Camp Royal Day 2 - It is darn cold at night

2010-06-14 06:10

I woke up this morning at 04:55.  I had been stupid enough to not zip up my mummy-style sleeping bag all the way to my head, and now I have a slight nasal congestion.  As a typical journal, this entry will serve as a reminder that it gets COLD out here.

Here's why:

My arms were much cooler to touch compared to my legs.

My face felt like it had been a long day in the sunny ski slope.

And most definitely, my water bottle had ice in it as I was taking some medicine.

This is just COLD.

However, I must say that I won't be stopped by such conditions.  Getting sick is not an option for me this week.  And I totally will get used to protecting myself from the changing weather soon.

2010-06-14 13:11

So it is now just a few moments before the presentation, so here will be a quick musical sketch.

2010-06-14 17:57

Here, it's almost time for dinner.  If there's anything that made my day it has to be that picture of Bar, the camp dog, crossing that wooden plank suspension bridge.  So how'd that happen...I'll quickly recap the last hour.

I went down towards my platform, and I saw Corral/Aquarius about to [walk to the river].

2010-06-15 23:16

Reflection time.  This was a pretty amusing and wonderful first [full] day of camp.  Alex just told us to think about one thing that happened today in camp that we really liked, so that we would forever remember it.  I'll think about that and reach some kind of conclusion about my first day.

"When I woke up this morning," I had no idea what to expect out of this place.  It was great on the way up, since sitting in the front of the bus allowed me an excellent view of the mountains and the river.  That was a pretty good tonic there.  I haven't seen nature that good since April, when I last went to Lake Tahoe.  And yeah, waking up was exactly the same feeling as going to sleep.  I managed to awake to the sound of water rushing by in the river below our platform.  As for the night skyline, that was replaced with a pale blue and mostly reddish sky - as far as I remember - since I woke around 04:55.  The firs thing I felt was that my nose was very clogged.  A nice soft tissue fixed that, and I headed back to bed for about an hour.  so next awakening was when the rest of the boys, or er, men, on my platform all had their alarms for 06:00.

So yeah, I'll need to speed things up a bit.  Writing by hand is extremely therapeutic, and also very satisfying to my mind.  However, with teh amount of detail I want to put into my log, I really would need a computer to get my words down faster.

For my morning activity, I had Chau's Chi Gong lesson. Eh, I'll get the right spelling later.  I have to say, breathing is really a pretty darn important thing to remember.  That lesson really helped wake me up.  I have to say that Martial Arts lesson deserves the status of a purely intellectually stimulating activity.  The third one in this year 2010.  First being snowboarding, and second being drumming with Mr. Nguyen's band.

Breakfast was nice.  Oatmeal, always a nice camp breakfast.  Biscuits, so fresh, so flaky, so...everything you get in the store plus more.

Motivational speaker - or hope dealer as he calls himself - Jeremy.  Awesome guy  Just the kind of guy we need more of in real leadership positions at school.  So open, so caring, humorous, and, by popular demand - the ethos appeal of "I made it" after having a totally hopeless childhood.

Lunch - eh, first infraction for me.  Not feeling uncomfortable but might as well write it down.  I simply forgot to tell Alex where I was...talking to Jeremy.  That's okay.  I'm only human.  Here goes my defense system...I really do get this camp and COSMOS mixed up. I miss being able to just write down where I would be on that sing in/out chart.  Amazing experience there and here.

Alright, it was Lain after lunch.  It worked out nicely with his activities of being with partners, and then helping the Rotary club check those synthetic hands.

Alright, moving along.  Meditation.  "Breathe in as you are smelling a flower and blow out as you are blowing out a candle."  It works.

And my eyes are tired, my wrist is sore from this frantic scribbling.  And I need to respect the guys asleep and turn off my flashlight.

Free time - managed to go to the River, as discussed earlier. It works nicely, despite no time to swim.

"It works nicely" is now my weird phrase of the week or something.

Alright dinner.  I forgot...err, meatloaf.  I had the veggie stuff.  Dessert...cake!

After dinner...speakers, the psychologists.  And skis.  Totally funny.  Now the Pines need to step it up.

In conclusion...great first day, mind is open and ready to accept challenges, fail, then learn.