Now Rhonda has no Honda - Camp J Highlights 2013

For past years highlights go here: 2011, 2012

Day One: Thursday

-God-breathed car driving manuals
:: It's never a good thing when driving to close your eyes and swerve when a car is coming at you on a gravel road. In fact I'm pretty sure it says that in all of the car driving manuals. And if it doesn't then it should somewhere. I'm sure God would say it. So it should be in car driving manuals. Like God-breathed scripture but this time it's God-breathed car driving manuals. Don't worry, it wasn't me driving. Just in the passenger seat grabbing the door handle and screaming like a girl.

-Space Cadet Tent
:: So every year Jim O and I sleep in tents. Mostly cause there's no room in the cabins but also because we get to set our own bedtimes and don't have to worry about tiny children. We set up our tents next to each other - this year right next to the campers - and spend about an hour each night venting and joking around until we fall asleep. After using the same tent for more than 10 years he got a new one this year.  It looks like something NASA would use on the moon and took almost an hour to set up by itself. Mostly cause we weren't going off the instructions, but still! Anyway, the whole time we're setting up I'm thinking about all the bugs in the trees right next to us and started yelling about ticks. He says ticks can't fly so they wouldn't be in trees, when I said they could climb he went oh, yeah.

-Rubber Bandit
:: An awesome name for a super villain came up with after attempting to use "rubber band" as a verb.


Day Two: Friday

-French Toast
:: Huzzah for French Toast. Same breakfast every year along with about 5 cups of coffee within a 2 hour period. But at least I was conscious for the mandatory meeting and registration. Which went well, though apparently 10:30 actually means 11 in counselor terms. For the second year in a row, maybe we should just move it back. But then they'll show up at 11:30.

-The Theme Song
:: Mentor wrote the theme song again as she does every year. This year's was a little different though because the verses don't rhyme but they caught on fairly quickly. By teen camp I had the whole thing memorized and I'm sure I'll be singing it while working just like I do every year for the two weeks following camp. Along with The Bear Song and HeeHaw.

-And Rhonda has no Honda
:: Campfire was my saving grace, as it is every year. No matter how stressful camp can be campfire always redeems it. Our male leader for skits and worship gets really into it, especially There's a Hole in the Bucket, along with the rest of the band. We kept renaming ourselves, but "Destiny's Step-Child" was the clear frontrunner. Though none of the kids understood it since they only know of Beyonce as Beyonce and haven't heard of Destiny's Child. Which makes me cry inside. Anyway, we sang our Pharaoh Pharaohs and King Jesus is All, and Mentor came down to help lead Flea and Pizza and all was well. We had two kingdom workers who came and helped out this year and taught the kids some new stuff. Stupid Rhonda and her crashed Honda were stuck in my head for the rest of camp. I literally fell over when they said that line and my teen helper had to check on me to make sure I was okay.


Day Three: Saturday

-"Does it say 'Blazer' on the back? Cause I don't know what one looks like."
:: Girls and cars.

-The Vote
:: I wasn't aware that even though I'm in charge of skits I have to get them approved before the kids perform them for their parents. Apparently I need to take a vote first because my skits are stupid. Even though I've never had complaints in the what? like 12 years that I've been doing them. So, youth camp sucked. Which is why there are virtually no highlights whatsoever and the blame for that lies entirely on one individual gunning for my job. Which she will get when she pulls this laptop from my cold dead hands. It is literally my favorite time of year and she killed it. Plain and simple. She didn't like HeeHaw and tried to sway my kids - IN THE MIDDLE OF MY SESSION - against it. Like, I'm handing out the lyrics and she comes up and says that's not a skit, here's a skit. The irony is that she recited a skit I'd already done with them two years ago, so apparently not all of my skits suck. Just the ones she doesn't like. Why she did it then IN THE MIDDLE OF MY SESSION still confuses me because she'd already pointed out that she hated it before camp started and knew I wasn't going to change it so what was the purpose of interrupting me in front of my kids other than to make me look bad? But that's okay, just gives me motivation to find skits she hates even more for next year.

I still don't know what I did to deserve the hostility as she didn't just criticize that but also everything else I was in charge of this year. Not saying anything negative to mentor about her song, Cheri about her crafts, Jayne about her cooking, Pastor about his bible studies or Steve about his games. Nope, just me. It's okay though because for once I stood up for myself. And I had Pastor and Jim there to back me up. We'll see what happens next year.

-"Boobs in Training"
:: One of the girl counselors is a friend of mine and since Megan couldn't make it this year she went around on night patrol with me. Apparently all of her girls were excited about training bras which we don't understand cause they suck. And we're confused as to why they call them "training bras" in the first place. Are they like training your boobs for the race of their lives?

-Train Honks
:: So apparently, when trains come through towns they have to honk a certain way. Like in a certain pattern. Weirdly enough I learned this at camp, not from growing up in a train-filled household or from dating a traingeek boyfriend. Remember how we were camped in tents and can hear everything? Including whoever it was that kept walking by our tents but we ignored them and continued to joke around cause we're goofy like that. Anyway, train honks were one of the many things that kept us up at night, along with owls, crickets, air conditioners attached to campers, stupid happy birds and one particularly loud toad which we were convinced was actually a moose.


Day Four: Sunday

-Out of the mouths of babes
:: One of my favorite quotes this year came from a young camper to a teenage counselor. The teen was putting on makeup when the kid came up to her and asked what she was doing. When the teen said she was putting on makeup so that she would look pretty the kid asked, "do you think it's working?"

-And that's what makes it all worth it.
:: So, try as she may to sway my kids and their parents they still had fun with HeeHaw, especially screaming and spitting in each others' faces during the last refrain. Even though it's tradition and I'd like to keep it going if it's going to cause this much drama I'll replace it with something else. I'm sure she'll find a problem with that as well, but hey, she'll just have to get used to it cause I'm a camp lifer and that won't be changing anytime soon.

-Damnit, Rhonda and your stupid Honda
:: Get out of my head. I don't need to be singing about you in the grocery store or in the car or anywhere else. It's amusing because I always lay out the outlines for these camp posts on my phone as they go and on each of the days somewhere "damnit rhonda" was written.

-Let's get pigs feet. 
:: Umm, let's not and say we did. Grocery shopping with Jim is always an adventure. We buy far too much and always find things that weren't on our list. Like toys. And ice cream - though that was on our list this year, just not this much of it. I have two gallons in my freezer. Huzzah for mint chip! Anyway, we went grocery shopping two times Sunday, three times Monday and then once again on Tuesday. Plus our Thursday night adventure to get props. Walmart and Rays love us.

-Stray Dog
:: Every year we place bets as to what time our teen camp pastor will arrive. Scuba Steve won this round I believe. Anyway, we thought he was there a lot earlier than he got there because we saw a dog running around and he always has his dogs. This one, however, had bloody paws and when we looked around Pastor was nowhere in sight. Since the teen campers love dogs they cleaned her up, gave him a makeshift collar and a leash and we called animal control. Who wouldn't come get her cause we were outside of city limits. The campground managers called in a favor and a few minutes later the county sheriff's car showed up to pick her up. Ah, memories from the last time that sheriff's car had a dog in it at camp and we were up all night ranting about happy birds.

-Thomas Edison = Earthy cause he's in the ground
:: Gotta play Apples to Apples. Not as fun without Noel but I had my sister and Scuba Steve who picked the right cards. We could always tell who played what card though because of the references made. Scuba Steve played Thomas Edison for earthy and my sister picked it as the winner. I found it highly entertaining. Though it didn't work for me during the next game when I tried Beethoven for the same category and it got rejected for something actually earthy.

-Crapsuck Campfire
:: Any campfire where you can't see anything just spells disaster. So, the teens couldn't see the songbooks and they couldn't see us and we couldn't see our music books and it was just a disaster that ended with a horrible horrible offkey version of Someday. It's only redeeming grace was when Thomas screwed up the lyrics to There's a Hole in the Bucket so the women actually won it. I said it would have to go down in history cause I'm pretty sure we will never win again. Though we did say at little kid's camp - in order not to have to sing it two nights in a row - that we broke down and bought them a new bucket. Though apparently they drilled a hole in it just so we could sing it again at teen camp.

