I've got headache tonight. So far, this year, nearly everyday I've had one. I hate it. It's my eyes; I know it. I need stronger contacts and it makes me feel about a hundred years old, though I'm only rounding on 29...good lands, TWENTY NINE! I know, 'that's not old!' but thus far, it's the oldest I've ever been and it feels like a hammer is bearing down on the last nail in the coffin of my youth. But I digress, as maudlin really isn't my style.
I haven't blogged since, Christmas Eve...really? Oh well, life. A lot of good things have happened since...and some things not so good...again, life. It seems to happen all the time doesn't it? I'm going to say I'm going to try to catch up a bit, post more, continue to use this little spot of cyberspace as my personally impersonal diary, one I don't mind sharing, and I hope I do...but who knows. At least tonight, I'm posting something.
I suppose I'll put up a bit more about Alaska, being as I never finished that whole episode...and it was an episode, as it always is! I miss it. I miss everyone up there. I doubt I'll be making my way up there this year thanks to the workaholic society that is America. 2 weeks out of 52 to ourselves? Really, that's just perverse. (That is a post unto its own though.)I have other spots I need to fill in on my map and well, tempus fugit. However, I had the pleasure of talking with my friends from the north, Nick and 'Dude-A-Cris,' yes 'Dude-A-Cris,' (though I just call him Dave-O) the other night and perhaps it inspired me to post a bit.
So, here's a bit...
Camp Baldwin, Delta Junction, Alaska. July 2009.
The familiar road to camp...
I drew those signs in '08 and it was a great thrill to see them painted and posted in '09. Vanessa did a smashing job with them. In that weird existential way, it feels like a little piece of me gets to stay there. (When did I start waxing poetic so much? Sheesh...I sound like such a pretentious crapweasel.)
Camp always provides a vast array of activities...of which I usually participate as it offers me a wonderful opportunity to punish my youthful advers...I mean, teach the children some valuable life skill.
Though it looks as if I'm pummeling Lena, she came back with a furious set of jabs. My unsure footing and high center of gravity led to her victory. I chose this shot because it looks like I'm winning. I'm petty, deal with it.
Trash Can...epic times. This game always draws blood and I'm sure a number of shoulders/knees/ankles have been
separated from their subsequent joints...I won the first round and only bled a little!
"The Fortress of Doom!" We built this in the woods one day for paintball...it was magically awesome. It's just a system of plywood rooms/metal sheeting/refuse, but it makes for a sniper setup...even better when you set up a huge ladder so you can watch the action overhead if you're not in the round!
Hooray for paintball! No so hooray for getting shot in the hand 3 times...3 times!!!
In Alaska, there is a sore lack of
water slides...especially in swamps in the middle of nowhere...so what's a camp director to do? Why build one of course! This is the Mark special. Plywood, a pit, a hose, a couple of giant spools and a lot of blue tarp and you've got yourself a right fine
water slide. Now, it may be July, but it wasn't exactly warm in D.J...and well, the water wasn't exactly what I would term "fit for human life," but after a while, you know, after your blood congealed, it wasn't too bad. I picked up a shirt in
Sitka at the surf shop that states "Euphoria is the first stage of hypothermia," truth.
It was good times all around.
In addition to the
water slide, there was the
water fight...and well, these
Alaskan jer...er, delightful teens made fun of me mercilessly for the fact that I found the water so cold. (This was
pre-water slide actually, so a bucketful to the face was you know...incredibly jarring. It was awesome fun though.)
After all the water shenanigans, we needed something to warm us up a bit...and a fire was just the thing. Also, we found out that direct heat should never be used with Jiffy Pop...if that direct heat is you know...fire.
There was a lot of other stuff, skits, games, crafts, tons of activities...and I'd love to launch into a litany of how awesome they were, but well, read my post from the previous year. This headache's getting pretty horrid and I don't much feel like writing anymore. Camp was and is and I assume always will be much more than the sum of its parts. It's games and fun and a time to let loose, but it's a lot more than that...and I'll save it for another post.
I made a decision yesterday to say goodbye to a friend that I've known for nearly 20 years. It's one of the more heartbreaking things I've ever had to do. I've had my cat, Oreo, since I was a little girl. I love her, which is why I had to do this. She'd gotten sick and it was cancer, quick growing. So today, I let her go. The vet was very compassionate and has been over the course of caring for her. She went quickly and quietly and isn't suffering anymore, but I miss her desperatley. I know some people don't understand how people can get so attached to an animal, but well, you can. If you can't understand it, I'm not going to waste time explaining it. 
