Home to humidity

Chilling out at an open mic (with ilyAIMY and company) in Owings Mills, MD, and in summary all I can say it is so good to be home. And I say this as a person who doesn't have a place to hang her hat and keep her dozen pair of shoes and her 300-thread-count sheets and arrange her pillows in a highly specific way. But, I've gotten back together with the old flame, and here in the humidity and my temporary residence in his domicile 'till I get keys to my own tomorrow...it feels like where we're meant to be, together, at this moment in time. And that is perfect right now. The predators are different back here in the city. Readers of this blog missed out on how one morning, while getting up at 5 am to shower before heading out to Wyoming, I laid in my Kelty 25* bag, it's worn-in nylon fabric and polyester batting, warm like toaster strudel filling. At around 5:12, I was just finishing disentangling my mind from my hazy mists of sleep, I hear, somewhere between Warm Toasty Magpie and Warm Fragrant Shower, the bear. And I kid not, it sounded like Chewbacca. And that cool Colorado morning shower became FAR less welcome than going back to bed. Here, I don't have to worry about bears (I read a whole book on Bear Attacks this summer). Instead I worry about muggers. But from the book I read, I learned that fighting back is what you do with bears, where with muggers you just give them what they want and leave. So, speaking of bears, the fuzzy one and I are going out again. Nobody's parents are pleased, and we, too, are feeling their apprehension, but the stakes are no greater than before. It's a risk we've elected worth taking. I think I've really grown over the summer, I think I keep becoming more and more of who I am destined to be (for a while). My path is becoming more clear cut, long term, and the little things that used to upset me don't really bug so much anymore. After all, I spent all summer climbing rocks, eating dirt and avoiding unpleasant bear encounters. Tomorrow is moving day. I've decided to hire movers, and I am thrilled. Senior year, here I come.

Strange storms

Oh man, Vedauwoo. How I love thee. To my momma: Thanks for the sweet homemade chalk bag. It's PERFECT.

Another week of Vedawoo, WY

I spent this past week with my co from the past 10-day camp, Olga/Angie, and am really sad that we won't be spending any more camps together this summer. Olga is really opinionated, and I really like that because so many co's I've had are completely ambivalent about almost everything (other than when they'd like their 2 hours off, please). That being said, there's nobody I'd rather have spent an hour in a van with at 1:40 AM during a torrential lightning storm. So we did two different climbs in Vedawoo, WY, on two different days, and unlike the last time all of our girls had a ton of water with them, so it was pretty fantastic all around. I did a 5.7 crack climb and a 5.4 blindfolded, and to round out my week, yesterday, on my day off, Olga and I went to the local rock climbing gym. Why, yes, I am pretty much in love (with climbing, not Olga). The next three weeks, I have trips every week, and we will be rock climbing, kayaking, and whitewater rafting with each group of girls. If my parents' cannot make reservations for the dates they want to go camping at Big Sur (after camp), I'm going to get my Wilderness First Responder training, since not only is that a great idea in terms of summer camp tripping jobs, but it's also probably a Really Good Thing rock-climbing-wise. Do not pass SoCal, do not collect time with the fam-style (training is from 7th to the 15th of August, right before dorms open, so it'll be straight to Baltimore for me). This has been a really fantastic break from the ordinary for me this summer, and I'm really enjoying the outdoors, but I cannot help but say that I am worried for when the school year comes back around. After all, my art is about the domestic and the fraught nature of being a woman in the kitchen, not about rock climbing and whitewater rafting and all that. I guess what I'd really love from you all at this point is references to some artists to look at. Also, I'm reading the history of conceptual art. Yes, finally.

Another trip to Vedauwoo, WY

As expected, I got the Junior rock-climbing camp, so tomorrow, in the bright morning, we will be leaving for Vedauwoo, WY, that magical place, to get close to nature through becoming one with the rock. Also, I will be breaking in the new rock-climbing shoes. Weather's lovely here, hope it holds out in Wyoming, can't imagine a drive prettier than the one I did a couple weeks ago.