-Pitch Perfect
:: Every year we show movies on the wall. This year instead of our usual cheesy space movie (though we skipped it last year as well) we watched Pitch Perfect for night one. Had a huge crowd all singing along with the music. Pastor had never seen it before and was laughing at Fat Amy. But who doesn't laugh at Rebel Wilson? If you haven't you should really watch this video:



"yeah and so will the cops!" She's highly entertaining.


Day Five: Monday

-Bug Zapper Lightsabers
:: Jim is smart enough to keep me away from sharp metal objects so my job in the kitchen is to kill flies and do dishes. This year Oldest Sister took care of the dishes so I just got the flies. Which is fine with me. In preparation for this big role I bought giant bug zappers and batteries to go with them. Michael and I were using them like lightsabers. I killed 23 on Monday alone.

-Stolen Phone Texting
:: Mean kitchen staff stole my phone and sent my boyfriend a mushy text. Pretty sure he knew it wasn't me cause we don't talk like that, but that didn't stop me from being paranoid about his response. And since I only had signal every other ten feet I was constantly checking it wherever I went.

-That's what a campfire is supposed to sound like!
:: I get really into campfires, actually all of Destiny's Step-Child does, but teen camps are even more fun than youth camp at times because the teens get super loud and dancy. I enjoy all their impromptu motions and some even get added permanently. Monday night's campfire was much better - mostly cause we were indoors and could see - but also because they really got into it and Someday was actually on key.

-Neville for the win!
:: Night two for movie night was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. We had to change it up a bit, don't remember where the idea for Harry Potter came up but it did and I think that was the biggest crowd we've ever had to movie night. We were going to watch the second one the next night but that got overruled.


Day Six: Tuesday

-The slow clap
:: Tuesday is bowling day at teen camp. All the leaders usually bowl together though this year Scuba Steve got sick and napped instead. Each year we bring out the slow clap and it always either leads to a spare or a gutterball. Game number one I got a 105 but game number two was horrible, I bowled like an 80. Not sure what happened between games but whatever skill I developed seemed to disappear. But I only go bowling once a year - at camp - so maybe if I attempted to practice somewhere else I could figure out what the problem was.

-Pizza Pizza
:: After bowling we always get them pizza. We've been going back and forth from Pizza Hut to Walmart pizza. This year Jim was so tired we just went with Pizza Hut then used the boxes to start our campfire after. 34 teens + 6 adults = 10 pizzas plus 3 boxes of cheese sticks.



Add to that the pop and ice cream and they loved it.

-Dance Off
:: Every year the teens have a dance, whether it's organized or impromptu. This year's was a bit more organized than before cause they actually moved the tables AND they used their phones instead of my computer so it was much easier on me. Taylor and I took pictures so that we wouldn't have to dance. See how that works? We made them each do their best moves, they had some good ones.

-Jack the Frog King
:: Found the father of all frogs this year at camp. Compared to my shoe he was huge!


Granted I only wear size 8's but he was still huge. He sat completely still for hours, we think because of the owl we could hear in the trees cause he was gone the next morning. No one would believe me until I took them to him. Then they all screamed. We thought he might be fake until someone threw a stick and he moved.

-"How long does it take to get into my own house?"
:: We watched Gladiator for movie night number three. Though it was an accident, well not really. Pastor wanted to watch Braveheart so the other pastor went to Walmart and found a Braveheart/Gladiator combo. But then Gladiator got more votes we rebelled and watched it instead. I fell asleep, missing the last half an hour. I jumped from him agreeing to talk to the senator to him dead on the ground so I had to watch the rest when I got back.


Day Seven: Wednesday

-Clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere
:: Packing up the trailer and all of our junk seemed to take a lot longer this year. Though that's weird because we had even more kids to help. I think we had even more than previous years cause it barely fit in the trailer and then poor Jim's truck was completely overflowing with the rest of it.

-Rock and Roll McDonalds
:: As is tradition we stopped at McDonalds on the way back, though there were more of us than usual. It's always Scuba Steve, myself and Jim though this year Steve left early cause he was sick. Last year Michael joined our gang and this year he rejoined us along with Taylor, Dylan and Pastor with three of his kids. Usually we're all dead tired and say maybe 20 words, this year we were much louder. Michael did a calorie count and actually beat Steve's record from last year. But I guess that happens when you order 3 burgers, fries and mcnuggets.


And that was camp. As is tradition I will post the skits tomorrow.

For now I'm out. Hope you had a good week.

"How do you write movies for adults?" "We write for adults and cast short people."

Went to that YA conference today, it was a lot of fun.

Not a lot of us there though it's different this year because it's free and it's all online so you can view it from wherever. Apparently last year it cost like 90 bucks per person so they started this group thing and then voted on what videos to tune into - it's all live and there are multiple sessions going on at once.

Basically it's a bunch of Young Adult authors talking about their books and then answering questions from the audience. The humor writers were the best though it was interesting to watch book trailers and then listen to the other authors speak.

Like Aquifer by Jonathan Friesen sounds awesome! But his public speaking is seriously lacking. Seemed to be half asleep and unfocused. There was one author who looked like she was 18. Like seriously younger than me.

I googled her but no age was given.

I had my phone so they had me keep googling stuff, it was amusing.

We had some technical difficulties but I'm calling it a success.

Here are a few of my favorite one-liners:

Hostess: "It's a dead clock, but they refuse to take it down."
Guest: "Well you have to keep it somewhere."

Tamora Pierce: "But when a character says 'do it my way or you'll have a lousy book' you do it their way."

Guest: "She's more passionate about her hair color than that role."

Audience: "How do you write movies for teens?"
Paul Rudnick: "We write for adults and cast short people."

Paul Rudnick: "It's the next best thing to being paid to nap."

I think Paul Rudnick and DJ Machale were the best speakers but the other humor writers were great too.

It was a lot of fun and definitely going again next year.

After the conference I went to Walmart and bought camp stuff until the boyfriend woke up. 3rd shift sucks.

His friend came over for a while and then we went out for supper.

Last night before camp so I didn't care really, just wanted to see him before I left for a week.

And that was my day. Off to find more lyrics to HeeHaw for skits, woohoo!

Songs of the Day:

Still Into You - Paramore


the boyfriend doesn't like paramore. sad day. not that i'm hardcore paramore but i do like the only exception and misery business. plus this one is pretty catchy.

Cruisin' for a Bruisin - Teen Beach Movie


i have no idea what's going on in this scene or anything about the movie whatsoever but the song made the top ten on iTunes so i figured i would check it out.

not bad. maybe squirt has heard of it and can explain what's going on in this scene.

I walk onto a terrace where I think I'm alone, but Arthur Fonzarelli's got an army of clones.

Fonzi's been cloned.

Gotta post as many times as possible this week since I'll be off the radar for all of next week.

No wifi at camp and I can't exactly have my computer out when I'm surrounded by tiny children looking at me for direction.

Today flew by pretty quickly, though the night before was weird.

Remember how I was up super late doing homework?

Then for some reason I woke up like 2 hours later and decided it was time for work. I don't know if I dreamed my alarm went off or what but I'm like dragging myself around the apartment and look at the clock and go, what the crap?

Did the same thing in the morning. Woke up before the alarm and freaked thinking I was late.

Nope. Early.

And Superwoman texted me asking if I would work at the home branch in the morning.

Which I cheered at secretly because it meant I got to avoid the circus that was the work branch this morning.

Big huge open house for our new computer lab plus an at-capacity summer reading event up on 4th floor.

I was glad it was all over and cleared out by the time I got there.

Afternoon was spent doing supplies since I'm going to be gone and volunteer stuff since I'm going to be gone.

Then after work it was off the boyfriend's. Went to dinner and then Walmart to get ice cream. Though I ended up buying Ninja Turtles 1-3 - the classic versions from the 90's - on blu ray and the boyfriend got some stuff as well.

Walked around the train tracks for a while figuring out scheduling stuff for fall - I hate being an adult. When did we ever worry about scheduling when we were kids?

