BEDAugust Fail!

I'm sorry, I really am.  I tried as hard as I could this month to post every day, but alas, I was not even close to being successful.  Now, I could give you all kinds of excuses (I work 24/7 with not a lot of time off; I'm in the middle of nowhere with bad Internet; I have a terrible memory) but that's not what I want this last post to be about.  Let's just say that I'm much better at BEDApril than BEDAugust and leave it at that.

So tomorrow is the last full day of camp for the summer.  Friday morning all the kids leave, Friday evening we have our staff banquet, and then Friday night and Saturday everyone leaves.  The summer is almost officially entirely over and I can't handle it.  As I've said many times, this summer has gone by way too quickly.  But it's not just that.  It's also that I've had another life-changing summer and I'm not quite ready to go back into the real world yet.  I mean, I feel like a completely different person than I was three months ago, thanks to a lot of people I met this summer, and I'm so happy about that.  But at the same time, I'm nervous that when I get back to my real life, I'll lose all of that.  I'll forget everything I learned this summer, and the impact those girls had on me will be for nothing, and I really don't want that.

This is was just a really complicated, really intense summer and I'm not quite ready for it to be over.  I'm also not quite ready to say goodbye to some people, knowing that I'll probably never see them again.  I don't think I can handle that quite yet.

Flights taken: 13

love <3

Vent Sesh!

Do you ever have those days when you feel like no one hears anything you say?  Like, you open your mouth and words come out, but the people you're talking to just hear "Blah, blah, blah."  Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

That's what I feel like this session.  My campers are really great, most of the time, but listening is not their strong suit.  It feels like all the time, when I talk to them and ask them do to something (or not do something) they look right in my eyes, hear what I say, and then go and do the opposite of what I just said.  It's super annoying, very upsetting, and beyond disrespectful.  It's also one of my biggest pet peeves.

Sorry I'm venting, I just had a really bad evening with my girls and need to let it out.

I'm done now! How was your day? :)

Flights taken: 13

love <3

Three Months

Three months ago today, I arrived at camp for the summer.  Three months ago.  This summer has gone by so quickly, I can't even believe it.  A week tomorrow I'll be home, summer and camp will be over, and it'll be almost time for school to start.  It literally just blows my mind that this summer is so close to being almost over, I can't even stand it.  I hate when things end, especially when I feel like they're ending before they should be.  Although I am starting to feel the effects of working all day every day for three months, I don't want to leave camp, and I really don't want to say goodbye to the other counsellors.  We've become like a big family and I truly love them.  This is going to suck.

Flights taken: 13

love <3

PS. Sorry this post was kind of short and depressing.  I've had a really long, kind of bad day and I'm just not feeling it right now.  I'll make up for it tomorrow!

Irene

Have you guys heard of Hurricane Irene?  It was in the Carribbean a couple days ago and is now making it's way up the East Coast of the US.  It's supposed to hit Boston early Sunday morning, and could then go inland, or it could keep going up the coast and come extremely close to camp.  We've already set into play our "contigency plans" just in case the storm is really bad and we're stuck inside for an extended period of time.  This basically means that today and tomorrow are chalk full of all the really big activities, Sunday and Monday are full of movies and indoor things, and Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are probably going to be almost entirely waterfront activities so that the kids don't miss that stuff.  Basically this session is officially really weird and I hope we don't actually get hit with the hurricane.  I'm expecting lots of wind and rain, but hopefully no actual tropical storm.  Sound good?

In other news, today I went on the giant swing again, and went all the way to the top.  I freaking hate that swing, it scares the bejesus out of me.  And yet, I have now gone twice in a very short period of time, and gone to the top both times.  Yikes!  It's almost like...I'm becoming...not afraid of heights! Gasp!!!

Nah, they still terrify me.  Don't think this changes anything.

Flights taken: 13

love <3

Half-Mast

I'm back to being in the middle of nowhere, so the Internet is back to sucking.  Thank goodness there's only a couple days left of this, because this is as painful for me as it is for you, trust me.

So there's something I want to talk about.  For those of you who are Canadian, or who know anything about Canadian politics, you'll know that Jack Layton passed away on Monday morning.  He was the leader of one of our political parties, the New Democrats.  In our federal election that was held at the beginning of May, the NDPs won official oppostion (the second most seats).  Normally second isn't a big deal, but this was the first time NDP had won that many seats, so for their party, it was a huge accomplishment.

