Camp is almost over... 6 weeks go by fast

It is 2 am and I wish I was asleep.

My head is filled with so much stuff I can't even think. I am so tired I could lay down on the carpet and fall asleep.

Tomorrow is mock wedding day and apparently I got hooked into being the rabbi. (Or did I volunteer?) I think I'm gonna try to get out of it.

Friday is the last day of camp. Here is my to-do list until then:

-Pack up/ clean up camp
- make sure newsletter gets done
- make sure slide show gets done
- design and print off labels for cd's (trying to figure out how to do that...)
- make sure bunk pages get done
- lots of other stuff I can't remember now.

My camp director went out of town for her brother's wedding. On the last day of camp, it will be just me... now my skills will be put to the test.

IY"H on Sunday night I will be home in my bed asleep, hopefully for at least 16 hours.

Funny things I ponder: why is lightening silent?

KENNYWOOD!!!!!!!!!!

I rediscovered the reason why I don't go on roller coasters. It has something to do with the fact that I do not enjoy, nor do I get a thrill out of having my stomach and heart drop out of my body. Why people enjoy this is beyond me.

My friends when sky flying. It is a cross between bungee jumping and sky diving. They asked me if I wanted to come. I just laughed.

I went on the water ride 3 times in a row. It was so much fun, I got soaking wet, and that was one ride that I didn't mind the feeling of falling out of my seat.

It was a great day. Now back to work.

Last week! Countdown: in 7 days I will be home.

Mr. Roger's neighborhood!

It was my favorite show as a kid. FAV-VOR-RITE. He was my friend. Every time the show came on it was like I was visiting his house.

We went to a radio station today, WQED. They started off with an introductory speech and video. When I found out that the show Mr. Roger's neighborhood was taped there my mouth dropped open.

They still have the original tree and castle that was used in the show.

I miss it, because it was a part of being a kid. Forget Disney Land, this was way cooler.

Take your favorite hero, tv character, book, singer, idol, times it by 5.

Hello World. I went to Mr. Roger's neighborhood!!

The mystery called Love

This article has been published in The Jewish Press




It's like black and white,
like day and night,
these two emotions,
two styles of love, so different.

Can they live in harmony?
Or must we choose one over the other,
and abandon one to the way side,
live without it,
because it is not a necessity?

Or is it something
that people much older and wiser would say,
with a wave of their hand,
'oh one day you will understand'.
But will I? Or do they just like to give advice...?

With a rose, on one knee,
a dance in the moon light,
a kiss in the candles glow,
but do you know,
is it real, or a product of too many movies?

A touch,
a hug,
a loving word.
Getting lost in the depths of another human being,
so enthralled, you see no one else.

A poem,
a letter,
comfortable silence.
A text, a phone call,
a reminder of a bond so strong.

Holding hands,
walking barefoot in the sand,
hair flying in the wind,
in a lovers embrace,
with a breathtaking sunset as a back drop.

Black and white,
learning quietly, or with a chavrusah,
watching from afar,
shepping nachas,
eyes bright with tears.

A glowing face,
a fresh bride,
a fresh groom,
pure and whole,
with life ahead and memories to make.

And no memories to be destroyed,
or forgotten, buried,
or rewritten,
until it is like it never happened,
because it should never have happened.

A peek through the curtains
so eager to see his face,
so happy,
and yearning to live life
together as one.

Sitting close together,
secure in his embrace,
a familiar scent, comforting,
and the reassurance that he is there,
next to you.

Things that are meant to be hidden,
but are revealed,
things that are meant to be private,
but are shared,
moments that should be yours only.

Like black and white,
day and night,
these two emotions
two kinds of love
so different.

Pure,
impure,
Love is a mystery to me,
a big question mark,
uncharted waters.

G-d and religion,
the whole shebang,
kids and family,
doing it, doing it well,
does the 'L' word have a place here?

A heart-
not a beating heart-
a pink heart, symbol of love,
does it have anything to do with life?
Or is it a figment of someone's creativity?

World,
if I throw myself into your waters,
if I throw myself into your arms,
let me know if I get it right,
or if I am spiraling down into the darkness,
searching for something that I do not know,
have never seen,
and will never find.

