Generally Fridays can be my least favorite days at camp. The campers are different than the wee ones, a lot of the counselors I am way tight with are the new ones and they have Fridays off and the tribe system is just so much fun ... However, today was a GREAT Friday! Here's the play-by-play for y'all.
TODAY WAS ILLINI DAY @ CAMP WA-NIK'-SKA-KA!!!! This automatically set the tone for an exciting day! Naturally I felt like this day was made for me, so I came all decked out. I wore my orange shirt with blue letters that reads "I bleed orange and blue through and through", with my dark blue Illini shorts from the jersey of two years ago and my Blue Chief hat with the big white paint splotch on the back (makes it look like giant bird doo-doo)...and at lunch I added my white nike wrist band over the arm by the elbow, the knee high bright orange socks and the blue and orange pom-pon things as either pigtails under the hat or a tail depending on my mood and whether I was sitting or not. It was awesomly hot! And I brought like every piece of Illini clothing I own because Teresa wanted to get all decked out and I thought some ppl might forget ... so really it was "bring your Illini wardrobe day and show off how much of a freak u can be" day for Counselor Jim! Hahaha...
8:30 -- Arrive at camp in non-camp apparell. Anyday I can come to work in my comfy Illini gear, shirt and/or shorts and am encouraged to do so is definitely a good day! Hopefully next summer we'll get a superhero day or something!
8:45 -- Played a form of dodgeball called 007. Great times! My team had some tough times closing out games, but great times nonetheless.
9:45-- The 12 campers of our group decided they wanted to play capture the flag. I LOVE Capture the flag, except you can't play with 12 campers! So i recruited 10 from softball and another 12 from Court Area. I loved it! I am soooooo out of shape however.
10:45 -- Her name is Cassie and she was The One-Girl Dodgeball team. Seriously, I'd take her over counselor Adam Hospelhorn. She was flat out impressive. No doubt our camp's best kept secret. She wasn't even like hugely tall (although she was near tallest in her class) and she wasn't gangly or gross or anything. She's this incoming seventh grader who is so athletic, but you might not know it by just looking at her. She's real cute and has one of the purest hearts I've ever met. Flat out, she's the daughter I hope I have one day ... haha, and she's amazing at dogeball.
During one game when everyone on my team was out but Cassie and this other girl who was terrible, this other girl seriously took an armful of balls and just started feeding cassie ammo. It was literally like Cassie vs. the world (like the six or seven kids of the other team ... each team had six or seven) ... it was so funny to see this little skinny girl yelling out orders and shoving dodgeballs in the chest of this quiet athletic girl who was just unleashing her fury on the other team, while both sides were left silently impressed. She was kicking tail. She got like three balls and no one on our team, including me, wanted to join in. We just stood there to see if she could finish off the other team (who had like the two best male dodgeball Friday campers). Little Boys eat your heart out, you're not worthy! Haha, we need to get this girl a shoe contract!
11:40 -- While putting my orange socks on, i found out that Cassie, who plays basketball, softball and track, was cut during the first cut of tryouts from the volleyball team. Sure, she was a grade lower (a sixth grader trying out for the 7th grade team), but seriously, I saw her and I instantly thought I bet she's a volleyball stud. I can't imagine cutting her was too bright!
12:15 -- I was announced as one of the three winners for the counselor contest judging. It was clear I had it hands down. Yeah for free three musketeers bar.
12:17 -- Medicated. 5 1/2 hours of sleep was rough on the Narcoleptic system.
12:20 -- Game One of Softball. My team went down like 15-3 and 18-9 and we ended up tying 18-18. Gonna consider that one a W for all practical purposes.
1:15 -- Game two of softball. My team went down early again and we ended up tying 15-15. Not quite the same victory as the game ended on a pop-out in foul territory (so Cassie apparently isn't perfect).
1:38 -- Two female campers interrupt game to deliver to yours truly a red heart shaped, glitter covered secret admirer love letter. It had clues to help me figure it out, but I was still lost. So the real game began.
2:15 -- Game three of Softball. We began with practically no kids and we ended with even fewer. We lost like 14-11 or something, but we played at least a whole inning or two less.
2:24 -- Secret admirer has note #2 delivered via counselor Kyle Matthews. I lock onto to Counselor Dana of Cheerleading as the leading culprit. Heather pointed me in that direction and all the clues added up.
2:38-- Secret admirer sends camper to deliver third and final note. At this point it's clear exaclty who it is (despite the fact that she still did't use her name).
2:42 -- I rip sheet of paper out of softball binder and write up little note, which I send with third delivery person back to Dana. It's clear, Dana is behind the secret admirer notes (I hope to post them). Ooooh the good times of camp. It was a great game and it may have been one of my favorite days at camp!! THANKS DANA FOR MAKING ME SMILE!
2:49 -- The heat becomes intensely apparent as Heather begins to snap under the pressure of the heat, the campers and all the physical activity. I begin to worry about a total meltdown, so I move the camp alert level to orange. I thought everyone should be on their toes.
3:04 -- Grab two red popsicles, the radio and binder and trek up to the pick-up shelter. With Sophie on holiday Anne needed someone to carry the load with her. Ed called me up to the minors and I did what I could to deliver in the clutch.
4:05-- Mom tells son that it wasn't that hot out today and that it didn't even break 80 because as she drove by the bak temp it was 79. I corrected her that according to the three games of softball, and heather's near meltdown, it was clearly warmer than 80 at certain points during the day. she chuckled. Glad my sense of humor hasn't left me.
4:12 -- Dana hooks me up with her AIM name so that I can read her blog. AWESOME! More ways to entertain myself in an effort to avoiding doing the one thing I need to do at night: Sleep!
4:30 -- End of the day. And my week break officially begins. I was hoping for balloons and cake to send me out in style, but then I found out all of camp is off for a week. A sad and startling revelation. I just wanted to feel special ... *tear*
And that ladies gentleman was my Friday, july 8. Here's a Happy Birthday shout out to my brother Jason! You are getting way too old! AAAAAAAHHHHH!
Until next time, ILLINI BABY! WOOT WOOT!
-Jungle Jim-
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