Tag Archive for 'camp'

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new vision, again

My Lenscrafters visit didn’t go as smoothly as I’d hoped. They would not put lenses into either of my old frames. The black plastic ones were “too dry” and might snap, or something like that… and the older ones were “too hard to trace.” I find this one harder to believe, since I had the lenses in those replaced a couple weeks after buying them, due to a giant scratch from a car door to the face. I’m gonna do a little research and see if this is some sort of scam by Lenscrafters. After shelling out the big bucks, I have some new frames. I’ll try to get some pictures up, soon. They’re all metal, so I shouldn’t get that “too dry” line again, and there’s no wire/nylon, the frame goes all the way around, so the “tracing” shouldn’t cause a problem, either. Of course I’m concerned about breaking them, since I broke just about every other pair of all metal frames I’ve ever owned, even that pair that felt heavy and unbreakable. I also keep getting the nose pads stuck in my hair when I pop the glasses up onto my head for a sec. I got too used to the plastic frames, I guess.

Digging into the moneys for glasses didn’t hurt too bad, since the money right now is constant. It’s only like this for about another month and a half, though. It’s March, almost April, and I don’t have a summer plan yet. The last time I waited this long was when I left the Woonsocket Y for Hockomock. That was a great switch, but was only possible because Bill Lawrence was a kind and generous camp director who saw a guy with 6 years of camp counselor experience and decided to give him a chance. I did find a Y to work for out here, so I don’t lose the retirement fund money… but I don’t know if their camp offerings really have a good fit for me, and they haven’t begged me fill one of their slots, yet. I’m pretty much a legal Illinois driver, now, though, so I could offer myself to the climbing or skate camps. My boss at Adventure Ed runs some sort of camp in the summer, too. It probably pays better than the Y, and almost definitely pays better than the resident camp up north with the Outdoor Ed Director position, simply because it’s a residence situation. I also haven’t heard anything back from them. Another co-worker mentioned working for him with Kayaks and Canoes… it’s different, but he’s a cool guy and I wouldn’t mind that kind of work, even if it’s just to broaden my horizons a bit.

Life otherwise is good! I saw Body Worlds 2 yesterday, at the Museum of Science and Industry. It was a little creepy, but pretty interesting. I was intrigued by the weird back muscles that seemed to overlap each other. We found it funny that there was a lot of intact genitalia, especially on some of the people put into very strange [and very revealing] poses. There was a lot of stuff written on the walls on the way in about confronting death and accepting it and not making it taboo… perhaps there should’ve been a panel dedicated to being ready to see a lot of genitalia, as well. The rest of the museum was pretty cool, and fairly genitalia-free. Our tickets included an OMNIMAX film. While we were waiting to get in, we talked about how much better than IMAX those three little letters could possibly make the experience. We were fairly awestruck by the theater itself, which was like a cross between an IMAX and a planetarium, the screen was rounded and went up over our heads and out about as far anybody’s range of straight-ahead vision. When the first full-screen image came up, there were a lot of whoahs and ooohs.

Flea Market tomorrow… and maybe a picnic if the weather is good? Looking forward to it.

I think I fixed it

So much has happened since this stupid site got moved. It is officially on a new server now, and so far, things seem ok. We’re on newer versions of WordPress and Gallery and I’ve reinstalled most of the plugins that were on here before… so we should be back in business.

So, to fill in:
I did a fairly good job cleaning up, but a few weeks of general living has cluttered the place up again… so, some more cleaning is in order. So I’ll get on that this week, between work and stuff. This week is the last week of camp. Technically, it’s called “Last Chance Camp” since some of the schools are already going back. So, we have a smaller staff and less options, usually, but we’ll see how it is when I get there tomorrow.

Olivia came to visit. She stayed an entire weekend… came to work with me a couple times. We played some scrabble. We went to the zoo. Olivia learned more about her camera. It was fun. I’ll get the pictures from the weekend up soon. As you may have guessed, from the last blog, I’ve gotten a zooomr account, to try it out. I like it quite a bit. I’ve only dabbled with flickr, but I like it better, so far. I still like using my own gallery better than storing elsewhere, but I’ll probably do a bit of both for a while.

Sarah is coming to visit soon! It was gonna be just a weekend, but we just extended it to a whole week. We’ll have to work around some of my work schedule stuff, but a longer visit is awesome! My grandmother’s sister’s 100th birthday bash is definitely on the schedule, and some touring of my old haunts in the Dudley and Worcester areas, as well as western Mass, if time allows. If you’d like to meet the lovely Sarah, and experience the awesomeness that I fell in love with, let me know, and maybe we can work something in.