Love the rock

Since I am probably doing the rock-climbing trips this week, I caved at Jax (the absolute most seductive and all-encompassing outdoor store I've ever been to) here in Ft. Collins and bought these Mammut rock climbing shoes. I'm slowly investing in my outdoor equipment, right now I'm borrowing a lot but I'm getting more Nalgene's, got hiking socks and liners which have proved invaluable, and basically I'm trying to get enough gear together that when I no longer work at camps, or my sister needs her gear back, I can continue to pursue outdoor sport on my own. As far as I can tell, I may very well need to get outdoors and be physical and do hiking to balance out a professional reslife career, which can become very sedentary. Also, in thinking about graduate schools for student affairs, top choices include University of Maryland - College Park and University of Colorado at Boulder. I'd love to be out here in Colorado, but there are a lot of things that I feel tuggin' at my heartstrings to keep me back east. So, I'm thinking about getting full climbing gear, but until I get a car or have a reliable group of friends who will go with me, there's not a huge point at this time. Can I also say that I have seen infant-size Teva mocs, and, lo, they are adorable.

Sometimes I find G-d out-of-doors, when I'm not looking for Him at all.

Colorado is beautiful and wild. If I were a pioneer girl (a fantasy harbored as a child by reading loads of Mary Ingalls Wilder Little House books that I continue to have today), I don't think I'd have made it all the way to California or Oregon, because every state I passed through, I'd be sure nothing come upon further down the dusty trail could be better. In leaving the "big city" of Baltimore, I now find myself past Illinois and Kansas, venturing once in a while down to the plains of Colorado, but living in the Rockies where Henry David and his family once settled on the same property camp is on. Indeed, that homestead, where the David (Davis?) family spent more than a few rough years far from civilization, electricity, and indoor plumbing still stands, is used at camp. Sure, there's a chicken coop in the bathroom, and the kitchen's not much to look at, and nothing, nothing is flush or level, but sturdily it stands. That being said, one of the most beautiful experiences, aside from hiking and viewing Mount Meeker, Meadow Mountain, and Long's Peak from 8,000+ feet, was my drive to Vedawoo, Wyoming, where we spent time on the open range where free-range cattle graze on the rolling prarie. G-d's land, they call it, some people. And how can you not see where wind, water, erosion took place to shape and mold the stone in unfathomable ways? I guess I'm remembering it sort of romantically, but I do miss it. Hopefully I get to do a camp with rock climbing this week, keep your fingers and toes crossed!

Give me a break.

I'm spending this break with a friend from Fort Collins from camp, and thus far her house is so much like mine and I feel so at home that being here is a real luxury. I'm catching up on sleep and junk food, showering almost daily with glorious water pressure, got some conceptual art theory books from the library (none of the books I looked up were in the system, which was a bummer.) Finished Shopgirl by Steve Martin, which was a little too wan and ironic for me, but enjoyable nonetheless (I wonder if the movie is any worse?). It's amazing how wonderful telephone reception and internet is. Also the ability to eat when I want. I got a hydration bladder for less than $10 at WalMart which adds another 2 litres carrying capacity for hikes, which is really really neccessary. I did laundry, and am washing my sisters' sleeping bag, got to do a little ironing too, which is always a pleasure. Hope for next week is that I get Girls ROCK! camp, which is all Girl Scout Juniors, 9 through eleven, and will include an awful lot of rock climbing and hiking , and will be a less gruesome 6 day camp, as opposed to ten days. Now if you excuse me, I've got books to read and feet to put up.

Time Traveler's Wife reminds me of John Titor. That is all.