Love-
will I ever find it?
Or am I searching for something
that does not exist?

My collection

It's cooler then a glue bracelet... (those were fun to make in class)

And cooler then a bottle cap bracelet... (fun to make at the shabbos table)

It's even cooler then the friendship bracelets, and those were pretty popular in its time (I never really got into these, they were complicated to make)

The lanyard bracelets are still in style, but these are cooler even then that... (always a camp craft)

If you haven't heard of them, that's okay. Either you are old, living in a foreign country and they will arrive within five years, or you are just madly out of style. It is a really popular creation called silly bandz.

I personally have my own collection.

Yes, I only have two, but as a very wise 8 year old once told me, a collection can start with one, and grow to 74. So one day, maybe I will boast.

Here they are:

An A for Altie. This one I got from the 8 year old in question.

And an awesome CGI one. The shluchim I work for had them specially made.

So there you go. My silly bandz collection.

ROAD TRIP!!!!

I ended up in West Virginia today. Now I can check that off the map.

We were driving to an outlet mall. We saw a big sign for it, but me, being a stickler for the rules said, the GPS didn't say anything about that, so it must be just a bill board. We drove 30 minutes out of our way, and saw a big sign saying welcome to West Virginia. Yay!

We stopped off at a gas station rest stop to stretch, bathroom break, and ask for directions to Washington PA. They sure like their 'R's' over there. The guy told me to turn right and keep going to 'Warshington PA'.

After a few more wrong turns, and asking an Indian guy for directions, which only I could understand, it turned out that if we turned our heads just a bit we could see that sign that we spotted waaaaaay back when, and yup, we found it!

Only 40 minutes to shop until closing, but I managed to get some stuff.

Everyone agreed it was a fun day even though we got lost, and I can now say that I was in another one of the great 50 states of which I will eventually cover all of them.

Shabbos in frum suburbia

I took a mikva dip. Not literally.

Shabbos was nice. We were in Squirrel hill, the frum community of Pittsburgh. I always wondered what it would be like. It wasn't that interesting.

It was weird to be in a frum community and in a real shul again. Little girls running around in shabbos clothes and white tights, little boys running with yamulkas flying, mothers with little kids, men in talleisim, and single guys. It was a strange feeling. Hard to describe. It was tentative, like I don't really want to be here, but maybe, just maybe, it won't be so bad. And it wasn't.

I stayed by a really nice family, and as it turned out, they know my brother. Small world.

4 down, 2 more weeks to go. I am looking forward to the end, and a little bit of me time finally.

Tensions are running high. Is it just me, or is it that time of the month?

Time to stop thinking and UNTHINK.

Gnite world.

New beginnings

I watch the water shimmer and move, so many colors reflected in its surface. It looks like a kaleidoscope, so many shapes, moving and breaking up, then merging together again as one. I see someone under water but they are blurry. It is like an illusion. One second I see them, and the next, I'm not sure I saw anything at all.

Life has many facets and aspects. It irks me how sometimes it is so unclear, everything is blurry, like I lost my glasses. But at other times, it is clear as day.

The end. It feels so final. But at the same time, it has a satisfying ring to it. It feels good to be able to close the door on one chapter of your life, and be proud of what you did, and have something new to look forward to. No matter how many endings in life there may be, know that there will always be a new beginning.

Carnival day!!!

I hear the carnival was a success.

I was actually there, but like most events that I'm at, especially if I am a planner, not a participant, it passes so fast that by the time I blink it is time to clean up and go home.

The pop corn was good, the cotton candy was sticky, the kids were happy. I got a flower painted on my cheek, I did a bubble gum race with a camper and won, I took lots of pictures and said hi to many parents. The clean up wasn't so bad. And even though I didn't feel substantially prepared for it, as I hardly ever feel prepared, it ran pretty smoothly, and thank G-d it's over.

Can't believe week 4 is almost done. Soon enough I will be back at home in my bedroom wondering how the heck camp passed so fast. Tis a wonder.

