has happened since my last blog. Which is why I have strayed from posting for a month and a half. Also, the Kelly/Carrie post is not done yet because I am back in school and never have time for it. So be patient, even though most of you could care less haha.
Pretty much the biggest change is that Maddie isn't back at school with me and is never coming back either. But this isn't bad or sad because it is going to be so much better for her in life. It just sucks because a few posts down, you can see how excited I was. But it just reminds you that God is in charge and will surprise you like that. Nothing is certain.
So I am working at getting more involved so I can make more friends. This is not easy because I work more than anyone I know. 20 hours a week with 16 units. I feel like I am never in the dorm. I am however, finally trying out for the dance troupe here that I have been wanting to be a part of for like a year. But let's not get too excited because there are hundreds of people and only 40 spots. And as I look around during rehearsal, everyone is pretty much dancing the same. So unless there is something special about me, which there usually isn't, I am not getting too excited here haha.
I am also dealing with having 8:00am class five days a week. Why would you do this to yourself, you may ask. Let me tell you. It was either that or cut my work hours in half almost. Because if I don't go to class that early, I don't get to work in the afternoons. And because I support myself and a car, I have to be making a certain amount of money. I am not like all the other Biola students who don't have to get jobs because mommy and daddy pay their tuition and give them spending money every month.
Back to the making friends thing though, I am not sure how one accomplishes this. Maybe I am just not very good at it. But last year I would talk to the girls on my floor but we would just have nice brief conversations. I don't know how to get to that point where it's like 'hey come with us to dinner' or whatever. I am really hoping this year is different but I am already pretty sure it's the same because I am just not here enough. They all have their friends already.
I've pretty much given up on the males because of the same reason. I don't even know one at Biola and I've been here 3 years. I went on one gyrad and my date hardly talked to me. Also, going to gyrad means my roommate and I have to find me a date and if we don't know any boys, then it makes our job pretty difficult.
Anyways, my trip to Oregon was great, many good times with Maddie. I had strep the whole first week I was there though. Sometimes I wonder why those things always happen to me. This is how my summer went:
June-youth group retreat in Palm Springs-STOMACH FLU.
July-Hume Lake Jr. High camp-the worst head cold I have ever had.
August-Oregon-STREP.
Seriously. It makes me think that there is something seriously wrong with me. Well if you know my medical history, then I'm pretty sure there is something wrong with me, we just can't find it ha. We didn't get to do so much in Oregon because of my lameness. So now I'm back at Biola and went to the health center because of a small sore on my throat, and guess what I have...STREP. AGAIN. Even though I feel fine. So I have been ordered to not go to class or work. Fine with me.
So I am just trying to keep my head above water, with my 20 hour work week, 16 unit load, lack of friends, strep throat, and financial issues with Biola (I'll be lucky if I get out of here with only $80,000 in loans). Oh did I mention I have to APPLY to the school of education and I need 3 references in less than a month. So that was dumped on me yesterday. Also I declared my concentration in Math so I am in Calculus again and already feel like the biggest idiot ever. It's the most frustrating feeling in the world to not be able to do something that is so concrete. So since this is the first class in my Math concentration, I don't know how I am going to do fine in it and then proceed to the HIGHER classes. But I'm not good at anything else. Which is why I am a teaching major, but let's not talk about that right now.
Anyways, my mom really really really wants me to move home. Bridgette is at Point Loma now so I think it's weird for her to be alone. But she says she is just really worried about my health, and now that Maddie isn't here she's even more worried for my emotional state. She is always persuading me because I could transfer home and finish my degree for only $17000 which is a third of the cost it would take me to finish here. I don't understand why she wants me to move home. I think it's because her health is falling apart and she doesn't have anyone there. But she doesn't realize that all those years of her telling me what a burden I was have taken a toll. The last thing I want to do is move home. I hate that house, even though that's where I grew up. I have built myself so much here, it kills me to leave behind my job, BIOLA (I do love it most the time), my awesome youth group friends, and my Biola friends. Although I would have my Visalia friends back, I don't think it would be enough. I think it would be a step backwards.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Summer Camp
This year was pretty sweet. I'll be honest, I kinda didn't want to go to camp once the date actually came upon me, because I had been really sick and had just got back from the OC the day before camp. But as soon as I got there I remembered last year and I was pumped and had a lot of fun. And my girls were cool and a few of them rededicated their lives to Christ so that was an awesome feeling. So to recap, I am going to make a list of likes and dislikes of camps that the other female counseler and I talked about throughout the week haha.
Things I Like About Camp:
My girls. I love seeing where they end up at the end of the week, especially when I didn't even know them before. Also listening to them goofing off reminds me of the good ol' days. Also they actually seemed to really genuinely like me this year and that's a good feeling. They wanted me to go on the high adventure ropes course with them and they also begged to see me get blobbed.