All that I can say is that I am in dire need of this coming Tuesday night through Sunday morning off. I had a 10-day camp, and while I loved getting to know the girls, from scheduling to ratio to injuries up the wazoo, I can’t imagine a camp going worse. On the optimistic side (and despite a tendency towards bitterness and frustration at times, I do have one), I finished The Time Travelers’ Wife and figure that the next camp, whatever it may be, can’t go a whole lot worse. And I know at some point I’ve got to stop trying to shift blame or be defensive, but it’s not like I didn’t show the Asst. Director my schedule. It’s not like she couldn’t have seen the gaping holes in coverage during the weekend that there would be VERY limited staffing to fill. When your girls are starting to know that you need a break, and have showered more recently than you, that is when it really hits you: you are an inefficient, poorly-planning leader in the workplace, and your 9 to 11 year olds can see it. One other thing I learned about this age group is they hate not knowing the scheduling, the plan, what we’re doing, when we’re doing that, what goes after, etc. There were times that I was driven pretty darn crazy by the incessant questions, which is when you start making up games like you have to ask every other camper and only then can you ask a counselor, or say “it’s a surprise” “we’ll do that when we finish this” etc. What positive things can I say about the past week? My girls are amazing troopers, brave, repairable, patient, caring, kind, intelligent, clever, and funny. The coolest part about this summer is that I’ll literally have had dozens of girls by the end of it. And while I am not the most experienced, most patient, wackiest camp counselor, I am needed here, if only as a warm-body over-18 “child-care provider.” Last night we slept under the stars where the first girl scouts slept on the property here back in 1960 (Pan, who was one of those cadettes who camped in 1960, still helps out every Wednesday). Finishing books is always bittersweet. Last night we slept under the stars where the first girl scouts slept on the property here back in 1960 (Pan, who was one of those cadettes who camped in 1960, still helps out every Wednesday). The moon was full, and despite a little cloud cover, there were more stars out there than you can –ever- see in Baltimore. You know that one scene in Joe Versus the Volcano (Meg Ryan & Tom Hanks first rom-com together), where they’re on the trunk-raft, and the moon rises over the sea, and it looks like a dinner plate six inches from Joe’s face? It was like that. So, as I cried over the end of the happy parts of the book simultaneous to the beginning of the teary ending, the moon loomed over the pine and aspen with seeming concern. The adventure of last week was getting library cards at Estes Park library, and now that I’ve finished The Time Travelers Wife I can start on Geek Love, Shopgirl, and the Wicked Son. Geek Love is a little oddball for me (“Geek” in this title refers to the circus performers that eat glass, live chickens, etc.). A couple of my campers offered to take me home for the three day vacation, where I could do amazing things like going to outdoor sporting goods stores, replacing the sunglasses I lost on a hike (third pair for the summer, $20), watch cable, wear flip-flops, etc. I also am really very grateful for this camp because my co-worker was an international staff member that I wasn’t sure about, and I am so so so glad to have worked with her, and hope I get to be with her a few more times this summer.

Five hours, two pair gloves, eight stitches later.

So, today at work I had two injuries [to my campers]. One was a minor fall, no bruising as of now, and the other was a fall-with-branch, wherein one of my Junior-age girl scouts got very cleanly puncture slash ripped in her knee. Blue (CIT director) and the CIT’s were nearby where we were playing this doomed game of camouflage, and I asked all the girls to go sit at the green cathedral (where we have scouts’ own ceremonies) while me and my co administered first aid. You could see fatty tissue, meaning it was a pretty serious wound, but no muscle or bone, so it was just a flesh wound. Anyway, I used the maxi pad in my bag, told my co to put on a glove and she held it there till I got a BZK wipe to wipe away blood, and any remaining foreign matter (of which there was none), wrapped gauze tape around the wound, taped it, put an Ace bandage on top for compression, and then walked her up to the Pill Box. There was a lot of blood, at first, but once pressure was applied, there was really no problem, and I knew that stitches and hospital trip would be a big deal, but I’m also sure I administered adequate and appropriate first aid (though at this point I am thinking just a Telfa pad, taped on, and compression bandage would have been more finessed. But, the care was right. Not to mention she fell really well on that stick, what with how clean it cut her. I feel bad because this was the second injury while playing camouflage in the area we played it in, and maybe I should have moved the girls, maybe we shouldn’t have been there. Maybe I overestimated the abilities of Juniors to not run with lots of dead wood around. Bygones, things in the past, just a flesh wound, etc. but I know it was pretty scary for my girls, for the nurse and camp director and my co-counselors’. At least it was nothing too serious. No bending the knee too much, she’s moving to a bottom bunk, and it may get sore, but 8 stitches later and we’re all okay. And a little more cautious for the experience. Really thankful for the WFA training though. I’m thinking about doing N Outdoor Leadership School or American Red Cross Wilderness First Responder, which is 10 days or so, but seems pretty sweet. Of course, what does WFR have to do with Residence Life and Student Affairs, I have no idea. Other than every employer loves ridiculous certifications.