My three part plan of action isn’t going quite as smoothly as I’d hoped. Andy’s old position is now being combined with some sort of full-time, all-year camp director position… which makes it too much job for one person… but I put in a resume, anyway. But I didn’t even get an interview. So apparently, that’s not gonna happen. While I could just stay where I am and continue doing what I have been for the past few years, I don’t think it’s gonna get any better with a boss that’s overwhelmed with camp stuff. The ropes department already loses a few bookings and days of work each year, now we won’t have anyone who’s main concern is getting us more work. So my old step 2 was to contact Charlie about working for him or finding another program that works as much as the one I’m in now… but that may get bumped down by trying to find some work in the Chicago area (yes, where Sarah lives :) ). I’ve already got some feelers out to a couple Y people out there… nothing looks amazing yet, but I’ll update here.

I think that’s enough for now. I’ll post again when I get pictures from the weekend with Olivia up.

I like driving

I am home. Camp has started. I am exhausted. I didn’t have a break today… got on the bus a little before 8am, worked with three of the older groups doing some basic team-building, sort of working my way up in intensity throughout the day… no break for lunch … did the bus thing after camp and got back to the Y around 5.15pm. I think the next two days are supposed to be almost as fully booked, too, except we might actually have lunch breaks. It looks like it’ll be a good summer. Staying up late and barely getting any sleep and then driving for 15 hours and getting a few hours before work might not have been the most logical decision, but falling in love seems to have that effect, even on those who claim to be very logical.

This recent trend of posts is kind of a rarity for me in the summer. Don’t be surprised if I disappear a little. Work will wear me down all day and I’ll spend most of my time after work in mega-relax mode… listening to music and trying to figure out when I can get back to Chicago.

Rain in the windy city

I made it and I don’t think I forgot anything important. I’ve spent a couple days here, now, and the rain has been either looming overhead or happening almost the whole time. Making fun outdoor plans has been difficult because of this, but it’s been a great time, so far, regardless. I get the feeling Sarah may not think so, but she’s a great hostess/guide. I really enjoyed our dinner & a movie thing the first night. And sitting around and watching movies all day yesterday was a good way to avoid potential rain. I had dinner with her family last night, too. It was really entertaining, and very tasty. Hopefully we’ll get some pictures today, if the rain ever stops, definitely tomorrow, though, as that’s our planned adventure to downtown. They just moved me from one room to another at my hotel because of a leaky toilet. It was pretty bizarre, but otherwise the hotel has been everything I expected it to be, and the frickin’ huge bed is way more than I expected it to be. It’s really nice to have this break, not thinking about work, and knowing that when I do get back, things will be in totally different gears, as we start summer camp. Trying not to think about the fact that I only have a few more days here…

Tragedy

A few years ago, I was back at the first camp I worked at, running some ropes course stuff for a weekend rental. It was a big family picnic and seemed like a mix of fairly decent family-types and neanderthal idiots, as all the weekend rentals are. I had all my ropes gear with me, a few harnesses and carabiners and such… all stuffed into my big beautiful bag. This bag was a custom-designed bag from Timbuk2; a giant messenger bag, with a nice padded back made from a semi-waterproof waxed canvas material, a leather “boot” around the bottom and all sorts of extra pockets including a padded compartment made for laptops. It seemed to be indestructible and almost bottomless. And while I was carrying a ladder and half of the equipment down the hill to the storage shed, it was stolen, with all my equipment in it.

That was tragic, mostly because of the bag, and not the gear. Timbuk2 had stopped making that model of bag, earlier that year. I could no longer get a back with the padded laptop compartment, or the leather boot around the bottom, or even of that exact size. But I managed to find someone on eBay selling a few of them. They were ugly colors and Ballistic Nylon instead of Waxed Canvas and didn’t have the boot option or the extra zippered flat file pocket… but they were the right size, so I bought one.

That bag was decorated with sharpies by my campers almost immediately… I didn’t mind, I figured it’d make it less likely to be stolen with drawings of rats and beavers on it. I also wrote my name and phone number on the inside of it, with a super permanent industrial sharpie. I was back in business with a big ugly bag. I used this bag for everything for quite a while. I always carried it around camp during the summer days. On trips, I could fit my laptop, two or three days worth of clothes and cleanliness essentials as well as all of my camera gear in it. When I worked out at the ropes course, I could fit a full day’s worth of team building props and toys into it… and Ropes is in full swing right now, so that’s the way that bag has been, lately, full of props and supplies for a day of team building.

Unfortunately, the building we use to store our participants lunches and bags, and to eat our own lunches, and for bathrooms, is not ours alone. It becomes the camp office in the summertime. This past weekend, an overzealous employee decided that the camp office needed to be cleaned out and proceeded to throw out everything that was in it, including my bag full of gear. Irreplaceable props, that I’ve used in my team building curriculum for years are now in a dumpster somewhere, probably still in my big orange bag. My big orange bag with the drawings done by my campers and my NAME INSIDE OF IT … is at the bottom of a dumpster somewhere.