The staff. They are always hilarious and run this camp like a machine. Plus half of them go to Biola hahahaha
Hanging Out Whether it's with the kids or the other counselors from our church, I'm pretty sure the joking around is my favorite part.
The band. I love camp worship, it's always amazing. And it was better than last year I think.
The music. Everytime we walk into chapel, they have amazing songs playing like the Mai A Hi (by the Moldovian pop band, O-Zone. I had to look that up on my favorite website Wikipedia haha and by doing so I found out the song is actually called Dragostea Din Tei. I learn so much from that website).
The Vitamin Water vending machine! Seriously. I have never seen on of these anywhere else. I WANT ONE IN MY DORM, I would provide all the business!
The theme. Robots? How cool is that?
Recreation. Seems like something I would not like. So I don't know why I do. How much fun is it to throw DYE at a bunch of kids and get all wet? Except the 'wash out' dye definitely did not wash out of my shirt yet. And one of my girls threw a cup of dye into my left ear, which I now think is infected so THANKS FOR THAT. Also, one night, the counselors got to run around and hit the kids with socks filled with bean bags or something. Like full on smack them. Too bad I had a headache during that game but that was fun to watch. I also loved the night game where the counselors had to hide throughout camp. I was one of the few that was never found so that was fun. I also ended up participating in the bellyflop competition because the guy from our team never showed up. Leave it to me to have to do it not once, but TWICE in front of hundreds of people. By the second flop, the only pain I felt was the embarrassment from it all haha. Oh, and the boys on our rec team were really good this year so we were in 2nd place at one point. So it felt good to be competitive this year, because I think we came in last place last year haha.
The Staff vs Counselor Kickball Game. Loved it last year, love it this year. We won.
Sleep In Day. Enough said.
The Fashion. This sounds weird but I love camp because you can wear anything you want and get away with it. Within dress code obviously. My friends know how I looove dress codes. But at camp, it's nice to go carefree and wear weird stuff, like bandanas, backpacks, and boardshorts.
Thing I Do Not Like About Camp.
Drama. Why do girls fight so much? "I can't sleep in that cabin because of her" and "Those girls said I was fat" and "So and So was being mean" and "This girl stole my money". SERIOUSLY. I can't count how many times a day one of these problems arose. Everytime I returned to our cabin, a different girl was crying. A joke the other female counselor and I had was 'uh oh, I can't find my shirt, I bet somebody STOLE it" because these girls just decide that if they can't find something, it was stolen, even though everything turned up at the end of the week. I do NOT remember fighting with my friends like that when I was in junior high. So much attitude! I can't handle it. Also, I had a few girls just DISSAPEAR throughout the week and I had to go search for them. Not ok. It was hard keeping them where they were supposed to be.
The Food. I understand cooking for hundreds is difficult. Really, I do. But I think they could do better. I lost 5 pounds just because of my lack of interest in the food. WHICH IS RARE, for me.
Lack of Sleep. First night is always the worst. Last year they woke up at 3am, this year they woke up at random intervals to whisper and hang out. This makes it very hard to force myself to be enthusiastic throughout the day, when usually I am not feeling that way haha.
Dirt. Everywhere. I hate breathing it. I would shower and never feel clean because it's impossible to walk back to your cabin without getting your feet dirty in sandals.
Bugs. Everywhere. I had one girl find a bug on her bed and then she started sobbing and refused to sleep in her bed. She had to sleep in another bed. And I thought I was bad.
Sunscreen. Being out in the sun all day means SUNSCREEN is crucial. But I hate it because my allergies make my eyes itch constantly so I always end up rubbing it in my eye which is THE MOST FRUSTRATING THING EVER. Can't even keep my eyes open and tears are streaming down my face haha. I had to close my eyes for thirty minutes to get rid of the stinging. So I stopped wearing sunscreen on the 2nd day and for some weird reason, didn't even get tan.
My Watch.Long story short. I needed a watch at the last minute so I went to Wal Mart ten minutes before I needed to be at the church. My choices in the $5 watch bin were butterflies, frogs, monkeys, or Barbie. I almost got Barbie but it was digital and I don't like setting those. So I picked butterflies and decided I would look like a 6 year old all week. But this watch was crazy with a capital C. It was either super fast or super slow so I never knew what the REAL time was.
Being Mean. The time comes every year where I have to be mean and I hate it haha. It's usually the first night when they won't sleep. But this year went better and I told them I don't like being mean so by the end of the week, I had THEM saying "you guys, Debbie doesn't like being mean so let's go to sleep". Haha. Oh yeah, this is how they ended up calling me Debbie:
Camper-"What should we call you?"
Me-"Well most my friends call me Deb, or Deborah is fine."
Camper-"What about Debbie?"
Me-"Umm well no one really calls me that actually."
Camper-"Ok Debbie!"
