Prauge to Iowa, the long awaited return of an eggcellent friend.

Awww. My friend Jim is returning to Iowa for a month from teaching in Prague for a year. I will have to say that I am delighted to see him return. Jim and I have a great time together regardless of the activity, though we are pretty skilled at drinking, dancing and telling stories until the wee hours of the morn. No other way to say it- I am so excited to see him. yeah.


In other news, the MTV VMA's were last night. Talentless pop icons by the plenty and random camera obsession with what I hoped to be a drunken Bruce Willis with P.Diddy. I will have to say in my years of viewing such an event, this was a bit disappointing, not much fluency to the show. and Jessica simpson.... ugh. she used to be able to sing but now she is pulling this bullshit Britney Spears breathy thing... and she looks like a bobble head when she sings. Highlight of the show... Alicia Keys, Stevie Wonder and Lenny Kravitz playing together... that was nice. I would have paid to see that.... and when Marilyn Manson was asked if he arrived by yacht and he replied that he rode in on Mandy Moore... that was great.


Life is slowing down. I joined a gym and am fully enjoying it at this point. I am still in the really excited part of gym participation... we'll see.

My brother told my that one of the counselors talked with him for an hour about how their goal in life was to be just like me. That I was their role model. This girl is a great staff person... I don't know- the reality of my actions slapped me in the face a bit, followed by a flood of memories of feeling that way about my past camp director... it is a really strange thing to have someone say about you- and I guess in this line of work it doesn't come too often... ususally I hear "I could never do that", or " I would never want your job"... but for someone to not only want to continue in the field of human services, but to be like me. It was a really nice compliment.

Tomorrow is my nephew Michael's 10th Birthday. Happy Birthday Mike, I love you. (he doesn't read this, due to content, but just to let everyone know) He is an amazing, talented kid with wit to no end. I love him.

Alright. it is 3 oclock and I'm off.

Love to all.
c

A day in the life of post camp season.

7:30 Wake up, realize I don't have to be awake, go back to sleep.

9:30 Wake up, just kidding, go back to sleep.

10:30 Move to couch to watch Olympics.

12:30 Nap time.

2:30 Go to work, return a few emails, phone calls

4:00 Home after a long hard day.

4:45 shower. (no I did not shower before work, the un kept look will often encourage co-workers to tell you to go home and get some rest)

6:00 go to Brothers house for barbeque.

7-10:00pm Drink heavily, talk with friends, listen to music, eat.

10:00pm Pass out mid-party in my brothers room.

7:30am Go home to resume current schedule (thought I have been at work from 8:30-12:00 today- I know, I will take it easy later. It is after all nap time.)


this will basically be my schedule for the next two weeks. After not sleeping since mid April/// average of 3-4 hours per night, the reductions of stress has clearly worked wonders and now I am struggling to stay awake for more than eight hours a day... but all will pass, it has only been two days.


What better way to wrap up a summer than a trip to Branson!! YEEHAW. as part of our Trip camp program we send people over the age of fourteen on week long trip to various destinations around the mid west... at the end of the summer it becomes difficult to find trip leaders so I decided to take the group. Might I also add that in my eight years witht his camp I have been to Branson six times for percisely this reason. Those that know me also know that i do not own of prefer any variation of country music. period. But Branson is a beautiful place and the hospitality to folks with special needs in unparralleled. After listening to my own cd's all the way down I was ready for some serious country music.... and then we went to a new show, a magic show that was the creepiest thing i have ever seen. It advertised exotic animals and as far as I could see there was one appearance by a tiger. and it could have been stuffed. the show was a cross between days of our lives meets the band Poison meets high school dance team 'Pacesetters" meets Tammy Fay Baker. Unreal. at the end of this little man telling us in his creepy pre-puberty Frodo voice match that he has been given a gift but the only person capable of magic is the Lord Jesus Christ... alright- so you have your opinions... but at a magic show.... It left me with yet another unsettled feeling that this guy was a strange puppet. He had a really nice wig though.

Friday I returned to camp to deal with the last of the drama and to send a few friends on their way. It never gets any easier to say goodbye but my emotions seem to check out earlier and earlier every year. I guess I have confidence that we will see each other again. and I know going in to the summer that we will become close and have to say goodbye as apposed to a first time experience, or even second where you forget how much you love the people around you ... how much you have been through together only to have to say goodbye with the uncertainty of a reunion looming.

so I went Camping. Cody and I drove two and a half hours (we were supposed to leave at 5:30 but finally got out of town at 8:00pm) to North East Iowa near Elgin and Wadena. At the private campsite were our dearest friends waiting. Travis, Erin, James, Tony, Darian, Jeremy, Frank... great times! Friday we stayed up until 5am drinking and talking and looking at the brightest stars I have ever seen in my life. Saturday we went tubing down the Turkey River where we spent 5 hours on a slow moving current with five cases of beer between us... it really doesn't get any better. Of course I was able to provide comic relief by getting caught in the rapids... water was a little low and I bottomed out... so I had to stand up in the rapids, (at this point I am a little drunk), my tube floats away, i try to stand again and I get a horrific cramp in my clf, which forces me to do stretches in the rapids... as my tube floats away. So graceful. At this point I am yelling at Erin to get my raft... and she does- love the Gr. At upon completetion of my journey I was compared to a Grizzly Bear swatting for salmon. I didn't say it was pretty but it was the most amusong of tubing experiences.

I returned home sunday for a 7 hour nap followed by Monday which I spent with my brother. We had an excellent day if I do say so myself.

alright- I ma going to grad some lunch and have a little siesta... beacuase I can.

lovin to all.
c

end of summer nostalgia...

Tomorrow ends our Resident camp season. to most of you this is just another boring detail of a work clad blog scene. for me, this is a sense of completion, acheivement, sadness, happiness, insecurity, confidence... many many things. my first summer completed as a director. people of all ages that believed in me to lead them through an experience of changing peoples life, giving another human being a chance in a world that looks the other way. this is where my passion comes from. the opportunity to break down barriers and give light to the beauty of pure human nature, which I believe, in my heart, is to help another person. I have prepared every detail of a banquet to celebrate the success of a fantastic summer. a summer in which we served more people than in years past, we received more positve feedback, and most importantly, touched, even changed the lives of over 1300 Iowans with disabilities. I feel so proud to have this job. it is the most challanging thing I have ever done in my life, and sometimes a week seems that it may never end, but truth be told, I would not prefer it any other way. I know I am here for a reason, I know that these people need me, and to feel needed and appreciated is a greater feeling that one may ever know.


ahhhh.... I'm crying- need to go.

love to all.
c