When the YMCA says that they instill respect into all of their programs, they apparently don’t mean respect for other employees, departments or the property of those employees or departments. I feel utterly violated, and bagless.

the weekend already?

It was a strange week, with my schedule being stretched and flipped around by the weather and postponements of ropes days… I really wasn’t ready for the week to end. This was my last week with a decent amount of ropes work. The thought of trying to find something to fill in my hours crossed my mind again… I think I’ll let things ride for a little while and see just how tight money is, first. I should probably stop by The Call one of these days and see who’s in charge of the photo stuff there, now. I never did get paid for any of it, but it was fun to do. Another fun thing to do that wouldn’t necessarily pay well or at all would be to encourage Brian Goslow from Wormtown.org to actually follow through on some of his worcester-based publication ideas. That’s some tech work I wouldn’t mind doing (and/or photo work) and would keep one foot in the music scene out there. Doing tech at the Y wasn’t a good idea, at all. This fact was driven home when I tried to explain a very simple fact about one of the computers at the teen center to the person who would’ve been my boss; She either didn’t believe me or didn’t understand… either way, she was ridiculous and impossible and I could never work for her. I also got an eMail from a Camp Staff Resume website, today. I updated my information, just for fun. I don’t think any offer would be enticing enough to make me give up the teambuilding/ropes stuff I’m doing in the fall and spring now.

Got a little work here and there tomorrow… might help Mom or Erika or both do some car shopping on Sunday. One more day of ropes on Monday. I actually have a couple days with no work at all next week… whoah. And don’t forget to put your guess in for the penny jar, if you haven’t yet. I’m allowing one more day for last-minute guesses.

Cozy little shed

it’s hot here at summer camp and my job involves a LOT of physical activity. especially in the set-up and break-down of a high ropes course element… so getting in these good breaks has become an art; the correct intake of water and the least amount of movement humanly possible make the time i spend here effective in surviving the rest of the day… my view when i take a break:

0804051304.jpg

here comes summer

Here comes summer again. If it’s anything like last year, I won’t post much because I’m so busy. I’m gonna sort of miss the after-school stuff… in the last couple weeks, I’ve had a lot of fun with them. Friday’s game of Frisbee Golf seems to be the height of it for me. We just made up our own course as we went and had a great time entertaining ourselves.

Summer looks good, though. We had our all-camp staff training on Saturday and, yet again, it seems like a fun group of fairly competent and excited people. I also met a cool girl who is running a one-week digital photography camp. Hopefully we’ll be able to hook up again over the summer, even if it’s just for me to stop into her camp. She was really excited about the fact that I had just ruin a photo club with the age-group she’s gonna have this summer. I think her camp runs on a week where our kids are out with the groups, so it’s probably very possible.

Our LIT program is sort of undefined, but only in a scheduling kind of way. We know what we want to do with them, just not all the “whens” and “hows” yet.

In other news. The band’s album is almost done. It’s been more than a year since we started the recording process, but now all the recording and (probably) the mixes (haven’t talked to Steve since last Tuesday). That just leaves mastering, artwork and duplication. Weee! I should have an album to give/sell people this summer!

Money is still weird. I got tax returns this year (shhh, don’t tell anyone what I said about not filing my ’02 taxes in the first post on this blog) and that’s kept me afloat for the past month or so. Luckily, my computer and musical equipment has been holding up, so I haven’t needed to dip into the tax refund money yet… though I might grab a chunk for an air conditioner because it was practically unbearable here on our last hot day. Although, I am bringing the computer to work this week to finish up the computer club, so it’ll probably break again … and then all the money goes bye-bye :)

At least I’m ready for it.

Camp Foskett

mmm… camp
I went through all the old photo albums at camp today. It was spectacular. I remembered all sorts of groups I worked with that I had forgotten about. And the older pictures brought back memories of being a camper… it was really fun. But I really, really miss some of those kids and peers. I wonder what happened to them… unfortunately I didn’t think about the fact that I probably could find out, so I didn’t even try to figure out how old some of the kids would be nowadays. Hanging around camp all day doing nothing is fun… camp rentals are always fun.

Anyway. Tomorrow, I got nuthin.
Sleep all day. woot

CRRRRRRash

and then my computer crashed and I was forced to dust off the mac…

okay, so actually a lot has happened.
Camp is over. It was great.
Middle School Fun Club is on now, and Ropes/Team-building for area schools starts next week.
Everything in work-land is good.

Money-land is the same.
Still mucho debt, still no chance of getting out of it.
still barely covering the bills I have for utilities and rent.
I have no idea how I manage to stay fed.

and now this computer crap.
I can’t afford to fix my computer
this sucks
suck suck suck.




woot