Amazing are the little things.

So, this past week I had Cadettes, which is (I believe) 12-14 year old girls, and the first day we spent doing low ropes and initiatives (including the buzz-ring, which the girls were obsessed with by the end), archery, arts and crafts, and then we left for our trip to (surprise!) Vedavu, WY, which is open range AND climbing country. For the first time in my life, I slept out under the stars (G-d always seems closer when I'm out in nature), woke up to mooing, scrambled over boulders, ran out of water in a way that was scary, and went rafting on the Poutre in CO (all 3's and 4's). The friction climbing was amazing, the girls I worked with from Educo were lovely, and the drive from Allenspark, CO to Vedawoo, WY was goregous. Photos from the trip at some point.

Birthday Hike

Calypso Falls (2 days ago) Copeland Falls (today after Wild Basin) me at Copeland falls Copeland Falls Copeland falls I'm pretty bushed but I will say I had an amazing time allready today, on my birthday. Not sure whether I'm getting packages/mail or not today, as mail hasn't gone out from camp in a few days (always frustrating, but that's what we get from being tucked away so). Anyway, here's some photo documentation. Props go out to my mates Bly and Queenie who trekked it up and up and up and down and down and down with me, it was absolutely lovely. Now, I need a shower.

Tomorrow, Wild Basin.

Tuesday night was the end of the first three-day (which is about 48-hours) camp session, and it was INSANE trying to get all the girls able to do everything they wanted in every camp, every unit, every session. We still didn’t wash our dirty dishes through the sanitizer from our cook-out, so we’ve got to do that. Any way, the next five days I have off, and I am thrilled. It’s exciting because it’s for my birthday weekend, and I can just chillax, which is something also not really associated with being a trip leader, outdoor specialist, and unit leader. Another kicker was I’ve got three whole weeks with Buddy, my Aussie tabin-mate with a sunny disposition. Yesterday, my first full day off since this crazy Colorado experience began, I hiked with my friend Tumbleweed (I go by “Magpie,” in case you were wondering) about 6.1 miles. Our goal on the outset (after appropriately raiding the kitchen) was to climb Meadow Mountain, the mountain after which our camp is named, however when we got to the Allenspark trailhead, which begins Rocky Mountain National Park, we couldn’t find the trailhead to Meadow Mountain (we followed the border to the park, which would have taken us there, but it was too hard-going considering last Wednesdays winds and all the debris they caused.) Instead of hiking to the top of Meadow Mountain, which is an 11 (meaning 11,000 feet above sea level at the peak), we hiked 3.1 miles each way to Calypso Cascades and back, which was one beautiful journey, truly. I think it’s probably a mile or two up to the Allenspark trailhead from our back 40 acres, which we share with Rocky Mountain National Park, so in theory it’d be about 8 hours instead of 6, but you could do it straight from camp and you’d pass “Hercules,” a 15-foot-circumference Douglas fir. The hike was rough going at first, considering the asthma and altitude, but by the end it was smooth sailing, and I got the added bonus of getting to wear a tank top, shorts, and my Keens without socks. I also realize that I need to either replace the waist-clip on my Jansport backpack or get a new daypack, maybe even with a camelback. Have to deposit my paycheck first. So, as a staff we’ve been raiding the kitchen, doing a lot of sitting around watching movies, and keeping one another company in our scary, scary tabins. This morning I went riding, fell off slash got bounced off of a horse, and got right back on after a hard bounce to the rump. My thighs are killing me. But, as far as having an active and relaxing vacation on-camp for the next few days, I am well on my way. Stand by for photos, and the interweb at camp is dial-up. Sincerely, LindsayMagpie Also, don't forget to check my mobile photo blog for updates when I get into Estes or Lyons or wherever I get reception.

