4 posts tagged “camp”
Cary demanded I update this thing so here I am.
Wow, you guys. I was just about to write a whole thing and then I got distracted by iTunes. I just spent the last few minutes listening to 30 second clips of Astrud Gilberto songs. I'm not really sure why I did that.
I have had quite an eventful month or however long it's been since my last update. I went to LA for like 3 weeks. It was a little crazy. I made my own winter break. I'm not really sure what I was taking a break from though because it's not like I do anything. Being at winter camp was fun. Kids are totally awesome sometimes. I don't know why I thought I didn't like them because they are hilarious little people with amazing personalities.
The rest of my time in LA was great. There was a lot of time with Amanda, Cary, Miranda and Alexis. And many others. A lot of my friends have adult apartments now. It's so inspiring. I'm not really sure when I will be at a point in my life when I will start living a grown-up lifestyle, but I am sure this will be a long time from now. At least I'm not sleeping on a floor-bed anymore. I am, however living out of my suitcases because I HATE UNPACKING. I have been back for a week now. What is my problem?
I almost didn't want to come back here. I was having such a wonderful time that I forgot how much I love NY. I had that feeling of impending doom that I used to get my freshman year of college when I had to go back to school after visiting home for a weekend or whatever. I really hated Santa Cruz that year, but now I miss it terribly. Anyway, I really didn't want to be back in NYC. How silly! I love it! I have the coolest internship ever and I went to a show tonight with one of the people I work with. We were there to see this local band called The Loom and Julie Doiron opened for them and it was amazing. When I see a music show I know nothing about and end up falling in love with the band, it makes me so happy. This is something for "the glad game," people. Anyway, I was in such a great mood I didn't even care that it was cold when I was walking home. The cold was actually kind of nice. Also, my neighborhood was so quiet and calm that I decided to not listen to my iPod. Can you believe it?!
I could go into more detail about being home (LA or NY even), I guess. But I think that stuff is only interesting to me. Oh! I did see the Murakami exhibit at the MOCA Geffen Contemporary. I have some thoughts about that but I don't feel like talking about it now. I'll save that for another time.
You were a pretty good year. You started off wonderfully, with my roommates (minus Steph) and without the guy that I was sort of/not really dating. To make up for it, you tried to start with another strange man trying to make out with me. Little did you know, I wanted to make out with neither of them. Unlike years past, I did not fear the Santa Cruz clock tower burning down. That was nice.
I had a pretty good quarter soon after you began. I took an amazing class and a painful class. Mentally painful, that is. It was for my major, but for a distribution requirement. It sounded like an interesting class at the time, but I was soon reminded why I chose Modern Literary Studies, instead of Pre-modern. In addition, I was also a classroom assistant for a great group of radio students. I got two units for grading quizzes and talking about my favorite thing. These students were all great and then made great programmers, who I had the pleasure of managing during the final quarter of school.
I had been managing the station since your predecessor, Two Thousand Five, was mid-way through. It was the best part of school. I was sad to say good-bye to the station when I graduated. I was sad to say good-bye to a lot of people and things when I graduated. I had wonderful roommates, a boyfriend, other friends who I was not living with, an audience who listened to my soon-to-be-over radio show, a rad boss who let me call him "Mikey B," favorite bartenders, etc. Unfortunately, it was good-bye to Santa Cruz, and hello to summer camp!
Really, the transition was that quick. I graduated, drove south the next day (with my best friend who flew to the west coast to surprise me for graduation!), and went to camp the day after that. I was reunited with people I hadn't seen in two years and remembered why I loved working at that place so much. A little less than a week later, 47 fabulous kids going into eleventh grade showed up. Two more arrived a day later because they went to see Radiohead (luuucky!). Devin, Lindsay and I were their advisors and it was quite a challenge. You name the problem, we probably had it. Surprising though, I am fairly confident we did not have a drug problem. Then, the kids went home and I stayed at camp another week to assist the nurse for a week. Then, I went back to my parents' house.
