Session 6: Horrid Tide

geez. as if a reminder that things never stay perpetually rosy. knn this week so far hasn't been as good as it could possibly have been. xianz...

the presence of the pm riders(brodie james and nicholas) is really a pain because it means the cabin doesn't have much of a chance to bond. so in the end james and nicholas(who're best friends in the real world) always seem to be in a world of their own and hardly mixing with the rest of the kids. brodies is just moronic. i can't conprehend how a 12yr-old can be so dumb sometimes, regardless i still treat him nice, often at the expense of my own patience. sean is plain weird. i've never seen anyone so young, so lame before. wah lao eh, its so lame even myself don't find it funny. argh. and i always happen to catch his lame shite. so that leaves the saving grace to tom cooper and conner. the good things is that conner still thinks i'm a god. he's even thought of flying over to singapore to look for me when i'm back. haha.

the really down side started on monday lah knn. our cabin got paired with jake howard's cabin, cheyenne and i totally dislike that guy. i don't like he's showiness and his attention seeking ways. i find it really hypocrytical that he only shouts from across the field that 'he loves me(everyone says that to everybody in camp - haiz)' when i'm having alot of fun with kids while he hardly even bats an eyelid my direction when i'm alone. so anyway pairing us up while our co-counsellors were away was a sore-ass for me just because i had nothing good to say to him and i think he can tell too. the fact that the game sucked made it doubly worse. nao hiah.

the worst was to come on tuesday. i had swimming during am activity period. and one of our kids nearly drowned. wah xianz. she had to be pulled out of the pool and given chest compressions before she threw all the water out. it was really really scary. scary beyond any description now just because i don't wanna think about it anymore. but we(deseray and myself) who were in the pool, unlike certain other irresponsible counsellors(there should have been 4 counsellors each time) had to go through alot of paperwork and give our accounts to mike, marty and blah lah. my whole tuesday morning stank like bloody 3 day-old cow shite. it sucked real bad. the only consolation was that our efforts to help the poor girl(her name was precious) were overly commended. but the true heroines were these two litle girls in her cabin who alerted the lifeguard(who was nuahing somewhere instead of doing her job)  who subsequently pumped the water out of her. i do feel really responsible for that scary incident and it really could've ended more tragic. so thank god thangs ended up okie. and life still has to go on.

so i soldiered on for the rest of the day trying not to look too down. i got alot of hugs from alot of staff the rest of the day and i really thank deseray for being so strong and being there to share the hurt(we happened to be talking and entertaining some other kids in the pool when the incident happened). and then we had campout. which sucked once more because cherokee was paired with cheyenne yet again(at parthenon pines like last week). i really loathe him and he's only 18 and speaks like he knows alot(enhanced by his sexcapades) so i really didn't like being where i was all night even though i kept a pretty jovial face the whole campout. it turned out to be the best campout ever for alot of campers and even some of the staff(travis - poor guy always kenna lousy cabins till i came along), though i'd beg to differ if only due to the presence
of jake the muthafucker. well whatever lah even the worse shit pile will one day decompose and flowers will bloom upon it(now that's one helluva rotten analogy). still i expected today to be better.

it really couldn't get any worse lah today. things went by pretty smoothly, i don't have any activities with jake no more but he still came over at breakfast to tell me he loved me(wtf?!) and gave me a hug(at these times i just wrap my arms around him and his bag with no sincere emotion for htat pimp). argh. the next fella is dan the man. i mean i kinda like that guy but he's openly bi-sexual(meaning he's not afraid to admit it, as he did to me) so sometimes abit scared lah. i had both am(swimming) and pm(arts n crafts) with him and we chatted quite alot. tom we also have am(archery) together. he's really into soccer so there's much to talk about. and like today the swimming pool ended up being closed so we went to the kiva to play sports and games. i ended up playing basketball with him, and then subsequently whooped his bootie in table tennis. haha.

the final bright spark the last few days was the presence of miami cabin. its a girl cabin who's campers are around 11 and 12, like my boys, and they totally adore our cabin, especially me. haha. its all because two of their girls(katie and beca) were stayovers who ended up playing soccer with me and the boys who ended up being stayovers in my cabin(tom conner and cooper). and since meredith remained counsellor of that cabin both of us also got along real well and extended that to this week. this week they adopted us as their older brother cabin haha. so he hang out alot together and i'm trying to hook up their girls with my boys for the dance tomorrow too!. haha.

okie, see, (self-consolatory) bright spark, so life isn't so bad. other highlights include travis being a pretty good co(he agrees to everything i say and i've got SO MUCH control over the cabin this week i'm sure he's jealous of that sometimes). also i received another birthday package!!! so happy. receiving packages in camp is like that episode in survivor when the survivors get to meet their family members lidat. but not that drama thats all. the whole world stops and you don't give a flying squirrel about anything anymore and just wanna get to your package as fast as you possibly can. haha.

guess thats so much for the week thus far lah. will probably blog later again. meanwhile going to the grill to chill awhile first...

Nothing Like Talking to Home

to all those who spent so much time chatting with me on icq during my morning off, i salute you.

thank you for helping me feel like i were so close to home even though i'm still so far.

thank you for updating me about all there is to know about what's happening in your lives and those of our friends.

and thank you for helping me remember what a wonderful life i still have back home.

my day has become so much brighter if it hasn't already been. take care and stay in touch always!

bozo

Session 6: PM Riders

this week is the first week since week 1 that i've got pm riding campers(james nocholas brodie). these campers are in the horse program in the camp which mean they ride horses everyday instead of doing the normal activities that the other kids do. i've got travis as co and am still in cherokee. kids are conner cooper tom brodie james nicholas sean and casey. casey is a splitting image of rollie last week and plays most games as well too. he's also the colorado state basketball player of the year last year. impressive.

but what matters are that conner cooper and tom are still around. they're a god-send to have in the cabin and just like most of yesterday, they were like my lieutenents. everytime i need a rule explained i just tell them to explain it. they revel in teh leadership opportunities given to them and they eally like me for offering them this opportunity. even andy says he wished he stayed back in cherokee(he's in blackfoot this week) just so he could be with the kids. conner follows me like a shadow and is always trying to talk to me about different things and asking me about things i do back in singapore. it was alright at first but its starting to get irritating but yet i really like him alot so i can't bare to tell him to fuck off. anyway i bought candy for them while they were on stayover and from the looks of it they were really grateful.

yesterday i performed my first ever rowdie performance. i taught the whole camp the "titanic song" beforewhich i made up a hilarious tale about how singapore is an island and surrounded by water and ships and i got interested in ships and therefore liked the titanic alot and was sad because it sunk and henceforth made that song up(its a camp thing to always tell a funny story before you begin a song!). glad everyone enjoyed the song.

apart from that i don't have anymore highlights about this week. time's passing so fast aorund here its virtually flying man. week six liaoz. after this week its down to the last two weeks and then almost all the staff will leave. haiz will really be quite sad when they all have to go especially all the good friends. shall try not to let that get me down.

everyday is an adventure.

