I tried looking throughout the forum for this thread, because I remember seeing it someone. However, with the search feature, I ended not being able to find it. Therefore, if you can, we can let this one just die or vice versa.
You know you are a counselor or camp-lifer if/when...
You can burst into song about anything
All of your clothing is initialed or nametagged
Your left leg alone has 40 mosquitoe bites (you counted)
Your friendship bracelets from the past years at camp are your most important pieces of jewelry
You like your camp friends better than your family
Your friends never expect you to be home in the summer
Your idea of fun is screaming cheers until you have no voice, and then screaming some more
You write song parodies in your spare time
You can recite your camp adress in 2 seconds flat
Your home friends just "don't understand"
You have no clue what movies are out or what's on tv from June - September
You refer to camp friends as 'sisters'
You truly know the meaning of being dirty
You've taken a shower a) outdoors b) in a shower full of spiders c) all of the above
You get homesick for camp the minute you're home
You have no idea what you'll do when your parents say it's time to get a REAL job
You think a great compliment is to be called loud, weird or crazy
If you had the choice, camp would be all year round.
You know you're obsessed with camp when....
It's December and you say YEAH!! CAMP'S ALMOST HERE!
The day you get home from camp, you're already thinking about next year.
You've had a contest of how long you can go without a) showering b) not shaving your legs c) not brushing your hair d) all three... and when you told your home friends you won they all were disgusted
During the summer, you carry a Nalgene at all times.
The shirts you've stolen from or exchanged with camp friends are your favorite items of clothing.
9 out of your 10 last calls dialed from your phone were to camp friends
You've lit a candle at the end of the summer or watched the year burn away
You place bets on what's for lunch at camp because there's about 4 possibilities
Songs come on the radio, you start singing a camp version that has different words, and all your friends look at you like you're crazy
After seeing your camp friends during the year, you hate all of your home friends
Your home friends start limiting how many times a day you can begin a sentence with "This one time at camp.."
Your home friends don't understand why you've already begun counting down until next summer
MORE....
80% of your clothing shows evidence of paint.
Abnormality is a compliment.
All your co-workers could be clinically classified as pyromaniacs, multiple personalities or obsessive compulsive.
Being at home makes you homesick.
Dressing up only involves slightly cleaner clothes.
Everything you have has your initials on it.
Most of your stories start with "and then there was this time at camp...."
On the job training includes 'The Cup Game".
Tater Tots are there own food group.
Sandal/watch tan lines are a competition.
Screaming and running at the same time is a coveted skill.
Sharpies, pens and duct tape are worth more than gold.
The following letters make sense: NCA.
Using logic could get you into trouble.
Camp has been over for 22 minutes and you're already thinking about next summer.
You are convinced that there is no way you could date someone who is not a camp guy/girl, because no one else really understands.
You can make anything out of duct tape, including Band Aids.
You can make up a song/cheer about anything.
You can shampoo, wash and shave your legs, etc in less than 5 minutes.
You can think of 50 ways to use a bandanna off the top of your head.
You can walk the woodsy path at night without a flashlight.
You feel naked without a Walkie-Talkie strapped to your body.
You don't think non-camp people can understand your summer job.
You've made friends with the "office people" or the Camp Nurse just to have a place to hang out.
You eat ketchup with everything,
You go to college just to fill time between summers.
You have a camp set of clothes.
You have a collection of outfits for theme weeks.
You have been in/seen an "interesting' production of Grease, Peter-Pan and/or Zoom, Zoom.
You have about 20 mosquito bites in 1 square inch of skin.
You have an entrie volume of camp-friendly mixed CDs.
Your friends life goals are to go to medical school/law school..yours is to be a colour war captain.
You don't do this for money - and you mean it.
You have no clue what's on TV until mid-September, cause you never watch it at camp.
You have to routinely prevent yourself from shouting, "Walk, please!" or "Where's your buddy?" at random kids at the mall/at the grocery store/etc.
You know all 753 1/2 verses of "Let me see your alligator...."
You know excatly how to get to camp from home by car, boat, plane or any other means of transportation.
You know that laughter, hiccups, sneezes, itching and yawns are contagious.
You are disappointed to find that you can't major in "Camp".
You never refuse free food.
You refer to your campers as YOUR kids.
You save anything and everything campers have ever made for you.
You still enjoy the same songs you did when you were 5.
You value the friendship bracelet you got at the camp carnival last summer more than any other piece of jewelry.
Your 'real-world' friends have ever limited you to only 5 camp stories a day.
Your car won't start until all seatelts are buckles.
Your friends know you you're nver home fromJune till September.
Your idea of a good song starts with the words, "This is a repeat after me song".
Your primary method of diplomatic resolution is Rock, Paper, Scissors.
Your tan lines are also your dirt lines.
Your teachers know you as a camp person.
Your water bottle and sandals are as essential as your unterwear.
Your year only has two seasons - Summer and Non-Summer.
You 've ever given up time off to comfort a crying camper.
You've ever had to read a policy on bathroom usage.
You've written a paper about camp for a class.
You refer to all your friends as "Dude" even thought you live no where near the west coast.
You've used your frozen Nalgene as an icepack.
You've written down the camp address instead of your own.
You looked up "camp" on facebook.
Having a Mall behind your camp is perfectly normal to you
Having a choice of food places within walking distance of camp
having 2 pools at camp is normal and the names of the pool is the top and bottom pools.
Have the girls cabins being refered to as the lodge
I LOVE this thread!!!
You understand the meanings of: TO, NO, UL, CIT, LIT, JC, AD, CD, BM, TTD, SH, WF....
90% of your clothing shows evidence of tie-dye.
You have a camp notebook full of any important paperwork you've received.
You have a seperate set of everything for camp (e.g. camera, clothes, backpack, shoes, suitcase, towels...)
Countdowns until any camp-related activity are a must.
You wear your watch face down.
For at least a few weeks after camp, you have to wear your watch at all times.
You don't need a swimsuit anymore.
You have made friends from a variety of countries.
You talk to your camp friends more than all of your home friend put together.
You miss camp food.
You miss even the worst of camp jobs, such as cleaning the pool, etc.
You were on vacation and turned to yell at a group of kids fighting, because you thought you were still at camp.
You don't respond to your real name right after camp.
knowing the names of 3 references for camp applications are a must
2 hour breaks a day are a must
for weeks afterwards you look at the time and automatically think about what you "should" be doing! "Hey, its rest hour!"
^^^ totally agree, I was like I should be eating or up or working or resting now. Made me really sad.
Miss bug juice.
You know what bug juice is.
You are knowledgeable about Bob Ditter and his views on camp.
You know 100 ways to make a camper smile.
You would rather sleep than shower.
You did through a pile of dirty clothes for the least dirty aticle of clothing.
You love the idea of being away from civilization for 2 months.
You adore nature.
You start to fall in love with the maintence man at camp because there are no other guys.
ummm, our maintenance man was like 60 years old, plus our camp is co-ed, so there are some really cute guy counselors! but I do agree that sleep is better than a shower! and that I have dug for the least dirty pants!
Oh my goodness, I was just thinking of another one when I heard the song "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey. The first time i heard that song was on our staff cd! haha
ooohhh I've got a good one!
Your singing voice doesn't sound nearly as bad when you sing camp songs!
Your home friends groan cause they know another camp story is coming up
You keep going with the story anyway just to hear the story again
You try to tie in camp to everything you do (such as school projects and such)
Your song book is way bigger then a dictionary
You can think of a song for anything at anytime
You cannot leave the house/tent/other dwelling without chacos, nalgene, sharpie, staff clipboard/notebook, and sunblock.
When you have jumped in the lake fully clothed
when you fav foods include s'mores
when most of the time on the CA and ACA websites!
When you have "friendships" with people who have worked at one of your camps since you left!
When you get really excited about discovering that CA is flying you to camp a day earlier than you expected cos it means that you have a whole extra day on camp!
When most of the people on your MSN list are camp people
when it is only feb and you have already started packing for camp
when you own a rubber chicken!
when you add people on Facebook who work at camp with you
when you need to sign up for first aid or CPR classes in order to get extra money at camp
when you watch camp movies in Feb
when most of your clothes are camp shirts
when jumping in the lake counts as a shower.
when each stain has a story behind it.
when "dressing up" means wearing jeans.
when tan lines are a competition.
When most of your photos for the year were taken at camp
when you most yourself mail so you have chocolate for when you are at camp
when you know that if there are any returners you are going to spend half your TO making brownies for others
when you spend the year looking for new games and crafts you can do at camp!
When you are limited in the time you can use the internet
you cant use your cell phone whenever you want
you are excited for mail call
when you can lock your phone in the camp safe and not have to worry about missing important phones calls - if it is soo important they will call camp!
when you get "dressed up" to go to walmart
when you spend most of every day thinking about or planning for camp!
when you make a wal-mart run for things you need for camp such as sun screen
when you send a ton of letters to people during the summer, and are ok with getting one reply.
when you go to the post office and get the 'pretty' stamps to send letters to your campers.
when you buy stationery and stickers just for camp mail.
when getting a package with junk food in it pretty much makes you everyone's best friend.
When you are able to take a day off during the week and get the maintainee at the movie and be the youngest person in the theater execpt for the employees who work there that dont "get" camp
[quote=twirlonwater
You are knowledgeable about Bob Ditter and his views on camp.
You would rather sleep than shower.
You love the idea of being away from civilization for 2 months.
[/quote]
I remember last summer when the returners kept saying wait until you are "Ditter-ized". Us newbies thought that they were insane!!!
you think that names for cabins such as Beaver Hutch, Fish Pond, Panthers Lair, Chippawa, Iroquois, Hopi, Mohawk, Deleweare are normal
Having a Mall in back of your camp is normal and going to sleep while hearing drunks screaming in their cars at the mall parking lot is just another Friday night
we came up with this list my first year on staff... It just took me a half hour to find so I hope you all enjoy it!
Some of them are specific to my camp so I'm sorry if they dont make sense.
Things you can only do at camp
1. see your boss dress in drag
2. get a free car wash
3. paint people in charge of you
4. throw someone in the lake without legal repercussions
5. have regular mud fights
6. get paid to sleep and lay on a beach
7. walk around at night serenading other people
8. wear your underwear outside of your pants
9. use a giant slip-n-slide
10. paint graffiti on ceilings
11. act like you?re eleven years old all the time
12. get a real breakfast most mornings
13. you get children to set the table for you (and do other random stuff for you too)
14. lanyards are a form of art, as are friendship bracelets
15. when you hear an air horn, you start ripping off your clothes
16. you get really happy when you hear ?Love Me Do? and ?Wannabe?
17. if you don?t shower for three days, you?re still relatively clean
18. you can steal mattresses from other peoples beds and not get in too much trouble
19. shaving is way overrated
20. you can blatantly lie to children, and it?s okay (and they believe you)
21. you start writing notes to your friends again, just like in middle school
22. you can take pop away from children, and drink it in front of them
23. you get way too excited about chicken patties
24. you sing songs that make absolutely no sense, and have absolutely no point
25. boys can wear nail polish
26. you make up songs about everything
27. ?your mamma?s on the roof? is the best comeback ever
28. throw flour filled socks at children
29. capture the flag becomes WWIII
30. you have ten secret boyfriends (or girlfriends) again, just like in grade school
31. Wednesday night is hospital night
32. you can wear the same clothes for a week at a time, and no one notices
33. Reading is FUNDAMENTAL!
34. confusion is an acceptable
35. the only state of mind you can call yourself a tripper in public, and not get in trouble
36. toys are the best gifts to receive (especially if they?re Barbies, and you?re a boy)
37. toilet-plunging is a necessary skill for survival
38. watch tans are so in right now
39. bigamy is ACE!
40. have pillow fights at work
41. naptime is the best part of the day
42. we hate snacks (unless the word ?staff? proceeds)
43. everyone is a winner
44. Meijer is a cause for celebration
45. you can have hot dogs for every meal
46. you suddenly find that you have two sets of clothing, school year and summer camp.
47. you can get the plague and find a dollar all in one day
48. 5 o?clock is quitting time (6 at outpost)
49. you start dating other peoples boyfriends
50. Horse pooh is a commodity
51. being licked by a small child in your sleep is not that unusual
52. leader in training really means slave labor
53. the Village People make regular appearances
54. yell at boys for touching girls
55. you can wear tie-dye, camouflage, and Hawaiian all at the same time
56. make friends with strange people in boats while teaching a class from a canoe
57. sit on a bed eating ice cream while the CIT watches the kids
58. Teddy Grams in frosting is the funniest suicide you?ve ever seen
59. sky diving squirrels are the norm
60. threats of turtlenecks are the best dress code enforcer
61. your tan washes off in the shower
62. funny and obscene quotes are written on walls, and this practice is encouraged
63. someone gets fired every time Maggie leaves camp
64. three or more counselors spooning in a bed is not seen as strange
65. when you hear a Disney song, the whole camp starts to sing along
66. the Sound of Music soundtrack inspires dance parties during meals
67. during the only nice, all-staff, meal (that does not involve hot dogs), two campers puke on the table
68. you can color people?s ears purple
69. nobody does it like Richy
70.for us the purpose of life is to fight maturity, screw everything else!
When chocolate from home (UK) makes you every ones friend.
When you spend the rest of the year trying not to say - lakeside and camperific and making your friends etc count off.
When you go shopping for groceries and end up buying tent pegs for over night camping trips!
When you go out to Wal-Mart other people tell or ask you to buy stuff for them
When you come home saying things like you did at camp and none of your home friends understand.
[example, to be 'positive' our staff said YEAH in front of almost everything. e.g. YEAH pool kapers! YEAH mail time! YEAH water break! YEAH cupcake cones!...oh, good times]
When asked your address or phone number, you automatically being with the camps, then realize it's not the one they were asking for.