But I'm thinking if I work every remaining Saturday in August and then all of them in September she could give me a few off in October. Which might work with his schedule.

Maybe.

The problem is timing, he won't know for sure until later this month and my weekend plans are due Friday.

Well, Thursday cause I leave Thursday.

Just gonna guess and hope it works out okay.


Tomorrow is gonna be a big day. On professional leave for a huge webinar. And it's a destination webinar as I am visiting another library to participate.

It just happens to be the boyfriend's library.

So I'll get to see him after, huzzah!

Alright, I should sleep. Have to act all professional tomorrow and that requires at least 7 hours of sleep.

Nonstop, none of this wake up every two hours thinking it's time to go in crap.

Does anyone else do that? I feel like I do it like twice a year. Is that just me?

On to the music:

Abracadabra - Steve Miller Band


i'm sorry but this video is messed up.

after watching Burt Wonderstone the boyfriend sang this around work. apparently his coworker grew tired of it and changed the lyrics to "i wanna reach out and smack ya."


Total Eclipse of the Heart Literal Video Version

Total Eclipse of the Heart: Literal Video Version *ORIGINAL* - watch more funny videos

I know I posted this a while ago but a friend brought it up last week and I've been wanting to watch it ever since.

love it. there are many other literal music videos out there. you should do a search on YouTube and check the others out. they're awesome.


and i'm out.

but it's a little too late, she's a little too gone, she's a little too right, i'm a little too wrong.

Holy crap.

I'm done!

I finished all my homework for the semester and submitted it.



Yay for flying homework papers! (as is tradition)

I'm still in a state of awe.

Granted that might be because it's super late and I should be sleeping.

So I'll hate myself in the morning but it'll be worth it CAUSE I'M DONE!

Today was pretty good.

Work flew by - literally flew by - lunch break at the apartment loading up my big fat cat for Mom to take to the farm.

Can't leave him by himself while I'm at camp and he loves the farm.

And grandma.

Though that may not last after she takes him for shots and to be shaved.

It's always an adventure trying to get him into the cat carrier cause he's bigger than the carrier.

Which is a challenge, but we've found if you back him in then it goes faster.

But then he bites.

He's not a fan of the carrier.

Or the car ride.

So, sorry about that Mom.


And work was interesting itself, learned how to calculate interest when I got it for a reference question, and found real estate and some legal cases for one of our regulars.

After work was dinner with the boyfriend's family to celebrate his sister-in-law's birthday.

A month later, but still a birthday celebration nonetheless.

Stopped by his train friend's house afterwards.

Oh yeah, train friend.

Like, they do train stuff together like go watch trains and go on motorcar rides on the tracks and buy train stuff and all that.

He's a nice guy. And he knows my dad and his friends so I can semi-follow conversations.

I did grow up in a house full of train memorabilia so that helps every once in a while.


Got home. Did homework for four hours. Rocked it.

Well, hoping I rocked it.

Either way it's done and nothing I can do about it now.

Relief.

Now I can focus on camp.

Which is actually more stressful than the homework.

But worth it in the end.

Though I just realized that I go out there in like 3 days and I'm totally unprepared.

Even though I have all the applications processed, t-shirts sorted, nametags printed, skits picked out, trailer ready, etc.

Still have to type up and print out all the skits.

And do the cabin folders.

Plus pack.

Haven't even made a list yet.

Thursday.

All on Thursday.

Cause tomorrow I'm working.

Wednesday I'll be at a different library for a seminar - which just happens to be located in the town where the boyfriend lives. Hmm...

But Thursday is a half day.

Half work. Half camp.

So I'll be able to handle it.

Or I'll fake being able to handle it.

Fake it 'til you make it, as Bosslady says.

Okay, tired of typing and staring at this screen. Homework kills everything.

Wipeout and sleep it is.

It's a Little Too Late - Mark Chesnutt


is that kathy griffin?

classic country. love 90's country, was the best. gonna have to buy it on itunes.

AND since it is the first song I heard after finishing for the summer that makes it my Summer Song of 2013.

Basically the rule is it's the first song I hear after completing all my homework for the year and then I can't skip it when it comes up on my iPod for the rest of the summer.

Go here for previous years Summer Songs: http://ckmylifeinclosedcaptions.blogspot.com/2012/06/fireworks-ted-summer-songs-and-binary.html

and a binary solo.

Remember how I'm a nerd?

As if there was ever any question.

out.

and i wanna believe you when you tell me that it'll be okay.

Ah, a weekend off.

Just what I needed.

Before all hell breaks loose this week.

That's right, homework assignments and camp prep 24/7.

And working full time.

Plus I'd like to actually see my boyfriend before I go off the radar for a week.

Cause I like him and all that.

So it's gonna be an interesting week.

Today was fun.

Family reunion in the morning.

Well, noon.

Got to see Shirl and jam with the family for like half an hour before I had to take off for a camp meeting.

Was good to see her as it only seems to happen once a year.

Was bummed the artist uncle couldn't make it, but I did get to see my great aunt so that's okay.

And the food was good, huzzah!

Camp meeting was successful and productive. Even after our ice cream break.

Nametags and t-shirts, plus more songbook stuff and just finalizing everything, making sure we had all our campers and counselors assigned and everything.

We stayed away from cleaning out the trailer because the only thing really taken out of it was the songbooks so we think we're good.

If not we'll buy stuff down there.

I have to get skit stuff Thursday night anyway.

We always end up at the Walmart buying the most random of things.

Cause even though we are the ones who created the packing checklist we're the ones that forget things.

To be fair, we did create it like 5 years ago, so...

Yeah, will have to look that over. But I've got time, only working until noon on Thursday and then I have time to pack since I don't have to be out there until 4.

Anyway, so after the dinner and the meeting and all that came the inevitable HeeHaw marathon.

Oh yeah, you knew it was coming. Luckily we just watched the Where Oh Where parts of the episode so I could record them for their lyrics.

But it was like 20 episodes so it equaled out to at least one full one.

So that's a marathon to me.

Now I have them so I'll pick the ones I like and edit them and then I'll be officially done picking out skits cause I already have all my others assigned.

Though I'm still missing the whole writing them out part of the equation.

Thursday.

Everything becomes "Thursday."

Like, eh, we'll look through the trailer Thursday.

We can hit up Walmart on Thursday.

Yeah, I'll finish those cabin folders Thursday.

I'll write them out longhand on Thursday.

and then of course, when will this be over? Thursday.

Well, we go home on Wednesday, but it's officially over Thursday.

Until next year's Thursday when we get to start it all over again.

After HeeHaw I stopped to see the boyfriend - just for my sanity - went out to supper and back out to that lake. It's becoming our place. Sat and talked for a while.

More drama, which I hoped would calm down this week but just got a text confirming it has not.

Only made worse by the fact that he told me he doesn't want to wait to get married anymore but now we're being forced to.

Stupid "you have five years to ask me" rule will actually lead to five years.

Just not voluntarily.

Ugh.

But I guess whatever happens happens and we'll work around it.


And that was my day. Hoping tomorrow will be drama-free but it's highly doubtful.

Song of the Day cause I heard it on the way back:

Tomorrow - Avril Lavigne


used to listen to this CD on repeat.

and i'm out.

That's not pants.

I know, I haven't been very good about posting this month.

But you guys need a break every once in a while, right?

No, I've just been busy.

Like tonight.

Just got back from a wedding.

One of my lifeguards got married... and the other one gets married in November. Though that one is my cousin.

Which leaves me lifeguardless.

So I've had to find a substitute.

But it's not the same.

There will be no more Mama's and the Papa's or How Bizarre singing.

Sad day.


Anyway, so it was kind of a crappy drama-filled week. Two days ago being the worst of it and then yesterday was not such a great day.

Lost it in front of my boss.

Cause I'm weak and pathetic.

Fortunately it was in her office so there weren't others around to see me all weak and pathetic.

Even more weak and pathetic?

That's like the third time that's happened.

So apparently I am a girl. Cause girls are emotional like that.

But we had all these plans and going to a wedding really didn't help things cause I'm just reminded that now that's not gonna happen for like 3 more years until stuff calms down.

