Wait, you're not his wife? Awkward...

The last day as a councilor was rather bitter sweet. I was excited to know that I would finally be getting sleep again, but it was sad to say bye to everyone. It's interesting being a councilor because one day you have these teenage girls plopped into a group with you, and with in hours they've decided that you're pretty cool but you don't really know them yet. Some of them bare their souls to you, others are quietly reserved. Some are the ones who stand out in the crowd and another would happily sit on the sidelines. Some make matches, others have hearts broken. Some just want to play and others are desperately looking to see if there is room for them in the music world. All in one week. Some of my girls I got to know quite well, and others I never really was able to connect with. Each night I got consecutively less sleep culminating in a conversation ending Saturday morning at 3am. Some times I just wanted to be done and go home, but I'd do it again in a heart beat. So, here are my last few entertaining thoughts for you.

Friday night was the Jazz concert. I like jazz, but not in concert form, I love dancing to it or having it as background music, but I struggle in the formal concert setting. I was actually rather glad when one of my girls realized that she had left her straightener on and we had to go back to stop Heritage from burning down. She saved me from falling asleep and being incredibly embarrassed.
The Friday night dance was much more of a success than the one on Tuesday. Would you believe me if I said there were hardly any line dances? Yeah, just a couple and people seemed fine with that. I spent most of the dance floating between pretending to monitor the halls and dancing with my girls. It was quite fun. I remember being fifteen and going to Summerfest and loving those dances so it was really fun to watch them. About half way through the dance there was a slow song, which is nothing really worth noting but I noticed one of the councilors was coming over to ask me to dance (you know that really awkward point where you know someone is gonna ask you but they still have ten feet left) well as this councilor walks over this little fifteen year old pipsqueak asked me to dance. I was slightly irked, but it only got more amusing. The councilor who was coming to ask me had to make an awkward turn and ask the next closest female and my young partner looked at me and said: "You're Scott's wife, right?"
me: "uuuuuuhhhh. nope." (in my head: his wife is pregnant... you PUNK!)
kid: "Ohh, cause all week I've thought you were his wife"
me: "yeah, you must have me concerned with someone" (in my head: and here comes an awkward dance... and all week he thought I was a pregnant lady... and the fact that I never talked to Scott or anything all week didn't tip this kid off... not the brightest crayon in the box are we?)
As far as awkward dances go, this one takes the cake. I have to feel sorry for the kid, cause he never really recovered after I told him that I was actually single and not Scott's wife. How do you recover from that? "Oh, my bad for mistaking you for a pregnant lady..." Yeah, there's no recovering. Ever. So I got to experience the awkward high school shuffling dancing to a slow song while you make awkward conversation about stupid things like the color of your toothbrush. (Admit it, you've asked or been asked that before.) There is a reason I go for boys who know how to dance, I hate to shuffle awkwardly. And, it was a Waltz, and I love waltzes. Grrrr.
Post dance there was much girl chitchat over boys and such at the dance, and actually a certain some one's planned romance may actually turn into something more... we'll see. I'm intrigued at the very least. I was happy cause I got to swing dance again and also got in one real slow dance, and my girls all seemed to really enjoy the dance too. Those who wanted to stayed up and partied with us for the next few hours and I taught Gina how to spiderman up the wall. It was epic.
After many hours of teenage fun (I loved being with those girls because I felt I could regress back to my highschool self around them, which was really really fun) we finally crashed and headed to bed at 3am. Yeah, breakfast came early.