When stacks of new cards are pretty much gold.
When a card game tournament gets intense, with rules and an official leader board.
When James Bond and trash remind you of playing cards.
When the line of 'i'll play winner' gets so long you have to write it down.
When rolling around in mud, flower, hotdog condiments, ice cream and sundae toppings is a completely acceptable sport in 'Olympics'.
When you cry every time you hear the song, Lean on Me.
When you say your camp address it ends with Camp name Rd
You have a collection of yearbooks either paper or Video/DVD
I meant to say - that is a very impressive list Melk!
When your fav songs are about hippos and candy and chocolate chip cookies
When you have tried to raost twinkies (yes i have tried that and they aren't nice!)
When you have friend on every continent except antartica
When you miss camp soo much you could cry
When you own your own life jacket
When you have been the Dr for bug bites and been on meds for tick bites
When you have a camp name that has become your user name for many things
When you have a collection of bears with shirts with camp names on them
When you have filled your CD's yurt with over 400 balloons
When you yearn to drive a camp van (even though you cant actually drive!)
When play marco polo in walmart
When give bubbles to people who have had bad days
When own numerous screen printed T-shirts and a pillow case screen with Top 10 ways you know your a Chenoa staff - and you use it at home.
When your hand bag is a backpack and it contains things like sun screen, a rubber chicken, crayola makers, secret buddy gifts - to give and that have been recieved, and end of summer SB projects instead of mobile phone, make up. wallet etc!
When you get upset cos you cant get access to the CA forums abd website to see what is happening with you app. - even though you know thing will have changed since you checked it a few hours previously.
When your collection of game books seems to double every year.
When it takes you months to get used to talking about ?'s not $'s and still find yourself doing so!
When you know that you are going to get sick from the food but go to camp anyway.
When you have spread rubber chicken appreciation through out the CA world.
When you have been quoted in the CA broachure.
At my Wal-Mart I can do marco polo because the store down there is so big
When the locals know when camp is in session when we take the short cut though the gate and they realize that we are "escaping" camp and not pissing in the woods
When the WalMart employees know who the camp staff are, just by the smell of them...
When you check the regular mail at home everyday to see if anyone has written you a letter lately, only to find junk and bills.
When you appreciate sleeping in, even if its only for another 15 minutes.
When you celebrate the fact that you are a 'Top Poster' on a cmap forum. ;p
when you look back at half the old topics to see if anything is interesting or helpful! It is also considered great fun, and one of the best ways to procrastinate homework!
The walmart that we went to was always so large, that they never know who we were. But, we visted the town surely enough.
Sleeping in for another 10 minutes in absolutely so much appreciated. I loved whenever the morning swim was cancelled. It meant another 30 minutest of pure bliss.
Your CD knows more about your medical history than most people who know in "real-life."
You have ventured to a hospital 500 miles over with your CD.
Whenever, you are campsick, you put on your staff shirts and listen to certain songs.
*You cried the ENTIRE way home on the flight... the ENTIRE way. Not only cried, but bawled. The airline attedants are shocked and offer you comfort and many drinks. (They entire airplane starred at me..)
Poor twirlonwater!
When you have been to a midnight book release party and then gotten up at 7.30 to start work (one of the interns got my campers up as a thank you for picking up her copy so I had a whole extra 30 mins in bed)
When you spend the off season looking for secret buddy gifts.
When random guys join in with walmart marco polo.
When you have to hide your rubber chicken from your dog so that it is safe and usable for camp.
When you have been to the ER in 2 states - which is as often as you had been to the ER in your entire life until you started working at camp.
When your keys have a pocket knife, nail clippers, a rubber chicken, and purell.
When going out consists of Wal-Mart and McDonald's.
Very well both said...
Seeing a camper smile makes all the hardwork worth it.
Going without showering is normal.
^^completely agree... leaving the camp just to go to Walmart is like going into a new world...and any food that isn't camp food is amazing...
You use your cell phones in Walmart to find each other... probably due to the lack of using them during camp.
when random guys join in with walmart marco polo games.
when half the camp staff have invaded a local resturant.
when you buy game books from a guide store - not for your brownies but for camp!
When you buy a bike specifically so that it can improve your chances of getting the program you really want during the summer!
When you get into the "real" world and struggle to get used to a ssmall hand bag
when your rubber chicken has tried to make a bid for freedom in aan airport xray machine!
when you take a shower wearing flip flops
when you have problems thinking of references for camp, but never have any problems thinking of references for out of camp jobs applications!
McDonalds is "real" food, lol
Wal-mart trips are a big deal
The camp phone number and address are burned into your brain, you can recite them very easily
You can't go anywhere without wanting to do buddy checks and count and double-count your friends
When you are still struggling to remember that prices are in pounds not dollars
when your conversation regularly revolves around camp
When you think of fast food and restruant food as real food
When you know the layout of the Wal-Mart and Target and Mall near camp better then the same ones near home
When you know the prices of stuff near camp better then home
When you have a hoarse voice, but will sing the chicken song at the top of your lungs, just so your side can win.
When you refuse to use fire starter or fire cheats for cookouts.
When you know that pretty much any food can be turned into trail mix.
When you don't feel well at home, you reach for a water bottle, rather than the tylenol or whatnot.
When you find joy in many-colored duct tape, nalgene, carabiner, etc. displays.
When even at home you are wearing camp cloths
When you are doing odd jobs around the house to earn money to spend in ou Trading post.
When you end up not having to pay for bus fares to church one sunday and instead of thinking about what you can buy with it - you change it into dollars!
When you think that trash bags are suitable wet weather gear!
When jumping into muddy puddles is a completely appropriate form of exercise.
When the kool-aid is slightly less-watered-down, and is gone in the first 5 minutes of lunch.
Your lucky the Kool0aid last 5 minuites.... at my last camp its gone within 1 min
Your English teacher knows everything that has happened to you over the Summer, because you wrote every single journal about camp. You did this because it was the fall and you were missing camp so badly, that it was the only thing on your mind.
poor twirl!!!!!!!!
When you are trying to plan what to take to camp now
when you buy a book of games for brownies and are already planning how to adapt them for camp!
when you decide that making (and then buying) "camp geek" shirts would be an appropriate and totally acceptable and amazing use of your time and money! And you might even splurge and get it professionally done! Go Camp Geeks!
I was thinking about getting one done professionally too - there is a shop in my local town that print T-shirts!
Yeah the camp geeks! Oh now that is an idea for the thread!
When you have contacts in your phone book that require explaining anytime anyone who doesn't know you too well looks through your phone...ex: Chocolate? Beaner? Daisy? What kind of people do you talk to!?!?
When you have multiple items emblazoned with your camp name, and when worn in public, you get strange looks and revel in them.
when you are sitting typing this wearing a camp T-shirt
when you cant go more than 2 days without wearing one (and thats only cos i dont have any that are appropriate to wear to church).
Whn you think of your music collection and you divide it into camp and non camp appropiate
you do the same for your DVD collection
you have two Shirt piles- camp and everything else
When the air around you smells better than you do. [at camp]
When lake water is a completely acceptable, mostly preferred, method of cleansing.
When taking a lifejacket off makes you feel lonely, for they give wonderful hugs!
When you know that you are just going to get wet if let the girls play drip drip drop!
When you room is full of camp memoriablia!
When in an awkward situation you proudly display the awkward turtle! [or whatever awkward 'thing' you do...]
When you are the go-to person for get to know you/ice breaker games!
When you have some great campers who dont want to go home
CIL I am intrigued by the awkward turtle - what is that!
When you are seriously getting special T-shirts made for the day you go for your Visa, and when you are seriously thinking about making a Tshirt that says Camp Geek and buttons that say "Its a camp thing!"
when you have already started planning what you will be taking to camp!
when you own a trunk of random stuff in New Hampshire!
you don't know awkward turtle!?!?!! aaaah!
when there is an awkward silence or just something awkward is said, you place one hand on top the other, palms down, and spin your thumbs in a forward motion. i am sooo surprised you don't know about awkward turtle!!
when you have mastered the skill of comforting multiple crying campers without so much as a sweat!
When you have mastered the art of comforting a homesick camper without any of the other ones getting homesick so that you have to comfort more than one at a time!
^^^ Very true...
I might have already said this, but when you are in "real life" and turn around to end children fighting in public. And then, you realize that is not your job any longer
yeah, that one has been mentioned quite a few times! but it is soo true!
These are so hilarious!!! I will be printing them off and bringing them to pre-camp for a laugh!
I might just have to that too!
you know you are a counsellor when you spend time discussing what to do with unshowered hair!
when own a million bandanas (even though you cant wear them!)
when you know your camp address nearly as well if not as well as your home address
When you are feeling down so turn to your star jars or camp autograph books to be cheered up!
I have already started copying and pasting the ones that apply to me or are just plain funny! It is also a way of weeding out the repeats! I am considering putting the best ones in a frame for my friend for her 10 year!
That would be really cool - oh i might pinch that idea and do it for my friend for her birthday!
that's a good idea too! When we were campers I made my friend a list of the counselors names that we knew because that was always a big thing at camp, trying to figure out their names. Sometimes we managed before the end of the week, but some of them never told us!
oh that's a really cool idea!
write them out in really nice script or find a cool font...ideas are coming out my ears!
I refuse to tell the campers my real name! between 2003-2004 the camp that I was at - we had late night shack parties on the last night and the girls go to ask us any 5 questions they wanted and we had to answer (but not necessarily truthfully) so of course we were asked our "real" names - with the exception of one session I told them it was demelsa! that one session i had to say it was ermintrude cos I had managed to convince a camper that reason for camp names was that we were all called Ermintrude (except coda the male drama specialist who we said was called engleburt but had a camp name so he wouldn't feel left out!). We even got our program manager to agree with us and she told the girl that they would hire anyone who wasn't called ermintrude! Still makes me laugh 4 years later!
I pretty much never tell them my name! I think in 20-30 weeks at camp I have told like 3 campers. That is not to say my school name (thats what my CIT director calls our "real names") hasn't gotten out. One of my friends when I was a DCA had a brother who was 8 or 9. He liked to tell all the day campers her real name. Well, when we became friends, her brother new my name too and delighted in saying both of our names! Another time i was in a rowboat with half of my campers and I looked up and saw someone I knew sitting in a rowboat. I called her name and she looked up, saw me and was kind of shocked to see me and yeeled out my name. grrr It wasn't her fault though, so its all good!
I don;t like telling campers because then when some of them come back it goes around and then the campers just try to trick me into listening to my name, which I am pretty good at ignoring when I want to!
at our camp, truth is a really big thing.
on day 10, everyone tells their name really quickly in our name song. [we do it day 1 with camp names]
during the session, we keep our names a secret, but we can't lie and give 'fake' names. if we did, it could bring up a trust issue...[you lied about your name, what else did you lie about? etc.]
yeah, we just have fun with our names and if they get out, they get out. I don't believe that anyone has ever really lied about their names. It was really funny though one time. My counselor actually convinced couple of kids that her real name was Bert, which was her camp name! It was pretty skillful I must say.
once the song is over, we don't talk about the names, no matter how hard they persist!
its so funny to see them with pen/paper trying to write down as many 'real names' as possible during our 60-second run!
that's amazing!!! I love that they try to write them down!!
we kind of strayed from the topic! haha oh well! It was a fun trip!
I thought I had a good one, but lost it, dang it!
ha.
you know you are a camp counselor when you spend all of the off-season inventing new uses for bandannas.
or for trying to find out how to sing all the songs in your staff book! or for buying songs online just because they are camps songs and you want to learn how to sing them!
Also, you know you are obsessed when you are actually considering paying your mom to ship your Counselor-Brain-in-a-Box to you despite the fact that you have little money to your name and you are going home in less than 2 months and you can write your ideas down in a notebook just as easily and transfer it later!
ahh i am excited for your reunion with your brain in a box! whenever it happens, its going to be a great thing!!
aww thanks!! I will let everyone know when I get it! I am excited for it too!!
When you are truly excited for someone to be reunited with their box of ideas and understand why they want it when it is still February!
Thanks CIL!
haha oh, we are definitely camp geeks.
YOu know you are counsellor when you have 2 1/2 inch think, catagorised song book! A games file on your computer that, if printed out would be at least as thick and a collection of games books that is in double figures!
When you own a rubber chicken!
when you PJs include with stuff bought while in the USA at camp or camp clothing (or both!)
When you have a wall you call your camp wall!
When you are feeling down and you pull out your star jar!
When one of your best friends doesnt even live on the same continent as you!
When here about a huge fire in "drift wood" from cargo ship that floundered in last months storms and your first thought isn't about potential damage but about roasting marshmallows - and particularly how many you could roast and how much fun it would be! (I think maybe I need help!)
When you can think of new answers for this forum
When your stories from summer do not include tales about boys, make-up, new movies, or vacations.
hehe! (but do include the dramas that derive from relationships formed your fellow all female staff!)
So I thought of this one last night due to the neighbor burning something....
When the smell of woodsmoke makes you dream of smores and camp fire antics! (Especially bad in winter!!!)
when you are playing duck duck goose with your brownies but thinking about how Duck got her camp name!
hahaha, go Ducky!! I know what you mean!! I do stuff like that too!!!
When you are sick in bed, but get on the computer anyway to check what's going on with the ACA boards.
hey, it's relaxing!! What else are you supposed to do while sick!!
When you choose the message boards over a shower!!
When you procrasinate doing homework for an entire weekend, by going onto the board...
When you sacrifice sleep to catch up on new posts!
I definitely sacrifice sleep and homework for the boards, and that is a bad thing right now!!! I should be doing homework that I didn't do over the weekend since i was on the boards, but I am still on the boards!!
When you have only had two hours sleep but still manage to get the energy to come on ACA and CA forums!