And he jokes about it cause you know I gave him 5 years to ask me originally so at the dance tonight he said if I caught the bouquet maybe it would cut a few years off. Meg said if she caught it she'd give it to me. And then when it came time for the garter he was like no, if I have to go up there it'll add years to it.

So we joke and banter but the fact is I do want to get married.

I mean it doesn't have to happen now, that's fine, but I don't want to wait 3 years.

And I know that's not his fault.

Cause he got screwed over, but it sucks cause that shift completely changes everything.

Maybe it'll be okay. Maybe HR will fix it and then this whole drama will be for nothing.

I don't know, I'm not gonna think about it.


Yesterday night was fun, had dinner with his brother and sister-in-law then we watched some old Whose Line is it Anyway - did you know they brought it back?!

Today I slept in, met him for lunch, changed for the wedding - yes, I wore a dress. His only comment was, "that's not pants."

Thanks honey.

Then went out there early. Sat with Obi-Wan and caravan'd to the wedding. Which was good cause I had no idea where we were going. And I was driving Boggs' car so I didn't want to get stranded.

Cause that would have been bad.

Jammed with the camp group, we all sat together and made cheesy comments. It took a while for the bridal party to get there - taken note that if it takes that long before we get there let the guests eat when they arrive - and of course we sat at the wrong end of the room so we had to go last. Ugh.

But it was fun.

Usually I'm out on the floor for every dance but it was nice to kind of sit back and relax for a while.

And that was the joy and excitement of yesterday and today.

Camp meeting tomorrow afternoon to sort t-shirts and do nametags.

Huzzah.

I mean, huzzah!

Cause it'll be our last one before camp.

Finally picked out all my skits and guess what I found online....



And that's only one in a string of compilations.

oh yes.

So now I'll have these along with all of Dad's recordings. Should be set for the 7th and 8th graders for a couple years at least.

Woohoo!

If you weren't aware, I make the 7th and 8th graders sing these for their skit. They sing the verses between all the other grades skits - we alternate girls and boys and then at the very end they scream it at each other.

The parents love me. The kids not so much.

alright, i'm out.

but I'm stronger than the picture that you took before you left...

My boyfriend never calls me.

We always text.

Or talk in person.

So when I saw his name on the caller ID this morning I knew it was bad.

His work has once again screwed him over and he's having a personal crisis.

So, any grand plans about finishing my homework tonight flew out the window and I went out there instead to come up with a game plan.

Depending on how work goes next week we think we have a vague plan for the next few years.

Basically, our lives will be hell for nine months.

So kind of like pregnancy but without the screaming child popping out at the end.

I'm not thrilled but neither is he.

But, you know what, it's not like I'm going anywhere and he's worth waiting for.

So, I'll stick it out and we'll take it day by day.

Or quarter by quarter as it is about the combination of work and school.

Definitely not going back for a Doctorate now.

Not that I wanted to anyway, but now I have a legitimate excuse.

Gonna have to talk to Superwoman about scheduling.

Joy.

As awful as the reason was behind it tonight was actually kind of nice.

Switched it up.

Started by choosing a restaurant on the right side of the road - we always go left cause there's more - then drove out to the lake where we sat for hours just talking about everything and enjoying the scenery.



After which we went back and helped his parents move their new couch.

If someone had a camera it would have made YouTube, seriously.

Then we went back out driving around, parked and just walked for blocks.

It was good though because we actually talked about stuff instead of our usual dinner and a movie routine.

We'll figure it out as we go along I guess.

Alright, in need of some serious sleep. More work tomorrow.


Turn To White - She & Him


yes i know it's not She & Him week but they just uploaded this one.

they are seriously good live.

would love to see them again.


Something's Got a Hold On Me - Christina Aguilera


yes i know i've posted this already, but technically that was the movie clip, not her singing it live.

oh it must be love.

def one of my favorite of Etta's.

and Xtina's.



and I'm out.

Mahna Mahna

My Day In Five Words

1. Cereal
2. Hamburger
3. Jars
4. Homework
5. Camp


1. So in the mornings I put cereal in a ziplock bag and eat it in the car on the way to work. This morning it fell and spilled all over my car floor. Under my feet where I have to push the peddles so it kept getting all squashed and made it worse. I should have known today would be off.

2. Had a hamburger for lunch. Security guard was jealous. Am excited they're doing daily specials at the place across the street. Makes having only a half hour lunch much easier. And now that my Chinese joint next door is closed - sad day - I actually have someplace to go on days that aren't Thursday. Which is when they used to only do specials.

3. We had our final teen Summer Reading event today at the work branch. Did some jar decorating - painting them and making lanterns out of them. For the paint stuff we put stickers on the jar then painted over them. Then when we pulled the stickers off it revealed the design below. And then the paper lanterns was cool, we took super thin paper and drew designs on it. Then pasted it around the outside so when you stick a light in it the design shines through. Actually had about 11 participate, 1 girl I'd never met before who goes to a different branch normally and then a family that came about 10 minutes before we were about to pack up. Calling it a victory.

4. Homework sucks. But at least tonight I was productive about it. Got done with the "ripped from the headlines" essay about Fifty Shades of Grey. Oh yeah, forum for this one, would you include it in your library? Sadly, even though I would never read it because of its topic and the fact that it's horribly written - or so I've been told by everyone who's read more than a page of it - I did include it in my fake library because my fake library is a public library and not including it in our collection because of its topic would be like saying "we only include items that we agree with, if you want to read that you'll have to go somewhere else". And we can't do that cause we are a public library. Key word being public. As in it's our job to help each and every member of that public that comes in.

Sorry.

Still on the library writing kick.

After that essay came the Peer Review assignment. You know how we have to write up an encyclopedia entry for our final assignment? The one right before that is to edit someone else's. I picked the Dead Sea Scrolls entry.

Oh my god. I know I have grammar issues, but this was like, the person didn't even hit spellcheck.

Awful.

So that was frustrating cause I had to transfer all that into a "what they should fix" entry plus check out every one of the references to make sure they were correct.

Blah.

But it's done and submitted. Now all that's left is the actual encyclopedia entry which I have mostly done and then the source list.

And I think I'm getting this whole Chicago Style thing down. Or I guess I'll know if I've got it down after the essay is graded.

I'm still clueless as to why she picked Chicago when the entire Master's program up until this point has been APA.

So I learn Chicago for a 1 credit course and then go back to APA for my final 3 credit class.

But then I'll be done!! And can't complain about homework anymore!

Well, my homework anyway, but now the boyfriend is thinking about going back to school.

Which I am in full support of! I think it's great and it's a smart idea. However, I'm not so fond of the part where I will not see him at all for 12 months.

But we'll figure it out when the time comes.

5. Ah the joys of Camp J. I would be even more joyful about it if all the applications came in before the July 1st deadline and that the adults would realize that it's a kids camp meant for kids not for them so they shouldn't complain about their assignments.

But that would just be too much.

Anyway, after a half hour vent session to Obi-Wan we have come up with a plan. Though Pastor will be the one to put the plan in motion. I'll expand on that after this weekend's meeting.

Actually excited about this weekend. Going to a Camp J friend's wedding. We used to go to grade school together but she was a few years younger than me. She and Meg were my lifeguards for years and years and now Meg is getting married in November as well. Neither ChickenFro nor Boomer is coming to camp this year so I was forced to find new lifeguards. I'm glad at least one of my teens has training for it.

But the wedding should be fun. The boyfriend is coming along. I didn't even have to ask really, I just subtly mentioned it like half a dozen times and then he said he would go. Score one for the home team.


So today was pretty stressful but now it's over so I'm off to sleep. Need to finish up these final assignments by the end of this week so I can focus all of next week on camp.

Skits. Nametags. T-shirts. Packing. All that.


Clip of the Day:



just cause it's awesome.

timing is perfect on clips.

and i haven't posted it in like a year. aren't you proud?

yes i'm a nerd.

and she's off.

"This wand is about as useful as a Kardashian library card."

Got to jam with Sensei this morning, well afternoon I guess it was.