Final Observations:
~ Sleep deprivation, lousy food, and cranky head councilors were all worth it.
~ Summer romance was found for many a young girl and boy at camp. Precious.
~ Being called some guys pregnant wife does not cause you to love a certain young camper more...
~ Unrequited love is also a theme of camp... tragic, but true
~ Driving six hours on four hours of sleep is just rotten. Sleep and driving hours should never move past a 1:1 ratio. EVER.
~ Apparently the Spice Girls will never go out of style at cheesy dances.
~ Having your birthday at summer camp is freaking awesome, particularly if you are a councilor.
~ Lack of sleep causes you to do rather stupid things and admit stupid things in front of those who you are in authority over. Particularly if you have a very inquisitive mind around.
~ One should never climb a wall too many times. Ohhh the pain.
~ Simply by virtue of being a councilor each man is invariable more attractive to young teenage girls... just ask a few who I worked with... they had them ranked.
~ Just because you've never talked to someone doesn't mean you can't be incredibly good friends by the end of one week together. I had never had a single conversation with Gina before last Sunday, but I absolutely loved getting to know her.
~ Councilors worry about what the kids think of them. A lot. Way more than I would have ever expected, I remember worrying that my girls would think that I Was a fruit loop.
~ Councilors shouldn't worry. The unconditional support from campers is awesome.
~ Teenage girls are easier from a councilors perspective, they just want to giggle all night. Teenage boys want to burn things and hang from the rafters.
~ Secretly there are about five campers who the councilors are afraid of and would love to send home. These children are prayed for, but at the same time each councilor watches for an infraction that will free them of these problem children. Luckily I didn't have any in my group.
~ Some parents are psycho. No, really. We would get phone calls from panicking parents who hadn't heard from their children in one day. Yeah... you sent the kid to summer camp for a week, perhaps they are busy, or having fun... calm down. BYU really isn't that scary... now if it were that nasty red school to the north, I'd make my child check in every hour...
~ If you ever have to eat an on campus dining plan, the Cannon Center is the way to go. They serve REAL eggs. And the food probably can't walk away by itself. The Morris Center, well, perhaps another week there and no punk camper would think I was some guy's pregnant wife.
~I'm not actually bitter about being called someones pregnant wife. I find it rather funny.
~ Being a councilor is worth every moment. Know that. I wouldn't change a thing.

From the Mouths of Babes

Hi all, I know you are hanging on the edge of your seats to hear about the last day of camp, but you'll just have to wait for Sunday night. I'm headed to Boise for a wedding. But never fear, I've made a list over the week of my favorite quotes so I hope you get a kick out of them.

~ Drop it like it's hot!!! *guilty look* The Mormon way... ~ Skyler
~ I would dance with him anywhere... *sigh*~ Lizzie S.
~ And then we sat at this empty table and there was boy after boy after boy~ Rachel
~ FIVE ONE!!! ALL I WANT IS A FIVE ONE CADENCE!!! IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK?!?!~ Lizzie C.
~ And he's beautiful... I saw him today and he said hi, at least I think it was him. We're going to get married, I can tell.~ Jayne
~ AWKWARD WHITE SAILOR PANTS SCREAM GAY MAN.~ General female consent
~ Those boys were BALD!!! ~ Jayne
~ KISS HER!!!~ Mark, not actually one of the babes I am generally referring to, but he yelled this right as the movie got quiet, and he'd only recently lectured the kids on not getting "involved" at camp.
~ Summer Festers ~ Dr. C
~ And my ex is here and all he wants to talk about is his stupid new girl friend~ Lizzie S.
~ He's cute, marry him~ Various girls at various times
~ There are just so many beautiful boys here and I'm still fifteen until January. It's not FAIR!!!~ Jayne
~ Well clearly if he likes cherry coke and you don't then the marriage is off. You can't build a marriage on beverage distrust.~ Jayne
~ We're in love, I haven't talked to him yet, but we are~ Lizzie S.
~ You so hott hott hott hott, think I be hollrin' if you not not not not...~
~ You mean I get to pull her into me, YES!!!~ Comment by a certain young gentleman as he was learning the cuddle at swing dance night.
~ Yeah, that's how I rope girls in for first dates, here ladies see this cute child I'm available divorced and you could have a baby right off... ~ Mark being sarcastic (he's really single and had been showing pictures of a nephew or something)
~ I KILLED LIZST, FOR THE THIRD TIME!!!~ Janessa
~ You got the IDAHO councilor, and my girls were like 'we're bushwhacking in heels'~ Marilyn
~ I made two matches straight from heaven, what a week~ Jayne
~ Basically this week was just a big bouquet of roses, I love you guys~ Kim

Are we dancing?