Land of the Free, Home of the Brave

this is just an informative piece of writing of my observations here.

the american lifestyle is one whereby at an early age one has to start earning his own money to survive in the real world. usually the parents help by offering the labour opportunities. menial tasks like mowing the lawn, taking out the trash, setting the tables turn into paying jobs. the pay is naturally absurdly high when working at home like mowing the lawn for half an hour would get you us$15, which makes out to be us$30/hr(??!!) . which happens to sound crazy but thats really how things work around here.

by the time they turn 16 and up they go out of home to work doing jobs like baby-sitting, waittressing and stuff. the money usually goes towards their college education because the parents arn't expected to pay for their tertiary education. and it can really get expensive depending on which colleges they go to. they also strive to earn their basic amenities like a car, celphone, computer and blah. of course sometimes the parents help them out. in instances like birthdays and all its a really big thin in their culture because they get to demand practically the world(important birthdays are usually the 18th and 21st).

by the time all the kids hit teens, they're expected to pay for themselves. even during family outings. everyone goes dutch. so its like the younger kids get an allowance while the older have to go work for money and when they go out to eat everyone's gotta pay for their own dinner. and that's why they're very calculative about money. yet they absurdly spend the most money on the silliest things.

and thats why there is a very strong tipping culture here because alot of the waittresses are college students paying their way through and they rely on tips alot. the pay in the restaurants are miserable(usually us$3+) but they get to keep all the tips. and its a tradition thats been going on for a very long time liao which is why the patrons tip heavily too because they once went through the same pridicament. then again this really helps to improve service and the workers are really motivated when serving.

most move out by the time they graduate from high school(18yrs old) they tend to share an apartment with a few friends and since they usually have to move out of town to attend college(chances are that its in another state), they make their college state their new home. which is why americans tend to have family all over the country as compared to everyone and their cousin's cousins staying all nearby. the extended location doesn't bother them alot because its really easy to get around by car and its really easy to commute around in the country too(then again i've heard it being easier in europe).

the sibling rivalry in american culture is a rough one. the oldest sibling almost always bullies the younger ones to bits, if not will love the younger too much. which leads to alot of pent up hatred from the younger poor dude and the relationship is really sour in their teens to the extent that they openly shun each other and declare their hatred for each other. it is only in their late teens that they come to appreciate family and its resourcefulness and thereby make amends. by then the love starts to transcend and siblings become very close knit(provide the level of abuse from years gone wasn't too severe!)

apart from thet i think there're also alot of little things. alot of kids in camp still come from good families(two parents) but there's a significant number with multiple parents and step-siblings. so their families are really huge with lotsa extended family.

hmm, think that's about what i can think of now. will take note of more.

You Never Close Your Eyes Anymore

you never close your eyes anymore when I kiss your lips
and there's no tenderness like before in your fingertips.
you're trying hard not to show it, (baby).
but baby, baby I know it...
you've lost that lovin' feeling,
whoa, that lovin' feeling,
you've lost that lovin' feeling,
now it's gone...gone...gone...wooooooh.
 
argh. there's a fucker right beside me playing music on the pc next to mine that its irritating me. argh. so hard to concentrate.

so this week has been a blast. i dunno how to better describe the week other than its been the best yet. and i've got 3 stayovers conner tom and cooper and they all love me to bits (conner follows me around wherever i go just because). and i'm still staying in cherokee next week. but i got travis as my co. apparently he's got a long list of people he doesn't want to co with and mike asked during my mid-season eval if i could co with him again cos he requested for me so i said i would as long as i don't have to move cabins. so hmm, hopefully it'll be another good week. let's see what highlights i can think of...

thursday i went rafting. it was crazily awesome. the bus trip to the colorado river was fun enough because we were singing so much the whole trip(they begged me to sing those songs!). then my kids all saboed me to get on the same raft with them(i was trying to help out a younger cabin without a counsellor) and we had so much fun! the water levels have risen since the staff rafting trip, and the rapids are way more fun than before. we got into alot of waterfights where we would splash water with our paddles and throw water at other boats. me being the strongest obviously monopolised the water bucket, but i got so involved during one of the fights that i accidentally threw the bucket out along with the water as i flung it and it was so embaressing cos my kids all screamed "noooooooooooooo!" in unison. subsequently we had to outpaddle other boats just so we don't get soaked by them(since we were powerless) haha. we ended up being the fastest boat among the m.a.d. rafters. ha.

it was the dance that night as well. the highlight was conner being punched by another bigger kid. i got really  mad over it(it was my favourite camper!) and was threatening to send the kid home. in the end he was a crying heap and spent most of the dance night in tears. i guess on hindsight i was abit too emotional then, but none of hte other counselors stepped in to stop me so i guess i wasn't that harsh lah. but still feel abit bad considering how much he was crying just from me scolding him. haiz.

friday the best thing in the world happened to me. i received a package from home!!! thanks y'all! ma sent me a copy of 8days, the sunday times and bak kwa. i can now certify that there is no better feeling in camp than to receive a package from a loved one after so long away from home. i was so shocked when christy told me i got something. so, along those lines i happily scooted to the swing sets to go through my stash. while halfway through the 8days magazine cooper sneaks over, sees michelle chong on the bloody cover and screams,"its korean porno!". no kidding, that was such a bad move. within seconds i had 3 cabins of kids surrounded around me watching in glee my flip of every page, and everytime there's a girl on the page, everyone would go,"whoooooooo". sibeh siah suay. luckily most of the counsellors know its a joke.

hmm lets see...what else...

just the other day there was a best-of counsellor imitation session by some of the counsellors!! and i got imitated!! argh. apparently my two most famous lines in camp thus far are "c'mon guys let's take a picture", a parody of how i love to take pictures in the midst of everything, and "i'm not korean/japanese! stop insulting me!", since kids often liken me to a japanese or korean(nao hiah). sheesh.

today i was quite sad to see the kids go. really quite sad.

went to estes park today! its a 2hr drive from here and tyler offered to bring me there. yay. so along with his brother kevin, the three of us drove there. the main highlight was the mountain pass which was so bloody beautiful. got lotsa good pictures, and it was snowing at the top of the mountain. estes park is a small town only thats thriving on the resorts surrounding it so there isn't much to crow about but the scenary around it is really beautiful(lotsa pix once again). anyway it costs like us$15 to enter the rocky mountain range which is really cut-throat, so tyler and i posed as staff at the ymca there(using our staff ids) while we stuffed kevin into the back of his trunk(yes he fit just nice).

okie lah abit tired writing today. gonna continue tomorrow...

night all.

Session 5: Better Than Ever

so i happened to be at the smr admin building toilet just this evening taking the biggest dump. i'm happily sitting on my throne and clearing my bowels when i hear the toiler door burst open and someone runs into the cubicle beside mine. i hear him hurriedly sitting down and releasing an enormous avalaunche of crap followed by splatters of wet farts, all the while swearing "oh my god, oh my god!", this was getting messy. i maintain my silence and try to focus on my own task at hand. somewhere along the way that guy stops all that and proceeds to pant and whizz. and then he starts talking to himself, "this room is so hot", "i think i'm sweating". whoa. this guy better not be talking to me. suddenly my watch beeps the hour beep. i freeze, choking whatever's still inside of me. the guy hears it(the beep, not the choke), and hollers over, "what time is it?". somehow i imagine myself shouting back, "its tiger time!" and then breaking into a little jiggy, but then only managed a really weak "eight!" back to him. and then we actually began this conversation...   

messed up dude: hot here init?
me: erm, yeah.
messed up dude: wished there was a fan right by me now.
me: yeah.
messed up dude: god, this is bad. pretty messed up.
me: uh-huh.
messed up dude: i'm marco.
me: *in shock* huh?
messed up dude: i'm marco.me: chris here.
messed up dude: nice to meet you, chris. i'm almost done.
me: good for you.
*his toilet cubicle flushes*
messed up dude: i'm outta here.
*silence*
messed up dude: seeya chris!
me: yeah.

