Oh what a Tuesday

Today was a good day at camp ...

Began the day by harassing a camper sitting by herself by following her wherever she sat. Fun game. Then getting my butt whipped in Uno ... and then going to relay race it up in place of kickball. Good times ... except bunny hopping is ridiculous and should not be a part of any relay race for anyone over the age of say, like 20. Haha ...

No first period swim becuase it was too cold. Convient considering I left my towel at home. We watched Sword int he Stone in the basement. Very nice morning nap. Even more convient considerng I barely got 5 hours in last night ...

Second period pow-wow was the peak excitement for the day. We started off with "Bird's nest" as a warm-up, amazing game the camper's love. We then jumped into Freez Dance, anaother amazing game. Well, we got a few minutes in and then disaster struck. I was stopping the music by pressing the power button, which sucked because there was like a 4 second delay when u pressed on again for it to go. So I decided to mess witrh the kids and slowly fade out the music and then fade it back in (the idea being the dancing u'd do would slow to a freeze and then speed back up from a freeze). Great idea, except the stereo volume control wasn't a dial. It looked liked a dial but it was a weighted switch that u moved slightly to the left or right to turn it up or down. Anyway, I turned it down okay, but when I went to turn it back up I dont know what happened. I slowly got it back up and going and then the tension broke and the knob could spin clear around ... it was no good.

Anyway, so I spent the rest of pow-wow and half of the next period working with Maintenance crew Jason Hospelhorn taking apart the stereo to fix it. I feel like a qualified stereo mechanic now! (Which means at camp we have both an aviator mechanic in Kate and a stereo mechanic in me!). Jason knew more of what he was doing than I did (big shock, he is a maintenance guy and a fireman!), but I wasnt completely useless! Anyway, we got it to the point now that its all unscrewed, but we figured out whats wrong. this piece broke off and so like I can manually adjust the volume deep inside the stereo, but thats no good ... but we're both fairly confident that given half an hour with a soddering iron and superglue it can be fixed up good as new .... so guess what Im doing tomorrow before camp or on break! Haha ....

And ofc ourse I got plenty of jokes about being fired and having the money for a replacement come out of my paycheck ... including some ribbing from Scottie! Hhmmm, oh and Sarah, Kate, Krista and Teresa in the main office were racking there brains trying to figure out what was going on because they thought I was dealing with a personal issue. First I came in asking for a screwdriver ... then Hoss came in and got the plastic medical tweezers from the cabinet (hes an EMT, remember that) and then I came in a little while later asking for metal tweezers ... and when I finally came in with the opened stereo to store it they all started cracking up and were like, oh its just that, we thought u had a serious personal problem u didnt wannat ell us about ... and that explained why Hoss was involved. And Im like, what personal problem could I possibly need a screwdriver, a pair of metal tweezers and an EMT for?!? haha ... it was sooo funny ...


In other news, lunch was interesting as not 20 seconds in juice was spilled on our blanket ... and then these two ducks kept approaching the kids for food. I shooed them away for the first 10 mintues, and then just let them get as close as they dared (pretty damn close) and had the kids not throw things and stay on their bottoms and I just hovered close in case. Worked well. the Kids loved it, and it beat having to beat the ducks with a rock or something to make thne understand that when I shoo them away that does not mean come right back!

The magician was great. Crafts was crazy ... Buffalo Bradley was MIA, so sad, and our movie afternoon which we all looked forward to got canceled as it rained for all of ten minutes (the only rain cloud in the area hovered over us for a few fleeting moments) .... All in all, another good day at Camp Wa-Nik-Ska-Ka

-Jim-

It's Back!!

This weekend was good times all around!! Thanks to those who came over last night - it was a blast!!

I just wanted to post a little notice of an upcoming event, a repeat of last year's.

~*~*~COLORED BRA DAY~*~*~

This Tuesday, June 27 is our Second Annual Colored Bra Day. (Gents, feel free to join in if you like). I feel that it's relatively self-explanatory . . .

This Weekend

Hello to all!! Just wanted to get an update in here on the weekend.

