Counting down...

God willing, this is where I will be in just 32 days!

"Home" for 1 week. :) :) :) :) :)

The Muristan, with Church of the Redeemer in the background.

Sigh, I have to go to class... :)

It's the weekend...

Yea for the weekend! Time to take naps and do homework...maybe. :)
More summer pictures...

Me at the Arch Dam at Bowman...I was trying to see if it would work to take a picture...It did...I am at the bottom of the dam... :)

Kids and Mark...I'm pretty sure that the majority of the younger campers (JA) were scared of him...

Buddies! This is my freshman buddy, Abby. We went to high school together (she was a freshman, I was a senior). It was really fun to work with her!

This is a rattlesnake that Chris or Andy found and that Kevin blew away with a shotgun. Matt and Andy are in the picture...They later skinned the snake.


This is from my last week of camp. I was counselor/DA. I had a cabin, but I got to do a lot of cool stuff that only the male DAs got to do, like work on the rock and drive the boat...It all came from having a really laid-back director, an extreme dearth of male staff that week, and a now-or-never attitude that was encouraged by another counselor (cough, Ricky). :) :) :)

"Welcome to the good side!"

My camp experience was great once I joined High Adventure! I ended camp on a Friday, had Garret's grad party on Saturday, and left for SoCal on Sunday. I was going to bed in my new apartment on Sunday night, and I found myself wishing I could sleep outside under the stars. Ahhh, summer....

My feet in socks and Tevas...I actually have a farmer's tan, a sock tan, and a Teva tan...Talented, I know...

Kenny/Rodeo kills one of the many rattlesnakes of the summer...
HA staff! Minus lifeguards and Eric/Moose...Near Weaver Falls

One of the many times that the trucks broke down...

A little rock sculpure I made near the waterfalls...

"I was just about to..."

So I was just about to leave my office when I remembered that I was going to post some pics of my summer! While I am waiting for them to download/upload, how about some quotes? Sounds good!
"Is that a new rock?!"
-Slick
"I don't like using bleach; it gets bleach...on things."
-Me
"The only way I keep myself sane is knowing I wasn't sane in the first place!"
-Irene

Bowman Lake - It's better at Bowman! HA 2007

Mark and I - Friends from high school...yea!

Brett, me, Nate - HA director, JA/HA staff member, JA director (aka, my buds)

Ricky (3rd from left) and campers - Brushing teeth at Bowman: Nalgenes, toothbrush, tooth paste

Weaver Falls - Staff training at Bowman

Lindsay - Belaying "Crack" or "All Quiet on the Western Front" at the rock at Bowman

I'm here!

Yea, I am back at school! I have seen a lot of people I know, so it has been really fun!!!!! My office wasn't too bad, either.
I had a good last week at camp. I miss my fellow counselors and directors and wonder what they are doing now with all that free time! Crazy...I felt very loved as I left the pizza place on Friday night. We went out as a staff to dinner after all the campers left. It was great.
Any way, I am here, and tomorrow I will put up a gazillion pictures of my summer!

Snacktivity

Well, I have one more week of camp. We had our staff banquet last night, which was really long and really fun. I am going to miss my fellow counselors and directors. It was kind of funny to see everyone dressed up. When I get my computer fixed and/or get a new one, I will put up pictures from the summer.
The snacktivity comes from the packages of "David" sunflower seeds that are consumed every week by the male counselors at Bowman, because eating sunflower seeds is not only a snack but also an activity. Welcome to snacktivity. The most common flavors seen at Bowman are dill pickle, ranch, barbecue, and nacho cheese. Mmmmm [gag]........

Life races on...

Back to school in 2 weeks for my other job.
Lexi Jenks married Ryan Correll yesterday. It was a beautiful wedding.
No trip to WA. Too expensive, plus my partner-in-crime is not able to come.
I think I need to buy a new computer.
I turned 21 on Monday (July 30th). Yesterday I was asked if I were over 18.
Off to take a shower before camping for 3 days. How many people do you know that get paid to canoe, rock climb, camp out, cliff jump, and hang out with teenagers?

--Quote--
Jon/Pacha: When I was bad, I had to muck out the horse stall.
Me/Masada: You have a horse?!
Jon/Pacha: Actually, she just died.
Mark/Woody: Way to bring it up!
-Jon/Pacha pretends to cry-

*Hehe, I finally love my job.