geez. that just happened awhile ago. okie maybe its me, but are the people TOO friendly around here?

so back to my original post. its session 5! yay. so happy. i'm back in cherokee cabin with andy as my co. we;re doing great and our kids are the best yet. better than session 4! there's jim the jaguar steven the snake cooper the cougar conner the crocodile tom the turtle brandon the bear rollie the rolly-polly and parker the python. haha. i'm chris the cheetah while andy is andy the armadillo. and thats the first name game i've played with the kids all summer. the cabin is so awesome, they're into two main things: sproutball and hemp. really shouldn't have introduced hemp to them on monday, they're exhausting my whole roll as each day goes by. everyone loves to make that and they're all damn good at sproutball. the catalyst? on monday morning we had an impromptu game of sproutball against 3 other cabins(just cos we thought we were good), and we creamed them all! so the kids are forever talking about strategies to play other cabins eversince.

its a really good thing when kids find something to bind and bond them together. the chances of them bickering which leads to argueing which leads to quarrelling which leads to fighting gets really slim, and they tend to have so much more respect for us as counsellors. so slowly my quest to learn more and more about handling kids is bearing fruit. lotsa little secrets and methods here and there, but sometimes its really the little things that count the most.
 
so far we've had a really great time as a cabin. the whole lot of them are damn spontaneous and enthusiastic and they know the tasks they need to do in order to have fun. and thats the good thing about having kids who've been coming to camp for 2 or 3 summers liao. the cleanliness of our cabin is the top-scoring yet of all the cabins i've been in so far(and i'm really particular about cleanliness) and we actually have a legit chance of bagging the cleanest cabin award this week! yay.

not many problems with the campers so far with the exception of cooper puking his dinner monday night. i could see the carrots and peas from the chicken pot pies we had for dinner. it smelled bad and it made me wanna puke and yet i still found strentgh to hang out with him outside the cabin for a good hour. also jim is turning out to be a top-notch whiner. no one can beat him. he goes from one extreme to the other with the snap of the fingers. "this game sucks!", "i hate camp!", "we're so gonna lose this game!", "camp is fun!", "this game rocks!" and "we won!" were all actual quotes from this little dude ALL IN THE SPAN OF 1 HOUR during all camp game on tuesday. we're starting to call him 'whining jim' now...

last night was campout night. we were at parthenon pines with cheyenne, just along the perimeter of sage field, its SO good not to have to walk to waterfall and beyond! it was good fun, we had 7 staff, steve dan andy myself jeff jason and james. and we were talkng so late into the night, all the while earlier we were lying to the kids that it was getting really late(they arn't allowed to wear watches), haha. steve has got this big thing about all things regarding the opposite sex. he talks about the female staff and how hot they are(he actually went skinny-dipping with emily, eeks!) and then talk about his sexual experiences and blah. wah lao eh, super detail overload man. i mean really, there're alot of things of this man of 25 that we do not need to know. AND he's engaged to be married in december somemore. asshole. so i just sit there and listen and give an occasional smirk. the rest of the guys are fine, i especially like jeff, one of the camp drivers, and james, one of the camp dishwashers, because they're one of the nicest people in camp. 

also i'm playing the role of data from 'the goonies' movie. its the asian guy and he's like some really good inventor of rubbish. and so i got a standing ovation from everyone today for my really stupid and clownish impression when i wore a trenchcoat and whipped out an entension plastic fist and wanked it at the cheering kids and talked in really broken english. geez, everyone laps up the asian stereotype...

swimming today was hilarious too. the kids decided they wanted to play "let's climb chris". its a really fun game that i like to play with the younger kids who're too young for water-polo. they just attempt to climb all over me while throw them all over the pool. then i do dips, swirls, drags and flips with kids all over me. feels like carrying weights around your body except these weights scream too loud. its really fun and zaq told me today i'm the only counsellor who can make climbing another person so fun for the kids. what a compliments! haha.

apart from all that its my birthday today! and james too(he turns 20)! the camp celebrated my birthday this morning during the breakfast after campout in the dining hall. all the girl staff formed a huge circle in the centre of the hall and i was made to stand on a chair and they sang this love song(that i definitely must go find when i get back home) and then dragged me out(these girls are strong and pumped!) and proceeded to splash me with jugs of water. and all this while the kids(my kids especially) are cheering like mad. outside of the dining hall this morning it was like 10deg c. almost dieded with my whole self drenched. had to quickly rush back to the cabin to get changed.

tomorrow going rafting!!! yay!!! finally get a chance to raft with the kids. really looking forward to it. and saturday will be going estes park with tyler!!! yay!!! so excited! haha.

also thank you everyone for the birthday wishes,  cheers and emails!

2nd Batch of Pix Posted!

next batch of pix posted liaoz. didnt have the time to lable them though. so go figure out the places yourselves. anyone who wants to see but still haven't received my email just lemme know.
 
oh and the 2nd last pic is of linda andy and wesley outside qdoba.

Huge Grateful Soul

spent alot of time online today. felt like i was hogging the computer, but then again the browns have got 5 computers around the house(dunno if there's more) so maybe not. the house is like a labyrinth and i have to admit i got lost a coupla times, 3 stories with attic, tons of rooms and lots of secret doorways and stairs(thats what you have to build when your rich). really grateful for their hospitality and putting up with me.
 
in the afternoon wesley asked me to go to rei with him. its this huge sports and camping departmental store. it was a pretty fun ride. i feel like i can talk to him about alot of things i can't talk about with andy, and he's 50 for that matter. and he's been to singapore and alot of places around asia(he's going to sarawak in december) before so he can relate to alot of things that i speak off(no smoking him though!).  so anyway rei was a blast. its huge, three stories and full of shit equipment. only problem is that its really expensive the things there. in the end i bought a nalgene mouthpiece(which everyone will be envious about when i get back), a thermorest bag(i ordered the thermorest during prodeals) and a utility knife. was fun anyway.
 
also wesley's a super huge collector of ancient maps and he showed me his collection. its huge. and he's just received a large order of ancient chinese maps and wanted me to see if i can read any of that crap for him. which i can't cos its old chinese. okie maybe abit here and there i can figure out but i did tell him i couldn't read most of it, didnt wanna smoke him. he also showed me all his old maps. he's got an original denver map that dates back to more than a hundred years old too. waaaah...
 
dinnertime we went to this mexican joint called qdoba(dunno what's with the americans, so in love with mexican food). i got myself a fajita burrito. its huge. really huge. like twice the size of my fist. 'nuff said. wesley and linda have got alot to ask about singapore and they're really curious about how much its changed since they last went there. so we spend alot of time talking about it. its funny how much you'd know about singapore only when a foreigner asks you.
 
so thats about sums up my day. full of online usage and brown interaction.