When something embarrasses you, and forgetting that you are not with camp people, do pineapple - thus embarrassing yourself further!
pineapple?
when you do the awkward turtle, get funny looks, explain it to everyone, and now they do it!
Pineapple - it was something we did on kitchen raids!
All the staff knew what it meant and the campers and that was half the fun of it!
If pineapple was yelled you would stand still with your hands twisted together above your head - and in doing so you became "invisible" and those passing by you could only smell pineapple - I dont know how it started!
We also have sleath which is almost the same - you with your hands together (palms together) and then no one can see, hear or smell you!
you know you are obsessed when The Parent Trap is a comfort movie that you use to keep your mind off of things that disturb you (scary books, things you did horribly wrong that day, etc)and comfort you into sleep!
I love the parent trap - both verions of them - I always watch one when I am getting really camp sick!
I like Parent Trap. It is a nice movie. However, in my mind, it is absolutely not camp realisic.
oh, no way is it really camp realixtic! But it is fun to watch and it has some basic elements of camp in it!! and it is cute and something from childhood!!!
Yes, it is very cute to watch. I like all the pranks they do.
absolutely!!! My favorite part is when they are at camp! (duh!) and of course when the girls reveal to their dad that they know each other and switched places! Oh, and the part where Jessie (Chessie? never can tell!) finds out that Annie is with her instead of Hallie!
Chessie! I loved her in the movie!
absolutely!!!!!! "Can I hug her?!?!?!" haha I want those choclate chip pancakes!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love choc chip pancakes!!
I really dislike choc. chip pancakes. The bane of my exsistence.
Did you notice they hardly show any counselors in The Parent Trap?
That's sad. Oh well, to each her own!
haha i watched that this weekend with camp friends!
oh it was good times...
We watched a variety of movies, only one or two of them were camp associated.
I love the camp bits too - but it really isn't like camp - at least not any camp I have worked at! And yeah were are all the counsellors?
I know it!!! They stuck 2 11 year olds out in the middle of nowhere without anyone there! Legally you can't even stay home by yourself until you are 12! (at least in WA) and you can't stay home alone overnight until 16! I never understood how they got away with not having counselors. They had more supervision at activities than overnight!
Its bizarre! But I still love the film!
You know you are a counsellor when you sign up to a facebook group called The adventurous Rubber Chicken!
LOL!!! I was talking to my mom today. She has been a stay at home mom for at least the last 8 years and sometimes is ready to just give up (I'm 20, my sister are 18 and 17 and my bro is 15)
She said she might like working at a camp as a office assistant or program specialist. I thought it would be great for her to get away. She also has expierience working with kids with disabilities (she's a personal cargiver for a couple of hours each week)
We were joking about how if she did it summer of 2009, and my dad was on a trip, and my sis wasn't around, that could mean the 17 (18 then) and 15(16 then) would be by themselves! Maybe not the best idea, but who knows!!!
My mother has been a stay at home mum my entire life (she is disabled and cant work!). She has said lots of times that she would love to work at a camp in the office or something - but we have a dog and cat - and to be totally honest she doesn't realise just how demanding camp can be!
I think my mom would be great (as long as it wasn't the same camp as me!)
PS - LOVE YOU MOM!
(I know I may accidentally leave this up and she may browse the topics!)
haha, nice NightOwl! I understand though! I wouldn't mind my mom doing anything that I had done, but there is just something about having your own thing, especially in your late teens/early twenties! I love my mom too! (I am at school, so mom can't read this! haha)
My mom would not work well at camp. She was a girl scout troop assistant leader. But,she does not really liked the outdoors as I do. Also, she would get bored easily with the simple life.
I really wouldnt like my mother working at my camp! I guess that she would do a good job but not at my camp! I go to camp to escape my crazy messed up family!
That is the big thing. They can go to camp, yet not to our camp. We want to ability to go away.
well said!
You know the only prob with camp this year! Our counties international camp will take place while I am in the USA so I will miss it! I am kinda dissappointed about that but..........
I get to camp for 10 weeks not just one so wouldn't change it for the world!
Yep. The longevity of camp is waht makes the change adn the friendships so great.
I wouldn't mind my mom working at camp, but she works full-time so that isn't possible. She applied to work as a secretary at a local school, hopefully she gets it... Because I want her to work at camp.
I know a girl whose mother works at camp so her and her sister go for free.
Yeah but usually that is istead of being paid!
Have you heard anything back from your CIT app?
Yeah, did you learn anything about your summer plans?
Yep, it sounds nice, but we couldn't do that. The girl's mother is a stay-at-home mom anyway so she doesn't mind.
No, I haven't :[ They aren't due until March 14th unless you're applying for financial aid [I was] so they were due for me on Feb 14th. So.. Idk.
But I did email the CA and she said they try to place each girl in a program, if they don't make it in CIT.
Our main nurse's daughter is going to get her 15 year at camp this year and I don't know if it really bugs her or not since she is a few years older than me and not with my unit so we never actually got to talking. I don't think it does though. Then again, her mom has been at camp for over 20 years, so it is kind of her mom's thing that she got to get in on!
Wow, you guys are making me so camp-sick right now... and I'm only a camper!
I know what you mean!! I am always wondering why do this to ourselves!! But, the anticipation of camp will make it that muich more fun. Plus, I am always on here because of the- I don't want to say sisterhood because of the guys on here- cammraderie, I guess. It is awesome to be able to talk to other camp crazy people. Everyone at home gets sick of it and they just don't get "it", but on here they do! Everyone here basically has the "Camp Spirit!" Also, on here you don't have to explain every little thing. Sure, some vocab is different from camp to camp, but at the same time it is all the same!
By the way, welcome to the boards! I hope you don't become as addicted as some of us, but that you do enjoy the boards as often as you please!
You know you are a counsellor when you spent the day on the internet/phone booking buses and hostels so that you can go for your interview at the US embassy for your VISA.
When you get all excited cos your VISA paperwork arrived today!
And when the draw in your bedside cabinate contains: a headlight, a bag of tent pegs, a new travel alarm clock and 3 of those shammy leather type micro fibre towel things!
And your sock draw has swimming goggles!
When you give some one a really dirty look when they present you with two chocolate digestives with a marshmallow in the middle melted in the MICROWAVE and dare to call it a s'more.
hehe - my guides did something similar last year before camp - they put the choc digestive and a marshmallow on a disposable bbq and tried to call it a s'more - but the digestive was burnt and the m'mallow hadnt been heated!
I know I'm not exactly a counselor, but this applies to me (a five year camper).
When mosquitos are welcome to bite you any time they please.
absolutely! and this board has also had many "you know you are obsessed when...!" You can totally pitch in with stuff like that!
Are you planning on one day becoming a counselor? Just curious.
You know you are a counselor when. . . you can find enjoyment in reading a thread such as this at 1:13am.
Are you planning on one day becoming a counselor? Just curious.
Oh, yeah, definitely!
Yay! and I also second that (or third it, or whatever!)!!
You know you're obsessed with camp when you stay on this thread for about an hour just to figure out what to say that hasn't already been said.
haha, I know exactly what you mean!
My life seems to revolve around camp!
I was telling someone today I was gonna spend the summer at camp they thought that I was gonna be a camper - it made me laugh! Since I am oldish!
That's pretty amazong, and I bet it made you feel a little younger!
When you turn your computer on 13 minutes before you have to leave for school just to check the ACA boards.
haha so true!
when you check the boards before showering and end up not having time because you were too engrossed or decided that the boards were more important!
when you check the boards (and CA) both before and after your bath!
When something upsets you and you come on here (and CA hoping someone will cheer you up!)
Well, I guess that would be reasonable, because camp people are usually happy and cheerful.
I totally wanted to do that last night, but no one was on, so it was sad! Just a little homesick moment because I still haven't started my 10 page paper due Tuesday so I am freaking out and stressed and overwhelmed and mad at myself for letting myself get this bad (or good I suppose) about procrastinating!
Teehee, I already finished my project. And it took me a total of 1 hour!
lucky! It will probably take me like 30 min to an hour to finish my outline! But I have to leave to go to lunch with my cousin in an hour and I have to get ready for the day first! I also have math homework due tonight! eek!
Ouch! Good luck with that, and try to stay off the forums!
haha, like that is going to happen!!! I clicked to open a blank tab and still clicked the Home button to bring me to this site, despite the fact that I was on a roll! Dang it!
Thanks though!
Haha. I can't believe you have this as your home site!
absolutely! Someone on the boards gave me the idea! It beat putting it in my favorites or leaving it up all the time, so I did it!
I just type in the adress every time. I somehow think it will keep me away if I have to type it all the time... It doesn't seem to be working, though.
nope! I just saved myself the time since I knew it wouldn't work!
It is really funny though because last night at like 3 am I was laying on my bedreading and one of my friend signed on to messenger. She told me to get off the boards and go to bed! I was like I was on my bed reading!!! and then she said- but now that I have reminded you of them you are going to check them!!!! That is when I laughed and told her that I already did and that there wer no new posts! Then I told her that she guessed amazingly! haha
3 am my dog jumped on me and woke me up - wasn't happy cos usually i am still awake at that time!
I have been busy reading my books so much that I have been off the forum longer than I think I have ever been before. You guys can surely talk a lot.
Also, welcome campluver4ever
hehe - i havent been reading much lately - which isnt like me - it is all the forums faults!
I recently like refeel in love with reading, and now sadly I am a little less obsessed with the boards, which I guess is a good thing, even though it is sad. I have caught up with my school work, read around 4 books, and fell in love with 100 songs within 5 days of no board.
I usually manage to do both but I have been refocusing in terms of my spirituality so have been studying my scriptures and stuff more! And I feel better for it (or I did until today!)
I was wondering where you had disappeared to Twirl! I actually got less in love with reading recently, but only because I read so much that occasionally I get sick and tired of it for a little while! However, the boards have definitely taken over my time, which is good because there are only so many romance novels out there and I read way to quickly and too much!
I read all sorts - sci fi, historical and all those books about kids who have survived abuse, and john grisham - the only thing i dont read is romance novels!
haha! about the only thing I do read is romance novels! I love a good romantic story!
funny thing is that I love chick flicks!
i love a good sappy story!
but i love comedies too!
I am not so much of a comedy fan!
But I do have a soft spot for disney animations!
Disney is always good!
have any of you seen Now and Then?
actually, it's a movie. set in the 70s about 4 best friends and their adventures for independence...and how they make a pact to always be there for each other whenever...it goes back and forth from their current lives to that summer.
i love love love it!
Ive Seen that! Its really good... not my type of movie but i enjoyed it
yeah, i saw it back in the 4th grade with my friends...and watch it with my camp friends every year as a tradition!
i see a little bit of myself in each of the characters.
I haven't seen it.
but I love chick flicks too!!
Haha, any guys that come here are going to feel totally out of place now, because of our chick flick discussions...
yeah, we've also had some more interesting girl conversations too! Such as shaving and those times of the month! haha, I feel bad for them too!
oh, sometimes its hard to remember who reads these!
most of the time it seems like its just us girls!
I think that girls are more into camp than guys are...
Or maybe it's just the being with kids part.
There we 2 guys on here regularly but they seem to have dropped off the face of the earth - I think perhaps they didn't like that we didnt accept their opions!
Haha... Still, only 2??? That's not very much.
there seems to be many more girls camps than all-boys or even coed.
am i right?
I dont know! maybe it is just that as females we are more suspetable to falling in love with camp!
or we are more willing to admit it
could be both!
And we dont take offence when people want to know why we did something obsessive like post 40 times in a row or when people dont agree with us!
I think it also has to do with the fact that guys probably just aren't into the whole message board thing, maybe? Plus, if you only start out with a few guys, a large group of girsl can scare them away, but if there is a bigger percentage of guys, it isn't so hard to scare them off because it is more obvious thay are here!
good point!
guys would rather go do 'manly' things than talk about how much they love camp, right?
haha so true!! hahahahaha
Oh, and plus, guys are mostly like my dad. He likes to go to a store when he needs to buy something and get in get it and get out. None of this shoppping business for him!! So with our off topicness we could have not appealed to that side of them!
exactly!
men get things done in as little steps and time as possible.
us women like to draw things out.
heck yeah!!! That's what being a women is all about!!
Yeah - the rambling did seem to annoy some people didn't it - people who just didn't seem to realise that it is part of building relationships and being women!
yeah!
we have to talk to decide if we are alike one another, then we decide if we're gonna be friends.
sounds almost like we are in first grade again!! "If I know your name and you also like kittens and puupies, we are best friends!"
hehe - it is kinda true though - how can you become friends if you nothing about a person!
that's essentially what we have done...with the exception of PMs back and forth.
Smudge and I are working on a 500+ post thread in out PMs, ongoing for nearly 4 months!
hehehe
YOu know you are a counsellor when you get the taste for roast marshmallows so use a chopstick to roast them over a candle!
hahahaha!! I once was baby-sitting and we decided to have a snack of S'mores so we got mini-marshmallows and went into one of their rooms and turned off the lights, except for the bedside lamp we put on the floor to use as a fire to "roast" the mallows! Surprisingly enough
they didn't actually heat the marshmallows! But they were good anyway! I am not sure if we had anything besides the mallows, but we didn't really care!
trying to roast marshmallows with a lighter isnt a good idea. it gets really hot then you end up burning your fingers. ouch.
I tried that! It didnt work as well as the candle!
good to know! I hate using lighters to build fire!! The two times I had to try I burned my thumb.
Lighters kind of freak me out. I hate using them. I do like matches however.
matches are fun to use! so are the lighters that are meant for the brbeque or something, where they have a handle with a trigger and then a long stem (I don;t know what else to call it) to where the flame comes out!
Those are cool! My mom once had one in the shape of a match, so it was like a giant match/lighter thing...