Yesterday wins the record for some of my girls sleeping in waaaaaaaay too long. Let's just say they made it to class only a little late and that was a miracle. We should have all been up early because Wednesday night there was tons of time to go to bed early. But apparently my girls are just as bad as Gina and I. We went to bed at one. Oops.
My girls continue to amuse me. Jayne being the most amusing one by far. She's really into getting Gina married off and it's getting more and more comical. Last night after we had done the devotional there was a mysterious knock on the door and in tumbled Jayne, Lizzie and Janessa. They were holding a love note written to Gina the contents read something like this:
My Darling Dearest Gina,

I know from the start you were not pleased with my affections, but I can withhold them no longer. I must tell you how I feel. I love everything about you, your beautiful hair, your elegant hands, your laugh... (it continued quite some time like this)
Always yours,
a certain councilor

This was quite the love note, and the girls were extremely pleased, however, upon closer investigation we discovered it was either a fake or this certain councilor was awfully feminine... from the purple pen to the round circles over the "i". Yeah. Then suddenly Gina announced that we were going to read the note in our next councilor meeting and for some odd reason those girls wanted the note back. Tragic. Apparently my love will be coming with a note for me tonight... should be good.

Last night was the student recital, I missed most of it though because I was getting ready to teach swing dancing. I was sooooo nervous to teach because I've done a lot of swing dancing, but that was over a year ago. It went really really well. I'm always really impressed with LDS boys, they, as a general rule, are really good about learning to dance. I'm not sure you would see that anywhere else. We weren't even on guys to girls, but everyone was good about trading around. We had about 70 kids total. We taught them the basic steps for east coast a left and right turn and then we really caught their attention. We taught them the cuddle. We said those words and we had the attention of the whole room, it was like magic. Who'd have thought. Then we decided to live on the edge and teach them the lean. We let them dance for the last twenty minutes and those who were really catching on we taught them a simple dip. Tonight at the real dance they are going to play some swing so that our kids can show off what they know.

Observations:
~Love can be found at summer camp. Know that. Lasting love, not so sure, but love, apparently yes.
~Ukulele boy is a player. See previous posts.
~To make sure they always look pristine every day a few of my girls still get up at 5:30 to be ready for 8:00 class. They are better souls than me. I would NEVER do that. Twenty minutes of prep time, max and only for dates.
~ The way to a fifteen year old girls heart is through chocolate cookies. I brought some last night and have earned the undying affections of all my girls.
~ Apparently I am "quiet yet spunky" or so my "keep up the good work" note from the head councilor said. I'm thinking that's a cop out and what it really means is "I've never actually talked to you, but you seem cool..." I'll take that over "Sweet spirit" any day.
~ Cafeteria food is of the Devil. Read Dante's inferno, I am convinced that in one of the circles they will be force fed cafeteria food. Oh, and in the ninth circle, they will line dance (not that I'm bitter).
~ Supposedly the councilors are all learning the "Thriller" dance to do tonight for the kids. I can't wait.
~ Being fifteen at a music camp full of cute boys is apparently the hardest thing ever, just ask a few of my girls 'cause "This is sooooooo not fair."
~ Dance parties in the lobby after curfew also make you a cool councilor. Tonight post dance we're having a Disney dance party... wooo hooo!!!

