Psalm 19:14

I'm alive! I have now survived 3 weeks of camp! It has been okay so far; the first week was definitely the hardest. Only 5 weeks to go! ;)
Summer schedule:
June-August 11 - Camp
August 11-18 - Washington!!
August 19 - Back to the IBEX office
August 24 - Friends back to school!!
August 25 - IBEX leaves, Ultimate begins!!
August 27 - Senior year!!!
Camp has been interesting. Two weeks ago a new guy counselor showed up nicknamed Morocco. Hey, that's cool, we need more guy counselors. He looked strangely familiar, like a guy I used to know in high school. Hmmm, oh well, I would talk to him eventually. The next morning he was introduced at the staff meeting as Mark. Turns out he is my friend from high school whom I haven't seen in 3 years!!! I used to tease him constantly, no matter which class it was (there were only 300 students in my high school, and we were in the same grade [50-ish students], so we had a lot of classes together). Any way, it has been very interesting working with him. Some things never change, if you know what I mean. I don't tease him as much. Very weird at times...
So far 4 rattlesnakes have been killed at camp! I was witness to one of these killings. It was very cool (I'm sorry if you believe that rattlesnakes should be captured and released; I don't). It wasn't cool just because I watched Rodeo kill it, but because it is interesting to be in such close proximity to a deadly creature and to know that someone has control over it. This snake was only about 16 inches long. They have killed bigger ones. I got to see the reflexes after the snake's head had been severed and buried. It was very interesting. The only thing that worried me was that the rattle wasn't very loud. However, Rodeo informed me that the bigger snakes do make a louder sound, so that is good. I got some pictures of it, but I will have to show them at a later date as my computer is at the store, again, being fixed before the warranty expires (like the snake did, hehe).
Any way, I have had some thoughts that have been interesting to myself and hopefully will be interesting to you as well. I was at Starbucks with friends Irene and Danielle when we ran into a friend of Irene's sister. We said hi to her and Irene mentioned something about the girl's boyfriend. The girl called him a name and gave the general impression that she didn't think too highly of him any more. As I was thinking about this on the way home, I thought about the different responses people have to dating and just relationships in general. I have never dated anyone and am fairly content at this point with my group of friends at school and at home. But I thought to myself that this was not a very mature response. It seems to me that most relationships end because people do not turn out to be how we expected them to be. The guy doesn't have the cleanest mind, the girl has a crude mouth, the guy is really nice but inadvertently annoying, the girl is great but too clingy, the guy doesn't know how to lead at this point in his life, the girl doesn't know how to follow, though opposites attract the 2 people are too different, the girl has problems with hygiene, the guy isn't a Christian after all, the girl's theology is too different to be reconciled, etc., etc. These may be major problems, these may be minor problems. But all in all I think that relationship problems come up because people are not always as they seem at the first. Is this bad? Not always. Relationships shift, and you either adjust to them or you don't. What really shows your maturity is how you handle that shift. Sometimes it is necessary to explain yourself, say goodbye, and walk away. However, I think it is more beneficial to work around those problems and to hold onto the friendship if possible. How do you respond? I would hope that I wouldn't blame other people but would look at it as it really is, a normal part of life. Life changes. You can blame others or you can say that's life, I will do what I can to make it the best I can. And another thing, I don't think I would want to date someone who speaks poorly of a past relationship. Sure, the person may have treated them wrongly, but take the time to move on and move on. I am not saying deny the hurt but accept it in a mature way and learn from it. I don't know if this makes sense, but if you are reading this, feel free to tell me your opinion. I'll still be your friend. ;) (This is really long...)