Friday Night
Kaite Rassi's place for movies, starting at 8:00. Bring movies, food, beverages; however you would like to entertain yourself for the evening. If you haven't been in her basement yet, you're definitely missing out and should come over tonight (we're talking 6-foot, wall-mounted projection TV with a surround sound system . . .), and of course, the people are worth coming over for, too. :o)

Directions from Veterans Parkway
Turn onto GE Road and follow it almost to Towanda Barnes. She lives in Hawthorne II, which is the last neighborhood on your left (across from a strip mall). Take your third left onto Longwood Ln. Follow this street around the curve and turn onto the second street on your right, Weaver Ct. Kaite's house is number 8, and it's at the very end of the circle.
Directions from Towanda Barnes
Turn onto GE Road and follow it just past a building under construction. Hawthorne II will be the first neighborhood on your left. Take your third left onto Longwood Ln. Follow this street around the curve and turn onto the second street on your right, Weaver Ct. Kaite's house is number 8, and it's at the very end of the circle.
Google map ps - don't trust the green arrow, just use the map as a street guide
Kaite's cell # (309) 706-9963

Saturday Night
My parents are out of town Friday afternoon - Sunday evening, so it's my house for movies/massages/food/good times, starting at 7:00 on Saturday. I don't work on Saturday (whoo-hooo!! A day off!!), so feel free to come over before 7 if you'd like; please just call me first. Bring whatever movies you might be interested in watching (my TV is several steps down from Katie's, and my basement doesn't boast a pool table, but we'll make up for it with coziness and an air hockey table!). Also feel free to bring pop, chips, candy, popcorn or anything else you might like to eat. Please don't bring any alcohol unless you're 21+. If anyone would like to stay the night, you are more than welcome to (I hate staying in my house by myself.) The more, the merrier!! :o)

Directions from Veterans
Take Veterans all the way north (past Sam's and the Saturn Place and all that jazz) through the road looking highway-esque, until you hit the stoplight at Northtown. Turn left. follow Northtown; you will see a neighborhood on your left - this is Ironwood. Turn left into the neighborhood onto Towanda; take your first (and immediate) left onto Ironwood drive. Follow the road as it curves around a bit; turn right on Quail Run Ct., the first sidestreet you come to. My house is number 1908, and is the second on your left. It's grey and may have my car (blue Saturn Vue) in the driveway.
Directions from Towanda Avenue
Take Towanda north out of town (past the Methodist Church and Prarieland Elementary). Towanda will take you directly into Ironwood neighborhood. Turn right onto Ironwood drive, which is the 5th and last street on your Right before you leave the neighborhood. Follow the road as it curves around a bit; turn right on Quail Run Ct., the first sidestreet you come to. My house is number 1908, and is the second on your left. It's grey and may have my car (blue Saturn Vue) in the driveway.
Google map - again, don't trust the green arrow, just use it as a guide
My cell # (309) 287-0368


Hope to see lots of people out both nights!! Have a wonderful day, to those of you who work Fridays, and hope it's not too sticky . . . see you tonight! :o)

The 2nd Wednesday of camp...

The 2nd Wednesday of camp ... was generally uneventful in terms of stories and quotes...

My day did begin interestingly enough. I arrived, and as I checked in Key-staff Krista was like I knwo you just got here, but could you go check on that camper sitting off by himself. So I trotted over, and I was like what's up man ... and apparently he was sitting at this seat by his lonesome because he's got "lots of memories there" (implying that seat). He spouted something off about being stung by a baby bumblebee ... so I coaxed him over to the tables of kids/counselors coloring, except on the way he like ducked behind me and said something like, "only if you shield me. I can be pretty weird." Haha ... so yeah, interesting morning.

Played 007 for games ... AMAZING!

Swim was actually mildly warm. And i busted out the towel as a cape which prompted all campers all day to call me Super Jim. Haha, except one kid int he locker room who called me (while naked from the waist down and running around mind you), "Super Weiner #2" ... I just want to know who Super Weiner #1 is ... haha ...