Yesterday when I was at the airport, to fly back to camp, I saw that all the flags were at half-mast.  Of course this is a very common occurence when someone big dies, so I wasn't really surprised to see them there.  I suppose I was just really touched that the flags were at half-mast for him, which of course doesn't make any sense, because of course they would be at half-mast, just like they are for everyone else who's well-known and who dies.

Rest In Peace, Jack Layton.  Canada lost a really great guy.

Flights taken: 13

love <3

Broken Piece of Crap

The battery on my laptop is almost dead, and my charger is no longer working, at all, so I literally have two and a half minutes to write this entire post.

I spent today being kind of a tourist, and did some sightseeing downtown.  I actually felt like the biggest tool, because I've lived in this city for three years.  But it was kind of fun seeing the things I don't normally have the time to see.

In other news, my computer is a broken piece of crap and I really have to go.

Flights taken: 12

love <3

Absolutely Nothing!

Today might have been one of the most relaxing days of my entire life.  I slept in, I hung out with the other counsellors before they left, I went to the mall for a little while, got some lunch, came back to the hotel and just hung out some more.  Other than my couple hours walking around the mall, I feel like I did next to nothing today.  Most people I know would hate to have a day so full of nothing, but I loved it.  I really need some time to relax and do nothing and catch up on my sleep.  There's only one session left of the summer and I really want it to be a great session.  I know that if I don't get the rest I need, I won't have all the energy I need to make this last session really great.  So, I am spending this break being a total loser and doing absolutely nothing, and I am more than OK with that.

Flights taken: 12

love <3

My Bad...

The Internet was down for the last two days.  I live in the middle of nowhere, OK, it's not my fault!

So all the campers left today for another session.  It was a little bittersweet, actually.  I mean, ten days is a long time to spend with the same eight kids, so there's always some kids you're not sad to see leave.  But at the same time, there are of course the amazing kids that you want to keep forever.  I had campers who fit into both extremes this session, plus some in the middle.  Also, there are eight counsellors who left yesterday/today/tomorrow and who aren't coming back for the next session.  People who know me know that I hate when things end and I hate saying goodbye.  Like, really hate it.  Needless to say, I cried a lot this morning when I had to say some goodbyes.  I just want things to not change, which obviously isn't rational but still.

In other news, I am now back in St John's for three days!  I brought back a group of campers with two other counsellors today.  The other two are leaving in the morning, but I'm staying until Wednesday to bring back more campers to camp for the next session.  Basically, I'm just really excited to have a few days in a hotel, by myself, where I can just relax, sleep, whatever.  I mean, I live here all year round, so I have no desire to do anything tourist-y.  There's a couple friends I want to see, but even if I don't see them, school starts again in just over two weeks, and I'll be seeing them nearly every day.  So I'm not going super out of my way to see lots of people.  I just really want to sleep and do nothing for two days, so that I can get all my energy back for the last session.

Flights taken: 12

love <3

Race

I have to post early today, because we're leaving for our overnight camping trip after lunch and won't be back until tomorrow morning.

I'm doing the "staring at a blinking cursor" thing again.  I don't know why this month is so hard for me, but almost every day I struggle with what to blog about.  I want to blame camp, but it's not like I'm not busy every day.  I mean, we're always on the go, from when we get up at 7 am until the kids go to bed at 10 pm.  There is no shortage of things happening each day.*

Those of you who know me know I did NaNoWriMo last year (2010).  Well, I have *finally* started editing the novel I wrote.  I know it's been way too long, and I should have edited it months ago, but, well... once November was over, I had no motivation any more.  I mean, for thirty days, it was a race against the clock, but once December hit... no more race.

Anyway, I don't know why I'm telling you any of this, but the point is, I want to have my novel completely edited and done by...September 17!**  Will you guys keep me in check and make sure that actually happens?

Flights taken: 11

love <3

*Although, we do a lot of the same things every day.  And, I mean, I doubt a lot of you want to hear about the silly and ridiculous things my campers say/do every day.

**I picked that day because it's my dad's birthday.  And I thought it was a month from today but it's not.  I don't know what day it is, apparently.