High Adventure training

I have just spent the last few days camping at Bowman Lake! I had a great time and I had a hard time.
Wednesday started out with rain, turning my hair into a frizzy mat. We left at about 1:00 to arrive sometime after 3:00. We set up stuff, had some solo time (talking to God, reading, etc.), and ate dinner. I think we did something else, but I forgot.
Thursday we headed to the rocks for rock climbing. I climbed three climbs (The Crack, Lunch, and Sahara). I didn't like it very much, but I knew I would regret it if I didn't do them, soooo...Later that afternoon we swam out to Turtle Island/Tortuga for cliff jumping. I didn't jump, but I had fun watching the guys push a rock into the water. After eating dinner, hiking up a hill, and having solo time, we had a devotional and went back down to bed.
Friday we canoed 3 miles to the waterfalls that supply the lake. We hung out there for a while. I had fun watching the guys push a log into the water. We canoed 3 miles back against the wind and then went on a hike. We had sandwiches for dinner under a waterfall. I had fun watching 3 of the guys turn themselves into ice cubes under the falls. We went deep into this shaft that held the plug to the lake that was above us (Weaver Lake, I believe). That was fun. One of the guys ran his nose into the rock by turning too suddenly in the dark. He laughed it off and we continued. :)
Today we packed everything up (just to bring it back on Monday). Then a truck died so we left it behind. We finally left the lake. We were about 1/2 way back to camp when another truck ran out of gas. The 4Runner was taken into town to get gas for that truck. We finally got to camp, unloaded everything, and split ways until tomorrow at about 2:00. :)
I was a little worried about having to relate to 12-17 year-olds for the next 3 weeks. It will be hard. But then God brought the thought to my mind that He obviously brought me to High Adventure and He obviously would help me out with these kids. What an encouraging thought. It was a good time. I am bruised and sore all over. But hey, at least I get to sleep in my own bed tonight and not on the hard dirt. And tomorrow we get kids and I get to see my friends again.

(In other news, I also got to see Shane and Lindy as they passed through on their way to Willits. We had a good time at Baskin Robbins. Yea!)

Sooooo...

I'm going to Bowman for High Adventure! Yea!!!!

Yea, my title is back!

For some reason I couldn't put any titles on my posts for a while...Weird...

This is Bowman Lake. Yea for pictures again! I actually got this off the internet; I didn't take it myself. However, I am hoping to spend a few weeks up there with another group of kids from my summer camp (12-17 year olds). About 3 days out of the week are spent rock climbing, canoeing, cliff jumping (into water), and camping out on the dam. How cool does that sound!! I am hoping to do it, but we shall see...
This past week was interesting. I was a director's assistant and thus got more rest than I normally do. I didn't have a cabin so it was not nearly as stressful as it usually is. I will be a D.A. again this week and then if it is God's will, I will go for staff training at Bowman! Yea!
Other than that, my computer is in for the 4th time. Yesterday it didn't even make it out of Best Buy without shutting down. Apparently they replaced the motherboard on the 2nd time but it didn't work well with my system so I took it in for a 3rd time to find out what was wrong and to replace the CD/DVD drive. The 4th time it is going in to get a new motherboard and to fix the volume dial. Since it is still under warranty, I believe I will ask for a new computer when I pick it up next time. This is ridiculous. Also, I'm not sure but they may have removed one of my stickers from the lid (a Jerusalem sticker). Not cool.
Any way, I have reached the halfway mark of camp and am excited for the finish. It has been the experience, I tell you what.

Camp story, to let you know that I really am having fun...
Booster, the director of one of our camps, happened to have a lodge room of kids for a few days (we were short on staff and it was the biggest and first week of the camp season). He got primaries, which is one of the hardest camps at camp. These kids are only 7-8 years old! Any way, he had a cabin of 8 boys to take care of, Wednesday to Sunday. No problem right??
Well, for some reason parents had sent their campers with shaving cream. Shaving cream. These kids are in second and third grade. What are they thinking???? Any way, Booster was outside the lodge for a few minutes and came back in to find shaving cream everywhere. One of the little boys had a toy razor. In a minute all of the little boys had whipped off their shirts and were squealing,
"I'm a man! I'm a man! Shave my back! I'm a man!!"

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...)