My how things have changed...

Last post, July 27th, 2007. Wow. That was a long time ago. It feels like it's been even longer. A lot has changed for our hero since he last checked in. He moved to Chicago, he moved back from Chicago, he became a father, he lived in a yurt in the woods and kept dairy goats for an entire summer. Talk about contrast. From the chaotic life of the big shitty to the slightly less chaotic life of living in the woods and caring for an infant and a new mother...and goats.

After a fast-motion segment describing the last two-plus years, we find our hero living in his parents' basement, trying to figure out what to do with his life. Travel West? Fly south? Hunker down for the winter? Stay tuned. If everything goes as planned, you might just see another post here within the decade.

Living in the moment

I'm going into the woods again. One of my best friends and I are leading a 10 day canoe trip into the Boundary Waters. We plan to travel over 120 miles, we've got 4 campers age 14-15 with us. I'm keeping a journal. There will be a post following our return, for real this time. We leave in 10 minutes. Once again, I'm posting from the bathroom. I'll talk to you all when I get back. Have a great two weeks. Much love.

P.S.

Thank you Sam and Carolyn for the mail. It brightened my day more than you can imagine. Also, I made a point to open it while I was in the bathroom just so I could write this post and tell you that I opened your mail while I was pooping. That is all, send me more mail and I will open it while pooping. Ask for my address, I don't want to post it here.

Another Session

Yes, thats right, another batch of chillin's are headed home tomorrow. We did the closing ceremony song and dance, said some teary goodbyes, and are all set to give them them ol' heave-ho onto the buses tomorrow. What will follow will hopefully be something akin to the "town run" scene from Wet Hot American Summer. "It's great to get away, even for an hour." We've got plans for some july 3rd shenanigans. Since camp starts again at 8:30 on the morning of the 5th, the night of the 4th wont be much of a party night, but I think either the night of the 3rd or 4th we will be be making some sort of exodus down to Duluth, either for fireworks or playing on the beach, drinking a beer, or a delightful combination of the three. If you're around, give me a call and I'll try to migrate to someplace at which we can connect, whoever you are.

This session was fantastic. I worked incredibly hard, and I can feel it. My upper body strength is way up, I'm tired, I've got a Chaco tan that is like night and day on my feet, and it's evident from the smiles on my camper's faces that I did something right. I got the chance to lead field training for other Ropes Course personnel, which involved practicing the emergency lowering of a panicked climber from our high circuit course, which is mounted in a cluster of old growth white pine trees 40 feet in the air...which, by the way, is where I ate my lunch today. I had to be out on the High Ropes course all day so my brother (who works in the kitchen) made me a bag lunch which consisted of 3 PB&Js and an apple. It felt like grade school, only way fucking cooler and 40 feet in the air.

I seriously love my job. I play with rope and knots all day, I get to help kids achieve what they don't think/know they can achieve, and I get to climb trees and stuff. At the end of the day I get to hang out with other woodsy/nerdy people my age who are more or less at the same place in their lives as I. I got to sail for a good 2 hours on two separate occasions this session. My friend Joe and I took out a pair of Catalina 12.5's on medium wind evenings. For reference, Catalinas are basically bathtubs with big sails on them, and even an idiot (read: me) can sail them. We spent a good long time zipping back and forth across the lake enjoying the wondrous feeling one gets when one's only means of propulsion is nature itself. The excitement wore off when Joe realized his boat smelled like pee...and he was sitting in it.

Okay time change. It's the next morning now and I'm back to writing this. Last night was a great night, I had some great talks with some great people. At the last night ceremony campers get the chance to write what are called Firewalk letters to two different counselors. We as counselors write back to the campers and the letters are mailed back to the campers around December (right around when registration opens for the next summer...) I received a decent stack of firewalks this session, and all of them were from the girls in my Ropes activities, thanking me for encouraging them to push their limits and achieve more than they thought they could. Ego boost? Yes.

So, my friends, the Independence day plans are as follows. We (a group of indeterminate size) are going to hang out on camp for some of today and trek down to Duluth either tonight or tomorrow for fireworks and fun. Hit me up if there's something going on either night. I'll be rolling with a decent sized group of incredibly cool camp people that I promise you would love to meet, and we'd love some local company. Keep me posted Duluthatantes. Much love.

He lives, he's hairy.

Hi, I'm at camp. Yeah, it's been over a month since I've posted last, but you all know, some better than others, that I am terrible at communicating from camp. I'm doing much better this year. I'm doing my best to return phone calls, but alas, I'm basically active from 8am until around 10pm, at which point I end up either crashing immediately or going on some sort of adventure with friends, whether it be canoeing in the middle of the night and watching stars or jamming with a variety of instruments.