Had a juice spill at lunch today ... I feel like we need a sign above our lunch tables that say somehting like, "This lunch table has been juice free for ____ days" ... or perhaps hours instead of days ...

And then during crafts I DEMOLISHED Logan in the seek n' find to regain my title. I blew through it, finishing it in like record time. He still had like four to find and was shocked. Anyway, that puts me at 5-1 and once again reigning supreme!

WOOT WOOT!

-Super Jim-

Some camp randomness

Soooo much I've wanted to blog every night since that first post, and Im always too exhausted!

First, and foremost, THANKS TO KELLY, SHERRIE, ROOFIO and co. who made my birthday at camp last Thursday amazing! I definitely thought that after Kelly greeted me at the office and didnt say anything I was homefree, but then I rounded the corner and saw my tree covered in some ribbon stuff and I was like (instert bad word) people found out! Amazing friends...

I've had a lot of requests during pool time for the infamous "jet face" this year, and Im not gonna lie, not sure its gonna happen. I'm just not feelin. I am afraid it may have to be retired to camp lore only. I've tried a few times behind closed doors to duplicate it and I just dont have it. Something is missing. Maybe I'll re-read the posts about it to try and recapture the magic...

Anyway, quotes and incidents of the day ... let's see ...

As we began to put stuff away at like 8:15am Ashley walked by and said, "It's never good to get your butt wet to start the day" ... apparently she sat in a puddle.

Imagine Will Ferrel in Anchorman for the next quote. For first session pool it was overcast and freezing, so lots of campers and counselors alike were avoiding the pool. I was sitting poolside when a camper said something in a very Will Ferrell in Anchorman sort of way. "I like the water ... a lot. It's cold, but it's GOOD." (Imagine sort of a Jim Carrey in Bruce Almighty for the "good" part). It was hilarious!

Then in Crafts (8th period not including lunch), I got beat in the seek and find. Everyone agreed it was by far the hardest seek n' find Camp Wa-nik-Ska-Ka has ever seen ... and newbie Logan upended my previous 4-0 record. First lost of the summer is tough, but hopefully I'll bounce back tomorrow.

Oh, and one of the most classic moment came compliments of Buffalo Bradley (see last summer) during 7th period games .... so Bradley, who is in another tribe, but my pod, sitting off by himself during some relay races. I decide to meander over and chat it up. He's playing with a bouncy ball and I was like "sweet bouncy ball Bradley." He got all excited, his eyes lit up, and he was like "It bounces (bounced it), rolls (rolled it) and it even spins! (and spinned it)" ... haha, ya really had to be there.

And then ... what made my day, he had a small plastic pokemon dragon toy (like real small) with a long red shoelace tied to its neck/torso with a nut on the other end of the string for weight presumably. Knowing how imaginative Bradley can be, I was like, "is that a leasch for your Charizard" as he dangled it in front of himself. He immediately stopped dangling it, got the biggest YOU'RE AN IDIOT look on his face and says, "No it's a red string." HAHAHA ... I couldnt contain myself. Best part is, not thirty seconds later after asking him what exaclty the red string was for since it clearly wasnt a leasch, he says somehting about how its the "perfect contrapection" to make his charizard fly "during battles" ... (He later described hanging it from something and swinging it at things) ... here we are discussing him making a way to make his plastic pokemon toy "fly" during "real" battles", but me thinking the red string was anything more than just a red string was absolutely ridiculously moronic. Oh it was way too classic!

Oh, I have missed Buffalo Bradley!

And now, onto Wednesday....!

The Controvery Continues

So week one of my 2006 camp experience is over.

Camp on Tuesday, was pretty good. Several of my Monday campers from last year are in my pod on Tuesday so I got to see them all day even though they weren't in my tribe! Including, my Emily & my Natalie!! :) This was pretty much the highlight of my day.

My foot was bothering me nearly all day. Whenever we were stopped at an area for a lengthy period of time, I would take off my shoe to alleviate the pain a little. Finally, at the end of the day I removed my sock as well to see what was going on. There was blood all over two of my toes. Apparently I had managed to clip my toenail into a ridiculously sharp point and it had sliced down the complete length of the toe next to it. It was really bizzare, especially since it had been 2 or 3 days since I clipped it. A bandaid solved the problem until I could get to some toenail clippers.