There are also ones like that in the shape of a pistol that light up when you pull the trigger. kind of creepy really.
that one is really kind of creepy, I agree, but the match one is amazing!!!! I might have to invest in one of those when I am finally allowed to have candles again (the dorms prohibit candles, so I have no use for a lighter at the moment)
i like to have matches or a lighter around for if i ever need them. having said that I really never have (apart from lighting our gas hobs) so I don't really know why I do.
I like matches, the most. The only time we use lighters if we can't find any matches (which for some reason is a problem sometimes, lol). Or especially if it is raining, its a cook-out, and we are all starving, we might cheat with a lighter. I personally like the challenge of flint and steel.
ive always fancied trying to light a fire with a stick and some string- you know what i mean right?
That is my goal for this summer - i am going to try it!
I am going to try to get better at collecting wood. That is usually my problem as I hate finding wood so the minute I became counselor I delegated that task to my camper. However, when your campers are more interested in playing with the sticks or bring you back handfuls of useless stuff and not enough good stuff, you learn mighty quickly that somethings need to be done yourself, tohught kids certainly will be told to "help" with getting firewood!
OMG, I JUST GOT THE CALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was on that last sentence and my phone rings and the caller id says Camp K!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I practically did a happy dance before anwswering the phone with a calm "Hello" as opposed to what I wanted to do, which was "YAY!!!!!!" They are going to be sending out my contract soon!!!!!!
I have a very ironic/slightly strange story at least to my mind. Last year, I applied to several camps, however there were two that I really wanted to attend. I had the job at one, yet it didnt seem like it was going to stand through. Anyway, I was waiting and waiting to receive a call or email from the other camp. I wanted so badly to just know something. So, one night, I dreamed about getting the call and talking to the person. The next day, the person called.
woah!!!! that is strange!!!
I got an email this morning, so I was wondering if she was going to call today, but I wasn't going to expect it since she said sometime this week and it is only Tuesday, but she called!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok wow so I'm majorly new and just read EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THE POSTS on this thread! Took me all bloody morning lol!! But OMG!! This'll be my first time at camp so not exactly sure what nalgene is lol? And why can't we use our real names at camp? I'll be teaching swimming too!!
A Nalgene is a really strong (supposedly break-proof) waterbottle.
Some camps use real names and some use camp names. We are all sort of unsure on the actual reason behind this, though there are plenty of theories! One is that it prevents post-camp counselor/camper contact. Another is that Mr. and Miss are too formal for the camp setting, but when camps first started first names were too informal. So, camp names were a compromise.
I personally like the theory that it is just fun! but no one really knows!
I love your dedication to this thread!!!!!!!
I can imagine that it took all day to read!
Nalgenes really rock - and they can be put through industrial dishwashers too!
Smudge loves being smudge at camp cos you dont have the baggage that Anna has!
Ha ha true!! Well I'm gonna have to look into this nalgene waterbottle!! It must be rock hard and sturdy as lol!!
I'm looking forward to making up a name and using it. If my camp does that.
But also looking forward to all the things that you guys mentioned in this thread!! Far out there was so much ha ha!
which organisation are you going through Kristina?
I'm going through CCUSA. I see a lot are going through CA on here. I didn't even know about them til after I signed up lol!
I think I am the only one here at the moment going through CA on here - but I there are soo many organisations.
How do you cope without a members forum? We have a wonderfully active member forum - it is great fun.
CCUSA has an Australian forum...someone just hacked into today though so right now not coping lol!!! I LOVED THAT FORUM! Was a senior member lol!! But yeah we have a forum lol. Just migrated out into the ACA and Worldwide one.
ah - I heard that CCUSA did have a forum! Oh the evil rumours that abound on CA!
that sucks that someone hacked it!
does it have a rubber chicken obsession?
Trust you Smudge, to ask that question right away! Gotta love it! That made me Giggle!! teehee
A rubber chicken obsession? Sorry don't think so lol!! And I knew that CA people hated CCUSA people lol! Dunno why?!?
you know you are in love with camp when you actually want to add oyur boss to your facebook or myspace profile and are not afraid of what they will see on it now that they as much access to it as your friends!!
When you dance around in your room for 5 min. when you find out you get to go camp, even if it's in about half a year...
true true, you should have seen me yesterday!
Rubber chickens Rock!
ANd we dont hate CCUSA - we pity them cos they dont have a rubber chicken obsession.
About the running around in the room, I love to blast the music and just dance.
ah!
I dont dance to music i sing along loudly!
What is this rubber chicken obsession that counselors love?
I am baffled by it to Kristina!!!
AT least I am not the only one lol!
im baffled by it too. alive chickens creep me out so rubber ones are even worse.
When your parents make you turn off your computer, so you sneak onto the other computer to check the boards.
I did that last night, but then I realized I wasn't even logged on the other computer, and I was to lazy to do it...
when not even a trip around the world can stop you from deciding to go to camp
Oh, yeah. Definitely. I hate long plane rides, but I'm willing to do it to go to camp.
I get so bored of long plane rides. I will be having two trips across the atlantic in as many months because I'm going to canada in easter so I need to stock up on good books and put some good music on my ipod.
I dont mind long plane rides on the way to good places but it is coming back that is the worst! Especially when you dont want to come home!
Coming back after camp and travelling was ok because I ended up sleeping almost the entire way which is an indicator of how tired I was because i find it nearly impossible to sleep on any type of transport. I also had two flights in a row- LA to NY then NY to London with a 10 hour wait in NY airport. Not fun.
No but not as bad as if you had grey hounded to NYC - from LA it would have taken about 3 days! I did it from SLC to NYC - it was exhausting!
That doesn't sound fun at all. I considered that kind of thing for the price but decided I'd prefer to pay more to fly it.
I was looking into for when I go to Utah after camp and the prices were so similar that i have decided this year that i will fly - but i had always wanted to go across america on greyhound - NH to SLC and then back to NYC count in my book as having fulfilled that dream - now i need to do the train - but with it being as cheap to fly i am still gonna go for that option!
Why don't you just go to camps on the East Coast? It's less flight time and probably much cheaper!
I was placed in a camp in Oklahoma first time round. The reason that I was in LA was because I went travelling afterwards from Denver all the way to LA. This time I'm in Minnesota.
You know minnesota also makes me think of that old TV show - Coach!
it is all about a sports coach (cant remember what sport) and i am sure it is set in Minesota state U
thats where i go to school! i think hes a football coach but i dont think it was here, maybe michigan?
When playing soccer in the park with your friends reminds you of camp, even though soccer used to be an outside-of-camp thing for you.
haha, so true!
when it rains, you are happy- free shower!
Yeah, but only at camp. I get cold really easily.
When you jump at the chance to scream at the top of your lungs about some farmer and a chicken, in any weather.
[the Chicken Song ;p]
... When you are never completely clean and that is okay!
When you sing camp songs in the shower instead of 'normal people' songs.
absolutely! I so do that!
definitely was singing purple light this morning...before i read the boards! ;p
so far today i have had Linger, War Saw, and tennesee wiggle walk in my head and duck drover in my head!
When duck drover makes you think of a UL u worked with last summer who actually was a duck drover (well sort of! - her gran used to keep ducks!)
Nice! I definitely thought of camp songs when I was doing a survey thing where I had to write down 4 song titles that first came into my head!
Ahahaha. That's so cool! What was the survey for?
It was one of those emails where it tells you to write down the numbers from 1-11 and then for numbers 1 and 2 write two numbers and for 3 and 7 write boys names, and for 8,9,10, and 11 write song titles. Then it says something like the person in number 3 is the person you like the most, and the song in 8 matches the person in number 7 and whatnot.
You know you are obsessed when you are playing Would You Rather...? on Facebook and when it asks you if you would rather go without seeing for a year or without music for a year you would almost pick no seeing because no music would mean no camp songs! If it didn'tinclude camp songs, you would rather go without music because then you could see at camp!
I would die with no camp songs! They're so fun to annoy my friends with on the bus. I sit behind them and sing camp songs in their ear...
when swimming in the lake counts as showering right?
when you need to teach your brownies songs so teach them camp songs!
when you find a way to include something you've ever learned at camp in every aspect of your non camp life.
absolutely! I love using camp in every aspect of my life! I love the things I learn there in my real world life!
i try to live my life as though campers are right there, that way i'm always accountable for my actions.
I totally used to do that, mostly unintentionally though. I just never swore or anything. Now I swear more, but funny thing is that I got into the habit at camp since the minute the campers were out of sight the staff were on Super-college-kid mode in the sense that they swore and talked of parties and realtionships and drama and all that.
when you decide that living the way you would as if campers were there, first of all, means something to you, and also when you decide to do it! (I love the idea and may actually try to do it too, especially since I need to work on cleaning up my act, such as swearing less and actually doing my homework. I will try to be the best role model to my invisible campers!)
yeah, i used to think i had to be all 'BA' and swear and the like, but it's really not my style.
i'm trying to raise awareness about watching what you say, by simply responding to someone saying a cuss word or 'that's gay' or 'that's reatrded' with a nice, 'Word Choice!' and offering alternatives.
So far, so good in my attempt to curb verbal bullying.
very nice! It isn't so much that I try to be like them so I swear, but that I subconsiously pick up on it after a while. Like, I really don't care if people think I am a goody-two-shoes and don't swear. It is just the whole sub-conscious thing that we mentioned in the Camp Conformity thread.
I dont care what people think - i dont swear for religious and personal choice and if people have an issue with that then it is there prob not mine - but it certainly helps when you are camp cos you dont have to worry about watching your language!
I might have already said this one- in fact I am almost positive I did, but I want to keep this thread going!
when you choose the boards over showering!
ok, so I apparently didn't need to bump this thread with that one, since i have now found a whole bunch of cool ones on other threads just like this one! I took out the ones that we have definitely done before, but some may still be repeats, so sorry if they are. I didn't think of any of these, but stole them, so no credit for me!
bug spray counts as deodorant.....for 2 days
You speak nonchalantly about your foreign friends, though you've never been to Europe, and explain how accents don't phase you anymore.
You have a soft spot in your heart for burned hamburgers on paper plates and watered down bug juice in dirty-looking plastic cups.
*When you have to make a conscious effort to be sure not ALL of the photos in your apt are from camp.
You know you are an international at camp when you fold your flag the same way the americans fold theirs
you know you are an international at camp when you took an active interest in the election and tried to vote for Kerry
when you see a fellow staff member out somewhere you get excited and scream and attract attention
you automatically get hungry at 8:00 am, 12:30 pm, and 6:00 pm.
when you don't blink at your college friends having names like "genghis"
when you twitch if you hear your camp name, even if it's just a word
that you have been at the camp longer then the kids you are a counselor for have been born
People who work for the Girl Scout Council full time including the council CEO calls you by your camp name
Go to camp just to see progress of new construction and take pictures of it.
Get excited when you get to go and have lunch with some of the program department staff including the camp directors.
The smell of fire is something you want to make a perfume
Your wallpaper on your computer is always a camp picture
you understand the importance of a camp name
you understand that said camp name will be morphed into many a twisted things
Just to switch it up a bit, what you can only do AT camp:
*see your boss dress in drag
*get a free car wash
*paint people in charge of you
*throw someone in the lake without legal repercussions
*have regular mud fights
*get paid to sleep and lay on a beach
*walk around at night serenading other people
*wear your underwear outside of your pants
*use a giant slip-n-slide
*act like you?re eleven years old all the time
*get a real breakfast most mornings
*you get children to set the table for you (and do other random stuff for you too)
*lanyards are a form of art, as are friendship bracelets
*when you hear an air horn, you start ripping off your clothes and run to the nearest body of water.
*you get really happy when you hear ?Love Me Do? and ?Wannabe?
*if you don?t shower for three days, you?re still relatively clean
*you can steal mattresses from other peoples beds and not get in too much trouble
*shaving is way overrated
*you can blatantly lie to children, and it?s okay (and they believe you)
*you start writing notes to your friends again, just like in middle school
*you can take pop away from children, and drink it in front of them
*you get way too excited about chicken patties
*you sing songs that make absolutely no sense, and have absolutely no point
*boys can wear nail polish
*you make up songs about everything
*?your mamma?s on the roof? is the best comeback ever
*throw flour filled socks at children
*capture the flag becomes WWIII
*you have ten secret boyfriends (or girlfriends) again, just like in grade school
*Wednesday night is hospital night
*you can wear the same clothes for a week at a time, and no one notices
*confusion is the only state of mind
*you can call yourself a tripper in public, and not get in trouble
*toys are the best gifts to receive (especially if they?re Barbies, and you?re a boy)
*toilet-plunging is a necessary skill for survival
*watch tans are so in right now
*have pillow fights at work
*naptime is the best part of the day
*everyone is a winner
*you can have hot dogs for every meal
*you can get the plague and find a dollar all in one day
*you start dating other peoples boyfriends
*being licked by a small child in your sleep is not that unusual (note from campkgurl-I don?t think I want to know!)
*leader in training really means slave labor
*the Village People make regular appearances
*you can wear tie-dye, camouflage, and Hawaiian all at the same time
*make friends with strange people in boats while teaching a class from a canoe
*sit on a bed eating ice cream while the CIT watches the kids
*Teddy Grams in frosting is the funniest suicide you?ve ever seen
*your tan washes off in the shower
*funny and obscene quotes are written on walls, and this practice is encouraged (staff quote board in the lounge)
*when you hear a Disney song, the whole camp starts to sing along
*the Sound of Music soundtrack inspires dance parties during meals (best lunch I have ever had)
*you can color people?s ears purple
*for us the purpose of life is to fight maturity, screw everything else!
This is a list that we Ceadrledge gals compiled a few years back. Sorry if it's been posted already:
You Know You've Been a Cedarledge Camper Too Long When...
1. ...some of the younger girls weren?t even alive when you started coming.
2. ...you?ve almost memorized the entire meal schedule.
