desertsnowstorm's Weblog Site • NuTang.com

So what exactly was I doing at camp you ask? Well, I'll give you a watered down summary, then go a tad more in-depth. I began the week at my boy scout camp taking three merit badges: Indian Lore, Space Exploration, and Chemistry. Twas quite fun, since my classes were very spread out and in my free time I learned how to play Hearts and Rummy. Oh yes, how could I forget actually getting to play Ultimate (Frisbee) and getting to wake people up by smacking their tents with a large PVC cold water pipe? Getting kicked off stage was fun also.

Let's see. The day I left was rather interesting. I got up at about eleven AM and we left for Santa Rosa. I had packed everything the night before and set aside a few things I knew I would use during the ride. Unfortunately, I left behind the book I'd been reading, The Shadow Rising, so I was forced to endure my gimpy laptop the enitre ride... Accompanied by Unreal Tournament and the greater portion of my CD collection. It was sort of hard to actually play UT as my laptop kept turning itself off and freezing and refusing to reboot and whatnot, but I tried. Anyway, we (mi padre y mi) were headed up to Santa Rosa to see my grandmother before we went to camp, so we did... and I was forced to explain my Eagle project in excruciating detail to her. Don't get me wrong, I love to make my grandmother happy... I know how little time she has left, and it's not really a lack of patience, either. It's just that my dad decided to start bragging about it to her and then forced me to tell her about it. I noted that she didn't particularly enjoy my explanation either. So we ended up taking her out to dinner at Cattleman's (... no wonder he "can't afford" to give us any more of his paycheck than he does) and we stayed at the Courtyard Marriot. I'm not going to go over the details of what happened in the hot tub, though. *giggles in a childish manner*

The next day, we drove up to camp and checked in. I was planning on doing Shotgun Shooting, but I realized that D.C. wasn't the range master, so I chose... something else instead, though I'm not exactly sure what it was. I ended up signing myself up for Indian Lore, Space Exploration, and Chemistry. So about a half hour after we got there, other people started arriving and taking tents and most of them, if not all, were rather pissed I took the tent I did before they got there. I ended up sharing it with Chris, though, in the end. The camp tour started some time after that and I was sort of pissed at having to do it, so I was muttering to myself the entire time. When we got to the pool, I realized I hadn't changed into my swimsuit for the swim check, so I got a non-swimmer buddy tag and later came down with two Sharpies (Comment utillez-vous votre Sharpie?) and doctored it to show me as a Blue Swimmer (ie the highest swimming ability). I also fixed Taylor's buddy tag to be a blue swimmer and, since he's the worst "swimmer" I have ever seen, it was rather fun seeing him nearly down in the diving pool after I got over the initial distress.

I have yet to mention that I was in charge of twenty-eight scouts... so, needless to say, I went to bed early so the adults would have to deal with them.

I spent my days going to class, playing Ultimate, learning/playing card games, talking to people, and... waiting on tables at dinner. I even learned how to use a loom and I made plans for making a bracelet for someone special. Overall, it was actually quite productive.

I met a fellow named Dave Matthews and had him sign a sweatshirt for me so I could sell it to a friend also. He doesn't have any relation to the singer, but I thought it would be a nice gesture to James.

Ah, a point of camp that I didn't like. It makes me incredibly depressed to hear someone say, " I hate myself." I always end up trying to comfort them... and, guess what, that's one fo the many things I did at camp. Daniel said it and he meant it - he was on a down of downs. He continually ranted about how hypocritical he was and how much he lies and whatnot. I ended up spending about an hour a day trying to make sure he didn't go kill himself or something. Finally he told me, "There's nothing that you can do for me that I can't do for myself." He was bordering on tears, so I sat down next to him and took his hand and sat there for awhile. I asked him how he felt and he said he felt better... then I left him alone and was creeped out with myself for a bit, but then I realized I had done a good turn.

As for my skit, on the second to last night of camp, we had to perform a skit for the camp, so I went with a classic: If I Weren't A Boy Scout. It starts off, "Gee, If I weren't a Boy Scout, there's nothing I'd rather be, but if I weren't a Boy Scout, (a) ______ I would be. The blank is for whatever profession or person you'd like to make fun of. We had way too many parts to name all of them, but here are a few: Electrician, EMT, John Ferrel (he was a counselor), a masochist, a hippie, and, my favorite (because I made up the lines), Rush Limbaugh. I let the new scouts go first so they could have some fun with the skit, since I knew it would get canned after I said my line, and they did enjoy it... and I got us kicked off the stage. I got a few death threats the next day, which was rather fun, but having the entire adult population of the camp scowling at me was the best part.

So now you know how I ammuse myself at camp... for the most part. I like yelling random things out at strange intervals also. "Yeehaw!", "I love you too!", and "What the crap?" were a few of my favorites. But, yeah... I'm a scary guy at camp. I get a little too aloof if you ask me.

Later, DS
~ All my fear is unfounded, all my doubt is wrong.