Yesterday, Wednesday, was exhausting as those of us who stayed the night at Kelly's only got 4.5 hours of sleep. I tried my best not to let it effect me, but I know that it did.

Remember the Cardinals Fan incident on Monday? Well on Wednesday several of my campers came up to me at the beginning because they wanted to meet me (typical of the first week at camp). One of them, Claudia, sat down next to me and started asking questions including where our tribe's meeting place was. I pointed out the tree as you could see it from where we were sitting. Well, she sees the Cubs blanket hanging on the tree limb, where Ryne keeps it until we go over there, and asks, "Is that a Cubs blanket?"

Remembering Monday, I hesitantly say "Yes."

"Can I just stand? I'm a Cardinals fan, I can't sit on that."

Trying very hard to control my amusement, I calmly told her we had another blanket she could sit on. Though I think she ended up sitting on it anyway as the boys claimed the other one and it is apparently against the law to sit on the same blanket as the boys. At least, this is what I've discovered every day this week.

The story does not end there. For Pow Wow, we played "The Skittles Game." For awhile we got the typical "My favorite color is blue." or "I have two dogs and an annoying sister." answers, but then Ryne said "I like the Cubs." This of course, led to a very interesting round of:

Camper 1: "I like the Cardinals."

Camper 2: "I like the Cardinals."

Camper 3: "I like the Cardinals."

Camper 4: "I like the Cubs."

Camper 5: "I like the Cubs."

Camper 6: "I like the Cubs."

There were a few random non-sports related comments interspersed between those, including mine, but that's the gist of how it went. Well, halfway through the next round and leading into the round after, not initiated by Ryne this time, the facts went like this:

Camper 4: "I hate the Cardinals."

Camper 5: "I hate the Cardinals."

Camper 6: "I hate the Cardinals."

Camper 1: "I hate the Cubs."

Camper 2: "I hate the Cubs."

Camper 3: "I hate the Cubs."

My next fact was that I didn't really care about either of them. They of course looked at me with eyes wide open and jaws hitting the picnic tables. I'm pretty sure I lost about 500 counselor points on that one, but the looks were worth it.

So 2 out of 3 days with this big controversy and then we come to today where Ryne lays down the blankets and almost instantly a camper spews out his speech about how he can't sit on a Cubs blanket because he's a Cardinals fan. Ryne and I pretty much both lost it that time ... there was no holding back. Then later they were harassing him about it:

"Why'd you buy a Cubs blanket anyway?"

"I didn't."

"Is it Sherrie's?"

"No."

"Then you bought it."

"No, I found it at my house."

"Did your mom buy it?" (This was asked with that you-are-so-not-cool-if-you-say-yes tone of voice as if this soon to be 3rd or 4th grader's mom doesn't buy anything for him.)

"I don't know."

"Well the Cubs suck."

"That's fine if that's your opinion."

"It's not an opinion, it's a fact."

"... Okay."

I think he pretty much was getting tired of the Cubs/Cardinals debate at that point.

...

I almost forgot, quote of the day for Wednesday goes to Melissa R who after being thrown in the pool by David B and then brutally splashed while on the side nearly dry and in her towel (also by David B) shouted out "You're a ... bad word!"

Kelly later asked her which would have been her word of choice had there not been campers around ... she stated that she really didn't know and that all that popped into her head was "Jerk" but that it wasn't strong enough.

Good times.

The First Day of Camp

Captain's Log -
Stardate: -317443.83 (That's the stardate for June 12, 2006)

And so our new adventure has officially began. Having a full season under our belts, and nine months rest we began our voyage this morning with the utmost confidence, although admittedly I did have a few jitters as not all of of the pre-flight checklist went as planned. Then again, it never does. Nonetheless, what follows is an hour by hour breakdown of the first day in our long, yet all too short journey.