A Song for Mama

hey ma,

its me again. been blogging so you can read the updates about my american adventure over there. its been pretty exciting. the colfax area where my hostel was at was, as u had read, really quite dodgy but i do take all the necessary precautions to stay away from trouble, so you dont need to worry kie?

the last few days have been tremendous fun for me, its nice to get back into city life after so long in camp so i really appreciated the walking around and the ppl i met. its great to have company sometimes and then its great to be alone. its amazing how stimulating your mind can be when you're faced with a foreign land and a destination you have never recognised. the sights are pretty magnificent and denver's got quite alot to offer in culture arts sports and city-dwelling. its sposed to be the best state in america to be in right now. streets are clean and safe in the city. alot of homeless ppl on the outskirts tho and it gets dodgy at night. apart from that i've been walking ard alot, taking the bus once in a while and later on linda(andy's mom) wants to bring me to see some other things too(she says i've got to go to the denver natural history museum)!

very grateful to andy's parents for spending so much time and helping me with so much. they're really friendly and nice too and wesley(andy's dad whose an investment banker) is quite knowledgable in asian economics so there's really quite alot to talk about.

i've been reading alot of business magazines in my free time or in general i really read alot initially because there wasnt anything to do but soon it became more of a habit to read into business and i borrow mags from friends or buy them(like the economist and forbes) whose prices are pretty reasonable and they constitute pretty compelling reads. i've been tempted to find out more about mutual funds and unit trusts here and maybe even placing some money here because i'm eligible to now that i've gotten my social security card. anyway just checking things out lah. i read that the japanese funds have grown by leaps and bounds the last few months. was a pity i didnt get into that before i left even though i wanted to.

apart from that life's still a dream to be here and everyday is a adventure for me. i'm keeping my hair long. havent cut it since i left, i dunno if i've gained any weight, havent weighed myself at all. i'm losing alot of clothes - its really easy to survive with a coupla days wear, laundry is easy and i wear boxers so they last me a coupla days each time. the lifestyle here's pretty different from back home but i think it wasnt too hard adapting to it, though i miss the food alot back home. quite exciting about what i'm gonna do when i get back to singapore  and what i'll work as tho. been thinking about it alot but i havent really decided yet.

the upcoming trip down the east coast after the next month is also another exciting prospect. been slowly planning it. seems like joe has decided he's gonna tag along with whatever plans i'm gonna have so i'll be doing all the planning.  so there's alot of excitement still fanning inside of me about the plans ahead.

honestly i think its how you'dwanna spend you time here. i know of staff in the camp who wish they werent around or really lost interest in the job liaoz. and i would think that not everyone if given the chance to be in my shoes would live the life i've spent here the way i did. i chose to spend it with enthusiasm and positivity every single day and even when i go home i will hopefully do the same with my life. its been working for me so far and even at times when i'm down, when i miss home or when i feel lonely i dont let it get to me. i just keep reminding myself that i do not want to regret not doing anything while i'm here thats all.

there have been alot of inspirational moments, speeches, poems, stories and tales that have moved me in my time here. each time i listen and i think and i ponder and then i continuously ask what i want of my life that i currently lead.  i hope to impart all that (or at least watever i remember) to all of u at home and see if it makes a difference in your lives.
 
i hope to share all that i have experienced through my blogs, notes, msges, mail and other forms of communication  so as to help broaden the horizens in which we live. i trully am grateful for this opportunity to be here and you people back home for making all this possible and with that i thank you with all my heart.

missing all of you at home and loving you all always,

yong

Safe in Mile High

okie i'm back in andy's house this morning. can't stress enough how safe it feels to be back but it was a fun and exciting experience living in colfax anyway.
 
so last night after coming back from the library and chilling out in the room with mr uzbek, andy's mom calls and asks if i'd wanna have dinner with them. alas i already had lo mein in zhong express(the chinese restaurant i've been religiously visiting the last three days). so i said maybe tomorrow. then later that evening there's a knock on my door and low-and-behold its andy brown! he says he's come to pick me up cuz his parents wanna meet me. so off i go into their car, there's dad wesley, mom linda, and sister laura. very nice well-off all-american family, dad's an investment banker(i could consider that profession) while mom is a housewife. they've been to singapore before and there's much to talk about. best was that talking to them was like talking to any regular friend. so we kinda hung out for awhile at his place. andy's dad thinks singapore is led by a benevolent dictatorship party which i find hard to disagree with even though i keep maintaining how democratic a republic we are and how our stiff laws get overexaggerated(both andy and wesley keep bringing up the 'can't chew gum case' and the 'micheal fay case', and then almost died when i told them ice water costs 20cents). still it was a fun debate and i'm glad that their good impression of singapore was left intact, if not better. he even showed me his tailor - from singapore! haha its amazing, he says he's been getting suits made in singapore since he last went there 16yrs ago(1988?) and his faithful tailor still has his shop at tanglin shopping centre(dun recall seeing one there before) and he even had the most current letterhead from a recent letter to show me! haha. somewhat fascinating. still i got a feeling this trip will not be the last that i see of the browns. hope they come to singapore someday.
 
really appreciate all that the family's done for me over the break.

anyway before long andy decided he wants me to meet one of his best buds, joe. so we go pick him up and then we go blockbuster to rent a movie - scarface(al pacino, crap show), along the way i entertain them with my story about that scary hobo(speaking of which i got another story). finally we're down in andy's basement and somehow we chance upon laura, get this, DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION playmat! no way! yes! andy says he wants to try it before we watch the movie.
 
2hours later, i still can't dance to the beginner's version of 'heaven' NOR 'blow my whistle' which are easy-peasies, almost twisted an ankle and finally i shout 'fuck it, we're watching scarface now'. andy and joe rolls around laughing.
 
the show stinked. a coupla beers didn't help. went to sleep right afterthat.
 
this morning andy sent me to the hostel to pick my things up, i checked out and then i came back, switched cars and linda andy and myself went to this mexican restaurant called le peeps. that's where laura works. laura(sorry but go out of point awhile) is a 16yr-old japanese goth wannabe. she's shy but she dyes her hair black and has the darkest eyeshadows, digs jap anime and manga, and hopes to go japan next summer. okie just had to add that somewhere. now back to the point... you can tell its not a cheap place, but linda assures me she's buying both of us breakfast(yes, american families go dutch even with their own kids). i have the home farm skillet something-something which wasn't cheap(think of the shit pancakes) and tasted awesome. good breakfast. so now i'm using linda's computer.
 
so one of the highlights while still in the hostel i wanted to mention about was yesterday evening on my way back i stopped by a comics store with a coupla other people. it was raining pretty heavily so i thoguht it would be nice to hang out in there. its really small, but the store's pretty stocked up with memorabilia. i pretended to be interested in the latest simpsons toys(i am interested but no money to buy lah) and the shop owner was damn helpful. felt abit bad to put him through all the trouble. naturally i mentioned a simpson collectible that was really hard to find(homer tree house of horror poseable figurine - series 2, the current series is series 7 and even that series has got little stock left). so he couldn't find it(if he could it would cost me us$50 for it, haha) and apologized. along hte way little did i know that the shopowner had noticed some kids at the corner of his store shoplifting. knn, after he'd settled with me andthen this other guy, he went over and instantly picked two of the three boys up by the collars and started hollering damn loudly. was rather funny seeing them dangling from his strong arms in fear. it was obvious he was damn pissed and he threatened to call the police and their parents. anyhoo in the end he called their parents then let them go. all this while all the other people in the shop including myself were competing to be the most conspicuous fly on the comic wall, keeping really quiet and letting the episode play out without interruption. quite funny lah, thereafter i just browsed awhile more while the owner kept bitching about 'kids these days' before i left quietly.  
 
guess thats so much blogging now. will update later perhaps.
  