3. ...counselors treat you like Junior Staff (when you?re only 13!)
4. ...your counselors give you a scavenger hunt and you are able to complete more than half on your own.
5. ...your scavenger hunt group finishes the hunt in less than forty-five minutes.
6. ...you can name every unit on camp, plus histories and a few little known facts too.
7. ...you can name every mountain on camp and most of the elevations from memory.
8. ...the thought of living without running water is nothing new.
9. ...you are proud of the fact that you can survive in 100+ heat indices without air conditioning.
10. ...you go home and are so cold you walk around in sweats and blankets (because you are not used to the air conditioning anymore).
11. ...you can name off every C.I.T. group you?ve been to camp with -- and it?s a LONG list.
12. ...you can remember when there weren?t ET?s on camp.
13. ...you can remember when the Whispering Winds and Conestoga latrines were still used.
14. ...you write essays and other things, like this, about camp.
15. ...you can remember when whoever the Assistant Camp Director is was still a C.I.T. herself.
16. ...you see nothing wrong with songs that involve dead buffalos, or being nude, or people dying.
17. ...there is dirt in your water but you drink it anyway.
18. ...you no longer make an effort to wipe the sweat off your back.
19. ...when a hamburger falls on the ground, you pick it back up and throw it back on the fire.
20. ...you sign all of your e-mails and letters with your real name/your camp name.
21. ...you can walk up and down Teddy Bear trail at night with no flashlight.
22. ...you can walk around camp in general at night with no flashlight.
23. ...you?ve used the phrase, ?I?ve been coming to camp for {insert number} years and it hasn?t killed me yet. There?s nothing here that?s going to kill you.? when you talk to homesick campers.
24. ...you can give the B.E.S.T. lecture yourself.
25. ...you are picked to be a head because there is no extra staff or C.I.T.s.
26. ...some of the staff members were actually campers with you at one time, and you remember it.
27. ...your friends at home stop asking questions when you tell stories including people?s camp names.
28. ...you go home and miss camp, but refer to it as ?homesickness.?
29. ...you stopped learning new songs a long time ago.
30. ...the concept of individual showers at camp will always seem strange.
31. ...you?ve hiked on the Frontier Trail so many times, you can lead a unit to do it.
32. ...you can name off the campers who will be in future C.I.T. groups 3-4 years down the road.
33. ...you know why people such as J. Mo, Garfield, Red Cross, and ACA are so important -- before you?re a C.I.T.
34. ...all staff know who you are (even if you don?t know them!).
35. ...you have so many memories that you can?t even imagine picking a favorite.
36. ...you?ve been on all the creek walks.
37. ...you stopped bringing real cloths to camp, P.J.s will do just fine.
38. ...even though the book says to not bring sandals, you know that there is no way you can survive camp without them.
39. ...you no longer need to actually think about what your camp name will be.
40. ...you can predict what unit you will be in.
41. ...you don?t care what your counselors? real names are anymore.
42. ...being away from home to be at camp is the best thing in the world.
43. ...you think siesta should be part of your everyday schedule, at home!
44. ...you can have 4 hour long conversations with your camp friends and talk about nothing but camp, even if you experienced everything together and know all the stories.
45. ...you measure your life and its stories by the unit you were in that year.
46. ...using a roll of duct tape within 24 hours doesn't bother you.
47. ...you know that duct tape SHOULD be on the camp supply list.
48. ...you just don't understand why everyone in the world isn't named things like Jabba, Tweety, Spider, Rainbow, and Skeeter.
49. ...you think campfires should be the opening event at everything.
50. ...when you see someone you met at camp - it doesn't matter how long ago you last saw them....you know that nothing has changed so much that you won't have anything in common with them.
51. ...you know that when you become a C.I.T, L.I.T, or A.W.I.T that you're making best friends for life.
52. ...you know in your heart that Cedarledge will always be home - no matter where you are.
53. ...you remember when they gave swimming lessons during swim times!
When you show your countdown to your friend (who also happens to be going with you...) and she doesn't understand why you're making such a big deal out of it. "Calm down! 123 days is not that close! You're driving me crazy with all this countdown stuff..."
Whan you quote people from here in an English essay - which just happens to be about camp!
I did that! (I know you all know that, but hey!)
I know - but you didn't mention it!
I was surprised that you missed it on your list!
When you meet other camp people on here
When you count internationals as a part of your extended family
When you have to get certifications ( CPR and First Aid) before camp starts and you are the youngest person taking the class
when you know that you can live without TV and more importantly it doesnt bother you!
whne the cost of fuel is about to deter you to walking everywhere with your backpack!
When you think that rubber chickens are the best thing in the world for keeping kids occupied! (if you end up working with and international who used CA and they have one it is my fault!)
When being asked to teach a class of 8 year old with 5 mins notice doesn't phase you even though you are not a teacher.
When you are doing singing with your brownies and the songs they request are the hippo song and the conehead song.
When the hands up signal doesnt quieten your brownies so you revert to techniques (clapping) that you learnt at camp!
*being licked by a small child in your sleep is not that unusual (note from campkgurl-I don?t think I want to know!)
That list was made by the people at my camp... I contributed to a lot of those with the exception of this one. I think the girl who wrote all this up was actually woken up by someone licking her...I don't remember this was made back in 2004
nice! I like that list! It would definitely be a pretty weird experience to be woken up by a kid licking you as opposed to a dog (that, I have had happen to me, many times!)
I guess one of the huge advantages of GS camp is that the kids live seperate from the staff so that is never something we need to worry about - thank goodness!
I suppose if they needed you though, they would come get you and possibly do that
oh the joys of living in a cabin with your kids.
You also know you are a counselor when you wake up to any noise that is out of the ordinary and can't fall asleep when you get home unless you have white noise to make up for the lack of frog and cricket sounds.
I suppose if they needed you though, they would come get you and possibly do that
They werent allowed in our cabins - if they needed use during the night they had to knock (or bang on) the door! Usually they didn't have to knock very hard for it to wake me!
You know you are a counsellor when you are asleep and are woken up by the dogs tail wagging against the wooden door! (cos you are that used to listening out for campers knocking on the cabin door!)
haha, or when you actually awaken when your campers softly say your CAMP name because you are so used to it, and used to them waking you up!
when you cat is jealous of your laptop cos you spend soo much time on camp related forums!
haha! when you get a text message and you ignore it because you are too busy replying ot the posts!
when your friend has to ask if you are there cos you have been chatting and suddenly go quiet!
When you wake up in your room in the middle of the night and FREEK OUT hard core cause you have no clue where you are or your campers. That's the one thing I don't like about camp... waking up 3 times a week for a month like that!
Which leads me to an off topic story but I'm going to tell it because it's so easy to get back on topic with this topic.
Our PD decided to play a prank on one of our counselors, we will call him Jim. So Jim was the only counsleor in his cabin and when he wanted to go to staff snack one of the program staff would stay in his cabin while he was not there. So during this time the staff member who was there had the campers make their beds to look like they were sleeping, grabed extra sleeping stuff and took them to the CIT lodge. The point was to make Jim freek out because he lost his campers. Jim comes back from snack and goes right to bed, never notices that his campers were not in the cabin and sleeps by him self for the whole night. The next moring he finds his cabin in the chappel before our thought of the day and acts like nothing happened. How he kept his job, I don't know? I guess it's a good thing he's good at what he does.
Hmmm...I don't really see the problem, so maybe I'm reading it wrong? He asked someone to watch his campers, and they made the beds look like they were in them, so why would he notice they were gone? I would assume if someone was looking over my campers, and they didn't tell me anything was amiss when I got back, with the beds made up like that, I probably wouldn't have noticed either.
hahaha thats funny
-cause he should of noticed in the morning cause why would he leave his cabin if it looked like everyone was in bed
ha ha sorry... The staff that was watching his cabin went back to his cabin to sit and wait for him to come back and told him his campers were fine and gave him no problems.
So were the campers alone over night then?
Yeah, and where were they if they weren't in their own beds?
The CIT's were in their training portion of their 4 weeks at camp so they were in a cabin that had 3 staff in it. And since they were boys there were enough open beds for them to sleep in.
Ah!
Sounds a bit crazy to me - but I like crazy!!!!
You know you are a counsellor when your computer background is a camp photo - and your screen saver is a slide show of camp pics!
Ah!
Sounds a bit crazy to me - but I like crazy!!!!
yeah we pull some amazing stuff off when it comes to pranks all in good fun though...
some of us spend their off time thinking up of ways to prank. It's one of my favorite parts of the summer.
When your background on your computer is a picture of camp...
When you have an e-mail address that features your camp name just so you can give it to campers and they won't find out your real name from your regular e-mail address.
We arent allowed to give campers our email address but I keep meaning to set one up with my camp name for camp staff!!!!
so, slighty off topic...but...
I AM EMPLOYED!!!!!! i got the job!
oh man i'm so excited.
so...you know you are a counselor when making little money while living in the heat and bugs is your biggest dream!
OK so you know you are a counsellor when pyscho neighbor is keeping you awake so you use that time to be on camp related forums!
aww psycho neighbor? poor smudge.
you know you are a camp counselor when getting an instructor's hat makes you feel like a million bucks!
When people trust you enough to teach archery even though you are really accident prone!
when all you do all day (even if ur at work....my bad) just sit on here and refresh the pages every 2 seconds hoping someone has replied and also have CCUSA and Summerworldwide pages open........
When other peoples computer backgrounds are pictures of camp!
when the first thing u do when u get home is jump on the forums and forums are all that u think about at work haha
when filling out boring paperwork for taxes, etc. is more exciting JUST because its for camp!
wen u get excited wen u see a message from CCUSA, CA, campleaders, Bunac etc in ur email box
When your contract finally arrives and you head onto the forums to let everyone know!!!!!!!!!!
Yay my contract has finally arrived so I know what I am going to be doing this summer! I am going to be a Unit Leader which is cool I am excited about that!
I am still waiting on my contract, but it could have arrived on Friday for all I know (as in last Friday, not yesterday/the day before) since I am at home and it is being sent to school!
when you are at camp and everything else literally disapeears from your mind! I seriously didn't think once of how i go back to school tomorrow. I also only thought about the boards a few times. However, I thought about summer a lot because it is at camp!
i know what im doing. but my proper contract hasnt arrived
I had to email my CD cos I was expecting it a month ago - I was emailing her about something my silly DR did on my CA med form so I thought that i would ask her about that too! Spent fun hour doing all my paperwork and looking at my camp broachure!
I love it when I get the brochure! or when the brochure becomes available online!! woot woot! I titally do that too! I haven't actually looked at a contract yet in the Spring, but I always read my confirmation packet even though it was the same every year basically! haha I believe my contract is waiting in my school mailbox right now. I also already know my position too! partially because there are few postitions for which I actually qualify! Kitchen and counselor, so I am a counselor! I suppose technically I could be the Aand C lady, but I don;t know enough, nor am I interested enough to experiment with projects and such. Plus, I am horrible at art! haha
I love to be the A & C person!!!!
I have yet to read though my packet entire - it only arrived yesterday and I am really tired - so am saving it for my bus journey too and from London. I even read the personnel policies!
i got mine too!
it was very confusing! all the tax and gov forms...thank goodness for knowledgeable parents!
when you get an email/mail from ur CD and u get all excited and jump up and down.....(or just me? lol)
no def not for u .
when u wake up at like 7 am to check ur emails to see if u got anything from camp cause u know the time difference means they would have sent it through our night
when you still never shave your legs just so you can sleep in the extra 10-15 min.
oooo not shaving legs...........
being on here and not doing any work and trying not to get caught!
haha, I remember the days of trying to not get caught reading Gilmore girls fan fiction while I should have been doing my homework! I didn't know of the boards then, so now i can go on them and my parents will never know when I am on them instead of doing homework!
when you are actually excited to go to camp in the Spring when it is snowing and cold and raining (yeah, it snowed a lot on Friday and Saturday! 3 or so days into Spring!) as opposed to sitting inside with hot chocolate and a few books and movies! We did a night hike and we never knew when we were stepping in a really cold puddle. Anyway, the point is that we are obsessed with camp when we are actually excited to be outside in horrible weather if it means we can be at camp!
ooo horrible weather camp......?!?!?!
i dont want to go from horrible weather to horrible weather!
yeah, stupid snow in Spring!!! It should have been raining, not snowing!
never been in the snow! I live in a milder climate where we get a little of everything and a lot of rain! Basically it is pretty rain that can turn nasty real quick (it mixes with dirt and such, and also melts. Slush isn't pretty). It also can become ice, which I hate as an element of weather! In my water I love ice, but not on the roads and sidewalks!
...when you decide that even tohugh you only have one more quarter left in your dorm room you feel that it needs more decorations so you bring pictures your campers drew you and other momentos form camp to hang aournd your room!
LOL
yes no never been in snow
australia doesnt have snow =( so cant wait tho!
I want a white winter!
SHAY AUSTRALIA DOES HAVE SNOW.
blue mountains thredbo ive been skiing n stuff in australia.
geez shay
I hardly ever get snow - cos were I live is majorly influenced by the gulf stream so it keep the climate wet and cold rather than snowy!
you know you are a counsellor when you go the library to do Visa stuff and end up in the CA forums instead!
hahah what ever u do that involves a computer leads u to a forum
that is soooo true - I cant come on the computer without checking CA and here and talkcamp!
I can always find an excuse to check the forums - and talk about camp!
hahah i spend my life on the forums
hehe - there are far worse places we can spend our time!
You know you are counsellor when you randomly wear your CA Tshirts - just cos you can!
i really want a shirt so i can wear it whenever
Between my CA shirts and my camp shirts I have loads of them! I practically live in camp shirts!
or as soon as you get to school you get online until your teacher comes nd you have to do yearbook!
