Lists and why they are great

Here are a few things I will miss about camp:

• Three meals a day cooked by the wonderful kitchen crew
• laughing at pirate jokes that aren't really funny
• telling my rockin' bed-time story
• playing the Canada Game
• sharing quick smiles with the staff since we aren't supposed to interact with each other
• talking about my week with my counselor manager
• driving Caroline's car
• going out on Friday nights with the staff
• being incredibly silly with campers
• watching the Gold Rush skits

Here are a few reasons why I am glad I am not at camp anymore:

• Andrea's wedding is less than three weeks away, and I get to help her with stuff!
• Having personal time again
• sleeping late
• meals that aren't chicken nuggets
• going out whatever day of the week it is
• watching TV with my mom and dad
• reading whenever I want to
• having more than two hours of personal time (do you see a trend)
• figuring out all this stuff for Germany before I leave for Germany

Camp was good, it was great. I grew as a counselor, but I don't think that I could do another summer of general staff. But who knows where I will be a year from now. The thought scares me and invigorates me at the same time.

First day of college

The first day of college is awkward for everyone, at least I thought so. I am reading, I am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe. I just finished a chapter where one of the characters spends her first night at college. The dorm is coed, meaning that the girls and the guys share the bathroom and that there are people drinking during the night. She is so taken aback because their RA had said no drinking in the dorm and she sees two boys disobeying this rule the very first night and in public. Charlotte then tries to get to sleep and finds that a few other students decide to have a party with loud music. Part of me sympathized with her, remembering how scary my first night at college was.
Going to school where you don't know anyone other than the people that I met at freshman orientation was exciting but also a bit frightening. I remember picking out my clothes so as to look good but also to look like I didn't put any thought into what I was wearing. Did everyone else do that? Or was that just me? My brother and I left earlier than my parents with all my stuff and ended up getting a bit lost in Chicago and my parents got to the campus first. There was so much to do, going to the registrar, signing up for my meal plan, filling out a survey, coming back to my room and seeing that my mom and brother had unpacked all my stuff (which was great except I had no idea where anything was for three weeks). If I hadn't met a group of friendly boys during the afternoon, I would have felt so lost. That night I stayed up and watched a movie and left the room later than I would have if I were home because I could stay as late as I wanted.
That worry feeling hasn't really left because I always find myself in new situations, soon I will be again in a new place for ten months. But Charlotte Simmons, I feel for you.

How sweet it is

I have been counting down the days, first I took note when Sandblast was announced. Then we attempted to put a Valpo team together for it, which failed. Then I had to bide my time until I could find a pick-up team since it is ultimate and organization is normally the afterthought. Cree wanted me to put a bid out for the two of us, which I was happy to do. I placed pretty much an add on rsd and got about six responses in ten hours, took the first one and apologized to the other teams. There were a few emails back and forth about the tournament, but a team can't really mesh over emails unless you already knew each other. From the time I arrived at camp, I was counting down the days until I would be able to play beach ultimate (my favorite way to play ultimate). And then it was here and now it is gone, which is sad, but it was one of my favorite tournaments of my life.

First really awesome thing, my captain applied for jersey sponsorship, and we got it, oh yeah! We had sweet jerseys that fit well and looked great. It was really just a waterfull of fun after that. I arrived at the pitches, found the team and we all started joking around with another. I love it when the tone is set great from the start. Most of the team had played together in the Chicago leagues, we had a few guests, one player from Texas, one from Lousiana, one from Michigan. These three were all linked to someone on the team somehow, and then there was me and Cree, the youngest players on the team, but it never felt awkward (unless someone was intentionally trying to make you feel awkward, which became Oren's job after he sliced part of his toe off).

The first day we went 3-1, we had a couple really close games which shouldn't have been close. Our last game on Saturday was for the bracket play, and since we won, we were in the quarter finals of the spirit division (meaning it was not as competitive and probably more fun for me at least). How hot was it you ask? Really, really hot. Ok, that is not an answer, but the only thing which made that day not so great is that the lake was closed.

After going out to Piece with my friends from college (that sounds weird, past tense now) I woke up crazy early on Sunday not feeling so well, but still excited to play more Frisbee. Sunday was amazing. I would be sitting on the sidelines thinking, man, I could just sit for the rest of the day, but then when it was my turn to go it, my feet started in a sprint towards the endzone and giant smile would appear on my face. We played well Sunday, well enough to the spirit division champions! Two universe point games (meaning the teams were tied at 12-12 or 14-14 and the last point determined the winner) and one of the greatest games of my life were played on Sunday. Not to down play the final, but the semi-final was amazing for me. So yeah, we won and the lake was open! During the half-time of the semi game, JW turned to me and said, "Foot race to the lake to cool off?" (I had asked him this earlier in the day), and we turned and ran, and accidently ran through another teams field while they were playing (But really, they were about to pull, we didn't run through a group of people, but the funny part is we were telling everyone who was not at the beach for the tournament to go around the fields, sometimes they listened, sometimes not).

It was good to win, it was good to play with a good team, it was good to have a lot of fun playing frisbee again. When I am not organizing and can joke around with my teammates, what a great time. It reminded me of playing with Mother Tongue again, and that makes me smile. Thanks How to Stuff a Wild Bikini.

(And for you non-ultimate players, if you got this far on the post, way to go!).


And to name off the people that you don't know:
Front row: JW, Oren, Vickey, Lori, Carrie
Back row: Jim, Matthew, John, Dan, Drew, Aaron, Nicki, Coco, Cree