Stories from camp '09
Now that the pictures are up, I can share some stories.
I mentioned that I got sick virtually at the start of camp; the cold is still lingering. What's funny is that even with the illness, I was still able to yell at the kids to stop running and the like. It's amazing what happens when you project properly. :) However, I was *not* the only prominent staff member to fall ill--Mr. C got really sick with a high fever, to the point where they almost took him to the hospital. We were pretty worried there for a couple days, but by Thursday he was back to being himself. Phew. Also, our regular nurse started a new job and wasn't able to be with us during the week; did I get a shock when the new nurse turned out to be Jaclyn, a former counselor and one of my former flute campers. Seriously. I taught the nurse. Man, I'm getting old.
The current counselors were overall okay. The only "major" thing that happened was that four of the guys absconded with a leftover pan of apple crisp and didn't return the pan or utensil in a timely enough fashion. Nicknamed the Apple Dumpling Gang, they had to clear out the chapel during Friday's activity period. They got it done, too. Otherwise there were a lot of rookies - 13 out of 31 regular counselors - and even the older counselors may only have had a year of experience. We kept expecting them to know things and they didn't, and I constantly had to remind them to do their duties, which was a pain. Part of that was because there were so few of them the jobs rolled over that much more quickly, meaning a lot of the time they had to do two jobs in a day. Really, though, much of it was minor and not worth making too big a deal about.
Friday was the horrible day, where it was too cold at night and rained the whole afternoon. It started just before lunch, which was at 12:30, and we didn't leave the cafeteria until around 6. Let me tell you, that was way too long to be cooped up in there, especially since we really didn't do anything. We couldn't run the dress rehearsal outside, so A Band only ran through a few pieces before giving way to B Band, and then everyone just sat around and talked or played cards or what have you. I'd thought to bring a bunch of my old Mad Libs and pens, so those got used as well. The counselors napped on the porch, and at one point one asked if she'd actually heard the Indiana Jones theme or if she'd dreamt it; it was a B Band song.
Oh! I had one of my awake dreams at camp! How freaky is that? I think it was Wednesday night, or possibly Tuesday, when the cold was at its worst. I went to bed right around 11 so that I could get as full a night's rest as possible. Close to 1, I heard voices in the hallway, and combined with whatever I'd been thinking about I got up thinking I had to do something with the counselors. The nurse and the cook were in the hall and probably thought I was nuts; they told me I was delirious and I should go back to bed. They didn't mention it to me in the morning and I'm sure they thought I was hallucinating and still asleep, but I remember talking to them more clearly than the reason I actually got up. It wasn't to round up the counselors for bedtime, that's for sure, even though that's what I should have been doing at 1 AM.
Because I was sick, I chose not to be involved in the scary hike at all, even though I wanted to. This was actually a good thing, because exactly one counselor stayed behind entirely. There were two others in the caf, but they wanted to be part of the very last bit of scaring as the hikers came down the hill. This was bad because the 30 or so campers that stayed behind couldn't go back to the dorms before the hikers got back because there wasn't anyone to supervise them - what counselors and adults we had had to stay in the caf for when the hikers arrived. Next year, we shall make some changes.
We played some fun music. The one that we all immediately knew we'd play at the concert was Rampage!, this great driving raucous piece. Ravensgate had a sort of Scottish/Irish lilt to it and was the only A Band song on which I played piccolo. The musical was Music Man, and we did a new-to-me Sousa march, King Cotton. Not so new, but nonetheless popular, was Pop Culture. This would have been our closer in '07 had we had a concert. I didn't initially remember it, but once we played through it the piece came back to me - especially once we hit Hey! Baby! At the final meal that year, the counselors started a conga line and sang that song while nearly the entire population of camp, or what was left of it, danced behind them. It was awesome. So, naturally, we had to do that song.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention Wild Kingdom, AKA the girls' dorm. Seriously - every day for the first four days, some sort of critter was involved over there. Sunday night they had a mouse (well, okay, it was more than just Sunday, but that's the first time we saw it). Monday was when one of the baby birds fell out of its nest. Tuesday, there was a snake near the clothesline that some of the counselors killed. Wednesday, there was a bird flying around the bathroom; I came by just in time to watch its release from a bucket. (I think that timeline's right.) I half expected a deer to fly through a window or see a cougar prowling around. Luckily, aside from the continuing mouse and baby bird issues, there weren't any other critters to contend with.
We went bowling Saturday night. Someone got directions that were a little iffy upon first viewing - I joked that we were to turn right at the cow at one point - and, in fact, did get at least two carloads lost. I was one of them. See, we were to turn right at a T intersection. So we did. Except that we were supposed to turn when that particular street dead ended in a T intersection. Whoops. The good news is that I now know another way to find the university, as I ended up right over there and not actually on purpose (though, let me tell you, if I'd known a certain person's address over there, my inner stalker probably would have surfaced). I also found a roundabout. You know how some people hate cats, yet cats are attracted to them? I'm convinced that that's how roundabouts are with me. I so hate them, yet I keep running into them even if they're the only roundabouts within 50 miles. Anyway, as it turned out the directions weren't so bad, and since I have a map I can write up actual directions with actual street names. I wasn't planning on bowling, but someone didn't want to play her second game, so since her shoe size was just a half-size up from mine I got her shoes and bowled for her. They all thought I was a ringer because I bowled a spare on my first frame, and not one of those easy spares either. Then came gutterballs, so no worries, but at 99 I still had the highest score on my team. I felt bad for the next group over; their lane kept malfunctioning, to the point where the rest of us were about halfway through our second game before they even finished their first. It was such a pain. But I think most of us had fun.
I'll probably have more later, but we'll see if I actually share it. :) Also, if you click on the pictures and go to my Flickr site and consequently have any questions, let me know. Maybe there's another story to share in there.
