Days

Today was an exceptionally good day. I can't really think of a reason for this...it just was. Perhaps because we did some very awesome sessions and group activities. Perhaps because we had our Division Head dinner with all Junior camp GLs and Marjori. Perhaps because we get late sleep tomorrow. Or maybe because Thursday is our day off. Whatever it was, I was digging it.

I had my meeting with Jane and Marjori about the girls in my bunks. I have 36 campers this year, a new record for me. Hoo boy. I think it will be a challenge to learn all their names and to get to know them all. I have definitely been spoiled in previous years, especially since I had the same girls for 2 years in a row. We are told to come out of our comfort zones during the summer and I am especially going to be doing that this particular summer.

We get late sleep tomorrow and then Thursday is our day off. After that is the day the general staff counselors arrive, and I will be the one to pick them up in Newark. I've never done that before, so that should be a good time.

And I have nodded off. Talk to you later.

F*** Personal Growth

The above title is how I feel currently. Just know that it is mostly a facetious statement. However much I find it amusing--Heather D. and I had a good laugh about it last night--I do recognize the importance of personal growth in my own life and I do, albeit grudgingly, appreciate the fact that I have so much opportunity every summer to achieve it.

That being said, let me explain the reason behind the comment.

GLs received age group assignments and co's last night. I was fully expecting to get Upper Juniors, and no surprise there, I did. I haven't had these girls yet and I'm a tad bit nervous about how they are going to be...there are a few girls I remember from last year as being difficult. My co GL, however, was a surprise and only partially what prompted the title. It feels like every summer I have been here--with the exception of my first summer with Heather D.--that I have been paired with someone that I have zero in common with and someone I am flat-out apprehensive about working with. It isn't like we only see each in passing once or twice a day. We are pretty much non-stop together, so you can see how working with someone you have nothing in common with would be a challenge. And yet again, this person is someone I have little or nothing in common with and someone who approaches life and her position as a GL completely different than me. That can be a good thing or a bad thing. Last night wasn't the brightest for me, hence why Heather D. and I came up with the 'f*** personal growth' thing.

I slept on it and am feeling much more up to the challenge this morning. I met with Marjori and told her that I can do it and I'm not even really that worried about doing it. Is she the person I would have chosen? No. That being said, perhaps this summer will end up better than last summer--I got along fine with my co from last summer, but things didn't end up the way I would have liked with the girls in the end. They were all attached to me and made my life double as hard.

Taking a deep breath. And let the personal growth begin. (Sorry about taking your name in vain, personal growth.)

Two-Year Old Hair and Blindfolds

And once again, my 2 year old hair is making an impression--and it is clearly here to stay. I figured I might be able to combat the frizz this year. Humidity is proving a worthy foe and I think I'm going to lose the battle. In past summers I have always just accepted and even embraced my 2 year old hair. I might have to do the same this summer.

I have a bed that is like one of those old jail house beds made completely out of metal. You know the kind I'm talking about, with the sketchy guy handcuffed to it? Yeah, I sleep on one of those. The problem being that one side of the springs is broken so I sag to one side every night. Not cool. I requested a board for underneath my bed, and Bill, bless his heart, made it happen today. I could not sleep yet another night on that thing. One side of my body went numb from trying not to change positions all night.

Life here is good. I am happy. I am not digging the humidity, as previously stated, but I can live with that.

Oh, one more thing. Today we did teambuilding in the Field house. We were split into 3 teams and had to do a challenge at each one--passing each other over a rope fence without touching it, swinging from a platform to a circle without touching the ground, and crossing a gap with 2 boards and nothing else. The catch? Two of us on each team were blindfolded and the rest of the team had to watch out for them. Yes, you guessed it. I was blindfolded. Things are not good when you can't see what the heck you're doing. I was passed around and led from spot to spot and swinging off that platform blind was kind of scary--but exhilarating at the same time. I think going off the zipline blindfolded would be sweet. In one respect.

Newark

And I have arrived. Here are my impressions.