 

Denver: State of America's Future Leaders

this is gonna be long. read at your own risk.
 
argh. pretty pissed that my last blog at the common grounds cafe didn't get posted. dunno what the hell went wrong. anyway i'm in denver now. its a nice place, alot like singapore, and then again alot different as well. the hostel i'm staying at which is the inn@the rockies, its the sleaziest place i know. the road outside leading to town(okie so its walking distance to town, but still, probably the last sleazy place before town this place is!) which is colfax is a really shady place. i've been warned by countless people not to wander out at night cause it becomes druggie central. and the hispanic and black population here is tremendous(only here, not in downtown denver where they don't belong). not to mention the number of homeless bums sleeping on the streets. at night i can hear gun shots too...erm, weather's nice though.
 
okie enough of the scary bits. the nice things are that its really near downtown. did i say that already? yes its quite near. i mean after you walked by all the porn stores and liquor stores that is...still the walk is about 20min. did i say near? but there're sights to see(not just the porn stores) and alot of old monuments, churches and buildings.
 
in my last 3 days i've visited the 16th street mall, the coors field, larimer square, sakura square(most disappointing of all), lodo, cherry creek and the denver botanic gardens. thats pretty much the whole of downtown denver perhaps. and all by foot. the place is pretty clean, sky scrapers abound, and the public transport system is pretty good(dun ask me why i went around by foot though). also have taken alot of pictures of the city and i mean alot, will post it online once more when i can get jeff to burn my pix into cd back at camp.
 
okie so in the dumb sleazy hostel i'm in, the people are actually quite nice. there's nothing much to expect from us$16 per night. the innkeeper - lets just call him bob. bob is the exact kinda person whom with one look you know never really led a very good life. he probably studied too hard in school(geek), got bullied too much(wimp) and finally now works too hard for nothing(idiot). at least bob is ultra nice. so if you do the math, bob is essentially the poor guy everyone pushes around like an unwanted heroin packet. well i don't exploit him but i see alot of people who do, so i'm wondering why he hasn't snapped yet. maybe he's just too nice. eeks. still i don't really like him cuz he's slow and inefficient.
 
enough about nice bob. 
 
the hostel room comes as a 4bed-bunked-dorm, with tv, attached bathroom and even a nice little (albeit dirty) kitchen. pillows, blankets and two sets of bedsheets(just so the blood stains on the mattress don't soak through - kidding!) are provided too. i found out this hostel isn't very popular with international visitors(one look out the window and you'll see why) and is instead more popular with americans from out of state. not that this implies the hostel is very popular though. this is my third day here and i see alot of the same people around.
 
the good thing about staying in the hostel though, is that you get to meet tons of people. i've already met a really friendly dutch woman, 4 young brits, 2 koreans, an uzbek and countless out-of-town americans...
 
i travelled around with the dutch woman whose name is merijcke, the first day i was here. she owns a theatrical technical company back in the netherlands, speaks with an english accent and walks damn bloody fast. nonetheless she's really interesting and a ball to talk to. the other significant person is the uzbek, whose name i cannot pronounce nor spell(i think its  acombination of 7 different consonents), but he's a really nice guy and he's an engineer trying to get a job here(fat chance if you don't own a j-1 visa) so he's bunking in for quite awhile. just last night we watched the movie 'phone booth' together. good movie, although it turned into a bonding period for me and mr uzbek. nice. then there's this american fucker named dan who's running away from his family, has done time for alcohol-induced misdemeanors and hitch-hikes everywhere he goes. he's got alot of stories of his travels, some good some bad(mostly bad) but its still pretty interesting and he's been to almost half of the 50 states in america(he can't go outside of the country cuz of his police records). still i just listen when he tells his stories, and boy does he have quite a few. last but not least is the first guy i met who shared my room for awhile, tom. he's an old bird in his 50s who's attempting to start a business in denver, claims he's filthy rich but the whole world owes him money(which is why he's staying in a YOUTH hostel?). looks kinda shady but somehow he and i stuck it off pretty well. he knows abit about singapore and was the first one who gave me all sorts of good advice(which i doubted till they were confirmed). so now i appreciate him for it. at least he was the only one who straight up told me that because i'm an asian i gotta 'watch my behind' if i ever do walk down east colfax, and i respect him for that.    
 
breakfast is served every morning. its terrible. forever pancakes and eggs with orange juice. i still eat it anyway since its free. i don't sleep in too late either cuz there's alot to explore. and i've been out of the hostel by 9am each morning so far. no time to lose.
 
there's quite alot to see downtown. but there isn't much to buy. things are more often than not either the same price as back home or more expensive(food in particular). i haven't bought much so its quite a mystery to me how fast i'm spending my money the last 3 days, though i've been buying a coupla books and mags(among them tim burton's the melancholy death of oyster boy!). so gotta ration my $$ whenever i can.  

one of the highlights of this short trip was yesterday on my way to town. i was taking a photo of one of the old churches when this hobo(homeless bum) stopped me and asked me for the time. i almost freaked out - cos dan's mentioned before that when they wanna rob you they ask you what's your time. i got quite terrified and wanted to dash away asap but somehow i couldn't(must've been petrified). but then he turned out to be pretty okie and REALLY wanted to know the time. so i told him and he asked me where i was from. i told him singapore and he said he wanted to show me a place where i could take some 'good pictures'. that got me quite apprehensive(you never know he might bring me some place to mug me) so i said i wanted to check the place, where i was, out a little more(there was a huge porn store behind me and a small one opposite the road). he said okie and then gave me the directions and walked his way. so anyway curiousity got the better of me so i kinda followed his directions and went to take a look and to my surprise it was the immaculate church(nice place)'s back side where the pastors were serving out free food for the homeless. my, the homeless line was super long man. anyway i just took a picture and then quickly walked back out to the main road. phew. 
 
hmm. aside from that i've been having a blast walking all around town and taking lotsa pix.
 
erm. can't think of much else to talk about regarding my take on denver and that dumb hostel, and time's running out. continue another time. 

oh look! my common grounds cafe post is back! wtf?

The Common Grounds Cafe

am at the common grounds cafe in downtown denver right now. its a cyber cafe like any other in singapore 'cept the people here really look relaxed.

so this morning andy sent me down to the inn @ the rockies just outside colfax avenue. its a pretty nice location(at least i thoguht it was, more on that later) and its about a 15min walk to downtown denver. the place is kinda lock-cock, but for us$16 a night its nothing more than i would expect. at least the toilet's working, there's an attached kitchen and there's tv! there're 4 people to a dorm and there's this uzbekistan guy along with this 50yr-old american man(who claims he's in town to start a business) living with me. kinda shady i'd think. but then again the old man whose name is tom is a pretty nice guy. he know singapore is not in the middle of china and he's been to asia before so there's something to actually talk about. he's warned me that the streets outside colfax are filled with druggies at night and they shoot at anything when they're high, and told me to come back before it gets dark so i guess i'll heed that advice.

the guy who owns this joint whose name i do not know looks like a nerd and a complete pushover. anyway he's pretty nice lah but looks like a bumbling idiot. so i shall not bother mentioning about him anymore.

the lucky bit for today so far is meeting merijcke from the netherlands, this woman in her late 30s who happened to be heading downtown as i was on my way out. i asked if i could follow her and she jested that she would probably end up following me instead. anyway she's in denver to stay for hte night before going up to the rocky mountains to do some camping. pretty nice woman and we had a ball of a time yakking about singapore(she's actually been there before) and i asked her stuff about holland(i've been there before) and i found out she comes from utrecht, this city of 300,000 of which the only time i've heard of was when i was betting on them during the last uefa cup(they're a pretty good outfit). anyways she's a technical director of her own theatric firm and makes big bucks and loves to travel alone(not married) and loves camping out. she's a pretty amzing woman and she speaks with a very deep british accent owing to the people she worked with. so once agian there's alot to talk about between us.

so together we both set off to downtown denver. walked to the 16th street which is a mile long shopping area. its really quite cool! and its like a business district and shopping area rolled into one. the downtown area looks pretty safe, people are educated(89.5% have high school diplomas) and its got this city-spring to it that i missed while in camp chief ouray. the people are of a good mix of hispanic and whites, occasionally a few blacks(they make up only 5.1% of the denver population of 2.4mil) and when i actually do see an asian(yes there are a few here), i have this unnerving tendency to stop and stare. dun ask me why. i'm just weird. i just feel like walking up to them and ask them if they're tourists too, or something. well there's nothing more comforting to see your own kind mixing up with the rest of the norm sometimes isn't there?

so we're at the common grounds cafe right now. its bloody expensive using this dumb pc(us$2 for 20min - so thats how they rob people here) so i gotta end liaoz. been planning the places i wanna visit tomorrow. will be walking down here again, the lodo, the coors field(homoe of the rockies), cherry creek and larimer. so excited. will post pix up if time and finance allows.

watch this space.

