GUESS WHO'S SEEING HARRY POTTER AT THE MIDNIGHT RELEASE?
HELL.
YES.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Home Again
I'm glad to be home, but I have to say that I miss camp like crazy. I love you guys, but I miss it.
This year, I did the high ropes course for the first time (I went a few years ago but then this guy came running up yelling about wasps and spraying everywhere, and I hung around a little bit to see if the wasps would leave, and then I ran away because wasps freak me out) and it was so fucking cool.
Basically, there were a series of platforms sticking out of the ground and wires about them. To get between them, you had to walk on a log, on swings, on floating boxes, and on tightropes. You were suspended from the wires by a rope, but it was still kind of hard. I have horrible balance, but it was still so much fun. It's pretty high up, but I'm not sure how much. At the end, you zipline off. And on most ziplines you hold onto something or sit on something, but you just had your harness connected to the rope connected to the wire, so it was like free falling. Best thing ever; I was screaming and laughing and it was amazing.
We have this odd capture the flag type game on the lake, with two teams and flags on buoys. Everyone gets in a boat or a kayak or a hydrobike and takes off. I don't participate in this, as I find that I get pushed into playing enough capture the flag games at home, but I went out on a pontoon boat and watched. Naturally, there was a hell of a lot of cheating. The red team took their flag as they went to get the other team's flag. Boats were pushed over. People were swimming (totally not allowed), there was some violence. (All at a ymca camp... sigh. But the fact that it was so expected kind of allowed everyone to continue with the outrageous cheating. I found it funny.) Half of the boats tipped over, and there were some rescues. I saw a kid in a mini kayak, and the next time I looked up, the kid was gone and there was an adult trying to make a getaway (without paddles) in the same mini kayak. I don't know if he stole it or if the kid just wanted to get on a different boat, but it was still pretty funny.
These guys tipped twice. Another boat tried to help them, and they ended up tipping over themselves. A lady on the pontoon boat pulled out her camera and said, "If this isn't a photo moment, I don't know what is."
And after the capture the flag game, it was pie night. All afternoon, people made a billion pies and that night we did our best to eat absolutely all of them.
This is the first batch that they set out. Believe me, there were tons more.
One morning, I signed up for a canoe trip. Not gonna lie, I didn't realize that I was going to have to paddle. But after the surprise wore off, I realized that paddling is not that hard and I ended up having a lot of fun. The sun was just rising and the lake was perfectly still, reflecting the pink of the sky and the clouds. There were swans. There were lily pads and flowers on them. It was so pretty and quiet. Normally, you get that many people out on the lake and it's basically like the capture the flag game: someone's trying to push someone out, someone's making a race out of things, someone's yelling something about either the Michigan football team or the Ohio one. But it was so quiet and peaceful, and I was surprised.
It was a really, really good week, and I'm sad and I miss it, and I wanna go back.
But I'm happy to be home.
This year, I did the high ropes course for the first time (I went a few years ago but then this guy came running up yelling about wasps and spraying everywhere, and I hung around a little bit to see if the wasps would leave, and then I ran away because wasps freak me out) and it was so fucking cool.
Basically, there were a series of platforms sticking out of the ground and wires about them. To get between them, you had to walk on a log, on swings, on floating boxes, and on tightropes. You were suspended from the wires by a rope, but it was still kind of hard. I have horrible balance, but it was still so much fun. It's pretty high up, but I'm not sure how much. At the end, you zipline off. And on most ziplines you hold onto something or sit on something, but you just had your harness connected to the rope connected to the wire, so it was like free falling. Best thing ever; I was screaming and laughing and it was amazing.
We have this odd capture the flag type game on the lake, with two teams and flags on buoys. Everyone gets in a boat or a kayak or a hydrobike and takes off. I don't participate in this, as I find that I get pushed into playing enough capture the flag games at home, but I went out on a pontoon boat and watched. Naturally, there was a hell of a lot of cheating. The red team took their flag as they went to get the other team's flag. Boats were pushed over. People were swimming (totally not allowed), there was some violence. (All at a ymca camp... sigh. But the fact that it was so expected kind of allowed everyone to continue with the outrageous cheating. I found it funny.) Half of the boats tipped over, and there were some rescues. I saw a kid in a mini kayak, and the next time I looked up, the kid was gone and there was an adult trying to make a getaway (without paddles) in the same mini kayak. I don't know if he stole it or if the kid just wanted to get on a different boat, but it was still pretty funny.