1. Packing sucks, but having to pay the ridiculous check-bag price the airlines are charging sucks even more. I would rather fly with nothing. Why aren't bags included in the price of travel anymore?

2. We couldn't even see the ground when we were landing in Newark. No New York skyline, whatsoever. The landing gear came down and then we landed in a fog. And it is still rainy and foggy this morning. Does this mean the summer to come is going to be cold and rainy??

3. Pizza is amazing when you are starving.

4. I leave for camp in 2 hours and I am still trying to get to that Bryn Mawr frame of mind. It came soooo quickly this year!

5. I have to do something with my hair, so peace! I'll write more later.

Countdown

I am almost on the way to camp. Almost because I don't fly until Thursday and because I haven't even started packing yet. I am crap at packing. It is something I do not relish.

Anyway, I drove home on Sunday from Casper and it was so hard to say goodbye. Those two little boys are my best buddies. Kaelan is growing up so fast and Kameron is a kick in the pants. He's the funniest 1 year old I know.

Today I am going into GF to get all the little things that make camp a successful summer--socks, shoes, head bands, etc. And then tonight I am driving to Helena to spend the night with Brandt and Ashlie in their new house. We'll hang out and them I'll come back on Wednesday for some serious packing. And Thursday I fly...hopefully much lighter than in previous summers. Like I said, I am crap at packing.

Convicts

Since I have started working at Precision, I have seen more convicts than in my entire life to date. We are always having guys come in from the many different Honor and Conservation camps scattered around Wyoming. Are there that many in other states, too, or is Wyoming just full of convicted criminals? I guess I'll have to do some research. Anyway, just today we had 4 guys in, all wearing those colorful shirts they make them wear--red, orange, yellow, blue--but definitely some type of prison uniform. They were very friendly, but very rough around the edges. One of them was there because he had been 'hip shot' as he put it, in the robbery or whatever it was that landed him in jail in the first place and this resulted in a twisted spine and a leg length discrepency. They had two armed guards there to keep an eye on them. It is a very interesting experience for me. I'm not nervous around them, because there are all those guns the guards carry, and I'm pretty sure I saw pepper spray and a tazer in the one guard's belt o'fun. On the other hand, I think we're all kind of conditioned to be wary around them. Who knows what they are in trouble for, after all. And of course there are the ones who come from the State Pen at Rawlins, with the orange jumpsuit and full on arm and leg shackles. The guards who accompany those guys keep one hand on their gun butt at all times.

Another story, while I'm on the topic of guns. Kamil hired a tech to work in the back with he and Vince today and when Sandy asked for his two forms of ID he handed her his driver's license and his concealed carry permit. It was awesome and struck up a conversation between he and I about guns. He used to be a police officer and he is now an instructor and still carries a gun around. I was interested by that. Research!! I am always researching.

Machine Guns

I went with Dan to the machine gun shoot here in Casper--well, actually it was outside of Casper by about half an hour, in the middle of nowhere, but that is understandable. The whole gist of the idea is to be able to shoot whatever kind of big gun you want. However, the prices? Not so great. You could spend 40 bucks to shoot one round of something. Yikes. I chose to just watch and keep my money. Dan shot a few things by haggling them down a little, but they weren't keen on the idea of haggling much. The .50 caliber was amazing! It felt like a huge explosion of air whenever it would go off. And then everytime one of them would go offyou off you could feel it in your stomach. It was cool. We watched some random guy sniping prairie dogs with a spotter and an enormous silencer on the end. Poor prairie dogs, to end up living in the field where the targets were set up. I really enjoyed seeing the tracers from the .50 flying way the heck over the field--like over 1000 yards or so, I think. We also got a good lesson from the Fort Casper reenactor guys with the cannon. At one point they showed us a real charge they had found in Fort Sumter. The guy said they didn't know if it was live or not, so they backed up and shot it with something! I was thinking, geez, no matter it's historic. It was hilarious, though, that the first response for them was to shoot it with something. Anyway, I got some sun and broke in my new Chacos--dust and dirt, yeah!--and got to see some very cool guns in action. That hobby is too expensive for me.