Hello from Colorado

Wednesday night it snowed off and on for 24 hours, we slept in the lodge for two nights so we wouldn't freeze in our tabins. It's beautiful and crazy here, today we had our first campers of the season. I love being a unit leader because my cousnelors can just concentrate on being good counselors, and I handle logistics, mostly. Anyway, this is my first time online since May 28th. I am planning on hiking into Rocky Mountain National Park for my 21st birthday. I am a camp counselor. A friend made a lascivios comment on AIM and I am honestly so not there right now. There is no time of the year less sexy than camp for me. I mean, I love it, I built a fire that burned so hot that my hand is 1st degree burnt. I have my wilderness first aid cert. I learned to drive conversion vans. And I have no cell phone reception. But, I continue to believe that it's valuable to be open, honest, and genuine in exchanges. I read another friends' blog today and I found it lacking in anything that was emotional or personal, and that frustrates me because I can't even hide those things. I am horrible at hiding my emotions and I know it. Our staff is 1/3 Colorado, 1/3 domestic, 1/3 international. Next week I go rock climbing and whitewater rafting with a lovely posh girl from Gloushteshire, UK. My fave roomie is an Aussie. I am challenged and happy right now. A little isolated, a little missing y'all, friends and fam, but excited and envigorated. Now if only I could stop huffing and puffing from the thin air.

It's like the zoo, but quieter.

(Way to not make this post when it was originally written around 11 AM, Lindsay.) So, when my museum adventures on Wednesday went awry, I elected to go to the Natural History Museum. I don't know if it was the California or Los Angeles one or what, I've got to be honest. Also, I got five strikes in a row bowling yesterday. Thanks goes to Karen, my good luck charm. I'm Karen's mediocre luck charm, she got all spares in a row! Hopefully, Karen has learned that it is important to Google Alert yourself. I cannot even tell you how much more common blog talk is IRL ATM, for some reason I've been getting into it a lot, and perhaps that has to do with "meta" and things. Or it's just trendy. I guess I'mma go outside and wash the Prius after I eat some lunch. And now, for some random photos from the museum.

Dude.

How is it that blogs have the ability to hurt my feelings, when they're being published to the whole entire internet, not to me? In accordance with my not reading blogs that don't do anything positive for me, I'm just going to have to make those changes for now. Which doesn't matter much seeing as how I'm not going to get a ton of internet for the next ten weeks anyway. I'm thinking of heading to Geffen slash Museum of Contemporary Art here in Los Angeles to see the exhibits WACK: Art and the Feminist Revolution and Poetics of the Handmade, appropriately. I've never been to either museum, so I figure that will be fun, and maybe I'll go work at the Academy downtown again tomorrow with Randy and visit the LaBrea Tar Pits and LACMA while I'm down there. I've seen most of my friends down here, I'm getting pretty restless to move on and out to Colorado. It's super easy to be complacent and bored and drive everywhere. I had In-N-Out grilled cheese animal style, I've got to wash the clothes and socks I've worn while at home, I've got to pack a few things, but I'm kind of ready to go. Just a few more days.

Futuristic raincoat, ho!

In the future, we all wear asymmetrical-zip orange hoodies with taped seams and HellyTech (whatever that is) to protect us from the [acid] rain. You should probably be more prepared than you are. Today I visited the good ol' High School @ Moorpark College and Mrs. Simpson (who's married to a man named Sheldon and does salsa, LOVE IT!), and Judy Gould (who always did our professional development with us in high school). They got rid of the grody couch I spent many a before-and-after-school waiting for my ride on, but they have a real-live office now, and it was good to see all. Very wierd to explain that I will be graduating in a year. Also got to hang out with an old friend, Erick, who, if not in a committed relationship, I would surely pursue. This man has gone weeks without lovin'. This attractive, artistic, romantic guy. He's working on building his credit so he can go to CalArts, which is awesome except it costs more money. But, we mused on relationships and love and lust and art and things of natures multiple and complex. Also, he's a Freemason. Cool, man. Let me know how that works out. Also hung out with my aunt and uncle, stopped by my cousins' but let's be honest, she is way too high-strung, please remind me never ever to be like that with my children. Please let them get dirty, want for more toys because they don't have all of them, and see their cousins often and not in kid-centric modes. Not everything revolves around children, and the sooner they're made to realize it, the better. And I'm spent.