I was there for just a few weeks, and then I attempted to move to San Francisco. That, my dear year, is when you went downhill. I lived on Amanda's living room floor and got a job at a hip retail store. I got a sweet discount, bought sweet clothes and met some sweet people. I enjoyed working at this store, despite my distaste for working in retail. Also, I was living closer to my roommates again and that was lovely. We saw Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! I am happy to report that I did both at the show. It was everything I dreamed of and more! Eventually, I could not find a place of my own to live and decided to move home.
First, though, I made a stop in Los Altos and had a birthday. I spent the week with Steph and that was fun. Year, you were starting to look up. I thought, things won't be so bad. Living at home won't be too bad. I will find a place to live in no time! I was wrong.
I moved home, got transferred to Simi Valley, and that is what I have been doing since. I did, however, go back to camp for a week. That was good times. However your last few months, Two Thousand Six, were a little disappointing. I understand you can't be good all the time, and I appreciated your wonderful beginning to midpoint. I would venture to say beginning to three-quarter point. Thanks for the good times. You have been, without rival, the best year of my life.
Your successor, Two Thousand Seven, started nicely with some fun camp people (Miranda). I am still living at home, and trying to figure out what to do with my life. This is not pleasant. While it has only been two days, I am not really enjoying this new year. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate it. Perhaps you can give some pointers to your successor to make sure that it is as wonderful as you.
So, Two Thousand Six, this is where we say good-bye. Thanks for your greatness and the memories.
Sincerely,
Jennifer R. Marmor
So I'm back from the winter session at the camp I work for. Here is a list of positives and negatives of the weekend. I will not divide them by positives and negatives. I'm just going to list them all at once, as I think of them.
positive: I was a counselor in a bunk for the first time in probably five years.
negative: My campers were ten years old and crazy.
positive: Those kids were so funny.
positive: Two of my kids knew all of the words to "Baby Got Back."
positive: Lauren Peikoff was the pretend Division Head, and it was amazing. I would guess that I was the pretend Counselor Coordinator, or C.C. FYI, C.C. can also mean "Camp Creep," which I am not. Although I can think of a few creepers. But that is a conversation for another time.
positive: A lot of situations this weekend reminded Lauren and me of one of my all-time favorite movies, Wet Hot American Summer.
negative: My initial response to these situations was, "That's so Wet Hot!" in a crazy high pitched voice. Not only was the sentence dumb sounding, but with the voice... Oh my, so ridiculous. Sometimes I amaze myself.
positive: I saw a bunch of amazing people and had fun times hanging out and eating muffins and dip. Not muffins dipped in anything. It was muffins and tortilla chips with dip. Let's be serious. The chips were really just a utensil to get the dip from the plate to my mouth.
positive: I realized that at camp I feel a lot better about myself. It could be the constant hugs, or people telling me how cute I am. What am I saying? Could be? Of course it is.
negative: Trying to decide what to wear at camp is a terrible experience. I always have outfits picked out and they are cute in my mind, but once I get there, something is always wrong. Like the weather. Or my hair.
positive: I also realized that I like working at camp a lot, and the idea that the camp may have a radio program this summer makes me so happy. This is because I realized a few weeks ago that I think that I maybe want to teach radio to high school students. It was kind of a freeing feeling once I realized that I really don't like working in retail.
negtive: Unfortunately, I am still working in retail and have to go back to that on Tuesday.
positive: Not having to wake up at 5AM.
negative: Being woken up at 6:50 by wide-awake and very loud campers. Then, going to breakfast and only having instant coffee!
negative: Spilling half a cup of coffee on my sweater this morning.
positive: Falling down in the dining hall, and no one seeing it besides Lauren. This may sound like a negative, but let's think about this for a moment. I fell down in the dining hall, which is a room full of about 150 people dining. Of all of those people, only one person saw me do it. That is so funny!
That's all I'm going to think of right now. Happy holidays!
Tonight, I thought of a few things that I think I would like to do with my life.