When you are setting up your new laptop and you set it up with 2 clocks - one with UK time and one with camp time!
haha, that's amazing Smudge!
And once I get transfer my camp pics on to it I will have a camp pic as my background!
haha my cell phone banner is " i love camp" No camp pics, I don't have it during camp!
hehe - cool!
I love the fact that I can lock my phone in the camp safe during the summer and not worry about it! Oh I cant wait to do that!
absoultey! I keep mine in my purse in my cabin, still out of my campers view at all times. My campers are still a little young to care if I have a phone or not, though I definitely don't tell them I have it or let them see it because then they might want to call home on it when they are homesick and then you just have more issues!
when you don't count the days til the last day of school, but to camp instead!
when you go to craft club spend time looking at camp pics rather making cards!
You know you're a counselor when you have two sets of clothes... camp clothes and those others you wear not at camp.
- Teenster
when someone wears socks with their flip-flops and you don't even flinch. If you are away from camp, it reminds you of camp!
ewwww do people do that.
i hate that
haha, in real life- no one does it, but in camp life (depending on your camps rules on footwear- some allow flip-flops, some require socks, some don't care, etc), at least for me, some people do it because sandals are a lot more open and thus not as hot and sweaty.
ill just were my dunlops.
runners. but like good material like rubber bottoms and breatheable material.
look them up.
soo comfy.
When you finally get around to sorting out your photos from last summer and you have to spend about 5 hours - sorting into files and naming the pictures and you still arent finished!
You call your campers "your kids"
absolutely! My 8th grade teacher said that she had kids- 180 of them! Actually she said some number in the 400s because she was including past students as well! We are sooo like that! If we go by her definition of kids I have approximately 210 of them!
when you are still not finished organising last years pictures but really wanna get it done before you head to camp this year
when you pinch the idea of a CBIAB for organising things for guides!
Yay for whoever came up with the idea for the CBIAB! I know my CIT director got the idea from her CIT director like 12 years ago, so I have no idea where it orginated, but I think it was my CIT director who started calling it a Counselor-Brain-in-a-Box!
when you type a word that starts with a "ca" or even sometimes a "c" you automatically finish it off "camp"!!!!!! hahaha I do this soooooooo much! I am applying to be an Orientation Leader at my school for next fall and I am typing camp left and right!
I am always doing that! do you think it means we are obsessed?
I think it must! Not to mention as I am filling out this application I am realizing that I have no life outside of Camp Fire! My summer is devoted to camp and my school year (at least until I left for college this year) has been all about camp and my Camp Fire club! Most of my experience in anything is somehow related to camp! I was applying to camp this summer and needed 3 references. ummmm, this is even more difficult for me than most as my summers haven't included jobs, but camp, and my winters have been occupied with my CF group. Now this wouldn't be so bad, aside from the fact that the advisor of my CF group is also my CD!! haha so I can't use my best reference to apply! Of couse, then she already knows me so she of course uses this info in her decision to hire me! So in a way it is like i have 4 references!
Another funny thing about this is that my friend was talking to one of her references about his conversation with our CD and she said that since she has known us for so long and so well she would feel guilty not hiring us (unless of course we do something horribly wrong like get arrested ot drink on camp pr something!)!! haha, we have a summer job as long as she is there! Of course and new CD would also have to be craxy for not hiring us back with all our years of experience with kids and with that camp! haha Set for life!
I call my students 'my kids'. I tend to accidently confuse people I meet into thinking I have a bunch of my own children. And then trying to figure out how I do at my age. I'm sure I do the same at camp, but so does everyone else so I don't get the odd comments.
Yes, I have 69 kids. No, I didn't adopt them all, they're my students.;)
Absolutely! I don't really know if I confuse people because I say "my kids" and then correct myself if I feel I need to and say "my campers".
I am going to have a lot more kids, especially if I keep having more summer kids and my non-summer kids! Yay for being a teacher and having lots of kids! As an elementary teacher you have 20-30 kids a year! Thank goodness we don't have to give birth to that many kids!
I always call my campers "my kids." I've gotten a few weird looks and a few people asking how old they are and how many I have for that...
I have to tell this story...but is so sad, but funny. I was talking to someone at my part time job about "my kids"...meaning the 7th grade kids I teach. Well...he knew what i was talking about. I said, "Well, I only have 7 (meaning in my class)." He said, "Wow, just seven." I said, "Well, they are diagnosed mentally retarded or emotionally disturbed, so that keeps me busy with seven." The funny part. This other guy was doing something nearby and said, "Um, I dont mean to be rude, but this explains why you looked mad when I saw you at the store." I was like, "What does that have to do with looking mad." He felt so bad, it was like his heart was crushed for me. He said, "Oh my goodness, I couldnt do that, I would have stopped after 2." Thats when I realized he thought I have 7 kids of my one, all with disabilities.
SO NOW, I always make sure people know what i am talking about when i say "My Kids"
haha, sad but funny!
I was recently at a book fair at my elementary school. I was looking around at the books and one of the people running it asked me what grade my kids were in! I was like, none, and then explained that I was looking because I work at a summer camp and also want to build my collection for when I become a teacher. The sad yet funny part is that I looked old enough to have a 5 year old, at least! Of course it is physically possible for me to have a 5 year old, but I am only 19! Of course, I don't blame her since I was at an elementary school book fair, and I was obviously not a student there and book fairs aren't exactly a high traffic spot for people who don't work there or have kids there! i was there visiting teachers so I found out about it! woot!
I have other times my age was questioned, but i don't recall any times where people thought my campers were my kids since I explain it when I am around those who don't know me!
My co-reading teacher was doing the airport run and booking 8 kids on as unaccompanied minors on the same flight. The man at the security desk thought they were all hers. And she's only 21!
when you are upset nalgene's are pulled off the shelves.
Soo true!!!!
When you spend the day looking for inspirational quotes and making up your planning sheets and diary etc!
when you sing camp songs everwhere you go including the hallway of your school!
yeah - I have done that! Now I just teach them to my Brownies!
I love this quote that I saw on talk camp as ARam_Kelp's signature!
"I laugh at those who only know one song that gets on everbody's nerves. I know at least twenty and will sing any of them in order to avoid sing the Princess Pat again!"
haha, amazing and so totally true! Although for me Princess Pat isn't sang enough at my camp to be annoying, but each person has "their Princess Pat" that is sung soooooooo much!
people probaly think i'm crazy! but thats ok, they are just ignorant of camp's happiness!
when people say to me that they think I am crazy my response is to question that they only think I am crazy - do they not know it yet?
haha! yay my friends just say what the heck cor-cor, or oh, cor-cor. (band nick name)
my just tend to role their eyes and laugh!
but my friends aren't known for their seriousness, and borringness either. They are all campy people!
My cousin is the one who usually makes fun of me for it since my other friends are camp people of some sort! She just calls me weird or a dork! haha
I dont really have any friends who are campy people over here but I think they have just gotten used to my camp obsession and alot of them are really supportive and think that I should be taking advantage of the chance to go while I can!
that's cool that your friends are cool with it! My friends are okay with it, but they love to tease me about it!
Yeah i get teased too - but more cos it seems to run my life than cos it is camp if that makes sense!
yeah, I think I know what you mean! You get teased because of your obsession and addiction and constant talking about it and planning around it, not because you go to camp or because camps are sort of a world of their own!
i only get upset when one person teases me about it, part of the reason is he is just a jerk.
yeah, i'm with you guys there.
i wear camp T's and my significant other just doesn't get it! oh well, someday...
cedar trees - jerks just arent worth getting upset over!!!
when you see a commercial about Verizon wireless that has marshmallow roasting and tons and tons of mosquitos and it makes you miss camp!
found another one- when you see a zip line on Super Nanny and it makes you want to go to camp, even if you haven't ever done the zipline that is at camp!
When you have already started sorting and seperating the cloths you are gonna be taking to camp with you!
when you hear the song on the doggy flea commercial "there ain't no bugs on me" and start singing along because it brings back camp memories
AHHHHHHHH so true!!! I love that commercial! i was doing that too!
when you use your brownies to test new games for camp!
when you yearn for Bob Ritter to tell you that "Children are like monkeys" every pre-camp training
when the only playlist on your iPod that you play is titled "Camp Love"
when you get way too excited to see a fellow counselor out of camp and do nothing but laugh the entire time you're with him/her
when shopping you look through the clearance racks and buy things because you'll make them work at camp
you stock up on christmas lights after christmas to decorate your cabin with
when you hear a camp song on the radio (Don't stop believing, sweet home alabama) you sing along the camp lyrics
I like the singing along to camp songs on the radio! One of our Unit songs is to the tune of the "Give me the beat, boys, to free my soul..." song, but the lyrics are changed so I always sing the Owakna lyrics! Same with our slow staff song last year- the lyrics were changed to make it more camp related!
whos bob ritter.
today i went 2 buy khaki shorts and welll at myer they were selling heaps of shorts worth $80, $70 for $5 so i got like 4 pairs of diff shiz.
so i understand the sale rack thing.
lol
Bob Ritter - I though it was Bob Ditter! Maybe they are 2 different people! But Bob Ditter does a videoas about how to avoid being accused of child abuse at camp and stuff like that and wears heavy black glasses! I actually found a copy of his video in our camps staff video collection last summer!
It is Bob Ditter.... I don't know where my head was.
Getting all excited about Bob ditter day! Do you make bob ditter glasses our of black pipe-cleaners or card in his honor and wear them for the whole day?
Until these boards I had never heard of Bob Ditter (I don't think)! I might have heard something in passing, but nothing concrete. Hopefully we have some Bob Ditter stuff going on at precamp, cuz I am curious and want to be in on the loop!
His website is
http://www.bobditter.com in case you want to see what he's all about.
when you are reading Bob Ditter articles online!
when you read about getting kids to brush their teeth (an example of a way to get a kid to listen) you really want to be in your cabin with your campers telling them to brush their teeth! I am so pathetic! haha
when you realise that the Bob Ditter article you had from your first camp was borrowed by someone who never returned it!
when you start making Bob Ditter jokes! haha even though i haven't come up with any, it seems like ther could be some out there!
yeah i don't but it's still frustrating. It's not that he's putting me down, it's that he is putting down my camp! and he's never heard of it before i told him! it's just another bump i have to get over.
um ceder are u talkin about bob or r u in the wrong topic. lol iuno u normalyy are in the wrong topic:)
I get it now! If you read earlier on the page it talks about being made fun of for our camp obsessions!
When you've met Bob Ditter and asked for his autograph...
- Teenster
hehe
When you are jealous that you haven't meet Bob Ditter and other people have....
When you are thinking that when you get to camp you will have to watch their copy of the Bob Ditter video!
when you dream of camp!
when you use your brownies to try out new games for camp!
this was on the second page!!! Had to save it!!
When you are loyal to a certain store
or, when you are loyal to a certain store just because it is the "everything for cheap" store closest to your camp!
When you have played marco polo in your camps local walmart!
when you are actually considering going over to camp the weekend before finals when you have a final Monday morning at 9 am!! And it will cost you more to get there than you will get paid probably!! Or when you do it as a volunteer!!
Haha. It sound's like you'd have to be insane to do that. But it's camp, so I can understand.
yeah, pretty much insane! Who knows though! I might not have a final til Wednesday, but it is still a really big stretch to try to get me over there in time on Friday. Especially since I still have no idea if anyone will give me a ride and when they can leave!
Haha, yeah. Good luck with that!
When you ask for birthday presents that can be used at camp - like a nice new bag!
haha, so true and happy belated birthday, even though I wished you a happy birthday on your birthday!!!
when your cousin is counting down to her weeding and graduation, and everyone else is counting down to the end of school, and you are counting down until camp. When a friend asks how many days are left in school or you want to know, you subtract the days from you CAMP countdown!!!
When a missionary you know only knows how many days it is until he goes home cos he sees you count down every time he comes to your house and he goes home 15 days after you leave for camp.
When you invest a small chalk message board specially for you count down!
When you spend 2 1/2 hours wandering around Walmart and can think of camp uses for everything you see!!
I spent like $134 in there the other day!! lol
haha - thats what happens when you become a CD ermie
when you sign up for a pen pal on talkcamp and the give you your best friend!
Yes, when you sign up for pen pal on talkcamp and they give you your best friend which will make it even easier to have a pen pal when you were already planning on staying connected over the summer.
When you save every staff manual and different materials from every camp you work at and it keeps getting bigger.
When you get to know the staff or returning staff ask you to take them out of camp for the evening
When the camp you are at keeps repeating the same song at every meal all summer long.
When you know what you are having for dinner every two weeks because the meal is the same every two weeks.
When you rush to the mail to see if you got any.
Again when you are always talking about camp with friends.
When ask if you heard about something important on the tv news and you look at your friends and say no, they ask "where have you been in the woods all summer" and you reply "yes"
When you own almost every t-shirt that the camp has
When you agree that everyone in facebook is mostly camp friends
Talking to friends about you best friend who lives in another country and they are wondering how you meet someone from another country
When you im and call your best friend in scotland on a regular bases
When you don't care what you look like in the morning or during the day because you are just going to get even dirtier as the day goes on.
Were rain is a natural shower and part of the camp on a normal basis
When you get home and answer the phone with your camp name and tell people that they can call you that instead of your given name
when you use your camp name as a nick name so that your professor can post the class' grades online without anyone else knowing your grade!
When a friend asks how many days are left in school or you want to know, you subtract the days from you CAMP countdown!!!
Omg! I used to do that too! My friends saw I was making a countdown for something, and they thought it was for school, so they kept asking me how many days were left until school was out, but it eventually got annoying having to calculate it all the time, so then I made a school countdown, too.
when you use your camp name as a nick name so that your professor can post the class' grades online without anyone else knowing your grade!
When you have been quoted in campkgurls essays!
Yay! I have too, even though I'm not a counselor...