These guys tipped twice. Another boat tried to help them, and they ended up tipping over themselves. A lady on the pontoon boat pulled out her camera and said, "If this isn't a photo moment, I don't know what is."And after the capture the flag game, it was pie night. All afternoon, people made a billion pies and that night we did our best to eat absolutely all of them.
This is the first batch that they set out. Believe me, there were tons more.
One morning, I signed up for a canoe trip. Not gonna lie, I didn't realize that I was going to have to paddle. But after the surprise wore off, I realized that paddling is not that hard and I ended up having a lot of fun. The sun was just rising and the lake was perfectly still, reflecting the pink of the sky and the clouds. There were swans. There were lily pads and flowers on them. It was so pretty and quiet. Normally, you get that many people out on the lake and it's basically like the capture the flag game: someone's trying to push someone out, someone's making a race out of things, someone's yelling something about either the Michigan football team or the Ohio one. But it was so quiet and peaceful, and I was surprised.
It was a really, really good week, and I'm sad and I miss it, and I wanna go back.
But I'm happy to be home.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Camp!
So in 2 days (TWO DAYS!!!) I'm leaving for caaaaamp :D
Like 7 years ago my aunt and uncle's friend finally convinced them to go and try out the family camp that she runs in Michigan, and they loved it. My dad is really close to this brother, and I'm pretty close to this cousin, so they decided to invite us along. My parents declined (though I have come this close to getting them to come, but they never do. They don't want to intrude on something that they feel is my aunt and uncle's thing) but I didn't because it sounded awesome. And now this'll be the 6th year that I go.
Ironically, (is it irony? Or just funny?) it's super close to this town called Troy, which is where both Carrie and Connor were born. But it's really pretty there and it's on this little spring-fed lake called Stoney.
I liked horses when I first started going there. But then one tried to kill me, and now I'm pretty much terrified. My uncle once had a conference call, so he went to his car to get some A/C. He parked his bike behind the car, but then forgot about it and decided he wanted better reception and back up. This resulted in him borrowing a mallet and trying to hammer everything back into place while cursing and having people walk by and start laughing. A year after that, a horse bucked him off (and then a whole bunch of other horses started bucking, and, really, no one was surprised when the 10 year olds held on and he didn't) and the entire camp kept walking by him at dinner and asking if he was ok. When he was trying to load up the car the day after that, at least 10 people stopped by and tried to help him. He was not happy. The rest of us, however, were extremely amused. I fell off my bike in gravel when I was 12 and could barely walk for the entire week, which sucked.
But even though at least one of us gets hurt like every year, it's still the best place ever. I've known these people since I was 11, and therefore makes them my oldest friends, because I've been sucking at keeping in touch with people from the bajillion places I've lived. It's where I jumped off of the 25ft platform over the lake and did a fabulous back flop. That was the first and last time I ever went up that high. It's where I spent two hours laying on the dock in the middle of the night talking and looking at the stars and water with my friend. It's where a scavenger hunt of sorts ended up with me standing in a freezing cold artesian well for several minutes.
There's a "free night" every year when they encourage all of the campers and counselors to go into town and entertain themselves. This means that we go see a movie (5 years ago my aunt had to stand with my friend outside because my friend got totally freaked out over War of the Worlds. Last year we walked into the theater and saw that there were only like 2 people there that weren't from camp) and then to an ice cream place. The ice cream parlor has the biggest ice creams that I have ever seen. Seriously. They have this "Dare to be Great," which is described on a site I found as "a 21 Softball sized scoop ice cream not for the faint of heart." Someone from camp tries it every year, but none of them has ever done it. If my dad would finally agree to come, he totally could. My aunt always points out remembering my dad crashing at her and my uncle's house years and years ago and her looking up to find him eating an entire carton of ice cream.
I promise to take a million pictures! There's no internet access (which I'm kind of scared about. I'm a bit dependent), but I'll have my phone and can text and call tons.
I'll miss you guys!
Like 7 years ago my aunt and uncle's friend finally convinced them to go and try out the family camp that she runs in Michigan, and they loved it. My dad is really close to this brother, and I'm pretty close to this cousin, so they decided to invite us along. My parents declined (though I have come this close to getting them to come, but they never do. They don't want to intrude on something that they feel is my aunt and uncle's thing) but I didn't because it sounded awesome. And now this'll be the 6th year that I go.