Mawage is what bwings us togevah todaaaay

I am getting married next Saturday. It's all rather sudden as it is an arranged marriage by one of my girls with a fellow councilor. Who knew true love could be found at Summer Music Camp? *sigh* Jayne a fifteen year old in my group has seen fit to ensure that Gina and I find and are sealed to our eternal companions forth with. Gina's romance is progressing faster than mine, but this is understandable because she is older than me and her wedding is this Saturday at 4pm. Be there or be square.
Also I found out I am to be a lemming with no opinion. Councilors aren't entitled to opinions until after the program is over. Fair enough. From here on out it's blind deaf and dumb obedience. Gag.
Yesterday night was my favorite thus far, we watched a silent movie "The Freshman" accompanied by the ever amazing Brother Ohman. After the silent movie we took councilor pictures and attempted to build a councilor pyramid... yeah... nerve wracking. Post picture taking my girls grabbed me and announced they wanted to go to the creamery and get ice cream. Good plan but upon our arrival we found a massive line and from working there I knew that there was no way we would be through in time so we bought to cartons and plastic spoons. Way more fun and way cheaper. Score on both accounts. We headed to to dorms and ate ice cream while listening to music in the basement. I absolutely love those girls.
That said, there are a few who are starting to get to me. Ironically one of them plays my instrument and wants to come here. Luckily I will be graduating before she arrives. They're cute girls but they are always the last ones to show and they have a knack for arriving right as we are about to have to call them in to headquarters to announce that they are missing. Yeah... that gets really really old fast. My little flute players roommate is my second love... she keeps bringing boys home... and Gina or I get to chill in the lobby and chaperon.
However, the good does out weigh the bad. I have really good girls all round and have yet to have any real problems with them. Tonight we have the student recital and then I am helping to teach swing dancing. We'll see how it goes, it's been I while since I did any swing dancing, and the guy I'm teaching with does West Coast while I prefer (and can actually do) East Coast. Wish me luck.

Observations:
~ My girls are increasingly tired, this morning only two rooms had lights on when we came by to wake them up.
~ Cafeteria food. Need I say more? Cardboard could taste better. I didn't even hit up the hot food line this morning, I just got cereal and ate that.
~ Summer lurve, blossoming all around... I don't actually mind as much as some of the other councilors, so perhaps I need to work on my paranoia? Last night we got another announcement by our head councilor reminding the kids that their true love is not here. Personally, I love when he does that because two of the councilors are married and they love to make some dramatic response.
~ Practice rooms are a nightmare. I'm actually considering canceling my lesson with Dr. C simply because I don't know what I will play for her next week. Most people in the HFAC are fine, but the councilors struggle because we can't come at night to practice. Yesterday I got in a whopping hour. My best thus far has been two and a half. Pathetic.
~ I have a friend who likes to remind people that the sound of a man playing a guitar in any part of campus is the mating call of BYU. Well, at Summerfest there is the mating call of the camper... the ukulele played by a charming sixteen year old boy who loves to serenade the girls at dinner. What a stud.
~ Finally, Dr. C commented to me that she heard a most interesting name for the little campers at summer festival. Summer Festers. *chortle*

Mutiny upon the Dance Floor

Half Way... Crazy... welllll here are the higlights from yesterday:

~ Dinner, actually food in general at the cafeteria, was sketch yet again. I should quit going through the line and just hit up the salad bar. Last night was a unique attempt at Mexican... at least I think it was Mexican, hard to tell.
~ Faculty Recital~ HALL DUTY, joy. Actually I wasn't too broken up because Dr. C didn't play, had she been playing I would have sneaked in. Instead I spent the recital hustling delinquents back in. Most were girls and usually they were absurdly late because they were fixing their hair/make up/wardrobe malfunction. There was a dance after and everyone knows you will meet your true love at a week long summer camp so ya' gotta look hott or who knows, you may die an old maid. *gasp*
~ The dance was a half flop. Meaning the first half sucked and the second half was much better. Why? Because the first half was line dancing from HELL. And I don't use that lightly. Since coming to BYU I have discovered that western Mormondom has a fascination with line dancing. It is the ultimate Mormon dance, absolutely no physical contact and usually absurdly cheesy. Our director took this to the next level and invited three college kids to come teach line dancing. It was cute for ten minutes, amusing for twenty but when we hit the hour mark the kids were going ballistic, and not in a good way. Long story short, councilors got chewed out, kids got threatened, instructors continued cluelessly, the Hannah Montana line dance was learned *barf*, and finally leadership caved. Forty minutes before the dance ended. And this was a two and a half hour dance. You figure out how long honky-tonk heaven was in full swing.
~ The second half was way better, and I learned that often kids change when placed on a dance floor. Some of my girls who were quiet and reserved were tearing the place up and two of my louder girls were wall flowers. Odd.
~ Dances as a councilor are actually kinda fun... because no matter how stupid you actually look the kids think you look cool because you are a grown up college student. Awesome.
~ Post dance a few of my girls got escorted home by some dapper young men, we'll see where this progresses... I'm intrigued since they stuck around until Gina finally told them to beat it.
~ Practice rooms are a nightmare. The kids complain and I feel great sympathy for them, but that's sort of how it always is... so I guess they'll have to deal.
~ Nothing of any more interest really to report... tonight is the silent movie but sadly yours truly got stuck on hall duty again... not bitter... not bitter... not bitter... angst.