0630-0730
I wake up at 0n 0630, surprisingly on-time and well rested. I did toss and turn some the night before, however I had managed to get to bed early enough to still get the necessary amount of rest in for a Galactic voyage. However, not all was well with those in the same housing as myself. As i arose I made my way to the bathroom, put in my contacts, turned on the shower and began to strip (oh stop it, its a basic part of human maintenance). I had come to a complete state of nudity (easy now) when I realized that nature was in fact calling my name. I sat down on the pot and did my business.

As I stood up and flushed, my almost 19-year-old brother who got his first job this spring, and began working 7:30-3:30 about two weeks ago, knocked and then opened door. So there I am, completely nude, having just used the bathroom and about to get into the shower when he opens the door a crack sticks his head with his eyes at such a squint I'm not sure any sunlight was getting to his pupils and asked very politely (seriously), "Can I have my shower now?" - the implication being he normally showers at that exact minute of the morning and was wondering if he could. Having my smart-eleck side not awake, I didnt not say anything smart about how naked I was and instead said "Naw, wait 5 I'm about to get in". to which case Mr. Hyde erupted from Dr. Jekyll. He growled (I swear to you), slammed the door. Marched to my parents bedroom next door and had the shower on before I could turn around and hop in the shower myself (which was all of one foot away).

After the shower incident my brother left about 07:00, I ate a bowl of hot oatmeal in three minutes (I know, I'm amazing), and had planned to leave about 07:10. Unfortunately I could not find my camp sweatshirt, which I know I had a few weeks ago. This dilemma caused me to forget my mug and not leave until about 07:16, clearly a huge delay in a well timed launch.

0730-0830
I arrived according to camp time, at 0742. Although I am supremely confident this was not accurate. Nonetheless, the mishaps of the mornign we corrected by wearing a white long sleeve under my camp shirt and by having my dear dear friend Miss Counselor Ashton bring my mug from my house.

The interaction with campers began by playing with the building blocks with two male campers. We all found great amusement in how high we could build tower before an "earthquake" would come shake it down (I'd merely, with my butt in place, sway side to side ever so mildly on the benches in the lunchroom. This would chase the unstable atmoshophere of the bench to shake causing the whole structure to become unstable).

I eventually then followed one of the campers out to the kickball game where a counselors vs. campers game had begun. Literally it was like 15 counselors vs. a mob of about 200 screaming 1st graders. As I told Counselor Dave, in this history of Daycamp's top ten ideas, this easily cracked the top five. A little while later, when the campers were switching from either batting to fielding or vice versa Counselor Dave made the wisely hilarious crack, as a couple hundred first graders ran around like chickens with their heads cut-off: We have a name for this, it's called CHAOS!

0830-0930
Pow-Wow time! This meant the starburst name game, which lasted all of five minutes ... followed by the ball name game, which lasted about 10 minutes ... followed my improv of Simon Says, lasting about 15 minutes ... and then a rousing game of follow the leader. I didn't think it was possible to wear out Monday Campers, but we did, if even for a brief few moments. After Follow the Leader they were wiped and begging for mid-morning nap time! YES! SCORE TWO FOR ASHLEY/JIM!!!

0930-1030
It's games!! And the opening at bat for ex-counselor Aimee who is now the games coordinator (almost making her our boss, weird!). We played many rousing games of "Backyard Clean-up". Thanks to the new counselors, it was the most competitive Monday games session I'd ever experienced ... although that also meant it got a bit out of hand. But Miss Aimee handled herself and the sitch very well and I give her an A for the morning! It also turns out that despite trying to employ multiple ways to attain victory shaking one's hips and citing Carley's voice and words by saying "ITS A STRATEGY" does not in fact work or justify many attempts to win. Sad ... maybe its just a kickball thing. (Notably Carley did not bunt in her only atbat of the morning's kickball game, although she did reach first on a blooper single).

1030-1130
For the first time in my daycamp experience morning swim was cancelled! A bit too chilly. Which Im surprised mweant anything, as last year Im fairly it could have been snowing adn we'd have gotten in the water. As a substitute we played ont he playground. Good times, but it turns out that after about 3 minutes, anyone older than 16 gets too tired of or tired from freeze tag ... yet the kids could literally play it all day.