The Busride.I am never one to get bus sick. But when the driver drives super fast up the winding road to the mountain, I feel icky the rest of the day. Also, it's unavoidable that kids will throw up on the way back. Last year there were tons, but this year there were only 2. Bleh.
Being Sick. I don't know HOW I got so sick the last day because I am the QUEEN of Germ-x, especially while at camp. But I caught a horrible head cold and by the last night, I was moaning in bed, trying to get the girls to pack so we could go to sleep, and I had to be really mean to show them I did not feel well haha. As soon as I got home, I went straight to Longs and loaded up on tons of cold medicine because there was enough pressure in my head to power the Good Year blimp. The worst part was because of my congestion, my left ear never popped on the way down the mountain so I was deaf ALL FREAKING DAY. Worst feeling ever.
Other Counselors. Most are great, but there are always the few I can't stand. For example, day one: We were in line to sign our girls up for the high ropes course that they really wanted to do. This other girl cut in front of us to sign her girls up because other staff from her church were in line ahead of us. This is not ok because she got to sleep in and just join the line while we were standing in the cold, looking horrible because of our early morning. I made a joke that they would probably run out of spots as soon as they got to us BECAUSE of that girl cutting. That is exactly what happened. I got to the table and there was one spot left. Telling my girls that they couldn't do the ropes course was definitely one of the worst parts of my week. Also, I can't stand the super competitive that will stop at nothing to win. That is not what camp is about.
Walking. So much walking. I was sore from walking so much. I need to exercise more.
Did I Say Food? Can't emphasize this anymore haha.
The Speaker. Halfway through the week we had to have a new speaker take over because ours was speaking for over an HOUR every night. Not ok for junior highers, not even ok for me haha. He also was going in about 12 different directions and was impossible to follow. He also showed a scene from The Passion Of The Christ without any warning, that was way too intense for them. I had 3 of my girls come to me crying after seeing it. My whole cabin was upset that night that they had had to see that when their parents wouldn't allow them to at home. I feel so bad for him because he had too much going on to be a good speaker at the time. But we did have the amazing speaker from last year take over and everything worked out.
Ok so it looks like there is a lot of bad, but I am planning on going again next year so what does that tell you? It tells you that you're missing out because it's tons of fun.
Things I Like About Camp:
My girls. I love seeing where they end up at the end of the week, especially when I didn't even know them before. Also listening to them goofing off reminds me of the good ol' days. Also they actually seemed to really genuinely like me this year and that's a good feeling. They wanted me to go on the high adventure ropes course with them and they also begged to see me get blobbed.
The staff. They are always hilarious and run this camp like a machine. Plus half of them go to Biola hahahaha
Hanging Out Whether it's with the kids or the other counselors from our church, I'm pretty sure the joking around is my favorite part.
The band. I love camp worship, it's always amazing. And it was better than last year I think.
The music. Everytime we walk into chapel, they have amazing songs playing like the Mai A Hi (by the Moldovian pop band, O-Zone. I had to look that up on my favorite website Wikipedia haha and by doing so I found out the song is actually called Dragostea Din Tei. I learn so much from that website).
The Vitamin Water vending machine! Seriously. I have never seen on of these anywhere else. I WANT ONE IN MY DORM, I would provide all the business!
The theme. Robots? How cool is that?
Recreation. Seems like something I would not like. So I don't know why I do. How much fun is it to throw DYE at a bunch of kids and get all wet? Except the 'wash out' dye definitely did not wash out of my shirt yet. And one of my girls threw a cup of dye into my left ear, which I now think is infected so THANKS FOR THAT. Also, one night, the counselors got to run around and hit the kids with socks filled with bean bags or something. Like full on smack them. Too bad I had a headache during that game but that was fun to watch. I also loved the night game where the counselors had to hide throughout camp. I was one of the few that was never found so that was fun. I also ended up participating in the bellyflop competition because the guy from our team never showed up. Leave it to me to have to do it not once, but TWICE in front of hundreds of people. By the second flop, the only pain I felt was the embarrassment from it all haha. Oh, and the boys on our rec team were really good this year so we were in 2nd place at one point. So it felt good to be competitive this year, because I think we came in last place last year haha.
The Staff vs Counselor Kickball Game. Loved it last year, love it this year. We won.
Sleep In Day. Enough said.
The Fashion. This sounds weird but I love camp because you can wear anything you want and get away with it. Within dress code obviously. My friends know how I looove dress codes. But at camp, it's nice to go carefree and wear weird stuff, like bandanas, backpacks, and boardshorts.
Thing I Do Not Like About Camp.