It's been a fun few weeks thus far. The first week was fun with about 5 people on camp total. We went out for drinks and talked about the summer to come. The next week the rest of the staff showed up and it was basically a party. When you put 60 like minded camp-type people together with no campers, there's bound to be fun. It was great to watch the younger staff (17-18 year olds) of the different gender camps meet for the first time. Safe to say, there were many bets, on who would hook up, and many hook ups did indeed happen. We're not talking about "Wet Hot American Summer" type hookups, we're better people than that, most of the time.

The first bunch of girls got here last sunday and left friday. All of them were great kids, and I had a blaston the ropes courses. I've finally found an activity where I feel like I'm really making a difference in kids lives. There's only so much satisfaction that comes from teaching a kid how to tie a lanyard or showing someone how to indentify poison ivy. But there is something incredibly rewarding about watching a group of kids work together to overcome personal obstacles and helping kids conquer their fear of heights and push themselves further than they think they can go. Plus I got to rescue a terrified 6 year old girl from the top of the climbing wall. She made it all the way up but then froze on the way down when she was supposed to let go of the wall and ride the rope down. It took us 20 minutes to talk this girl down off the wall, she ended up climbing her way half way down and finally let go, tears streaming down her face. I caught her and set her on the ground and she thanked me for helping her. Sense of accomplishment? Yes.

So, I'm safe, I'm happy. I'm having the time of my life, I'm hairy too. I haven't shaved in several weeks, and if you squint really hard, you can almost pretend that I have a full beard. Someday I will be a real man. If my camera was charged, I would post pictures, but its not so I wont. Such is life.

There are many more things I could write about, but it's a lot to write so I'll give you a list of topics to chose from. We'll go by votes. Who knows, I might even post again before the summer is over.

Here are the stories I could write about:

-Alien/Poacher/Search for lost 6 year old boy lights on the horizon in the middle of the night.
-Drunken Night on the town V1.0
-Drunken Night V2.0 (improved flavor, cool new look, located in Plymouth)
-The night I shaved my head (that's actually the extent of the story really)
-Camp Drama etc.
-Getting oodles of drugs from the Virginia Clinic after possibly coming down with strep
-More "Ghetto Clinic" adventures
-Shirts off 'o'clock

Perhaps more, I'm distracted by a suggested jump in the lake. It's hot and humid at 12:20 in the morning, and that is my only qualm with camp. That and being sick and having no voice. And there are wolves chasing me. Send me an email, send me some mail. No really, send me mail, I swear to god I'll send you something back. Shoot me an email or a text or something and I'll give you the address. There is nothing cooler than getting mail at camp, and so far all I've recieved is a medical bill and a sound magazine.

I love you all and I can't wait to see you again.

Much love.

Going for a walk

Rob and I are going hiking today. We'll be back early next week. My camera is coming. I will blog about it. Clayton out.

You called my bluff.

You win Fuller. It was a ruse. I don't have the gumption to post that often. But hey, here's my playlist anyway. I had a guest DJ this week, the starred songs are from her collection.

Ratatat - Gettysburg
*Radiohead - High and dry
*Jump, Little Children - My guitar
Foo Fighters - Breakout
*Rufus Wainwright - Across the universe
RHCP - Tear
*Gazillion - Confidence
Muse - Exo-politics
Incubus - Anna Molly
*Beck - Paper tiger
Green Day - Last ride in
Mason Jennings - Darkness between the fireflies
DJ BC - Anna's MCs
Mars Volta - Drunkship of lanterns
Vaious Artists - Hit 'em High (Space Jam Soundtrack...bitches)
Grateful Dead - Hard to handle (Fillmore East Feb 13 1970) *vinyl*
*Iron and Wine - Teeth in the grass
Phish - Farmhouse
RHCP - Throw away your television
Crew jones - Bohemian grove
Coldplay - Brothers and sisters
Amateur love - I need you now
Low - Violent Past
*Sia - Breathe me
The Bad Plus - 1972 bronze medalist
Smashing Pumpkins - Today
Ben Folds - Time
G-love and Special Sauce - Gimme some lovin'

I'll probably be back to the regular time again next week, sadly. I think they found a replacement for Zozo (you know know, for sho' sho'.)

Until then, who knows, I might actually post a real blog entry. Wouldn't that just be a dilly of a pickle?