Mini-Week: The Pain of the 8yr Old

mini week ended yesterday. i was in cherokee cabin with tyler and we had six kids, steven connor cory robin and the twins, daniel and mattthew. it was pretty fun having 8yr olds though i wouldnt wanna do that for the whole summer. probably 3 days is good enough. boys will be boys, alot of fighting and bickering and crying, but since i was looking so forward to my minibreak, i didn't really let it get to me. ultimately the boys all had a great time. 8yr olds have the shorteest attention spans. they could be fighting one second and hte next they are giving sweets to the kid whol they just had a tussle with so there's really no point bothering about their little conflicts. its all summed up in devotions on monday night when everyone said they wanted to come back to camp next summer because it was so fun.

mini-week is weird because of the schedule. its not the one we're used to, moreover rowdie campfire and opening vespers is on sunday and then monday night is closing vespers liao. quite weird. nonetheless the kids all loved it. among the highlights of mini camp was monday afternoon in the pool where the kids were trying to pile onto me. we had 3 cabins of kids and everyone was playing the 'trying to pile onto chris' game which ended up in alot of flying children(they are so light) and splashing water for a good hour or so. no deaths or major injuries occured. that's what i like.

apart from that the rest of camp was about the same..hmm. i had robin waking me up at 3am monday night to tell me he wanted to call his mom and wanted to go home. then i said its not gonna happen. go back to sleep! and he did. next morning he denied that he ever came into my room before. haha.

i'm starting to develop a very numb mind to the inquisitivity of the 8yr old camper. if the bill cosby-hosted show 'kids say the darndest things'(or that dumb gurmit copy) ever made you laugh, you'd hurl in camp from the things the kids ask.

me: i was in the army for two and a half years...
8yr old camper: wow! did you hold a gun?
me: yes i did, a rifle for that matter...
8yr old camper: did you kill anyone?
me: *nonchalent* no.
8yr old camper: how many enemies did you kill?
me: *nonchalent again* i said no one.
8yr old camper: did you cry?
me: huh?
8yr old camper: did you die?
me: argh. look! *points in vague direction* its a squirrel!

so anyway its mini break now. yesterday andy drove krystle and i down to denver in the night. took us nearly 3 hours of night driving. was quite fun. i didn't expect to be talking so much but krystle was way talkative about her life so we both listened. she was telling us about why she and her boyfriend of 2 years have broken up twice before and blah. she was going to the airport this morning and flying to chicago to surprise her boyfriend while he's thinking she's gonna be in utah backpacking. i thought we were kinda mean when we said that if this whole episode were a movie she'd just go back to chicago to find her boyfriend cheating on her. i think that unsettled her quite abit. then we bitched about some of the staff in camp and then she was telling us about the staff campout last weekend which involved streaking and skinning dipping??! and then we talked politics and why bush won't win the next elections. and then she told us about chicago and what places i shouldn't go to abd then andy was talking about denver and where i shouldn't be aboutat night and blah. along the way we saw a car that was swerving in and out of lanes and was being a menace on the road. so both of them decided to call the police. haha. i don't think i'd ever do that. i'd probably just bochap that since its none of my business. ah see? i am singaporean afterall. anyway they called 911 and the state troopers were pretty efficient and within minutes they called back to say they caught someone of similar identity as described. my, what good citizens they both are.

we had dinner at this greek restaurant called pete's. its pretty good, and krystle paid for andy's dinner for driving her to the airport. i just chipped in abit since he's letting me stay for the night. anyway the plan now is that i'll be moving to the HI youth hostel in downtown denver to stay for the next 3 nights and then i'll come back on saturday to stay with andy again before going back down to camp chief ouray on sunday morning. really nice of him to let us put up for the night last night and i guess i dont want to impose on him with my presence. but he says he wants to bring me to a rockies game some time this week sohopefully that'll work out. his house is like a bloody mansion and its so huge, 3 stories with attic, garden, garage and blah. wow. rich kid.

okie. am all excited about going to the hostel. called the hostel up. the people there seem quite friendly. so hope for the best. ciao.

Session 4: Emotions

okie. so i almost cried. it wasn't easy but i really did. i hope no one noticed, but i was just too overwhelmed thank goodness it was dark by then.

this week is perhaps the best week i've had at camp since session 1. probably even better. the pawnee cabin is incredible. i really miss those kids already, and they were the most in touch with me and tyler as friends than as counsellors. maybe its the age thing. but think they were sad to go too. haiz.

anyway last night we watched kill bill in the cabin using tyler's dvd player(though thats not supposed to be allowed). dawned on me that it was kinda violent when i heard dylan and mike squeal during some of the more gory scenes. the soundtrack also didn't help haha. still i was memorable for the kids and ourselves.

this whole week especially the later part has been a blast. and you always know when you're having a good time when time just flies by you so very fast. its not as though we did anything special or super exhiliarating. it was essentially the company. tyler as a co, the kids who were mischevious and yet respectful of us , and the activities that allowed us to totally go nuts on each other. haiz.

so by the time closing vespers dawned, it started to well up.

this week i decided to present the malay folk song rasa sayang. i got the malay lyrics from the net and then i penned a madarin verse and an english verse on my own. i sang the chorus and then told the crowd to sing along with me. by the time i sang it hte third time, the audience was singing along liaoz. i think alot of people were touched by it because i said that the lyrics which meant 'feeling good' was a sordid reminder to the campers, cits and staff(yes, some close friends are leaving us) that even when we're about to leave, we should all keep our spirits up and enjoy the time we still have rather than feel sad. people were already crying as the song went along. alot of cousellors presented a little something for the closing vespers. it was one of the longest yet, and still it felt like it flew by so fast. all the staff including myself broke into a melancholic hippie dance during elliot katie steve and kelley's perfomance of 'send me on my way', steve self-written song about cco made sarah staller bawl. its crazy. and my kids were cheering me on while i sang rasa sayang. that's something i won't forget. finally we sang 'you've got a friend' together as a staff as a gift to the campers. the girls were crying and the guys were singing solemnly. its such an emotional song each time we sing it 'cept this time its so much more emotional. by the end of hte song i think we spent a good half hour hugging every other staff member. alot of us neglected our kids(me and tyler included) who found their way to the cabin themselves but it was okie cos its our last chance to see alot of them. alot of people appreciated the song too. haiz. goodbye matt clayton sarah jason clay nick karen, i'll miss you all.

okie so on a brighter note. session 4's over!! yay! we're going to andy's house to chill again later on. some of the staff are camping out somewhere in fraser, dunno if i'll stop by in the evening. next week is mini-camp, a three day camp for really young kids and i'm in cherokee with tyler again(double yay!). also i managed to burn my digital pix into a cd! mega yay!! will tryta load them up asap.

okie so thats it for now. oh and by the way, pix are up! lemme know if you wanna see them. leave your email addy in the comments pageand i'll send it to anyone who's interested!