Time

I absolutely do not have enough time to be doing this right now.  I just left my kids cabin, less than ten minutes ago, and I have dorm duty in fifteen minutes.  And, of course, there's no Internet in the dorm, so I have to post now.  Great.

Also, as usual, I have nothing to talk about tonight.  Nothing very interesting happened today.  Biking and archery this morning, open waterfront in the afternoon, and then skit night after supper.  Just another day, I suppose.

Flights taken: 11

love <3

PS. I suck and I have nothing to talk about and blaaaaah.  I'm sorry.  Give me stuff to talk about? Kthanksbye. :)

The Swing!

Those of you who know me will know that I am terrified of heights.  Like, an immobilizing fear.  I cry.  God, I hate heights.

Some of you may also know that the camp I work at has a giant "swing" for the kids.  They get hooked in, hang in the air, get pulled up on an angle to their desired height, pull a string and swing down.  I've done the swing before (four times last summer, once this summer) but I've never gone higher than halfway and I've never really enjoyed it all that much.

So this morning, my boys' activities were the swing and the climbing wall.  We were at the swing first, and all the boys had had a turn and we still had twenty minutes left before we were supposed to switch.  One of the other counsellors, Shine, hadn't done the swing yet this summer and really wanted to do it.  None of the other counsellors there wanted to go, so for some unknown reason I agreed to go with her.

Like I said, I've never gone higher than halfway on the swing before, but this time I was kind of freaking out and not really paying attention to how high we were going and, well... we ended up going all the way to the top!  Ahhhhh!

Here's some photo evidence that it actually happened:

 

Flights taken: 11

love <3

Compliment

Do you ever have those days when one person says one nice thing to you, and it makes you feel good for the whole day?  Does anyone else know what I'm talking about?

So this morning, at camp, we had open waterfront, and I was life guarding on a tubing boat.  So I'm walking with a group of kids towards the boat, so that they can go tubing.  One kid looks at me and asks who I am, and I respond with "I'm Boomer!"  Another kid then says, "Yea, she's the funny one!"

I'm the funny one!  A kid that I don't even know, have probably spent little to no time around, is referring to me as the funny one!  I have been on this confidence high all day just because some kid thinks I'm funny.

So today, I ask you all to say something nice, sincere, and genuine to someone.  Just give them--anyone--a real compliment.  You never know how much your nice words might affect someone!

Flights taken: 11

love <3

Help!

I really hate those days when I spend minutes just staring at a blinking cursor, trying to find something--anything!--to write about.  Unfortunately, today is one of those days.

Seriously, I've got nothing!  Please leave some suggestions in the comments, I'm desperate here!!!!

In other news, today was day two of our session, and it was great.  I have the oldest French boys and I absolutely adore them.  They are the nicest, sweetest, most amazing boys ever.  I don't want to jinx it, but I have a feeling this will be my best session this summer.*

Yea, that's really all I got.  I NEED HELP!!!!!!!! ...please??

Flights taken: 11

love <3

*I probably just jinxed it.  Oops.

Airports

Growing up, I was always that kid who loved everything that other people hated (or, alternatively, hated everything that other people loved).  And, I mean, not even really ridiculous things, but like...normal things.*

So today, I spent almost my whole day at the airport, and I realized something: I really love airports!  And I know that most people hate airports, because they tend to involve lots of waiting, and inconveniences and they are just, in general, bad news bears.  But I really love them!  I mean, when you're in one, you're usually either on your way to somewhere cool (which is never a bad thing!) or on your way home from somewhere cool (who doesn't love coming home?!).  Or, alternatively, if you aren't in an airport to travel, you're probably there to pick someone up, and who doesn't love airport reunions?!  Basically, the moral of the story is, I love airports, although I do completely understand why a lot of people don't like them.

Flights taken: 11

love <3

*As I was writing this, I was trying to think of an example--any example!  But I couldn't come up with one.  That doesn't make this story any less true, though.

Tattoos

OK, I know.  I missed yesterday.  But it's not my fault!  I came to the Blogger website last night and the website was down.  I refreshed a few times, for about ten minutes, but nothing changed, and then I had to go.  But I didn't forget and it's not my fault!