I love the outdoors (and the consumerism that goes with it!)

REI trip included the purchase of three pairs of hiking socks of varying thicknesses, heights, and outdoorsy heathered grey colors, replacement of my old "port" colored Newport H2 Keens in favor of the new Keen Venice H2 (meaning water/land hybrid) in black. I'm gonna miss those big red Keens, but these definitley fit better, with no pinching across the widest part of my foot like the same size of the Newports. I also got a sort of ridiculous little Pelican case for my digital camera, which is pretty exciting because it means I can literally take it anywhere, also keep it dust- and water-free when spending most of my time outdoors. Also, I found a pair of Merrell mary-jane's for $40 and I got them to help balance out the wear and moisture on my Keen light hiking shoes. This way I can give them time to dry out, and avoid trench-rot. I can't even put into words how excited I am for camp. I've even been listening to the parenting and supervisory seminars-on-tape that our camp director put on CD's for us counselors, and am looking forward to employing some of the strategies mentioned by the speakers. And I'm looking forward to doing it again next summer after I graduate. I'm happy that I've figured out a way to keep the outdoors in my life despite being a full-time student in an urban environment. Maybe through leadership training and retreats outdoors intergrated into student affairs is one way to work it in the future. Heading up to UC Santa Barbara's hillel (Jewish student organization) to see the Stein family perform. Traffic going down the grade is bad apparently. Oh, so-cal.

On nostalgia and mail.

This past semester, I made a show of destroying old printed-out emailed love letters into a paper pulp. Yesterday, as a favor to a family at my synagogue, in which the youngest of the three boys has hoof-and-mouth and the father has leukemia, the mother had to move because their landlady lost the house in a divorce, so I was helping this stranger unpack her and her husbands' office. There were two huge 5-gallon bags of yellowed paper with blue and red spot colors, in packets--correspondence of her fathers' parents, dating from 1944 to 1947. It's sort of disappointing to think that that legacy won't be left to our childrens' generation, the sort of understanding that comes from reading old letters--because the 1's and 0's will be lost to the ethers. I spent last summer in Minnesota, and while I had access to a couple of staff computers with internet access (and, indeed, spent a good half hour every other day early in the mornings, before my girls were up, trying to keep tabs on the world), I ended up writing at least a post-card a day, a few letters a week. And to those who weren't at camp, my parents, my school friends, I think of those postcards and letters as pretty darn special. That being said, those Gees Bend stamps are awesome. The two-cent stamps that sully their image? Not so much. Somehow, I lost a pair of pants at school, so I'm on the hunt today for a new pair of jeans, and some SmartWool socks. I am trying to resist getting a $70 Helly Hanson raincoat from Sierra Trading Post, but I think I'm losing the battle. Is it sad that all I seem to do in southern California is shop?

Cars and baths

Two things I don't realize I missed quite so much until I have them back. Boba tea, trips to the Valley, use of the Prius and its' sweet, sweet XM radio. Also, I purchased sandals at Nordstrom Rack that has built in bottle-openers. Why do I need one in each shoe? Great question. I just don't have a lot of prolific blogging to do right now. I'm really greatful to be around so many people who love me, to be able to help myself and others. It's kind of silly, but I do miss Baltimore allready, and my friends there. I wonder if I'll ever be one of those people that can close a book when it's done, move on to the next, and not worry about whether or not they got all they could have out of the first. And then, of course, I get real-live grown-up opportunities to hang out with very charming, intellegent, witty company, and part of me wonders, what did I do to get invited to the cool-kid table? And, once there, will I be as mature as I am capable, or will I live up to my own capacity for immaturity? By the way, I am WOEfully behind on my RSS feeds, so I apologize for the lack of links as of late.