Capoeira Day

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

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

Find of the day is ...

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

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

Here are some fun links:

Capoeira Science: http://capoeirascience.com/

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

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

I hope you enjoy these!

Sarah Duncan is a Music Video Star!

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

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


PLUS:

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

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

Currently obssessed with ...

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

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

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

DJ Format feat. Jurassic 5 - WE KNOW SOMETHING

New Transitions

Graduation: May 10th, 2010

Location: Emory University, Atlanta, GA

State of Mind: Ready but Resistant

Coping Strategies:

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

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

And so here we go ...

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

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

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

Much love!

July 25

Saturday, July 25, 2009

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Need to talk about:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

July 23

Thursday, July 23, 2009

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here are some brief descriptions of the campers.

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

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

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

Things to talk about:

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

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

July 20

Monday, July 20, 2009

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

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

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

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

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

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

More later!

July 19

Sunday, July 19, 2009

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

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

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

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

Later!