So this break, in general, was pretty chill.  Yesterday a bunch of us drove into the nearest town to do some shopping and whatnot.  That "major thing" I mentioned the other day was going to be a tattoo, and I was going to get it done yesterday.  I was nervous, but also very gung-ho about this whole idea.  I've wanted this tattoo for quite some time and I finally felt really ready for it.  Anyway, the tattoo place was really booked up, so a few of us went to get our hair done.  My hair usually goes really blonde in the summer, because of the Sun, but it's been so rainy and gross this summer that my hair was barely blonde at all.  So I wanted to get my hair coloured.  Unfortunately, when I asked for blonde, the hairdresser decided that "yellow" was a more legitimate colour.  Ugh, it was the most unfortunate part of my life.  I immediately went to Walmart and bought a box colour that was about two shades darker than where I was.  When we got back to camp, I redyed my hair.  It looks a lot better now.  It's still very blonde, but at least now it looks slightly more natural and is an actual hair colour that occurs in nature.

Anyway, after my slightly traumatic hair experience, I got really nervous about getting a tattoo and therefore didn't do it.  I still want to do it, at some point, and I still want the same thing.  I think I just want to wait a little longer before I do something that really is permanent, that I can't ever undo.  What do you guys think?

Today was an equally chill day.  We just kind of hung around camp, spent some time in the local town and did a lot of nothing.  As much as I spent most of this break being really bored, I'm really glad I got to actually relax for once.  Every break this summer, I've either been on escort or doing something really big and busy.  So this was my only actual break for the entire summer.  That makes the slight boredom completely worth it, in the end.

Flights taken: 11

love <3

Points

I'm tired, I'm lazy, and I'm hanging out with friends, so this post is going to be in point form; OK?  Here goes:

• I've been awake since 5 this morning, and it's now 4 pm.  I'm so tired.
• Today's the first day of our three-day break and I'm already bored out of my mind.  This is the one (and only) break this whole summer I'm not on escort or doing something really exciting.
• I think I might do something really, really major either tomorrow or the next day.  I've been thinking about it for a long time, and I'm nervous, but it feels really right.  I have a lot of peace about this decision.  I'll tell you about it when it happens.
• I'm really, really excited about next session; I'll tell you about it when the sessions starts on Friday.
• I can't think of anything else right now, so this is the end of the bullet points.

Flights taken: 11

love <3

Day Nine, Feelin' Fine!

Staring at a blinking cursor again.  This really isn't the way blogging is supposed to go, is it??

So today is (essentially) the last day of this session.  The campers leave tomorrow morning, and we get two days off before the next group of kids show up on Friday.  Day nine is usually a pretty relaxed day, the kids pack all their stuff, we give them their GREAT Beads* and they find out our real names.**  Basically, today is a pretty chill day, until we have to say goodbye to them tonight.  I really hate saying goodbye, I almost always cry.  Like, always.  Even though I don't feel as close to these girls as I have felt to other campers in the past, that doesn't change the fact that I spent ten days with them, and I'm still really going to miss them.  Blah.

Flights taken: 11

love <3

*GREAT stands for Goal Setting, Responsible Leadership, Environmental Awareness, Adventure and Creativity, and Teamwork and Friendship.  The kids spend all ten days trying to earn them.

**We do camp names here, but we tell them our real names at the end.  I kind of wish they never found out our real names, but it's fun to see their reactions.

Small World

About an hour ago, I was checking my email (as I usually do on my break) and I noticed that I had way more emails from YouTube than I ever get...ever.  They were nearly all notifications from a username that I did not recognize.  After looking through them, I realized they were all comments from a camper who was here at camp last session.  Fortunately, I remember who she is, and I actually really liked her and miss her a lot.  Anyway, I just thought it was so funny that she found me on YouTube when I never even told her that I even had a YouTube account, or that that was something I did.  It just goes to show how small this world really is.

Yea, that's pretty much all I had to talk about today.  My break is nearly over, so I have to cut this super short.  I'm almost done working on a new video, hopefully it'll be up tomorrow!  I just have a couple more things to record, I'm going to go do those right now!

Flights taken: 11

love <3

S'mores!

Sorry again about yesterday, all I wanted to do was go to bed and literally sleep for the rest of my life, that's how sick I felt.  I still feel a little under the weather, but that's camp for ya!

