8/13/10

I have never been this tired in my life.

Or since that one time in biology when the entire class pulled all nighters finishing our micro-organism lab.

Anyway, the reason I am so drained of energy is because I spent the entire week volunteering at a camp for special needs children. I've been involved with the organization, the Friendship Circle, since I was about eight years old, but I have to say this summer camp was one of the most rewarding experiences I've had with them.

My friend Sarah and I were paired with an adorable eight-year-old named Emma. Every day we had so many activities; arts-and-crafts, music, swimming, field trips, and everything else we did was such a blast.

Besides playing with all the adorable kids (and releasing my inner child in the process, I mean seriously, who can resist making sock puppets?), I really enjoyed spending time with the other volunteers. In a strange way it gave me hope for the future generation. Everyone there was so mature and was completely engaged with the kids, no one gave a have-stitch effort.

I really hope that attempt at a colloquialism was correct.

So like I said, all the teenagers there were mature and responsible, but also completely crazy, as was exhibited in an extremely competitive game of lazar-tag after camp on Wednesday. This lazar-tagging session was followed by a bus ride home which included a football game. Now stop and think for a second. A football game, in a moving vehicle, with the windows open. Can this end well? For the football, it didn't.

Oh wow I just got really distracted for a good 15 minutes.

Happy birthday to Annie Oakley and Alfred Hitchock.

Awesome.

8/6/10

Well. Tomorrow, Sammy and Ashley are leaving for New York. On Sunday, Sydney and Shannon are leaving for performing arts camp. On Wednesday, Bret is going to San Francisco. Arielle is currently in Hawaii. Sophie is somewhere in Northern California. All my other friends have done something or other somewhere else this summer.

I would estimate that 95% of my summer has been spent in my bedroom. I know I have so much to be grateful for. Even though money's tight right now so many people have it worse. I understand how truly lucky I am. But that doesn't mean I don't wish I was somewhere else. I watch the Travel Channel constantly. Just the other day I went to William Shakespeare's childhood home and a floating village in Vietnam in the same day. But meanwhile my friends are having experiences. Real ones. And I'm really, really jealous. And I miss my friends. I miss talking to them every single day. When they're on vacation they aren't very quick to reply to my text messages or Facebook wall posts. They all have better things to do. And I guess I would be the same way if I wasn't stuck here.

And just yesterday I was thinking how lucky I was to live in a nice area. And I am lucky to live in a nice area. It would just be luckier if I had the option to leave whenever I wanted. In Arkansas you can get your learners permit at age 14. If only California were that awesome.

But I do have to say our state has gotten slightly more awesome since the repeal of proposition 8. Weddings have been a favorite topic of mine since I was a little girl, and I am so glad that now everyone in my state will be able to have one of their own.

Anyway. I just needed to do some complaining. Happy birthday to Alfred Lord Tennyson, Edith Roosevelt, Lucille Ball [the amazing and hysterical], and M. Night Shyamalan.

Reading a good book would help me relax right now bad. Too bad I'm going to go read my AP Euro text book.