We had a magician come to perform for Summer Reading at the home branch. Sensei and I counted kids and stamped and stickered and all that for their Summer Reading Booklets.

Though we did sneak in during the act.

The guy was pretty good.

I'm still trying to figure out how he made a hammer disappear.

Or blocks change numbers.

Here he is performing some other tricks.



He is highly entertaining.

I saw him last year as well, go here: "it's gonna be awesome, awesome, it's not 2 in the morning, hey!"

Still trying to figure out how that quarter trick.

Anyway, the whole show all I'm thinking is Burt Wonderstone.



Have I given that a Scale of Awesome rating yet?

The boyfriend and I watched it a couple weeks ago.

It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

Scale of Awesome says 7/10.

Normally I'm not into the stupid funny stuff but this had legit funny stuff mixed in.

Kind of like The Rocker.

That was the major highlight of the workday.

After work I went out to see the boyfriend.

We watched The Paperboy.



Holy crap Batman, that was a depressing movie.

Not only was it depressing it was god-awful.

Scale of Awesome says 2/10.

So we followed it up with the first 45 minutes of the last Batman movie.

Cause it was on.

Tempted to watch the rest but I need to sleep so I'm refusing.

Speaking of sleep, I should be doing that now.

Work tomorrow then homework all night.

Gotta get it done so I can work on camp stuff...

Then they'll both be done at the same time and I'll have some peace!!!

Until mid-August.

Then I'm screwed.

Music:

So I posted this video last year - it's the Star Wars movies cut up so that they sing Call Me Maybe.



Anyway, the guy created a new one for Lord of the Rings.



not as good as his Star Wars one, but it's a start.

And if you don't like that give this a try:



the boyfriend sent it to me and I find it highly entertaining.

in what speech did he say "swag"??

Can't Touch This


I think that one is my favorite.

Don't go Jason Waterfalls.

Have you ever went through a carwash and felt like you were in a hidden camera TV show?

So, I decided that my car is covered in bugs - well, I didn't decide that, it actually just is - and I went to get it washed. I put in my money and drove forward and it starts beeping at me to drive backward. So I did, then it said drive forward then it beeped again and told me to go backward.

This proceeded to happen at least 5 times, the whole time I'm thinking alright where is the freakin' camera and crew? So I just drove out, talked to the people at the gas station and was like, wtf? And they went, it's touchy, here's a code go try it again.

Same thing. At least 5 times.

Said screw it again, went back in and they gave me cash back and yet another code.

This time it worked after only one of those reverse/forward cycles.

And the car is still covered in bugs.

Cause apparently - according to Kitzworld - Nebraska bugs are on steroids.

This is in the middle of an already stress-filled day off.

Decided to get up around 10AM and work on some homework.

Soon 10AM turned into 5PM and I was like, I gotta take a break. So I went grocery shopping bought Warehouse 13 season four - woohoo! - did the carwash thing and then came back to do even more homework.

Amidst all the homework were 4 frantic camp phone calls and 5 frantic camp emails. My life would be so much easier if people actually turned in their forms by July 1st and then actually went with their assignments.

Camp is in two weeks. My homework is due in two weeks. I feel like I don't even have time to go to work because there's so much to do!

So I'm calling it quits for the night.

I did two assignments worth of stuff plus sent in my practicum learning plan AND got my comps stuff in the mail - ugh, October's gonna suck - plus did all that camp stuff.

This one of those we love camp italic moments mentioned here.

I still have 3 assignments left to do.

But I quit for the night.

So, as a distraction for the crapsuck that was today, here is a preview for a movie of awesomeness.

I wanted to see if before the preview even came out.

We're The Millers



basically he's a drug dealer and needs a cover family to smuggle stuff.

it looks highly entertaining and yes that is Molly Quinn aka Alexis Castle.

Song of the day, well after watching that preview at least...

Waterfalls - TLC


yes i know it's not jason waterfalls but i like to sing it that way.

this video is a lot more depressing than i remember.

didn't Left-Eye die in a plane crash? should they include the plane in the video? does it serve a purpose?


and she's out! legitimate pre-midnight post, holy crap tag in use.

The human torch was denied a bank loan.

I love my boyfriend in the mornings.

I'm going to work. 

Okay. 

You want to keep sleeping?

Okay. 

Can you bring me my keys at work?

Okay. 

I laid you out a towel and toothbrush. 

Okay. Thank you honey. 

And then he was gone.

Though he did get up to lock the door after I left.

Cause he's sweet like that.

It's funny though cause he makes fun of me for not being a morning person.

I feel bad making him live normal people hours on the weekends - though this one was his choice - because then he has to go into work on Sunday nights.

I met the other side of his family last night, his cousin owns a bar and all the other cousins got together and brought food and did a potluck sort of thing at the bar.

I was all like nervous the entire day at work. Pretty sure BossLady and Queen of the Known Universe - aka my Work Mom - were making fun of me cause I was all paranoid about meeting them.

But it was good, it actually went really well. They were really laid back and I actually knew a couple of them from camp cause their kid goes.

And his brother and sister-in-law were there so we jammed with them and actually went out with them afterward.

Made for a late night so he stayed over and slept all day when I was at work.

Came home, brought him supper, we watched Anchorman and then he headed back to go to work.



I own it but haven't seen it since high school. Scale of Awesome says 7/10. The second one looks funny, have you seen the cast list? Go here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1229340/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast serious amounts of cameos in this one.


My cat is currently going psycho and I have no idea what's going on. Like he keeps running back and forth in front of me and making strange noises.

I can't tell if he's chasing a bug or having a panic attack.

Can cats have panic attacks?

Is that normal behavior? I mean, he does it all the time, but do normal cats do that or is it just mine?

Should I get him a shrink?

Do they have shrinks for cats?

They had one for a dog on Castle.

Maybe I should look into that.


Anyway, those were the real highlights from this weekend aside from working with an awesome crew and then tonight's 2 hour conversation with Sketch.

I had this flashback to college cause I swear like 98% of tonight's conversation was about boyfriends. Anyway, in college freshman year I was on the way back to the dorms with Sketch and Schwartz and Lindz and we were talking about guys and I was like, "Remember earlier when we didn't talk about guys. Let's go back to that." *silence* "What did we used to talk about?" *more silence*

Was good to catch up.

And now I'm off to bed.

My goal is to get up before noon and then do homework all day.

Wish me luck.

On to the music:

It's official, there's a video!

Acapella - Karmin


yes i've posted this song like 5 times in three weeks, but it's official cause the video is now out!

and is awesome.

the toast thing amuses me.

okay, i promise not to post the song again for another month.

how's that?

here are the real songs of the day.

both from soundtracks and both for no reason whatsoever, just got into my head and wouldn't leave.






i was going nuts.



here's another soundtrack for you:



"that's not a good start but, keep going."

out.

and if i ever see you, my heart is gonna bleed, but i'm leaving either way.

He's not named after a Backstreet Boy!

Leave my poor cat alone!


Camp meeting today with the gang.

I already assigned kids and counselors to cabins and came up with mock groups for the schedule so it went a little faster than normal.

After, you know, taco pizza and ice cream.

What? It's not like we're getting paid for it.

No, we have a lot of fun.

Actually my old Pastor and his family stopped by this morning, which was cool cause I haven't seen them in almost 5 years.

Mom was jealous.

Had to take a picture or she'd kick my butt.

Pastor and Gina were big into camp when they were here and have started their own now out west.

It's like potato chips, once you start you can't stop.


So yes, we're goofballs but we did come up with a schedule, send out confirmation letters, medical and photo release forms and packing checklists, Mentor stopped by and taught us the song, plus we updated the songbooks - well, the ones we could find. We are mysteriously 30 short.

And yes I checked my car trunk.

Know what I found?

Camp J's lost and found from last year.

Should really clean that out before this year's.

Shows you how often I open that thing.

But I don't need to cause I know there's no space for anything else.

Cause it's got all my camp stuff in it, you know? Like my tent and air mattress and fan and a blanket and then all our board games.

And you know, ice melt and a shovel, BUT STILL all my camp stuff is already there and packed!