So, farewell till tomorrow...

College boys and sixteen year old girls...

Okay, we're two days in and here is what I have noticed:

~ I felt (and probably looked) like a jerk as I hogged a practice room yesterday morning. I needed to practice and I had a lesson coming, buuuuuut that didn't make me feel better. Alas.
~ My once quiet girls are now plenty chatty, that 11:00pm lights out... yeah, they were up.
~ However, we still got them out of bed, they just looked a little less perky
~ I remember being a camper thinking it was cool to take pictures of councilors, so I guess it was karma coming for me, but it really sucked when they wanted to take my picture this morning and I looked like death.
~ Summer romance, my girls apparently feel the need to go to the big leagues. Last night at dinner, they were checking out the college boys. Actually, I found it quite funny but I don't think I should encourage them. Jayne made a point of watching them and then choosing the garbage can closest to them to throw away her food. Tragically, it wasn't all she ever hoped for. Two of them were bald. Welcome to college.
~ My exhaustion reached a peak this morning at about seven when we all tried to go to breakfast. I ate sent the girls to class and promptly crashed for a good three and a half hours.
~ Councilors stick with like councilors. I find it funny actually. The Young Ambasadors stick together, the pianists form a clump, the singers form another group, and the real musicians (instrumentalists, which actually does include piano, but they seem to be elitists) also clump. I always remember thinking all the councilors were best friends, but aparently I was an idealist when I came.
~ Over half of my girls said their high point was eating lunch/dinner/ having class with/ general flirting with any given boy. I think it's cute, but apparently I was clueless when I was here, cause my high point was always masterclass or a music history class or somehting else generally nerdy.

More tomorrow.

Councilor = No Sleep

Here are some random thoughts from my first few hours of being a councilor for Summer Festival. I'd write more but I have a flute lesson soon and I need to go fight young teenagers for a practice room.

~ I have awesome girls. I've almost got their names learned and I think they will be lots of fun.
~ My girls are awesome because they are not teenage boys. Seems logical enough, but last night at ten I was in the boys dorms for a councilor meeting and they boys were bouncing off of the walls, hanging from the rafters, and bellowing with reckless abandon. It was loud, crazy, and teenage-boy-ish. I returned to my hall and my girls were mostly subdued and those who weren't were just giggling. I can handle that.
~ In the two years since high school I've (apparently) effectively managed to blot out all memory of awkward high school dating. As my girls started talking about their dating lives I was blown away. I think I will stick with college dating, way way way less complicated. (Especially if you have my dating life.)
~ I feel old. Not like I can't keep up or anything like that, just separated, particularly from my younger ones. It's weird. And they all look so little. I was NEVER that little.
~ Going on with the little idea, the boys look so young. I don't remember thinking the boys my age looked young when I was in highschool, but looking back they all look so little. I think something with missions and how all the guys I hang out with are 23 or older makes a difference.
~ My fellow councilor/roomie for the week is awesome. I actually had never talked to her before yesterday but we get along great and stayed up way too late last night moaning about grad schools/ funds for grad school/ music. She just finished her undergrad and is trying to decide what to do with her life, and I am having minor heart attacks as I look at what grad school will cost. BYU is just so cheap!
~ Things to watch for this week:
1. My girls all woke up really well this morning, will it last all week?
2. My girls all went to bed really well last night, again, will it last?
3. Budding summer romance, it will happen, but whom?
4. I'm already planning to go home to my apartment to take a desperately needed nap, will this be a reoccurring phenomenon?

Confession

Every time I attend a concert and see that someone is playing Bartok, I see a white bat and hear a voice that says: "And then I kick her sir"


True Story.