Sleep

It's funny to note the difference between waking up late for school, or camp. When you wake up late for school you say oh well, turn over and go back to sleep. When you wake up late for camp you say oh @#$% get up quickly and throw some clothes on. The difference is you are responsible for something other then yourself.

The solution is, go to sleep earlier, but you know that's never gonna happen.

Bits of this and that

We visited the fire station finally. They let us jump into their uniforms and try on their boots and hats. I was a spoil sport and didn't want to try anything on. Plus it was hot out. Does being a year older (then the other counselors) make a difference, or are those things just not fun for me?

This was after I started the fire. They mentioned that they were just next door to put out a fire. That was us.

Thank G-d the week is over. 3 down, 3 to go.

Today it poured. It was so hot this week I was looking forward to the rain. The heavens opened up and dumped its contents onto us. It was great, except I stood outside to do pick up and got wet. This is the first time in a long while that I used an umbrella and to my pleasant surprise, it kept me decently dry! Weird.

Still no idea what I'm doing next year. Wish I could snap my fingers and make it happen.

The shlucha mentioned to me that she liked the signature in my email. It says 'It's all good'. That's also on my phone. Sometimes I remember this, and sometimes I just want to mope about how bad things are. Is there ever a time to mope?

Tonight we are having a camp shabbos meal, so my job isn't over yet. It will be nice to see the campers out of a camp setting.

I made a challah with sprinkles and chocolate chips on it. I hope it tastes good.

Have a good shabbos everyone.

It was so hot that....

A crayon that was left outside melted, and turned into a blob of wax. Pretty cool huh.

Every day we say, lets put an egg on the floor and see if it will fry. Probably will. Good for drying clothes though.

Oh when will the rain come and wash away the heat?

My 4th of July

It started out normal, but ended off with a fright.

We had a fun day at Fun Fore All, an indoor arcade place, with outdoor go carting, bumper boats, rides, miniature golf, batting cages. It was lots of fun. We got soaking wet squirting each other on the bumper boats, I got hit in the arm by a flying soft ball, while I discovered that I suck at baseball, and the go carts were not that much fun now that I drive a car all the time.

We came home and had a barbecue, in one of those mini outdoor portable grills. The hamburgers crumbles cuz I put too much sauce in it. I am slowly learning that I have no skills. I left the coals to burn out and be disposed of later, and we went to a family's house to celebrate their son's birthday with cake. Afterward we were gonna go watch the fire works.

The grill wasn't hot anymore so I took it to the dumpster and poured the coals in. It smoked a bit. I should have known.

I went inside for a bit, stalled, went on the computer, hung around. Then we left to go to fire works. And I noticed the garbage dump smoking. Then came the flames.

I wasn't so calm. I called 911. It rang and rang and no one was answering so I hung up and called again, it still rang like five times until someone picked up, and I thought maybe it was an automated voice, or perhaps police isn't 911 here. Their customer service sucks.

Luckily, I knew the address of the Chabad house, and also luckily, we are staying right next store to a fire station. Some girls ran over to call them, and knocked and knocked and it took awhile for someone to come. Then they took their time getting into the truck, getting the hose, etc etc. They said cuz it was contained in the garbage dump it wasn't that dangerous.

The Rabbi came, spoke to the police and fireman.

Every day we say, let's go visit the fire station. And we never do. Finally, they came to us. Kind of ironic.

I saw some fire works in the sky, as we drove around and around. Thank G-d it was fine, everything was ok, I handled it fine even though I was freaked out.

That was a 4th of July I'll never forget.

Happy holiday.

2 down 4 to go

Thank G-d it's happening.

The cutest was on Friday. I had each bunk prepare a skit to present during shabbos party, based on the sheur of the week. One thing we taught this week was kosher. One bunk got up. Their presentation was a game show called kosher or not kosher. They had a host, and contestants. The contestants were presented with food items and had a 'buzzer' (plastic cup) and had to say whether that food was kosher or not kosher. The counselor told me the campers came up with it on their own. I was shepping nachas.

Oy how I sigh when things go wrong, when information doesn't get passed along, when I tell people things ten times and they still don't listen. Oy how I get upset when I feel things get messed up and it's all on my head. But I am human and I am not perfect.

That's all for now folks. Enjoy your week.