1130-1215
Lunch! AND A NEW RECORD FOR KOOL-AID SPILLAGE! Literally the first cup given to the first girl of orange kool-aid, which was on the table for no more than 2 seconds and had been given only after a two minute lecture about drink spilling, was emptied on the table by a young girl named Sabrina, who then had a second spill at the end of lunch. At least she's consistent. This, fortunately represented 100% of our juice spillage incidents.

1215-1310
GAMES AGAIN! We got to spend an hour playing with the parachute. It wasn't bad, although it was no backyard clean-up.

1310-1405
Craft time ... I love craft time usually. Today we colored in wooden airplanes! WOOO! I whooped Counselor Aaron Gross in the seek and find, putting me at 1-0 for the year ... counselor Lindsay (she's new) proved that while she's got seek and find talent she still needs practice ... and Craft Leader Kate had the quote of the afternoon as she said: "Broken Wing?!? No problem, I can fix that. I've become a real master at aeronautical repair." And in other news I believe the United States Air Force contacted Craft Leader Kate later that day about becoming a chief mechanic on their new F-22 Raptor, a supersonic military jet.

1405-1530
Napped with the other counselors that had the hour off. To which I also took my shirt off as wel as socks and shoes. Tiffany had the quotes of hour about 20 minutes after I did this saying, "Jim what happened? You're naked." I was quite tempted to look down and WHAT? WHO STOLE MY CLOTHES?!

And that ladies and gentleman was the first day of camp.

Here's hoping tomorrow is another fine day of flight. Until then, I remain Captain James P. Boyer of the Starship Comanche. Godspeed.

Hooray for the first day of camp!

Dear Sun,

Thank you oh so very much for hiding just long enough for the kids to complain that swim time was cancelled and then blaring up just enough to make me bright pink. At least you picked a color that matches my tribe's bandanas.

Sincerely,
-Sherrie-

...

Really though, it was a good day ... our campers were great until about the last 20 minutes I was with them, and I couldn't ask for a better co-counselor. I wish I had a story to share, but really about the only thing story-worthy was when Ryne threw a ball at Aimee and she told the campers Ryne was going to be in trouble later to which one of our campers asked Ryne "Is that your mom?" I'm pretty sure the camper was dead serious, which is fairly amusing since Ryne's a year older than Aimee.

Oh wait, we also had a die-hard Cardinals fan. When Ryne laid down the Cubs blanket he brought for the kids to sit on, Brady asked me, "Can I just stand?"

Used to strange requests by campers, I replied, "Sure."

"'Cuz I'm a Cardinals fan, so I can't sit on that blanket," he explained.

To his relief, Ryne had also brought a sleeping bag with no Cubs endorsement so he felt it was alright to sit on that. Later he asked Ryne to wear his Cardinals hat while he played with the parachute.

"No, I'm not wearing your Cardinals hat!"

Really I'm not sure what the kid expected after making such a big deal about the blanket. It was pretty amusing, though. :)

...

Here are a few pictures:



...

PS. The cuteness factor of Monday campers is extremely high.

Friday's Frollies

I just wanted to recount the wonderful times of Friday morning's training.

First and foremost, I'll catch anything remotely in my area in kickball ... total all-star ... put me at the plate and I pop out 9 times out of 10. Haha ...

We are going to start the first ever Camp Lacrosse team with our new junior lacross sticks!

Counselor Dave has not in fact in killed any children with his car.

Bunting, while normally not allowed in kickball ... especially when it's 4 on 5, or similar numbers, is a completely legal kick for Counselor Carley, who upon getting to first base shoke her hips from side to side and slowly said while she danced, "Its a strategy". (I wish we had an aud/vid uplink to demonstrate the hilarity of this.

The Kimbo/Carley/Jim captained kickball team is an unstoppable force. WOOOOO!

Oh my, I cant wait for camp to start tomorrow!

Camp starts Thursday and so too does the blogging! Wooo!

It's Starting!!!

Training started last Thursday, and camp officially starts one week from today!!!!

Who's excited??? I know I am!! :o)