Drama. Why do girls fight so much? "I can't sleep in that cabin because of her" and "Those girls said I was fat" and "So and So was being mean" and "This girl stole my money". SERIOUSLY. I can't count how many times a day one of these problems arose. Everytime I returned to our cabin, a different girl was crying. A joke the other female counselor and I had was 'uh oh, I can't find my shirt, I bet somebody STOLE it" because these girls just decide that if they can't find something, it was stolen, even though everything turned up at the end of the week. I do NOT remember fighting with my friends like that when I was in junior high. So much attitude! I can't handle it. Also, I had a few girls just DISSAPEAR throughout the week and I had to go search for them. Not ok. It was hard keeping them where they were supposed to be.
The Food. I understand cooking for hundreds is difficult. Really, I do. But I think they could do better. I lost 5 pounds just because of my lack of interest in the food. WHICH IS RARE, for me.
Lack of Sleep. First night is always the worst. Last year they woke up at 3am, this year they woke up at random intervals to whisper and hang out. This makes it very hard to force myself to be enthusiastic throughout the day, when usually I am not feeling that way haha.
Dirt. Everywhere. I hate breathing it. I would shower and never feel clean because it's impossible to walk back to your cabin without getting your feet dirty in sandals.
Bugs. Everywhere. I had one girl find a bug on her bed and then she started sobbing and refused to sleep in her bed. She had to sleep in another bed. And I thought I was bad.
Sunscreen. Being out in the sun all day means SUNSCREEN is crucial. But I hate it because my allergies make my eyes itch constantly so I always end up rubbing it in my eye which is THE MOST FRUSTRATING THING EVER. Can't even keep my eyes open and tears are streaming down my face haha. I had to close my eyes for thirty minutes to get rid of the stinging. So I stopped wearing sunscreen on the 2nd day and for some weird reason, didn't even get tan.
My Watch.Long story short. I needed a watch at the last minute so I went to Wal Mart ten minutes before I needed to be at the church. My choices in the $5 watch bin were butterflies, frogs, monkeys, or Barbie. I almost got Barbie but it was digital and I don't like setting those. So I picked butterflies and decided I would look like a 6 year old all week. But this watch was crazy with a capital C. It was either super fast or super slow so I never knew what the REAL time was.
Being Mean. The time comes every year where I have to be mean and I hate it haha. It's usually the first night when they won't sleep. But this year went better and I told them I don't like being mean so by the end of the week, I had THEM saying "you guys, Debbie doesn't like being mean so let's go to sleep". Haha. Oh yeah, this is how they ended up calling me Debbie:
Camper-"What should we call you?"
Me-"Well most my friends call me Deb, or Deborah is fine."
Camper-"What about Debbie?"
Me-"Umm well no one really calls me that actually."
Camper-"Ok Debbie!"
The Busride.I am never one to get bus sick. But when the driver drives super fast up the winding road to the mountain, I feel icky the rest of the day. Also, it's unavoidable that kids will throw up on the way back. Last year there were tons, but this year there were only 2. Bleh.
Being Sick. I don't know HOW I got so sick the last day because I am the QUEEN of Germ-x, especially while at camp. But I caught a horrible head cold and by the last night, I was moaning in bed, trying to get the girls to pack so we could go to sleep, and I had to be really mean to show them I did not feel well haha. As soon as I got home, I went straight to Longs and loaded up on tons of cold medicine because there was enough pressure in my head to power the Good Year blimp. The worst part was because of my congestion, my left ear never popped on the way down the mountain so I was deaf ALL FREAKING DAY. Worst feeling ever.
Other Counselors. Most are great, but there are always the few I can't stand. For example, day one: We were in line to sign our girls up for the high ropes course that they really wanted to do. This other girl cut in front of us to sign her girls up because other staff from her church were in line ahead of us. This is not ok because she got to sleep in and just join the line while we were standing in the cold, looking horrible because of our early morning. I made a joke that they would probably run out of spots as soon as they got to us BECAUSE of that girl cutting. That is exactly what happened. I got to the table and there was one spot left. Telling my girls that they couldn't do the ropes course was definitely one of the worst parts of my week. Also, I can't stand the super competitive that will stop at nothing to win. That is not what camp is about.
Walking. So much walking. I was sore from walking so much. I need to exercise more.
Did I Say Food? Can't emphasize this anymore haha.
The Speaker. Halfway through the week we had to have a new speaker take over because ours was speaking for over an HOUR every night. Not ok for junior highers, not even ok for me haha. He also was going in about 12 different directions and was impossible to follow. He also showed a scene from The Passion Of The Christ without any warning, that was way too intense for them. I had 3 of my girls come to me crying after seeing it. My whole cabin was upset that night that they had had to see that when their parents wouldn't allow them to at home. I feel so bad for him because he had too much going on to be a good speaker at the time. But we did have the amazing speaker from last year take over and everything worked out.
Ok so it looks like there is a lot of bad, but I am planning on going again next year so what does that tell you? It tells you that you're missing out because it's tons of fun.
1: now #38 nicest