sunshine eggs” – just “toad-in-the-hole”s except you don’t break the yolks) and coconut bars for the boat ride), and then boating. It was a great trip. Very relaxing. And even Harry behaved himself! For lunch we had something that I can’t remember.

Another win for me! 342 to 152! Yay!

After lunch we went back to the cabin to change Robert and to have some downtime, but then the B key was missing. Thank you, Orlando. So I went to Cardinal and borrowed theirs. When I went to return it, I took Andrew with me because Irish Rose is so dank and dreary inside and smells bad. It smells, as Emily puts it, “like somebody, or rather many somebodies, have gotten sick quite a bit.” Gross. Especially the bathrooms. Anyway, Harry escaped and came with me, but instead of being a good camper and cooperating with the planned route, he ran off to go watch cars. So I tossed the B key to Amy Mitchell who was luckily sitting outside doing paperwork and followed Harry with Andrew. We went wand watched cars, Andrew and I sitting under the little roofed area by the front gate in the shade. Eventually Harry went down to the canteen at around 2:00pm, but the canteen didn’t open until 2:30pm. Ernest was down there with one of his campers, Bryan, who is obsessive about the canteen. Harry, Andrew, and I sat there with Ernest and Bryan for a while, me trying so freaking hard not to fall asleep. When the canteen opened at 2:30pm, though, Andrew went in and found a ball cap, a small stuffed animal rat that he calls “Kitty,” and a metal water bottle (that leaked, but we exchanged it today for a new one). Harry wanted popcorn but we didn’t get it because a bunch of people came in for their scheduled canteen time. Harry got angry at me and punched me in the arm, luckily it wasn’t too hard. We went outside and watched more cars.

At about 2:45pm Bryan was having a freak out with Annie because he wanted to go to the canteen, and he went up and hit Harry with an open palm. Harry freaked out, and started repeatedly biting his arm, hitting his face with his fist, and “woofing” while making punching motions and yelling and cursing. I tried to approach him while speaking to him in a soothing voice, but he punched me and I backed off. I saw Derek entering the A&C and yelled asking him to let the Irish Rose people in A&C that we needed help. Grace and Lwan were amazing and held the door to the lower area of the Program Center closed. Eventually Hannah made her way down after Harry had already calmed down by about 85% and wrote a note for him to continue to calm him down. I left them together and went to A&C to be with the other campers.

In A&C we made door signs (I made one for Jack), some made necklaces, and we made name buttons. We were there for two hours and had a great time. Especially me de-winding from dealing with Harry. After A&C (it was about 4pm) we went back to the cabin and got ready to do cookout and camp out. We were moved to The Flats (originally were scheduled for Natures’ Playground way away out in the woods), and a good thing because in the end no one wanted to go to sleep in the tents. Hannah and Harry had gotten the supplies, and so we set out for the cookout site. When we go there we didn’t have tents or wood for the fire, and so Orlando set out at about 4:45pm to go get the stuff. When he hadn’t returned by 5:15pm, I took Terry and we went looking for him. We made it all the way there, asking people if they had seen Orlando, but no one had recently. So we got to the Mildred-Thomson hall and just sat and waited. He finally came up about 10 minutes later, and by that time it was getting close to 5:45pm. He was eating a granola bar and I just bit my tongue and helped him load up the cart.

By the time we got back to the cookout location they had already borrowed stuff from the 100 Acres campout site and had already started dinner. Fabulous. I walked poor Terry to death, but he seemed to enjoy just walking. We had cheeseburgers, chips, and baked beans as well as plain s’mores. They had bar-b-cue in the dining hall and I was pissed that I was missing it. Tonight they’re making chicken alfredo, and so I am glad that I won’t be making it to dinner. Sheesh. Anyway, after dinner, we just sat around. Harry was freaking out, biting himself, and walking away yelling and barking and gesturing forcefully because Hannah wouldn’t let him eat the leftover half hamburger from someone else (he had already consumed 3). She eventually took him back to the cabin, and at about 7:45pm Sam and I got bored and so mobilized everyone to go to the all camp program.

The evening program was “Around the World” with Italy, Mexico, China/Asia (I say “/Asia” because they had sumo wrestling which is distinctly Japanese), and England. The Italy station had pizza and you could make a little masquerade-like mask; England/UK had croquet and delicious cheese and raisin scones as well as tea and pink lemonade; China/Asia had fried rice (I didn’t try any b/c I was too full from gorging on the cheese scones), and Mexico I think had chips and salsa (we didn’t make it over there). There were really tall minarets (3 of them) that the program staff used to chase each other around, hug campers, and just make everyone laugh. Grace sumo-challenged various staff, and everyone loved watching it. Ernest got tackled by Marcus and bent his glasses, VL Kara beat Grace, and in the end Sarah Jo and Grace go “teamed” by other members of staff. It was hilarious! After that we went back to the cabin and started getting everyone ready for bed. Harry was already supposedly in bed, but he kept getting up. We tried to persuade them to go back to the tent for camp out, but especially Harry and Hugh would have none of it. So we all just stayed in and got everyone in bed by 9:30pm.

Tuesday

Today! We got up and did some showers. We went to breakfast and had French toast, bacon, and apple sauce. I had a slice of French toast, some bacon, and a piece of rye toast with butter. It was okay. We went back to the cabin and did more showers, went to canteen where Harry finally got his popcorn that he then proceeded to shovel down his gullet at an alarming rate. Andrew got to exchange his leaky water bottle, and everyone got snacks. I took Andrew and then Harry to the bathroom, and we sat around for a while. After canteen we went back to the cabin for sitting around and more showers, and then was the fiasco of trying to get Robert showered. Today I helped shower Hugh, Andrew, and started on Robert.

It’s 5:50pm and I only have 40 minutes left of my time off. We’re in a severe thunderstorm watch right now until about 10pm. You can feel and hear the storm brewing and surging, and it’s very intimidating. There are lots of white caps on the water. The rain is going to start soon so I’m going to run and get my rain jacket, but I’ll be back soon.

Game 3 of online Scrabble: 360 to 190. I love Scrabble!!!! (Played this game a while ago but just now getting around to recording it.)

I’m so in the mood to just drive home. It would be so great to just go home.