Which makes packing for camp so much easier cause it's already in the car!

Which is what I try to explain to people, but then they try to explain back that it's weird to keep an overflowing box of board games in your trunk.

Though it's quite handy because I work with teens and we use them a lot more than you would expect.

Anyway, long story short - too late - the songbooks were not in my trunk so now it's a scavenger hunt and I'm hoping they're either at Obi-Wan's place or in the trailer.

Or maybe a combination of the both, as long as all 100 are physically present at camp.


Am now even more super stoked for camp.

We go through phases. It's either "WE LOVE CAMP!" or "we love camp..."

Right now I'm all about the capitals.

Though stuffing envelopes can make you amazingly italic.


Alright, I gotta crash.

Work tomorrow and then party with the boyfriend's family after.


On to the music.

Monday Morning - Melanie Fiona cover by Tijana, Sarah and Branko



they're not bad, almost as good as the original.

plus she looks like Uma Thurman.

give it a chance.


out.

"You ever notice when he thinks real hard it smells like bacon?"

Big Bang Theory re-runs at the farmhouse.



One of my favorite Sheldon scenes.


Well, I'm still alive and breathing.

Which is more than I could say about yesterday. Drug my feet around all day today but was successful in making a mockup example jar for our event on Wednesday.

At least I hope I was successful - I painted it but still have to pull off all the tape and stickers to reveal the design. I'm hoping it turns out semi-okay and the tape doesn't pull off all the paint.

That would suck.

But my teens are a lot more crafty than I am. We'll figure it out.


BossLady says my cat is named after a Backstreet Boy.

read that in a whiney voice.

cause that's how I keep repeating it. 

Is not!

He's named after a character in one of my stories.

Mean...


After work the boyfriend and I rented "Killing Them Softly".



Not my favorite but he liked it.

Scale of Awesome says 5/10.


Excited to have a day off tomorrow. Gonna spend it working on camp stuff with the gang. I'm sure procrastination and ice cream will be involved.

Feel a bit like I'm procrastinating at the moment but there's nothing I can do with the homework until I get my topic approved. So gonna enjoy my time off until she gets back to me.

From card tricks to Castle noir.

"he's the cream in my coffee."

Alright, music and I'm out - Throwback Thursday

Anything But Ordinary - Avril Lavigne



favorite retro Avril song. used to listen to it daily in high school.

"But I would watch Johnny Depp peel potatoes so..."

The Old New Guy and I were debating if we want to see Lone Ranger or not.

Another coworker said it was great, but everyone else that's seen it said it wasn't his best and then the boyfriend doesn't want to see it cause of the train inadequacies - don't ask.

It was pretty much a no-brainer debate though cause we both like Johnny Depp - him saying the title to this post was seriously the highlight of my entire day cause it was amusing and cause I would probably watch him peel potatoes too. I know Sketch would.

Maybe I'll take Squirt if she hasn't seen it already.


Frantic at the moment about the homework for this second class due July 26th. Looked at the assignments and it's making my head hurt.

Though that may be a combination of the fact that I felt sickish all day today and yesterday and that I've been staring at this screen for like 4 hours straight.

I'm hoping I'll feel better after some sleep but it's highly doubtful.

For the class it's like one big encyclopedia entry assignment made up of all these tiny components.

And then like these reading guide quiz things. Which should take like 5 minutes but you have to read all these articles and watch all these clips for the answers.

Hence the screen staring for all these hours.

Plus there was camp stuff before that.

But I'm confused cause there are two unit 1 quizzes and I found all the answers for the one that I thought I was supposed to do but what if it's the other one and then I'll have to start over again. She only lists one in the gradebook and the site has been having issues since the course started so I keep bombarding her with emails.

She probably thinks that I'm an idiot cause I'm sure everyone else in the class is done by now but not everyone else in the class works 40 hours, is taking other classes, and is attempting to direct a summer camp. Amongst other priorities.

Anyway, so they should take 5 minutes but they don't and then there's this massive encyclopedia entry thing where we pick a topic and write up its history and cite a bunch of crap - am debating topics. I'm thinking either Project Gutenberg or Charles Perrault.

Those are worthy of encyclopedia entries right?

For those of you who don't know Project Gutenberg is a Digital Library where you can read a bunch of free eBooks go here: http://www.gutenberg.org/ and Charles Perrault is the father of fairy tales.

The original ones where everyone dies horrible deaths.

Anyway, after all the screen-staring I'm just frustrated and zonked and feel like I've made no progress whatsoever.

So I'm going to bed before I get even more ranty.


Heard this one on the way home and now find it fitting.

Good Time - Leroy (acoustic)


Funny story is that last time I posted this song was in another freak out entry but for last fall with the 3 classes and GA thing.

That was nothing compared to this upcoming fall.


Is that all I do anymore? Just freak out on here?

Perhaps it's time for a break.

legitimate pre-midnight post, holy crap tag in use.

"and there ain't nothing i can do about it."

"I boss with her golf."

"Wait."

I miss the Library Goddess.

It's been so weird not seeing her almost every other week.

We met up for supper with the new GA - another one of my fun classmates.

It's semi-depressing because by the time you finally get close to your classmates you're done with the program.

But I guess that goes with the whole half online thing and then half only meet once a month thing.

The meeting was fun.

We did more joking around than business as usual.

I've learned not to argue when the check comes. Though it was highly entertaining because we all ordered these burgers and they were MASSIVE but I'm pretty sure we all ate like 10 bites total.

But that's okay, more leftovers for me.

I told Superwoman I was going to dinner with the LG and asked if there was anything I should pass on - cause they're friends and they fight about who's boss #1 and who's boss #2 - and she said, "nah, we'll talk about you tomorrow at golf."

Not cool.

Oh, and apparently she'll always be my boss, even if she has a new GA.

We've already had that conversation.


Glad to end the night on a high note as the preceding part of the day was crazy.

Lost my datebook - but it was in the car. I seriously need to duct tape that in my pocket or get a tool belt or something.

Was on the front desk the first 2 hours and I think I got like 2 minutes of peace the entire 2 hours.

Which is good, I'd rather be busy than bored.

Chicken sandwich for lunch. Apparently they're doing specials every day now instead of Thursdays. Which is good for when I only get half an hour to eat.

More busyness in the afternoon but it did slow down the last hour so that I could update my TAB stuff and come up with a semi-plan for my weekend schedule.

The semi-part included marking down the weekends that I know I can't work and then planning to talk to my boyfriend about the rest.

Easier that way and I always feel bad when I ask to switch with people.

Though it's hard to know your schedule 5 months in advance.

Especially this fall with the whole practicum thing.

I'm thinking instead of working every Saturday from mid-August to December 1st that I could work every other Saturday and then I'll just use 8 hours of vacation every other week.

There's no way I can keep whatever sanity I have left if I work every weekend for months and months.

"She's got it made, Marian!"

Sorry, more Wipeout.

Another way to keep my sanity in place.

But now I'm zonked. Another long day tomorrow so I'm off to bed.

Oh PS - Karmin's new single has officially been released on iTunes so you should now all go and buy it.



Why yes, I am aware that this is the third time I've posted it in like 3 weeks, but that's only cause it's that good.

More sanity.


and i'm out.

"You want to aim for these numbers here." "I'm just gonna aim for the board."

I want to rock and roll all night, and part of every day.

I am seriously deliriously happy.

Which for me means that something is about to go terribly wrong.

Lately I've been all headspace but this weekend we went out on the town to celebrate my brother-in-law's 40th birthday.

Met up for dinner around 6 and after that we just walked around the old market district until around midnight.

There were many shenanigans and hijinks involved, most of which I will not repeat for fear of retribution.

I don't drink very often. It's not like I have anything against it, I just don't like the taste of beer and I work almost every day so it's not like I can go out on the town every night.

I did, however, partake last night as it was a celebration. But I did not partake as much as some people.

But I learned something about myself, and this was completely unknown to me, apparently I'm actually good at darts.

And the boyfriend's not bad either.

We have decided - well, I decided and he agreed cause he was very agreeable at that moment, as mentioned I did not partake as much as others - that when we get married we're going to have a dart board, get really good and then go around to bars and challenge people to darts and take all their money.