Mutant Demon Tomato Plants and so on...

First, you must understand I am currently medicated. I don't think that they drugs actually affect my cognitive reasoning, but they're a good excuse for this post. What drugs? Cool vertigo drugs. Joy. I woke up yesterday morning and ran directly into the wall. It was loud and rather painful. Under semi normal circumstances my running into the wall would have been funny, however, yesterday those blasted walls never stopped moving. So, Tae packed me off, after much argument on my part, to go get my inner ear looked at. One day later I feel fine, but am still taking medication to keep my inner ear in check.

Second, I must preface this story with an explanation of the pool in my apartment complex. For my Midland readers, Dioxin was child's play compared to this. For my non Midland readers just know that first the pool was a blueish green, then evil green, and now a seductive yet deathly blue. Every morning I expect mutant species to begin marching from it.


Last night I had a most peculiar dream...

I dreamed that little multicolored mutants marched from our pool and attacked Tia's tomato plant. These mutants were multicolored had many eyes, two awkwardly protruding legs, fluffy yet oddly spiky hair, and coolest of all, they spit radioactive waste. *disclaimer: I wish no harm on Tia's tomato plants, actually I quite like them and wish they would hurry up and produce beautiful tomatoes.* These peculiar little mutants marched straight up from the pool found Tia's plant and spit radioactive goop on them. Tia thought the whole thing was cool, Tae wanted to cut open the mutants brains, I wanted tomatoes, and Megan, actually, I don't know where you were... tragic. After much deliberation we decided we couldn't actually save the plant if it was going to die, so we left it outside the apartment hoping somehow it would all be okay.
The next morning we all woke up to go check on the tomatoes. We made it as far as the kitchen (a whopping five steps, but this sounds cooler) and then noticed a slight breeze and more sunlight than usually graces our kitchen in the early morning. THERE IT STOOD. THE MUTANT DEMON TOMATO PLANT.

Over night it had grown to be forty feet high and was sporting very large bright red tomatoes each with their own mutant looking faces. And then... I woke up...

This dream tells me a few things. One, I need to eat better at night. Two, I really want tomatoes. And three, clearly by Eddie Izzard's standards I am very much an American influenced by American movies. Had a Brit had this dream it would have gone like this:
Tia enters the kitchen and says: "Nicole the mutants are coming"
N: "Do they want tea?"
T: "No, I think they want a bit more, they're spitting radioactive waste on my tomatoes and they've got a flag"
N: "That's dash cunning of them"

Next day:
T: "those tomatoes have grown quite large and strong"
N: "really, how strong?"
T: "quite strong"
N: "Well how strong?"
T: "Like a small mutant pony"
N: "ooh, that's quite strong, innit?"
THE END

Like I said, I'm medicated.

*Tune in later when I'm feeling fully better and have pictures of the awesomeness of Flute Festival. I learned so much and absolutely loved the chance to work with Ms. Chesis again.*

Why I lurve summer...

* getting up early to go practice means getting out of bed at 9am and picking up my flute by 11am.
* running is totally recreational, and I can go as long or short as I want.
* Summerfest is in two weeks, and I am getting really excited to be a councilor.
* This weekend I'm headed down to Snow for the Flute Festival. I'm so excited to work with Ms. Chesis again, I loved it last year, and hopefully this year will be just as fun.
* HOUSE!
* eating and dance parties with the roomies.
* apartment decorating, music major and art major combined into one room of AWESOME 'nuff said.
* running times vary, but they seem to be later at night.
* the pool is finally open, however it looks sketchy, so for the moment I am warily observing it.
* Naps are observed and taken every day. Without fail.
* I never have to fight for a practice room.
* I READ BOOKS!!! Books that are not text books or required. Currently I'm re-reading an all time favorite by Sharon Kay Penman.

Oooh, and I cut off my hair. I haven't had it this short in years. It's all above my shoulders and the shortest layers are up by my nose. Perhaps I'll post pictures, and perhaps I wont. Feel free to hold your breath and wonder exactly what I look like now. I'll give you a clue though, I'm still the tall one should you need to find me in a crowd.