I mentioned that I got sick virtually at the start of camp; the cold is still lingering. What's funny is that even with the illness, I was still able to yell at the kids to stop running and the like. It's amazing what happens when you project properly. :) However, I was *not* the only prominent staff member to fall ill--Mr. C got really sick with a high fever, to the point where they almost took him to the hospital. We were pretty worried there for a couple days, but by Thursday he was back to being himself. Phew. Also, our regular nurse started a new job and wasn't able to be with us during the week; did I get a shock when the new nurse turned out to be Jaclyn, a former counselor and one of my former flute campers. Seriously. I taught the nurse. Man, I'm getting old.
The current counselors were overall okay. The only "major" thing that happened was that four of the guys absconded with a leftover pan of apple crisp and didn't return the pan or utensil in a timely enough fashion. Nicknamed the Apple Dumpling Gang, they had to clear out the chapel during Friday's activity period. They got it done, too. Otherwise there were a lot of rookies - 13 out of 31 regular counselors - and even the older counselors may only have had a year of experience. We kept expecting them to know things and they didn't, and I constantly had to remind them to do their duties, which was a pain. Part of that was because there were so few of them the jobs rolled over that much more quickly, meaning a lot of the time they had to do two jobs in a day. Really, though, much of it was minor and not worth making too big a deal about.
Friday was the horrible day, where it was too cold at night and rained the whole afternoon. It started just before lunch, which was at 12:30, and we didn't leave the cafeteria until around 6. Let me tell you, that was way too long to be cooped up in there, especially since we really didn't do anything. We couldn't run the dress rehearsal outside, so A Band only ran through a few pieces before giving way to B Band, and then everyone just sat around and talked or played cards or what have you. I'd thought to bring a bunch of my old Mad Libs and pens, so those got used as well. The counselors napped on the porch, and at one point one asked if she'd actually heard the Indiana Jones theme or if she'd dreamt it; it was a B Band song.
Oh! I had one of my awake dreams at camp! How freaky is that? I think it was Wednesday night, or possibly Tuesday, when the cold was at its worst. I went to bed right around 11 so that I could get as full a night's rest as possible. Close to 1, I heard voices in the hallway, and combined with whatever I'd been thinking about I got up thinking I had to do something with the counselors. The nurse and the cook were in the hall and probably thought I was nuts; they told me I was delirious and I should go back to bed. They didn't mention it to me in the morning and I'm sure they thought I was hallucinating and still asleep, but I remember talking to them more clearly than the reason I actually got up. It wasn't to round up the counselors for bedtime, that's for sure, even though that's what I should have been doing at 1 AM.
Because I was sick, I chose not to be involved in the scary hike at all, even though I wanted to. This was actually a good thing, because exactly one counselor stayed behind entirely. There were two others in the caf, but they wanted to be part of the very last bit of scaring as the hikers came down the hill. This was bad because the 30 or so campers that stayed behind couldn't go back to the dorms before the hikers got back because there wasn't anyone to supervise them - what counselors and adults we had had to stay in the caf for when the hikers arrived. Next year, we shall make some changes.
We played some fun music. The one that we all immediately knew we'd play at the concert was Rampage!, this great driving raucous piece. Ravensgate had a sort of Scottish/Irish lilt to it and was the only A Band song on which I played piccolo. The musical was Music Man, and we did a new-to-me Sousa march, King Cotton. Not so new, but nonetheless popular, was Pop Culture. This would have been our closer in '07 had we had a concert. I didn't initially remember it, but once we played through it the piece came back to me - especially once we hit Hey! Baby! At the final meal that year, the counselors started a conga line and sang that song while nearly the entire population of camp, or what was left of it, danced behind them. It was awesome. So, naturally, we had to do that song.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention Wild Kingdom, AKA the girls' dorm. Seriously - every day for the first four days, some sort of critter was involved over there. Sunday night they had a mouse (well, okay, it was more than just Sunday, but that's the first time we saw it). Monday was when one of the baby birds fell out of its nest. Tuesday, there was a snake near the clothesline that some of the counselors killed. Wednesday, there was a bird flying around the bathroom; I came by just in time to watch its release from a bucket. (I think that timeline's right.) I half expected a deer to fly through a window or see a cougar prowling around. Luckily, aside from the continuing mouse and baby bird issues, there weren't any other critters to contend with.
We went bowling Saturday night. Someone got directions that were a little iffy upon first viewing - I joked that we were to turn right at the cow at one point - and, in fact, did get at least two carloads lost. I was one of them. See, we were to turn right at a T intersection. So we did. Except that we were supposed to turn when that particular street dead ended in a T intersection. Whoops. The good news is that I now know another way to find the university, as I ended up right over there and not actually on purpose (though, let me tell you, if I'd known a certain person's address over there, my inner stalker probably would have surfaced). I also found a roundabout. You know how some people hate cats, yet cats are attracted to them? I'm convinced that that's how roundabouts are with me. I so hate them, yet I keep running into them even if they're the only roundabouts within 50 miles. Anyway, as it turned out the directions weren't so bad, and since I have a map I can write up actual directions with actual street names. I wasn't planning on bowling, but someone didn't want to play her second game, so since her shoe size was just a half-size up from mine I got her shoes and bowled for her. They all thought I was a ringer because I bowled a spare on my first frame, and not one of those easy spares either. Then came gutterballs, so no worries, but at 99 I still had the highest score on my team. I felt bad for the next group over; their lane kept malfunctioning, to the point where the rest of us were about halfway through our second game before they even finished their first. It was such a pain. But I think most of us had fun.
I'll probably have more later, but we'll see if I actually share it. :) Also, if you click on the pictures and go to my Flickr site and consequently have any questions, let me know. Maybe there's another story to share in there.