We played a couple games as partners but I mostly played with Marty aka the brother-in-law's best friend. He was pretty good, hit a double bullseye. I hit two by the end of the night.

Think my brother-in-law and I were the only ones who played every game. I beat my brother and my sister (who said the title quote).

Though my sister-in-law beat me twice. So we said she was better than her husband. He didn't like that.

I don't think I've laughed that hard or had that much fun in months.

The boyfriend and I have been together for a year and a half now and it's become a subconscious thing that I just put my hand on his leg. My brother is overprotective so he kept repeating "not my baby sister!" Immediately following the first time everyone put their hand on my leg.

It was just goofy stuff like that and then the darts, I think that was my favorite part.

By the end of the night we had went to three bars - each with very unique decor except they all seemed to have some sort of stained glass included. Then we walked back to the hotel where we jammed out in my sister's suite.

It was niiiiiice.

Like bigger than my apartment nice.

With a hot tub and all that.

Thinking about looking at electronic dart boards online. Hmmm....

Santa list?

Alright, I'm gonna crash. It's back to work tomorrow.

I Wanna Rock and Roll All Night - Kiss




out.

"I have come here to kick zombie butt and chew bubble gum... and I am all out of bubble gum!"

Oh, Wipeout how I love you.


Got to spend the day at the home branch with the new supervisor.

Lots of fun.

Though we were swamped cause we were closed yesterday.

Showed up and we had an entire bookdrop cart that maintenance had brought in the night before overflowing with stuff, plus whatever was currently in the bookdrop.

And no tubs to send them in delivery so it was just carts and carts of stuff.

Then our internet was down cause they were updating software so we only had one functional computer.

And then once it started working the other one went down along with the patron internet computers.

Patrons were not happy and neither were we.

But it's supposed to be much faster now.

Anyway, we were swamped, people everywhere and constant stuff to do so the day flew by pretty quickly.


After which I had to go save a fish.

Got the panic text from Squirt yesterday while lighting fireworks asking if I'd feed her fish and then close the door so the cat wouldn't eat said fish.

She was bummed when I closed the door.

Aw, poor Dumb as a Post.

She answers to that you know.

And Fluffy Bunny.

Cause she's fluffy.

Though not quite as fluffy as Carter.

Speaking of which, Carter needs to be shaved.

Perhaps grandma can find someone to do it while I'm at camp.

He is her favorite grandcat.

She may not always admit it, but I'm pretty sure she misses him.

He loves the farm.

Just not so much the farm cats.


Anyway, after saving the fish and feeding my cat came the homework.

He called it the "Final Exam" but it was actually three papers combined into one. Six pages and I'm done. Emailed it in at 10PM that's a whole 2 hours before the deadline.

I know you're all proud.

So I'm officially done with Library Systems!!!

Well, the class.

Next up Foundations.

But all that stuff is due end of July so I'm gonna take my time with it.

Going to enjoy my weekend off first.

Headed out of town to celebrate my brother-in-law's 40th birthday.

It's not so much a surprise party when he helps plan it.

But it's gonna be fun, dinner in the old market and then walking around downtown before heading back to the hotel.

Second Sister is excited cause they have a hot tub.

Though they own a hot tub so....


Anyway, I'm excited to be done with homework for the week and that I get to sleep in tomorrow.

And then upload even more camp stuff as that is coming up fast.

And I've gotten like 20 envelopes in the past week.

All huge so I'm guessing there's more than one application in each.

Which is good.

As long as they're counselors and teen helpers.

Cause I have like 2 teen helpers total at the moment.


Aaannd that's all I got.

I know, I'm boring, I'm sorry.

But I'm sure I'll have more entertaining stories to tell after the birthday shindig.



Song of the day:

As always, after I finish a class.



Because I want to throw my notes up like that but don't have the energy to clean them up.

So I'll watch Blaine do it instead.

Pretty sure this is the most posted song on this blog.

Except for maybe Shakin' Stevens or Sam Phillips.

Just means I've taken too many classes.


Alright, I'm out. Back to Wipeout.

Have a good weekend.

"Don't trip over the drainage pipe!"

Okay, another speed writing/speed reading post.

You have to read it fast to get the full effect.

Ready?

Go.

So yes, yesterday mostly sucked, but today made up for it.

Parade this morning - I drove the T-Bird while my niece sat on the back and threw candy.

We actually made it all the way through without running out of candy.

Which never happens.

I snagged some good ones - skittles, starbursts, etc.

Since we were car #5 we were able to park and then watch the rest of the parade.

I got beads.

It made me laugh because my cousins says I just attract them.

My old car used to have them hanging off of every surface.

In my new one they're in the drink holder in the back seat.

Now I have more to add to my collection.

After the parade I went home and took a nap.

It was awesome.

Oh and watched the Castle marathon on TNT.

Also awesome.

Still speed reading?

The siblings came out around 6 and we jammed at the house for a while until dinner at 7.

For some reason, even though we were eating inside, Mom put the cooler of pop outside - cause I think we were gonna eat at the cabin originally - anyway, so I went outside to get pop, grabbed some, closed the cooler, look up and there walks the boyfriend.

He surprised me.

Didn't think he could make it cause he had to work tonight.

So then all in my world was good again.

Ate our burgers and starting lighting stuff off.

We had fun with our Missouri purchases and then came the tank war.

See, I told him that Bubby was gonna be gone - cause they went to a wedding - so he had to take his place in the tank war. So we bought lots of tanks and various other automobiles. And some sort of hen thing.

Anyway, we attempted to be strategic in our set up.




He had the train, I had the boat. And like mega tank. But he had the plane - which actually went off twice and scared the crap out of me.

The goal of the tank war is to light off as many as possible all at once and then hope the others get hit by the fire and light themselves.

Then whoever's tanks are the least damaged wins.

In the end it was a huge char-fest but I'm pretty sure he won.

Though he did cheat when he grabbed a string of firecrackers and laid it over the top of my remaining tanks.

Still speed reading?

The real highlight was the 10 lanterns we lit off in a row.



We had many shapes and colors. This one was highly amusing, don't ask.

We lit so many Dad just got a blowtorch. Which started them much easier.



Mom thought they were illegal cause she couldn't find any, but I think some people don't sell them because they don't like them.

"Snakes and sparklers" sorry, Joe Dirt.

Anyway, after like the 10th one my brother was like, "well we know they're not illegal cause the cops would have been here by now."



The funniest part of the whole thing was watching them try to get them to fly cause you have to run with them so the wind will pick them up and it kept getting darker. The boyfriend fell in the same culvert twice in like 5 minutes.

And it was dark so all I could see was his outline going down and then hear my brother laughing.

My brother's approach was to give it words of encouragement as he ran. "You can do it" "Fly damnit!"

The boyfriend told him to act like he was at his kids' ball games to which my sister-in-law replied, "then it would be, oh my god how did you not catch that?!"

The lanterns were fun. The boys had fun racing to see who could get theirs up the fastest. The triangle ones we said looked kind of like KKK masks which led to us quoting Django for the rest of the night.

"I think we all think the bags were a nice idea."

And that was my night.

More fun will take place Saturday for the brother-in-law's birthday, huzzah! But first tomorrow is work and then homework.

Blah.

So I'm out.

Hope you had a happy fourth.




"So it'd be nice to see!"

Horribly racist but wildly entertaining.

Three armed cops and a writer makes four. You're under arrest so get on the floor.

You would have been proud of my reference skills today.

Chick came into the library asking about a book she read as a kid.

Here is the description that I got: "this guy moves to town and paints it red and then everyone gets mad so he paints it something else."

Um.

Okay.

NoveList was a bust so I tried Google.

20 minutes later I found it on Amazon.

The Great Blueness and Other Predicaments by Arnold Lobel.

Boom, reference training.


After that it was all about Homemade Book Board Games.

My teens rocked it.

A bunch of TAB kids along with a potential new member who seemed to fit right in.

I worked more on my Harry Potter themed Monopoly style board.

One of my kids made a Harry Potter Apples to Apples which she called "Broomsticks to Broomsticks".

