Mostly this is about Sugarloaf
So yeah, life. Since my last post, Sugarloaf has come and gone, and it was thoroughly awesome. I really enjoyed being a counselor and would love to do it again. It's definitely different than being a camper, though. There's more responsibility but also a bit more free time. Instead of arts classes, you have counselor meetings, but after those are done you have free time provided you don't have to move things or rehearse for counselor talent night (which is the day after camp starts, so you really need to get it planned and rehearsed fairly quickly). Speaking of which, it's awesome being in counselor talent night. You get to know all of the acts in advance, you get to be in multiple acts, and you sort of set the theme for the week. This year our running theme was Olympics and, sure enough, the silk screen design at the end of the week was of Olympic planking (one of our skits). I also played Pirates of the Caribbean on my saxophone, which was a bit nerve-wracking given I was doing it in front of several music teachers and felt I had to do well to impress the band campers, but it went really well.
During free time, counselors can also go visit classes and electives, which is cool because you get to see what everyone's working on for the end of the week. The oldest band played a song I'd played in the fall with my school band, which was awesome. There are also two days counselors get to go to the lake, which was fun. The second time it was a bit cloudy and so I didn't go in the water, but I did the first time in addition to just lounging about. Also, we stopped at a convenience store beforehand which turned out to be rather, well, convenient because we decided to do Counselor Secret Santa and you could buy your buddy stuff there, in addition to buying treats for your cabin on the last night. I got my buddy spam, brownies, a beef jerky/cheese pack, and floss. Mine gave me an origami seal and pet rock.
My cabin was... interesting. I was working with kids going into seventh grade, so mostly about twelve, and only one of the ten had been to camp before. I had to explain everything, make sure they knew where they were going, and try to encourage them to get involved in stuff instead of just hanging out in the cabin. I had some drama as the week went on, though. There were some strong personalities that didn't get along and opinionated campers that disagreed. They changed their camper skit about twice at the last minute and as a result it was rather disorganized. Also, two girls ended up moving from one side of the cabin to the other because they didn't like the girls on the first side, and there was just general social drama. Some girls accused another of stealing their stuff. There were girls who had a habit of ganging up on people in incidents that usually ended in tears. I also had a camper who took Benadryl for allergies, had a bad reaction, and ended up sick and threw up three times during rec on the last day.
I got to be part of all sorts of fun traditions, like having a sundae made on top of my head because I was a first year counselor. My girls actually made mine the tallest! Apparently it was very cylindrical. I didn't get as much on my face as some others, and it wasn't as cold as I expected. Honestly, the cold hose to wash off my head at the end was the worst part. Also, I got to be dressed like a very mismatched superhero for counselor dress-up night, go sit with other cabins for meals during counselor switch, keep people entertained during meal assemblies by manning the mike when I was going last, and be in the counselor-staff volleyball game (which we lost, though not by much, and which I hated). It was so much fun to be back at camp again, and interesting to get another perspective of it this time.
Since I got back, I haven't done much. Wandered around downtown Placerville with my sister while she took pictures and then spent a couple hours in a used bookstore, which was a great afternoon. My dad finally got the second shelf up in my closet and, now that I have greatly increased storage space, I've finally got my room cleaned up. While I was at camp I was sorted into Gryffindor at Hogwarts_Elite, so I've been seeing what I can do in that community. I've been reading a travel memoir about a guy who hitch-hiked around Ireland with a fridge (this, and a book about a Sherlock Holmes-themed dog mystery are what I got at the book store), which is really amusing. Finally got my check from camp cashed today.
Oh, and the play finished! The closing matinee was yesterday. There weren't as many people as expected on the first two days of the last weekend, and the audience on Saturday was kind of dead, but there was a big and really reactive audience on Sunday, so we went out on a good note. And the cast party last night was awesome, just hanging out and eating at someone's house, with some attempts at carnival games thrown in. I had fun hanging out with the crazy teenagers. I'm a bit sad that it's over, but I'm also glad to have free weekends again and not to have to drive all the way out there as often.