That was a really good one, Smudge!
When people you have never met in person are trying to get you work at their camps!
When you actually agree to that.
hehe - and I have looking into going to a new camp next summer!
camp Killoqua (sp?) the camp that campkgurl works at!
Awesome! That would be so cool for you guys!
Hey! you spelled it right!!!!!!! Now you just have to get the pronunciation right, which I have given up on until you talk on the phone with my CD!!
I love these new ones! It always seems that the same old ones get repeated but then we all of a sudden get a lot of good new ones!!!
Good to know i am not the only one doing the camp to school countdown! Of course I only have to subtract 6 or 7 days, while you have like 20-some campluver!!
You guys are coming up with awesome ones!!
Actually it's 14, but whatever.
And we only come up with new ones when it actually happens. If Smudge wasn't thinking about applying to your camp, then I doubt anybody would have ever said that you go to a camp reccomended by someone you met online. (Or whatever it was, I don't remember exactly)
totally, I do the same thing! When I do something particularly camp-dork-y I post it!! haha, but you guys were feeding off each other too, so that made it cool too! Plus most of it featured me!!
haha I am not really concieted, but it was amazing how much stuff related to me is camp-geek-y!!
Like during the time I was off the boards, I had to write a list of things that I relate to growing up, and the first thing I thought of was becoming a camp counselor, and then I thought about adding that to this list, but somehow I never got around to doing it...
haha, that's awesome!! And so true!!
you know your a counsellor when it is ok to be still up at 4am - as long as you are chatting with camp friends
when you should be preparing a lesson and you are posting on here! I need to have it done in like 8 hours - luckily it will only take an hour or two to do.
Stupid forum that makes people have the urge to post when they should be doing something else...
I know! But I did eventually get it done! And I only have 2 more lessons to prepare before camp - one next week and 1 the sunday before I leave - and no doubt they will ask me to give a talk in church before i leave too!
You know you are a counsellor when you church leadership dont want to loose you for the entire summer!
When as soon as you finish a paper you have to write, the first thing you do is log onto the message boards... and you find it's a miracle that you've been able to stay away this long!
I am so excited this thread is back!
When you say things like I just did!
u have ur account so it doesnt log out. - saves time. when i click the site im logged in lol
same here! I set it as my home page too!
i am the same too!
When you are wondering if you can manage to visit Washington while you are traveling after camp!
Yay for after camp travels!!
when you come to America to work at camp and since you are here you travel. As opposed to those who come to America to travel!
hehe! When you go to camp and if you cant travel after camp it isnt the end of the world cos you have just had an amazing summer.
When you have worked with people 13 states and about 15 or 16 countries in all the years you have worked at camp
When you have worked with 6 people called sarah - all at camp at the same time - thank goodness for camp names
When you have people who only know you by your camp name!
When you loving going on a trip in between sessions
When you have to be back at college within 36 hours of camp ending knowning that others are still at campwith the intergenerational program. Also knowing that your camp is in NJ and school was in IL
when you could have gotten in the shower and then got on the boards, but instead you give up your right (first come first serve!) to the better of the 2 showers because you wanted to post first!
I sort of do - i forget that I planned to have a soak in the bath cos I am on here! and end up just having a quick bath.
I always have a quicks hower
yeah, at least you are getting clean though!
when you and your camp friends send each other text messages every day with a countdown of how many days!
I do that!
When you have a count down in your MSN, and in your hallway that you have to manually adjust every day!
Oh and when you spend time helping someone who is going to a camp you havent been to in 7 years!
when you can wear camp clothes for a week and have a different shirt every day
When you have guide uniform, nalgene bottles and potatoe mashers in 2 countries
when your fav foods can be cooked wraped in tin foil or on a stick
when you crave roast marshmallows so much that you roast them over a candle
ahh i do the text thing too!
we're down to a week! ack!
and i have enough camp clothes to survive 3 weeks, or more!
There is some stuff i have that will last me for several weeks but other staff I barely have a weeks supply of - and i wont be taking any socks with me i dont think cos I only wore them once last summer!
Oh me too! That is why I love the fact that at my camp we can were hiking sandels - which of course cant be worn with socks!
well, enjoy your summer without socks because if you come to my camp next summer you will be wearing socks! You can wear sandals, but socks have to be worn with them. Tacky, I know, but we do what we have to to sometimes!
when u say hiking sandals u dont mean crocs do u, they make me feel sick
nope, at least when i'm talking about it.
i love my Chacos. keens are good too.
No erin hiking sandals arent crocs (they are just evil!). Hicking sandals have the soul of a hiking boot but with the top of a sandal but made from good sturdy fabric so you still get the support.
Here is a link to give you an idea of what we mean:
http://www.zappos.com/n/es/d/722328749/page/1.html Hope that makes it clearer!
You know you're a counselor when you find out that Bob Ditter is spending a day at your camp during pre-camp!
- Teenster
You know you're a counselor when you find out that Bob Ditter is spending a day at your camp during pre-camp!
- Teenster
Oooh, lucky! His website has a great section of tips for counselors that I devoured!
My previous camp would have bob ditter day and the staff would make glasses from black pie cleaners and draw on 'tashes!
haha, that is awesome Smudge!
ahh that's really exciting for you Teenster!
When you have read all 7 HP (cos you wanted to see what the campers were talking about and got hooked!)
When you arent embarrassed to go into a book shop and buy childrens books
when you know that you need less than 15 minutes to get packed, so you continually put it off.
15 mins - wish i could pack that quickly - think i will prob pack 4 or 5 times before I am happy with my packing!
if i have time, i do the same thing!
but it doesn't look like i'm going to!
I have no choice - i have to fit my entire into 1 (or prob 2 pieces of luggage!)
Me too! This will be my first summer where I have to fly! I've always worked a camp at home and have filled up my car!!
Good luck flying.... It may cost more with airlines charging for each peice of luggage
when you only get 2 letters a summer, but you dont care because nothing is as important as camp.
When your not at camp, you dream about it.
when u want to talk ur nalgene everywhere u go
when u walk around singing camp songs in walmart
wen u make a game up outside and camp and make it appropriate for camp!
When you get to go white water rafting with 7 girls and have a river guide dressed as a pirate
This is gonna be a bit off topic, but...
You know you're addicted to the ACA Message Boards when you still hang around hoping for new posts, even though you know everybody else is already at camp.
When ur not at cam o and you are still yelling at the kids to walk instead of run
When you are stuck at walmartn(with 6 other internationals) waiting for your ride to come back for you and you amuse yourself by singing camp songs! And yell "lake side" when you are walking across the car park and cars come towards you!
wen everything u say is related back to camp/camp songs/camp sayings/personal jokes with staff!!!!!
wen u want to run at a counsellor in walmart for running PLEASE WALK!
wen doing nothing feels like its a waste of time and u should be doing something more productive
(for people on mountains) realising u can walk faster and longer from the low altitude
wen drinking normal water out of bottles tastes bad cos uve been drinking from a well system the whole time
When your cure for everything is to drink more water!
When your eyes hurt from crying so much and you only spent two months with the people but it felt like a lifetime
When you are torn between wanting to go home and wanting to stay.... no matter how hard and exhausting it all was
When camp america sends you a golden rubber chicken in recognition of your prolific posting and more importantly all the help that posting has been to newbies
and when you are soo exhausted you feel sick but still apply to work at another camp which runs after yours finishes
when you are home just for a few days and WANT TO GO BACK LIKE CRAZY!
You know you are a counselor when, September 1st comes and you are already planning for when June 1st rolls around.
when youve only been away from camp for a week and it feels like forever and ur still sending ur camp friends txts saying how much i miss them!!!!
cute - I still have a week and have already found another job to prolong the camp experience this summer! So you know you counsellor when you try to spend as long as possible at camp!
You know you're a camp counsellor when you (sadly) did not attend your camp this summer but still visited these boards, just to hear other people post about theirs...
Only slightly sad? Ha ha
when you're at home and all you think about is camp because you want to go back
when you are still on a camp schedule at home
when you miss the morning announcements, bed wetters, and silly songs
can anyone tell I miss camp?:(
when you've been in on discussions of how bean bag toe tag (or whatever game is popular at your camp) should be an Olympic sport.
when your lap feels empty after 8 weeks of having multiple children sitting in it at once.
When all your cloths are wet and your feet are soo dirty they feel like they will never be clean again!
when everyone is still adding all of ur camp photos and u were wishing u were still there and how the world would be a better place if everyone knew what song tree was!
when you bump into people in random places and discover you have a camp connection!
When you know how to build 3 different types of fire.
When you get excited over chicken pattie and chicken finger days!
I definitely just had the bumping into people with the camp connection thing going on! I was at Target with another staffer and I was wearing a shirt from my camp and this woman in her 40s or so came up to me and said that she went to my camp as a little girl and she loved it!
ok so i havnt been on here in like forever! so if i reapeat something im sorry....
when you know enough CA music to last and entire month and is all on ur ipod/mp3player/or whatever u have
when you go back to school and call the "nurses office" the "infirm" and people look at you weird
when your used to people looking at u weird when it comes to camp stuff
when u trust camp people and only camp people
when u ask "is it june yet?" every day
when u can change any nca song to a ca song by sreaming over it in the camp vans so u can listen to it
when your group makes smores all the time and ur a vegetarian and get tired of eating just chocolate and grahm crackers so u use a slice of banana instead of a marshmallow
when you talk about cedarledge and your CD has been there as a camper!
when everything around you reminds you of camp and i mean everything
When you are really tired and ill but too stubborn to go sick cos you know that it will have a negative effect on the rest of camp cos you are the only lifeguard on duty!
when you wear a headlight while driving!!!
when you go to coldstone creamery with the rest of the staff (only about 15 of us were left) and when they sing their song for a tip (a re-written version of Zippedy-Do-Da) you all start singing it as you know it and do the second verse too, and who carers what the few other customers think you are doing!! That was fun! we were laughing the whole time too!
When you discover that you can teach things you never know you could and have never been taught how to teach them!
When you are in the lake 6 times a day and dont care cos the kids are having fun!
When you live on granola bars becuase camp food is soo bad!
When you spend every spare minute of your time on Facebook, hoping one of your camp friends will go online, and when none of them are you flip through your's and their's camp albums.
when everystory connects with a camp story, and when you write about camp for multiple english assignments!
when you use your debit card and the cashier asks for id and you start thinking about how you will have to cover up your name so they don't find out your real name!! haha totally did this last night!!
when you constantly want to say your camp name when ordering pizza or calling someone.... "First name please- Night, uh Tara!"
when you ran into someone at costco and they say you look familiar, do I know you, and you say no.... only to have them go - didn't you work at camp? and you realize it is someone from the day camp!
when someone at a drive-in recognises you even though they have only meet you at camp the year before!
When you are so desperate to eat non-camp food that you are willing to buy some dinner if they will drive you!
when asked for your name and birth date at the hospital in the middle of the night, you respond Hiccup!...and forget to tell them your age...because that's what you do with the campers.
Done that! When you get confused when people call you your real name rather than Smudge!
When your parents are calling you by your real name but are confused about who they are talking to. My names not Jessica its Ocean
When you have been on camp for one day short of 12 weeks!
When you get home and you are about to tell a story your friends say let me guess it happened at camp right
When you only tell stories of what happened at camp (or traveling after camp!)
When your friends parents dont even know your real name!
Also when you know hundreds of camp songs but dont know what the current number 1 in the pop charts is!
And when you can sing songs on nearly any topic!
When a camp friend calls your house asking for you by your camp name your parents know exactly who their talking about.
When reading books and watching movies/TV shows with characters that have the same name as your camp buddy, you immediately think of them. (and picture their body as the character's, if you're reading a book)
When you have worked at the camp in the Parent Trap!
Another Bob Ditter one...
When Bob Ditter came to you camp to help lead pre-camp sessions... and used you to help in his examples!
- Teenster
when people in the post office look at you weird when they see the name on the package
When you have packages to devilered to camp cos you know you wont be home when they are due to be delivered!
when people who dont know you very well ask you what your doing for the summer, and you look at them like their crazy for asking.
When you have just spent the best part of a day making SWAPS for you best friend cos she doesnt have time to make and them and needs them for the the trip to camp that she will be leaving for about an hour after she gets home from work - or whenever she gets home, packs and leaves with you in tow!
When you order a "Camp Anawana" t-shirt...
- Teenster
when you have about 10 different shirts from the same camp
When you can create about two weeks of wardrobe from camp stuff without washing
when yo wear one of your camps shirt in important picture
When you have worked at 2 camps in one summer
when your room is mostly decorated with camp stuff
when you save every little gift another counselor gave you and every little thing your campers did for you and every craft item that your campers made for days when they had to dress you up as a princess!
When you look at your resume, and you see that most of the things you have on it is camp related
That is me Ocean!
When you fill out a job application and it looks really long cos you have so many summers of camp to include - and when your presonal statement reflects your love of camp by detailing how they gave you the skills which will be necessary for you to do that job!
When your interviewer asks you what job you grew the most at and you mention at camp and you go into a long explanation of why all pertaining to every year of camp. (That happened to me last year)
when your resume is filled with camp jobs or camp volunteer positions and camp required certifications like CPR and First Aid
yes, that is definitely mine!
i list my traverse wall, archery, zipline, first aid, small craft safety, cpr...good times!
when you can talk to people who have worked at camp and know what they are talking about!
When you wear something you made at arts and crafts for the entire school year. (Guilty as charged, lol)
when you start laughing when you hear from your CD that your camp bunny, Uncle Wigglebottom, showed up while the outdoor ed staff were washing dishes. And then the CD adds that one of the ADs sure likes the Uncle WB costume!!! hahahaha OMG, the image of Frog in the Uncle WB costume in the dish room makes me laugh!
and, although this is something that anyone would be excited about, in this email from the CD she tells you that you actually have more money coming to you from a half week they accidentally forgot to include in the paycheck, and you hadn't even noticed that your check was small!!
when little things such as a baked potato gives you memories that make you smile, laugh, and cry in the food line!