Other books covered included: The Secret Garden, Warm Bodies and Game of Thrones, along with Twilight and a couple others that I can't remember.

My adult volunteer who came to help made one based on Russian folk tales.


After work I came out to the farmhouse. Stopping by the Dorm-mom's fireworks stand for more strobes and  flying fish.

Second-to-youngest niece was here. Playing with the outdoor cats. Mom found a dead bird.

And a not-so-dead-one.

"Are you sure that's not another cat?"
"It has tail feathers and a beak."

We moved inside and decided Candyland was safer.



Aside from that the day sucked.

When you start wearing sunglasses to hide the fact that you just broke down or that you're about to again that's when you know there's something definitely wrong.

But that seems to be the theme lately.

I'm hoping tomorrow will be better.

It is the 4th after all.

My favorite of all the holidays.

Got the fireworks stash to prove it.

Parade in the morning - driving the T-Bird - after that it's all fireworks all day.

Huzzah.


And that's all I got.

Song of the day cause I'm watching the episode:



actually found the full version online:



those guys combined are actually pretty good.

though my favorite part was Beckett playing it on guitar in the end.



by all means. please come in.


and i'm out. happy fourth.

Thought he was gluten-free but all that I got was bread.

Kind of a rough day.

Getting only four hours of sleep didn't help things.

Add to that the fact that I felt like crap so I was pretty much a walking zombie.

Superwoman kept trying to send me home.

I would have called in sick but I had a volunteer coming in for training in the morning and I didn't want to dump that on some poor unsuspecting soul.

And then I realized that the Book Board Game event is TOMORROW and full on panic set in.

Similar to Library Golf but not as extreme.

As that was kind of an extreme event.

This is more laid back.

And I'm thinking like 10 people will attend, which is fine by me.

I almost finished my example today.

By "almost" I mean my comrade and I had fun coming up with game spaces for Harry Potter and finding online pictures to cut out and use as game pieces.

And then an hour and a half later the board was completed.

Now I have to do the currency and cards.

Though instead of chance and community chest I'm going with:
Portkey - cause you're going to be moving either forward or backward depending on if you set a python loose on your cousin or you won the house cup,
and then Spells and Potions - which can lead to you loaning money to the person next to you while being under the imperious curse or getting money for saving your friends because of your clever use of gillyweed.

etc. etc.

It's Harry Potter-based if you couldn't figure that out by yourselves.

I'm having far too much fun with this assignment.

Which makes up for the current assignment I'm taking a break from.

Ugh.

I hate takehome tests.

Especially when they're not actually tests but more like 3 term papers combined into one that's due Friday.

Ugh.

I have two of the three done, now all that's left is the first one. Which should be the easiest but seems to be the hardest.

As is true for most grad school assignments for the perfectionists out there.

But I have to do them tonight because tomorrow is the 3rd and then it's the 4th and those days will involve traveling and fireworks and therefore no homework will be done.

And I don't want to put it all off until Friday night - even though it isn't due until midnight.

Cause that would be irresponsible librarianship.

Or so I'm told.

Is that even a word?

I'm making it one.


Anyway, sadly the homework and board game weren't the most stressful part of today, it was actually that whole future thing that I avoid.

Juwanna and I use to refer to it as the "f" word cause I hated thinking about it.

However, today I was confronted with it as I talked with Superwoman.

Basically the thing is that I work 40 hours a week.

And in the fall I need to do a 90 hour practicum.

At a location that's open the same time as the library I work at and is closed on the weekends.

So I'll have to use vacation time to do my practicum.

90 hours of it.

Which I do not have when you combine it with things like camp - which I will never ever give up, you'll have to pry that from my cold dead hands - and then comprehensive exams which I will also be taking in the fall.

Which again are NOT TESTS, they're papers! 4 of them, basically dissertations and I have a week to finish them.

So why they call them exams I will never know.

Okay, technically it does evaluate your knowledge of the subject, but still!

They should just rename it "the week from hell" as my classmates so lovingly refer to it.

And from now on I'm sure I will too.


Anyway, I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to do the practicum on Tuesdays and Thursday afternoons and make up for the missing 8 hours every week from mid-August through December 1st.

And I really don't want to be stuck working every Saturday to make up for it.

A girl needs her sanity where she can get it and being tied to a desk is not one of such places.


Anyway, the stress from all that made me overreact to stupid stuff and now I'm all headspace.

Which makes writing these papers even more difficult.

I'm thinking about quitting for the night and finishing question number one on Friday night.

Give me some time to think and confer with people about ideas.

Cause I'm stuck.

Yeah, let's go with that.



Alright, music and I'm out.

Let's do the fork in the garbage disposal!


sorry, i needed that.

on to the real music:

Acapella - Karmin (acoustic version)


yes, i know i posted the lyric video already, go here: You and me are through though, watch me hit it solo, I'mma do it acapella. but i really like the acoustic too.

looking forward to the real video that I assume will come out soon since the song is gonna be released end of this week.

huzzah for awesome nebraskans.

legitimate pre-midnight post, holy crap tag in use.

I speak whale.

Okay, fastest post in history of posts.

You'll have to speed read it to get the full effect.

Ready go.

Today was good.

Met up with my practicum rep and it was awesome. For my 90 hour practicum I basically get to build a remote library from scratch. And we're gonna use the BISAC method - which is bookstore, not Dewey for those of you who just went, what? - so I'm gonna look into subject headings we should have and then we're gonna hit up the library's booksale and stock up to start it.

I'm stoked.

Was nervous cause I wasn't sure what to expect but now I feel so much better.

Though I still have to write up the plan and draft schedule to send to the Library Goddess to approve.

Got an impromptu text from Oldest Sister saying she was going out to the farmhouse to light off fireworks so I went too - taking with my three boxes, though I didn't even get through one of them.

Mostly cause I'm saving all the stuff that the boyfriend and I bought together so that we can light it on the 4th, though I wasn't aware of how much I had left over from last year.

We actually had a grill out at dad's cabin by the pond.

Oh yes, remember the cabin that we all had to help build?

I did a whole like 2 nails with the nail gun and freaked out the whole time?

Anyway, so it's finished and has been moved next to the pond on a cement block and soon there will be electricity and air conditioning.

And I'm hoping some outdoor lighting.

Cause I couldn't see anything without lanterns.

Bubby, Squirt and I threw a lot of firecrackers off the dock and into the pond in order to make a splash.

Bubby was successful in spraying us with pond water.

Which was gross.

I was throwing them farther away than that.

And Dad of course brought out his favorite fireworks that he bought in high school and lit one of those on the dock.

And that's all I'm gonna say about that.

Mom is mad cause I got him more.

Sort of, they don't make those anymore, but I got him the runner-up to them.

Woops.

Anyway, it was fun. We ate hamburgers and smores and jammed in the cabin.

Had our tank war.

I won, take that!

Squirt had a mega tank and Bubby laid his out strategically with firecrackers but I think it was my massive frogs in the back row that did it.

Victory.

Are you still speed reading cause I'm speed typing, this is 3 minutes so far.

Didn't really light any big ones off cause like I said, I'm saving them but my brother did light off a few.

Bubby and I continually quoted Finding Nemo.

"You touched the butt!"

"I speak whale."

"You guys made me ink."

Those are literally the only lines I remember so they were the ones we kept repeating.

To the point where Mom was totally confused.

Quote of the day:

Bubby: "I'm not gonna twerk in front of grandma!"

It's a dance, nevermind.

Still speed typing, this is 5 minutes.

Okay, what am I missing?

Ummm.....meeting, dinner, fireworks, crazy family....think that's all I got.

Oh, except where Squirt drove up to the house.

"How do you turn on the lights?"

Thought I was gonna die.


Song of the day:

okay, now I have to think.

aw man, I was doing so well.

Let's go with clips instead.






swim away!

oh, favorite youtube comment ever:

Two whales walk into a bar.
"AAAAOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOAAAAAA, AOUUUUUUAAAA OOOOO," says the first whale.
The second whale replies, "Shut up, Steve, you're drunk."

yay, 10 minutes and I'm done!