Goals

head counselors of Kohnine, swiped from the camp website

Setting goals and working towards them--not only fulfilling but always worth it. Everyone has heard the story of Lincoln and how he tried so hard to become a congressman. He lost, but his debates made him 1) a more pointed speaker 2) a name trusted enough to be president. You may not get what you want from persistence, but you will always be rewarded. I believe that.

Yesterday, Pookie and I tried my new work-out DVD. Last year it was a minute walk from Char's front door to the Y. The new house is quite a few blocks away from my gym. I have a feeling I frequently won't want to trek the cold. DVD is a good alternative. Holy Cow, does my butt hurt today. I wanted to run a couple miles along the canal this evening, but out on the the trail I doubted my goal. So not worth it, I thought. But, I like to stick to my guns. I switched to a power-walk and pushed through to the two mile mark. I was rewarded: someone was burning a big pile of leaves out there. My favorite smell. I was whisked to camp immediately. Just what I needed. So glad I stayed on the path.

Strive for what you believe in. Set goals and you can achieve 'em.

Park Lighting

For the past four years the three of us have gone out to Main Street and watched the parade of high school pom girls, church floats, fire engines, and bittys collecting money and canned food for the hungry. Soon, Washington Square Park gets mobbed with the townsfolk and the mayor counts down for all the trees to be illuminated with snowflake lights.

Fammy&Hammy

Brought Blanche into the back on my dad's house where there was a little sign hanging that said in pencil "Welcom Blanch" and left her to her own devices. We got a pizza and watched Bride Wars--something perfect for my schooled-out brain. At a pause Char announces, "Is that...Blanche running?" Yeah, yeah it is. Her wheel. "It sounds like...coffee." He was right. It did sound like coffee bubbling to an end.

Later we started watching Star Trek and he fell asleep. Periodically, he would pretend to be invested in the movie...nodding and blinking his eyes open. Suddenly he sat up and said over the film, "Coffee's ready!" and dropped back into a snooze.

Leavin'

(not Jesse McCarthy)

Did Today
-lazed in bed
-watched an episode of Sex and the City
-showered
-made fun of Care Bears (this took a significant amount of time)
-errands with Pookie including holiday lattes
-eating avocado sandwiches over a second Sex episode

Left To Do
-pack car
-drive to Char's house
-call Mia
-relax infinitely

I Just Love
-when school ends

Career Conference

Sounds much stuffier than it has been. The guy doing the program is fantastic and inspiring. I thought a lot of the information would get trashed on me not interested in working in corporate America. But, what do you know, I'm diggin' it. Glad it will be over soon though. Need to get off campus.

For a conference involved in careers, I haven't had any bad knee-jerk reactions to most of the material. There's a bit about pushy networking--but it's manageable and not cut-throat or anything. A bit about finding your way to the top--but understandable. Then today, twenty minutes left of the program, I felt my blood boiling with these words: "I want all of you to always negotiate."

I simply refuse to say always. Example: working at Kohahna. I make zippo. That's not why I work there. Why on earth would I try to negotiate a higher salary for myself? I would never dream of taking more money from camp. If they gave me a raise I wouldn't want it. I would feel awful. So, I did something I really hate which is asking questions with the brim of my heat showing. Our speaker conceded some points, made some good arguments...Overall, I'm glad I asked and glad he is trying to encourage me to negotiate even if I never think I'll use it.

It is these times I know I'm maybe being an irrational liberally-charged college doe-eyed dreamer, but I really feel okay about that.

Bradley V. DK

Bradley, Muff, and I played some Mario Party last night after dinner to get our minds off of packing. We're all staying for the Career Conference and kind of bored, kind of annoyed with hanging around.

the man himself, eating a Big Mac in preparation for our big night at the casino with Nac
Bradley was Luigi, I was Daisy, Muff was Yoshi, and the computer was DK. We played this one "Toadstool Titan" where you basically hit blocks until a mushroom comes out and and whoever gets it runs around crushing people. Muff and I got crushed by DK immediately. Bradley sang his defenses to the tune of the Mario temporary music--"don't crush me-you big fat ape-don't touch me-I'll run away now." This was hilarious to me. Then, as he ran away, DK just kept getting the mushrooms leading to him screaming things like, "Oh I'm definitely getting this one--WHAT THE SH--HELL, NO!" I probably can't do it justice in words, but I laughed the hardest I had all day. Perhaps week.

Recovery

Bo and I Thanksgiving 2007

In lieu of a final, Fiction II said goodbye with a trip to Simply Thai tonight. It was truly a blessed course. Six tight-knit writers. One incredible professor. My fiction is no good, but the experience of the course was important to me in more ways than craft perfection. Anyway, the date and time was set. 6 PM Friday meet outside the school of government. I ran around all day working on my projects, mailing this, packing that, making this meeting, saying goodbyes--6 PM relax time.

But, oh, no, 5 PM I'm walking back to my room and OH. OUCH. GOD. OW!

Cramps dug themselves into me. Slow at first. Like being punched slow and steady, but I could feel the real blows coming soon. I hastened to my bed. I closed the door. Turned out the lights. I stretched. I read spiritual literature. I ate dark chocolate walnuts. Iron! Get into my body! I whimpered. No, no, no. I don't want to miss dinner! I rolled up. No, no, no. But then, I said NO. NO I will not miss it. NO. And laid my body straight and sat still. And the sharp shooting pains vanished at 20 'til 6. I listened to "It Won't Be Long Now". I hopped up. I put on my boots. I fixed my hair. I washed my face. I met the group--beaming with recovery.