I really want to take a road trip. I don't even care where, I'd be totally fine just driving randomly and seeing where I end up. Unfortunately, my sister starts school in a week and a half, and before then we'll be going up to Chico and Tahoe, and I wouldn't want to go by myself. Sigh. Maybe next summer. I also wish we could go rafting, but time is running out for that as well. Oh well.
During free time, counselors can also go visit classes and electives, which is cool because you get to see what everyone's working on for the end of the week. The oldest band played a song I'd played in the fall with my school band, which was awesome. There are also two days counselors get to go to the lake, which was fun. The second time it was a bit cloudy and so I didn't go in the water, but I did the first time in addition to just lounging about. Also, we stopped at a convenience store beforehand which turned out to be rather, well, convenient because we decided to do Counselor Secret Santa and you could buy your buddy stuff there, in addition to buying treats for your cabin on the last night. I got my buddy spam, brownies, a beef jerky/cheese pack, and floss. Mine gave me an origami seal and pet rock.
My cabin was... interesting. I was working with kids going into seventh grade, so mostly about twelve, and only one of the ten had been to camp before. I had to explain everything, make sure they knew where they were going, and try to encourage them to get involved in stuff instead of just hanging out in the cabin. I had some drama as the week went on, though. There were some strong personalities that didn't get along and opinionated campers that disagreed. They changed their camper skit about twice at the last minute and as a result it was rather disorganized. Also, two girls ended up moving from one side of the cabin to the other because they didn't like the girls on the first side, and there was just general social drama. Some girls accused another of stealing their stuff. There were girls who had a habit of ganging up on people in incidents that usually ended in tears. I also had a camper who took Benadryl for allergies, had a bad reaction, and ended up sick and threw up three times during rec on the last day.
I got to be part of all sorts of fun traditions, like having a sundae made on top of my head because I was a first year counselor. My girls actually made mine the tallest! Apparently it was very cylindrical. I didn't get as much on my face as some others, and it wasn't as cold as I expected. Honestly, the cold hose to wash off my head at the end was the worst part. Also, I got to be dressed like a very mismatched superhero for counselor dress-up night, go sit with other cabins for meals during counselor switch, keep people entertained during meal assemblies by manning the mike when I was going last, and be in the counselor-staff volleyball game (which we lost, though not by much, and which I hated). It was so much fun to be back at camp again, and interesting to get another perspective of it this time.
Since I got back, I haven't done much. Wandered around downtown Placerville with my sister while she took pictures and then spent a couple hours in a used bookstore, which was a great afternoon. My dad finally got the second shelf up in my closet and, now that I have greatly increased storage space, I've finally got my room cleaned up. While I was at camp I was sorted into Gryffindor at Hogwarts_Elite, so I've been seeing what I can do in that community. I've been reading a travel memoir about a guy who hitch-hiked around Ireland with a fridge (this, and a book about a Sherlock Holmes-themed dog mystery are what I got at the book store), which is really amusing. Finally got my check from camp cashed today.
Oh, and the play finished! The closing matinee was yesterday. There weren't as many people as expected on the first two days of the last weekend, and the audience on Saturday was kind of dead, but there was a big and really reactive audience on Sunday, so we went out on a good note. And the cast party last night was awesome, just hanging out and eating at someone's house, with some attempts at carnival games thrown in. I had fun hanging out with the crazy teenagers. I'm a bit sad that it's over, but I'm also glad to have free weekends again and not to have to drive all the way out there as often.
I really want to take a road trip. I don't even care where, I'd be totally fine just driving randomly and seeing where I end up. Unfortunately, my sister starts school in a week and a half, and before then we'll be going up to Chico and Tahoe, and I wouldn't want to go by myself. Sigh. Maybe next summer. I also wish we could go rafting, but time is running out for that as well. Oh well.