Session 4: Happy Birthday Chuen!

first of all gotta say happy 20th birthday to you bro! so fast so old liao. haha. all the best for all that you do.

okie so this week went by like the wind. i dunno how to begin but this week is perhaps the strongest rival yet to the fun i had during session 1. its incredible how wrong i was with my apprehensions about taking over pawnee cabin. i should never have worried that much afterall. i got 8 kids most of which are 13yrs-old, joel derek dee zach matt micheal cade and dylan. they are about the best kids any counsellor could have/. its incredible especially for stayovers matt and zach, who are like my handimen. haha. if only i got more time to spend with them. more about that later.

the start of the week has been rather eventful.

starting from the weekend. from where i left off after blogging my last entry, i got my laundry done and then proceeded to choose to go to andy's house since brandie was gonna be late. i took the ride with steve and andrew. along the way we bought alot of beer. its illegal to drink if you're below 21 here in america so most of us above 21 had to buy for the 'kids'as we called them. anyway we bought alot. i mean alot. beer is so dirt cheap here a bottle of corona costs less than US$1. we bought like 3-4 dozen boxes and some vodka as well(cos travis wanted to drink quality alcohol...*roll eyes*)also we got steak to bbq for dinner.

so that night we had chirs b steve andrew tyler kevin andy emily evan justin james deseray travis and nick schuh(that fucker..i love that guy to bits!) and alot of people got really high. notably tyler and travis got themselves drunk. travis(the ah-guah) as i've mentioned before, got into this ballerina dancing fit, which was hilarious! and tyler was going around hugging and telling everyone how much he loved them and blah. the rest of us were outside talking and playing drinking games. i actually taught everyone how to play cai-quan or 5-10! and they loved it(they call it 'the awesome game from singapore'!) i learnt a few other drinking games too, and we bitched about sarah bowers the camp bicycle, and jake howard the 18yr old horn dog, among other things... nonetheless we had a really fun night. but i decided not to spend the night because it seemed like getting abit out of hand, so some of us took chris b's truck and went back to camp. i think it was a good decision since we didn't have to clean up and we didn't have to babysit the drunken babies.

so the next day the kids came, it was business as usual, even though it was independence day. somehow my kids were better than what steve and evan had warned me about. really obedient and enthusiastic to have fun too..too bad i wouldn't be around for long. we had opening vespers outside the nordic center, just so we could watch the fireworks launched by the granby town council. we were abit too far but still it was better than nothing though no where near as good as the singaporean fireworks, oh how we under-appreciate all that...

monday i had to go down to denver to pick up my social security card. i had to pick a driver so i obviously chose brandie instead of teri-anne(no one really liikes her, espec maryann, and whoever maryanne doesn't like, i don't like) to send me down. we had sucha swell time bitching and gossiping(bo pianz can't help not gossiping when the opportunity arises) about alot of the staff, who's with who, who's a tramp, who's a bitch, who's a horny bastard and blah blah blah, was sucha fun ride there.

then we realised the social security office was closed. fuck.

xianz means i gotta go down again another day. anyway brandie brought me to this mexican restaurant called pasa bonita where i had chiladas, which is like a smaller burrito, while she had fajitas (fah-hee-tas, like diy prata with fillings lidat), then there was some dumb preformance going on and all that lah but nothing spectacular. then she drove me to this huge mall(like parkway parade 'cept its all in one storey) in a denver suburb which had borders, target(like carrefour), and a few other departmental stores and cinemas and blah. i wanted to split up so that i could go look at stuff i liked, ended up buying myself 2pairs of boxers and a book.

i need to mention that boxers are the underwear to wear around here, everything else is a poor substitute.

so afterthat we went back, still bitching and gossiping...

yesterday i got to be with my kids the whole day! it was campout night! and we got to go to waterfall with arapahoe cabin! yay! arapahoe campers are fuckers. all selfish pigs who care for themselves. i was pretty pissed that our cabin had to carry most of the foodstock so i was really mean to the arapahoe kids...

12yr-old arapahoe camper: i'm tired...*starts whining*
tyler *almost immediately*: shut your puke face or i'll knock you out with my flashlight!
me: yeah! then i'll karate punch you till your braces fall off! and i don't care if my knuckles bleed!

i never heard a word from that camper for the rest of the hike...

alternatively,

12yr-old arapahoe camper: where's the food?
me: you see that cute looking tree over there? *points real far in a general direction* go talk to that tree and don't come back till i ask you too!

okie so its true i sometimes have gotta mean streak, but when you need to shut a camper up, its the only way to go. haha. else i'm still currently known for being one of the nicest(and coolest) counsellors around! then again i threaten everyone with my karate chops. kids have this spectacular fear of karate, and they think no matter how small you can be or how skinny, as long as you know karate or judo, you are god. something like that lah. of course the fact that i sometimes lie that i don't want any of my campers to end up like little jimmy(imaginary camper name), whose hand i "accidentally" "broke" last week, really helps add fuel to the fire of fear in their hearts.

so sue me.

so anyway, when we got up to the mountain(they call it hill but i would like to argue that) after the 2hr hike, we were like mash potatoes with tired bodies lumbering up the bald pated top. yet once up there we were miraculously energized by the scenary around us. it was magnificent! can't describe enough in words. gotta see the pix to understand.
it was a dream campout afterthat - kids in bed by 9.30, counsellors roasting smores by the campfire, counsellors making a bonfire with all the wood available, and basically talking till late. i think this might have just been the best campout ever so far.

this morning we took 45mins to hike downhill and back to camp. then i was subsequently told that i had to go down to denver again to get my social security card. this time brandie was on off, so jeff was gonna be driving me(phew, not teri-anne). the drive there was tiring since i didn't get much sleep last night, jeff lost his way, took us 2hrs in denver just ot figure out where the office was. then had to wait another hour before i was sitting in front of the counter with an old bitch behind telling me that THEY WILL MAIL THE CARD TO ME! argh. fucking waste of my time. whatever. so its back again. i got jeff to drive me to subway for lunch(its the same price here 'cept its in US$) then we went to safeway and then finally back to camp.

was having dinner with katie at the grill just now. we get a good staff discount and we get to watch that wee little bit of tv. was watching lance armstrong take pole position in the tour de france. alot of armstrong fans here(duh, he's an american rep) and i think he's an inspiration to alot of people...

kinda miss vespers since having gone 2 days without it, its heartwarming not only to listen to inspirational tales, songs, poems, quotes of courage honesty responsibility or whatever the topic, but also to hear it from someone else's mouth as they speak with so much conviction and honesty . it makes your heart warm and kinda releases that fuzzy feeling around you and makes you recall your daily actions and evaluate yourself. at least that's the impact vespers have on me. thats why i always put my heart into singing 'guang huai fang shi' and singing the song 'you've got a friend' with the other staff. this coming closing vespers i've decided to sing my own rendition of rasa sayang. still waiting for mom's mail of other nice chinese songs to arrive. anyone has got any suggestions feel free to comment...

this blog is way too long. will blog again come saturday - mini-week next week!!!!!!!