So two days ago, my campers and I went on our overnight camping.  Personally, overnight is my favourite part of camp, although few other people feel the same way.  Maybe it's because I've done so many in my life, and for extended periods of time, that it really doesn't bother me at all; I don't know.  The morning started off really rainy, but then it cleared up and, although it wasn't sunny, the afternoon was dry enough that it was manageable.  I don't even think I heard any campers complain, which, trust me, is definitely a first.  Anyway, the whole afternoon/evening was a ton of fun, lots of laughs were had, dozens of s'mores were eaten (but not all by the same person) and I had a legitimately really good day.

And then yesterday, as you know, we went to the beach.  I'm not gonna lie, it was an extremely long two days, which is probably a large part of the reason I feel so sick lately.  But fingers crossed I feel better soon!!

Flights taken: 11

love <3

Ocean

I feel sooo super sick right now, this probably won't be very long, nor will it make a whole lot of sense.  Oops.

Today, we took the campers to this ridiculously pretty beach about twenty minutes away from camp.  I'm sure I've mentioned it before, we go there all the time.  Anyway, I was standing in the water, just watching the kids, and I started thinking: how weird is the ocean?  I mean, let's look at tides: the water level just...moves.  All by itself.  Like, what?!  Some times during the day, the water is at one depth, and then, just hours later, the water is at an entirely different level.  What?!  Anyway, the ocean is just really cool and kind of blows my mind, but in the best way possible.  I always want to live near the ocean.

Flights taken: 11

love <3

PS. I just reread what I wrote and...I'm genuinely sorry.  I just have the worst headache ever and I can barely keep my eyes open.  Tomorrow will be better...I think!  Fingers crossed! :)

Fun Fun Fuuuuuuuun

I have been staring at a blinking cursor for a good five minutes.  I legitimately have nothing to talk about.

Yesterday afternoon, after I posted, we were supposed to have open waterfront (swimming, tubing, sailing, kayaking) but it was really cold and rainy so they cancelled it.  Instead, we did arts & crafts, sports, spa, and dance.  I got to do dance all afternoon, which was actually so much fun.  With the first group, we made up a dance to Single Ladies, which was actually really fun to do.  Then with the second group, one of the other counsellors, Arriba, taught us all the dance to Hoedown Throwdown, by Miley Cyrus, and we did some limbo.  I thought, at first, that the afternoon was going to be so boring, but I actually ended up having so much fun!

Then last night, after supper, we had skit night.  We (the counsellors) do this one skit called As Fast As You Can, where there's a table with five boxes, and the kids have to lift up the boxes one at a time and say what's under them.  The joke is that, under the last box is someone's head.  Anyway, last night, I got to be the head, so that was fun too.  Basically I just had to scream at kids and scare them.  I loved it, so much actually.

I guess yesterday was actually a pretty fun day, minus the rain and lack of heat.  Either way, I can't really complain about any part of yesterday, it was pretty great.

Flights taken this year: 11

love <3

BEDA...Again!

So today is August third.  Just a normal day, right?  It’s a Wednesday, so that means that week is half over.  But otherwise, there’s nothing special about today…is there?
 

Actually, today is kind of special, at least for those of us who blog/vlog.  Today is the third day of Blog Every Day in August.  Those of you who have been around here a while will know that I am an active participant in Blog Every Day in April.  This past April, I decided that I wanted to try to do BEDA in August.  It’s a pretty huge challenge because I’m at camp and actually work 24/7; I get an hour off a day, but I hardly want to spend all that time on the Internet.  But I’ve decided that I’m going to try it anyway.  Some posts may be extremely rushed/incomplete/incomprehensible, but just go with it.  I am going to make it my absolute goal to post every single day this month.*
 

So, what’s new in Seana’s life?  Not that much.  I’m in the middle of editing a really fun video I made with some of the other counsellors, about camp** and such.  I also have a really cute vlog I want to make; hopefully I can record that ASAP and get in online.
 

There isn’t a whole lot else going on.  Today is day four (out of ten) of session five (out of seven), so we are pretty much just flying through the summer.  In just a month, I’ll be home and the whole summer will be over.  I really hate when things go by too quickly, as if you didn’t already know that.
Well, I think that’s all I’ve got for today.  As I said, a one-hour break really isn’t that long, so don’t be too disappointed by my blogs; I’m trying my best!

Flights taken this year: 11

love <3

*Not including the first two days, during which I wasn’t even entirely sure what month it was.
**Fair warning: nearly everything I talk about this month will be camp-related.