Sunday, May 25, 2008

• 
  I am going to have to take a break from Xanga. I am starting work at the summer camp tomorrow night.
  
  It is a little different this time, working at the camp from the other six summers I have worked there.
  I don't have to pack everything I want to bring to the camp in two suitcases. I live here now, I'm taking a CAR LOAD!
  
  First day.
  
  After the hour drive, I finally got there. I saw the wooden sign for the camp and felt butterflies in my stomach. I was a month off my 19th Birthday. It is easy to feel grown up in your own environment, but with new surroundings, you feel exceptionally small. The van pulled up to the dining hall and I stepped out. A bead of sweat dripped down my temple as the Texan sun beat down on me. This wasn't anything like I imagined. The trees leaned and looked over me and the grass was waist height. We walked towards the dinning hall, it was a concrete platform, about two foot thick, it was covered with picnic style tables. These were covered by a wooden roof, with thick circular beams in each corner.
  
  In the middle of the pavilion were a little group of people. Chatting away and they soon went silent when they saw me. Smiles. The smiles were reassuring. I shook lots of hands and was soon surrounded by new people, accents, laughter and soon these people were lifelong friends. I was overwhelmed.
  
  I had arrived in the middle of the staff training and being one of the few staff members completely new to the ranch, everyone had a few steps ahead of me. We played what I learned were "name games". Always played with the campers at camps on their first day. Gives everyone a chance to learn names and become friends. We sat and watched a video which was made of the previous summer. I still remember the song that went over all the images of kids and counselors swimming and having fun.
  
  Then I was taken to the cabin that I would be sharing with the other counselors throughout staff training. It was a little wooden cabin perched on the side of a steep cliff edge. It had a wooden post which proudly declared it's name as "Stone Wall Ridge". It had mesh for windows and an old tin roof. It started to get dark, but stayed hot and humid. My cabin mates were Chuy from Mexico and Joe from Germany. We sat around an over turned milk crate and played cards and shared sweets from our own countries.
  
  I laid on my metal squeaky bunk bed. I thought things would be quiet at this time of night. Things seemed noisier than ever. The crickets and tree frogs chirped their songs as if this was like any other night. A slight breeze hit my face and the pitch black crowded around us all. I squeezed my eyes shut and pulled my sleeping bag up to my eyes.
  
  Fucking insects kept me up all night.
  
  The song was by Greenday, "Good Riddance".
  
  Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road
  Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go
  So make the best of this test, and don't ask why
  It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time
  
  It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
  I hope you had the time of your life.
  
  So take the photographs, and still frames in your mind
  Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time
  Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial
  For what it's worth it was worth all the while
  
  It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
  I hope you had the time of your life.
  
  
  My dear Xanga friends... I wish you all a great summer,
  I hope you have the time of your life.
  
  

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