Session 3: Saturday Night Fever

so happy the week's finally over.

some of the kids this week were driving me nuts especially yesterday and today with their quarrelling and fighting. ian stimely and ryan in particular. i keep talking to ryan about his anger management problem over the week but he's still getting into very heated arguements with the other kids(stimely in particular who likes to insult him) and it doesn't work out too well cuz although he doesn't hit people as much since i started having the one-on-ones with him, he still gets upset very easily. and its frustrating to have to explain stuff to him over and over again just cuz sometimes he refuses to listen. and he's only 10. geez. i can totally picture him as some murderous rampaging employee who guns down his emplyers in the near future. haha. shite. thats not too funny. the only consolation is that he gave me a hug and thanked me for everything before he left.

haiz.

the other big thing is that i've gotta move outta ute cabin!! boo hoo hoo! i'm gonna be in pawnee cabin with tyler next week dealing with 13yr-olds all because i handed in my cabin request too late. shit man. somemore travis(my co this week) told me he had requested to be my co again this week whichever cabin i may go but he got nick shouh instead(i love that guy but travis doesn't really get along with him), so he might be thinking i had requested not to be with him. argh. anyway i told him just now that we will try to be co-s again sometime this summer.

i think that's about all i got for today. still in the rac(religious activities centre) using the internet here cos its so much faster. doing my laundry as well. later tonight i got 2 different programs to choose. one's going to andy's house again for fajita dinner! and the other would be to watch dodgeball with brandie and deseray. i really wanna do both but since my laundry takes at least an hour more and i've still gotta move my things to pawnee cabin later, i guess i'll just see who's still around when i get back to cco...

Session 3: Going Through the Motions

yay. session 3 was really a go through the motions week for me. dunno why. think its because i had such good campers. this week the campers ages were 10-11 which is lower than the normal ute cabin age of 11-12(which does make alot of difference!).

anyway i had ryan joe robert ian.stimely ian.anderson erik and dylan and they were all good kids. travis is my co this week. they listen to me all the time and think i'm super cool because i dressed up as jackie chan on monday for this all camp game and now all the kids in camp call me jackie chan hahaha. travis is abit of an ah-guah. just two nights ago there was a mouse in the cabin and he was screaming like a girl and didn't dare get off his bed. wtf? anyway other than that he's pretty good and neat haha, and he says i'm the best co he's ever worked with so he wants to do another week with me and i agreed. doesn't matter who i do co with anyway.

yesterday was a highlight.

tim is a semi-paraplegic(is that how you spell it?) and he was on my hiking cluster yesterday. we were to hike to bear cave which was about 2 miles away. so the whole hike i stayed behind and held his hand and walked him there. there's something very satisfying to interract with a child who's refuses to allow his disabilities cloud his ambitions. somehow i considered it a priveledge to have been given this opportunity to walk with him when other counsellors didn't look up for the task. we talked alot and even though his speech was slurred you could comprehend that he had a vast ocean of experience that he wanted to share. it was an enjoyable walk and even though we lagged in time, i managed to keep my promise of allowing him to see bear's cave. on the way back we had to rush back for lunch so i piggy-backed him back to camp. i guess thats one trully memorable highlight of the week.

apart from the that my camper ryan is a pain. he's always getting into fights with other kids and i have to drag him to one side to talk to him about self-control. i thought he might have been able to change but he's still annoying people when he know's he shouldn't thought he doesn't hit people anymore because i threatened to send him home. still i do hope he'll change for the better. he comes from an abusive family so i really dunno what's gonna become of him in the future. i wrote to his grandmother(who's taking care of him) about how i'm taking care of him and all that but still haven't received a reply yet. hope he will change bah.

other than that the only other highlight was catching spiderman 2!!!! i loved it!!! we watched it at granby which is a super small theatre. i got kicked by alice cos she got scared watching it and i was unfortunate enough to be sitting beside her. geez. the theatre inside looks just like the old republic cinema! only its got 2 screening rooms thats all. haha.

Session 2: Late Entry

blah.

session 2 went by so fast i didn't even have time to blog about it. still in ute cabin. i remember i had 8 kids, the 3 stayovers john ax and ian, graham tyler peter conor and jacob.

possibly everything went by same as session one except the kids were different, my co was clayton this time. i think he's pretty awesome but he's not got he's counsellor work really cut out for the older kids. what's more the 3 stayovers in this session were more used to my style in the same cabin and so maybe it was kinda frustrating for him sometimes when it looks like he can't control the kids. its like sometimes he's too soft witht he kids and so they don't listen to him and i have to step in to shout at them to get ready then only they'll do it. anyway he said he wanted to deal with younger kids who dun ask so much questions and listen to him all the time...which is why he's in kickapoo this week(8-9yr-olds)

anyway i can't really recall much, i have most of it in my journal though since i didn't use the net at all last week.

i remember my camper jacob most fondly. he 11, and is an incredibly bright kid but he's got adhd which is an attention disorder and he gets into these instances when he's freaking out like an energy bulb that wouldn't go off. and he insults people alot too. but duno why i've got this softspot for him even though he's rude to me at times too. was quite sad to see him go. throughout camp every time i talk to him or berat him about something he'll say really hurtful stuff like he hates me, i'm crazy, i'm weirding him out and all that blah, but somehow i never gave up on him. still dunno why. but on friday during our candy night in the cabin he told me and clayton and that he really had an awesome time in camp and he liked us both(was suspicious of his words) then on saturday when he was about to leave he specially came up to me and gave me a big hug! and he said something to the effect of him having had a great time which totally melted my heart.

the other significant camper i'm going to miss is john. he's come from a poor family and had to be sponsored just to come to camp. seesion 2 he's really become like my lieutenent. everything i need done he'll support me by asking the rest of the cabin to do it, and he would also do things steady steady too, no more nonsense like in session 1. its amazing how much he's changed. maybe he feels more like an older brother with more responsibilities when the opportunity is given to him and he embraces it so preciously. it was sad seeing him go too. he hopes to make it to the nfl someday. i really hope he studies hard to get into college and makes it.

haiz. and its the little things like these that totally makes the shit during the week all worthwhile. really indescribable, but its a good type of feeling i've hardly experienced before. and here's where we change the world.

marty(our director) told all of us to close our eyes last sunday during a very grim staff meeting, dunno why but the energy seemed abit damp. he spoke of how he had wanted us to change the world in the beginning of camp, then he asked us to think to ourselves if we have done that. my immediate thoughts went straight to jacob and john and how much they've changed since i first met them when they came to camp. i felt real good. i think alot of the staff also thought hard about it cause when he told us to get out there to take in our new kids i felt a sense of reinvigoration about all the staff from their cheers and new-found enthusiasm. its really amazing.

the weekend was a blast. andy invited me kevin kolby and luke to have a guys night out at his parent's resort home(which coincidentally happens to be the old camp chief ouray back in the 60s) which is really a resort home. we bought booze(first time in almost 2 months) and cards and rented a movie to watch. had lotsa fun but at night some of the other staff elliot kelly sarah gina chris b. mora and hans all came over to enjoy the bbq with us with even more booze. i didn't drink too much(but booze is bloody cheap here) and we all had a great time playing jenga and this card game called euche(yoo-ker) which is way fun! next morning i had a 30min warm bath and a good breakfast at the commons before reporting back to work.

what a fast week.

anyway will continue with session 3(what's going on now...) on friday when i get time off. got to go now, going to catch spiderman 2!!!