Ironically, (is it irony? Or just funny?) it's super close to this town called Troy, which is where both Carrie and Connor were born. But it's really pretty there and it's on this little spring-fed lake called Stoney.
I liked horses when I first started going there. But then one tried to kill me, and now I'm pretty much terrified. My uncle once had a conference call, so he went to his car to get some A/C. He parked his bike behind the car, but then forgot about it and decided he wanted better reception and back up. This resulted in him borrowing a mallet and trying to hammer everything back into place while cursing and having people walk by and start laughing. A year after that, a horse bucked him off (and then a whole bunch of other horses started bucking, and, really, no one was surprised when the 10 year olds held on and he didn't) and the entire camp kept walking by him at dinner and asking if he was ok. When he was trying to load up the car the day after that, at least 10 people stopped by and tried to help him. He was not happy. The rest of us, however, were extremely amused. I fell off my bike in gravel when I was 12 and could barely walk for the entire week, which sucked.
But even though at least one of us gets hurt like every year, it's still the best place ever. I've known these people since I was 11, and therefore makes them my oldest friends, because I've been sucking at keeping in touch with people from the bajillion places I've lived. It's where I jumped off of the 25ft platform over the lake and did a fabulous back flop. That was the first and last time I ever went up that high. It's where I spent two hours laying on the dock in the middle of the night talking and looking at the stars and water with my friend. It's where a scavenger hunt of sorts ended up with me standing in a freezing cold artesian well for several minutes.
There's a "free night" every year when they encourage all of the campers and counselors to go into town and entertain themselves. This means that we go see a movie (5 years ago my aunt had to stand with my friend outside because my friend got totally freaked out over War of the Worlds. Last year we walked into the theater and saw that there were only like 2 people there that weren't from camp) and then to an ice cream place. The ice cream parlor has the biggest ice creams that I have ever seen. Seriously. They have this "Dare to be Great," which is described on a site I found as "a 21 Softball sized scoop ice cream not for the faint of heart." Someone from camp tries it every year, but none of them has ever done it. If my dad would finally agree to come, he totally could. My aunt always points out remembering my dad crashing at her and my uncle's house years and years ago and her looking up to find him eating an entire carton of ice cream.
I promise to take a million pictures! There's no internet access (which I'm kind of scared about. I'm a bit dependent), but I'll have my phone and can text and call tons.
I'll miss you guys!
Friday, June 12, 2009
My bookbag was a mess
So today I decided that I should do something productive.
This led to me cleaning out my bookbag.
This is what I found at the bottom when I took out my folders and notebooks:
1 pack of cherry flavored cough drops
3 crayons
2 semesters worth of spanish notes
1 bazooka bubblegum wrapper
1 bookmark shaped like a ladybug
2 boxes of nerds
11 paperclips
8 rice krispie treats wrappers
7 ziploc bags (one with hearts on it)
2 combination locks
3 race plans
1 fortune cookie fortune ("You will make a fortune with your friend")
1 track meet schedule (conference)
1 research paper from newspaper
1 history essay study guide
1 mysterious clasp attached to nothing
an insane amount of beads from a broken pukka shell necklace
That was literally the most productive thing I have done all summer.
This led to me cleaning out my bookbag.
This is what I found at the bottom when I took out my folders and notebooks:
1 pack of cherry flavored cough drops
3 crayons
2 semesters worth of spanish notes
1 bazooka bubblegum wrapper
1 bookmark shaped like a ladybug
2 boxes of nerds
11 paperclips
8 rice krispie treats wrappers
7 ziploc bags (one with hearts on it)
2 combination locks
3 race plans
1 fortune cookie fortune ("You will make a fortune with your friend")
1 track meet schedule (conference)
1 research paper from newspaper
1 history essay study guide
1 mysterious clasp attached to nothing
an insane amount of beads from a broken pukka shell necklace
That was literally the most productive thing I have done all summer.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
new moon
Ok, so Twilight is totally lame and stupid.
But the trailer for New Moon is out, and, well... it looks awesome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1vcTr9dguM
It just SHOWS Jacob transforming. Which is cool.
I'm kind of excited.
But the trailer for New Moon is out, and, well... it looks awesome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1vcTr9dguM
It just SHOWS Jacob transforming. Which is cool.
I'm kind of excited.
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