When you enjoy the food on your tour because it is better than camp food but preparing it with a group reminds you of cook outs at camp
When you are on a tour 35 people and 6 of them are life guards and all 6 worked at summer camp - and there are at least 10 counsellors on the trip.
when you want to travel halfway around the world just to see camp pals cause they're the only ones who get it.
When you Know over 200 camp songs and any random word can trigger an out burst of singing.
When your main facebook pictures are camp related.
When you buy a 99c first aid kit and stock it with camp supplies cos that is the main place you will be using it!
When you are in Salt Lake City, wearing the only camp shirt you packed for your travels (cos you left most of you cloths at your camp friends house), and someone stops you for directions, only to get the comment "ah Chenoa" before they ask for directions. It turns out that they were your sister camp in Vermont!
when you know several different ways to get out of camp during your time off and none of it involves a car and the camp is oh so close to a mall and several different big box stores and fast food places
when you are watching Cheaper by the Dozen and when all the kids start talking at once and the mom is waiting for a moment in which they quiet down enough to tell them sometihng, and i automatically do quiet coyote/silent snail!!! ha
When you are out with your friends and you do a head count
you wonder why the hands up isn't working-in public
when the words "gecko" and "rock salt" automatically make you think of camp!
when you see a fairy costume at the Halloween store and really want to buy it, but since you have no party to go to or kids to trick or treat with you don't buy it. You also think of how fun it would be to dress like a fairy at camp, but then realize that the kids would all know it was you and you just might ruin their belief in such things. So you sadly don't buy the costume!
I totally think you should get the custom.
When you need something quick and easy for tea so cook camp food.
I don't know if I have already said this one or not, but here goes
... when you actually wake up to a little kid whispering next to your bed and not even touching your shoulder or head, "Teacher, I had an accident."
... when you are also in what I call responsibility mode (as I was in the above one) and you wake up to a child coughing the one time it turns into a little throwing-up.
I know this one has been used generally and in many forms, but here is another form of it
... when you go on a mission to compare a poem in your literature book to a camp slow song and actually find something and use it in your comparison paper for class!
- when you know what movies are camp appropiate or not
- when a commerical reminds you of somthing at camp
- when you watch camp movies to get your camp fix in the off-season
- when you do head counts with your friends and your non camp friends think your weird for doing that
- when you have camp related/appropriate play lists of songs on iTunes
- "are you ready for the summer" (theme tune from Meatballs) is your ring tone (That's me)
- you assemble a mental packing list during Christmas dinner
- you put off a real job opportunity for another go at camp
(specific to me, at least I think so) - you start making a camp wardrobe to go with you rag doll.
- when you wtach camp movies to get psyced for filling out your application- putting off getting a real job for camp (yep thats me)- when you think of a camp name for yourself at random times of the day- when you think of the song "are you ready for the summer" from Meatballs every time you visit a camp website- When your friends ask you if you liked the movie Meatballs you ask which one- when you ask for birthday/holiday gifts, you want pratical things you can use at camp or gift cards for stores close to camp like Wal-Mart or Target instead of things you can use for the other 9-10 months out of the year
I this was a good and a fun thread so decided to bump it!
I think that is a good plan Smudge! I love this thread too and i have some of my favorites in a word document saved on my computer! It's like 13 pages long!
...When you sing camp songs for more than an hour straight on your 5 hour drive back to school after break. Or when you are driving somewhere and try to see if you can fill the entire drive with camp songs! This workds well in terms of fun and whatnot, but also helps me keep the songs at the tip of my tounge for camp since I don't sing them as much in the school year.
...when the rest of the staff on camp go to coldstone on the last night and take up the entire place AND (this is the crucial part) when they start singing their Zippedy-do-da tip song that has lyrics to go along with tipping, you all start singing the real song while they are singing and thus overshadowing them. I hope the person who tipped them wasn't too mad that she didn't get to hear the tip song! (I'm pretty sure it was someone not from camp that tipped them) oops! It was fun though!
-- when people at the local stores know that camp started by the fact that we buy things only needed at camp
.... When the local Wal-Mart knows camp is running because the announcements start - "Sunshine to the information desk" "Could Dirt please return to the parking lot"
....When the Target employees hear the Camp Staff doing a game of Marco Polo in the store..
...When an annoucement is made at Target like " Would all staff members in Mohawk report to the front of the store"...
...When camp staff start signing "Are you ready for the Summer?" in Target...
.... When you say you cant buy that DVD because it is not camp appropiate...
When complete stranges walk up to a bunch of internationals and ask them if they need a lift back to camp! (yeap that happened last summer!)
When wearing the same cloths as your friend is not a fashion disaster
When you can give random gifts and know they will be appreciated!
.... When you call IHOP for reservation for 15 people and instead of giviing your real name you give you cabin names
when you think random trips to Target is taking a break to the REAL world
When you would rather be on here than doing your university course work!
when you go out with your friends and they say to you remeber no camp songs tonight
what can I say I love camp songs
...when you have a bad day you think of camp/sing camp songs to make you feel better.
When you stand at the bus stop waiting for the bus humming Alice the camel!
...when you go out with friends and count everyone to make sure no one is missing
you come on this board for something to do
camp friends had a get together and I couldnt make it, so they sent me a s'more in the mail.
oh man, that's hilarious, camp insanity!
you spend 78 dollars to have your friend send smores to new zealand because you were going camping and could not go camping without smores!
When you start planning your activities that you are teaching months in advance
when you start to buy stuff for camp when the summer stuff comes out
when you watch Meatballs and Summercamp to remind you of the good times at camp
when you get invited to a staff only facebook group for your camp
When talking about brownies who dont sleep on a pack holiday you talk about how you dealt with campers who wouldnt sleep and how they only ever did it one night during a session (change the days plans to as many active activities as poss - swimming, free swim, boating, field games, hikes and more field games and the bare min of me time - trust me they will only need that once and they have learnt without being shouted at!)
When you wake up a day after you get home and think you need to wake up your campers and relize that you are no longer at camp
when you randomly start singing the hippo song at work because people are driving you insane.
when you are in the church nursery trying to comfort a 1.5 year old boy who is not happy at his mom leaving him there and you start singing graces because you don't know many church songs and you figure that graces at least mention God! Well, the ones I sang did! I know a few little kid church songs, but since he didn't care one way or another I figured I would sneak camp in there so I could say I did!
Hehe!
When you are totally confused about the tune a grace is sang to but since you know the words join in anyway!
(we sang God is Great at lunch on saturday and it was to a completely different tune - not even the tune that the card said to sing it to which is the tune I know!)
I hate when that happens. I love learning new camps songs, but when someone comes in with a slightly different version it throws me off. We had someone always teach a different version of the shark grace that didn't make any sense to me since the lyrics were off and didn't make sense.
When you take more pictures at camp than you do the entire rest of the year but still want more pictures of camp!
when you think of ways of doing camp related stuff at home
oh I have definately tried to make foil dinners over the burners on my stove same with pudgie pies
When you sing camp songs to calm down after very rude and incosiderate bus drivers and people get you really angry!
When Tall Green Trees is the only thing that drives the sound of your boss singing 'Islands in the Stream' out of your head!
When you watch Meatballs to remind you of camp
When you are sitting in a room in the ER bored, so you start singing camp songs.
oh katixgoesxrawr, foil dinners can be made in the oven!
When you go hiking in a national park with family members and enter TOTAL EXTREME COUNSELOR MODE when the two youngest (7 and 10) decided they want to run ahead of you not 25 feet from a CLIFF.
but then you sigh, breathe, know that they are OK and even if they aren't - at least you wont be sued in this situation.
Is this what parenting is like all the time?
oh katixgoesxrawr, foil dinners can be made in the oven!
not in the oven ON the oven. It takes FOREVER and they aren't nearly as delicious but it calms the constant I miss camp I miss camp oh god i miss camps for a short period of time...at least until I can get out the "fake fire pit" from the garage.
A friend of mine has a fake fire pit / altar! We spent 3 hours singing camp songs around it.
When instead of reading about time management in nursing you're reading about homesickness management at camp.
When you have roasted marshmallows over a candle cos you got so campy!
When you can lifeguard and teach archery in other country but not your own!
When you go hiking in a national park with family members and enter TOTAL EXTREME COUNSELOR MODE when the two youngest (7 and 10) decided they want to run ahead of you not 25 feet from a CLIFF.
but then you sigh, breathe, know that they are OK and even if they aren't - at least you wont be sued in this situation.
Is this what parenting is like all the time?
that made me laugh! that's hilarious!
You're playing with a kid and someone says "Bob Ditter says no!"
You are thinking about games to play with your campers and try them out on random kids.
You see a kid who is getting bullied by another one and you want to step in and make it funner for that child.
You think you should be doing something at all hours.
You wake up and think "time to get the campers up"
Their not campers to you their "Your Kids"
That last one is the same when you run a brownie pack!
Oh yea those Brownies/Campers are MY GIRLS.
I told my OU tutor that I couldnt do my phone tutorials on a monday night cos of brownies and she thought i had my own children - i said yes 24 of them once a week!
I was put down for a Thursday shift this week (Brownie night) and the ward Sister phoned the desk from the office to ask why I was working Brownie night. She was so confused when I explained that we were off for the Easter hols!
Ah it won't last long!
hehe! But it is good that your ward sister knows you that well!
I have 3 loves in life....
Nursing, Brownies and Camp.
Not always in that order. And if I can combine them.... so much the better.
Camp nurse at year round camp that is close enought the nearest town so that you can do GS brownies!
Oh don't tease me with images of heaven!
hehe! You should sign up for the ACA year round job alerts!
Their not campers to you their "Your Kids"
I once had to explain that I was not a teacher, but still had kids/students because I referred to campers as students.
And then I was told they weren't students. but they are! Just different, FUN students in a different, FUN school!
oh man, I love calling them my kids! I have had hundreds of kids over the years and some of them are too old to be my biological kids! Actually, basically all of them are too old to be mine biologically! I suppose that the 6-8 year olds could technically be mine, but I would have had to be like 14 when I had them! My friend has a 3 year old daughter and my friend is less than a month older than me. It is weird to think that I could technically have a 3 year old right now.
when you put a picture of one of your groups up in your dorm room and still remember their names, 3 years later.
You know your a counsellor when you sit in dentists waiting rooms reading books with titles "Roughing it easy at girls camp"
I call my campers "my kids" even though I dont have kids yet
i call me cubs my kids ,peiople give you strabnge looks when your on a bus surround by 7/9 year olds goign to school in the ,morning cus you offerd to drop them off as a favour and then the otehr moms see you on the bus and ask you to drop there off too
None of my brownies parents ask me to do that - but I think if there was a genuine reason I would if they asked me!
when someone mentions that a friend of theirs has a daisy tattoo on their toe and everyone comments on the camp-ness of it, without fail or needed explanation! No one mentioned that the tattoo was from a camp song asn we just started conversing about it, knowing that we all got it!
That is so true!
When you are at a guide training weekend and you get confused that people are calling you Anna not Smudge - cos the last meeting of that kind you were at was a GS and everyone called you Smudge!
when you mention you are working at camp and people think instanly of Bill Murray and Meatballs
When you eat and think that a meal is not a meal without annoucements or grace
when you come on here cos you cant sleep and are hoping that someone will be about!
when you know that camp is a lifestyle and not a job
when you think about camp at least 25 times a day
when you are at school, you look for the counselors lounge
when you are disappointed that you can not major in camp
when you are disappointed a major in Recreation doesnt have many or no classes that are directly related to camp ( ie camp administration, activity planning for camp and such)
When you go to a guide training weekend and get really confused when call you by your given name cos the last time you were at something similar it was run by the GS council you work for and since several of the people there also worked with you just go by Smudge
When you know your camp and the town your camp is located better then the town where you live
When the only reason you've got a facebook account is so you can make sure the other internationals have all their questions answered!
When you join Facebook so you can join as many camp related groups as possible
You add your camp as one of your friends on Facebook/Myspace
When your camp director/camp diorector's kid- whos a staff is your friend on fb
You know you are a CRAZY counselor when you start assembling your own personal staff manual and handbook because it will be WAY MORE USEFUL than your CD's... including write ups of how to do all your favourite activities (even if you know how they go already), favourite and most helpful articles from camping magazine, your favourite camp professional (Ditterized, anyone?), or other websites, and you hand-written somgbook and map of camp with all kinds of notes and directions on it.
And you know that should some accident befall you, you are confident that whomever takes your place will do well if they find this Golden Notebook.
And your CD resents you for it.
Hehe! I know Bob Ditter - at one point I had an article by him (and have seen the video several times) but a friend borrowed it to copy and never returned it - it made me very sad! You manual sounds fantastic stormy!
I always take my own resources to camp! Limited by the fact that I have to fly camp though!
When you have many new ideas for your activity
When you have many songs to sign for general use, grace
When you have enough skits ideas for each cabin to use
When you are considered the king of ideas for new games
When you have a whole book of ideas for camp
I have a lot of nature activity sources going to camp (as I am the enviro ed person) but I figured - if I am taking this much, I may as well take more "camp" appropriate resources and make them available to staff too.
I'd share my finds with my CD, but she gets very possessive over her job/what she does, and I don't want her to think I'm trying to one-up her.
I mean, I DO want her job one day. Just not for a long time.
For me, I just want to have alot of ideas for the cabin I am going to live in, heck I found some camp stories that involve Nature for the younger campers so I may use that for the younger campers for their campfire.
We trade off every week (session) with what unit we are living in, what counselors we work with, and what age group and programs we are doing; so we need to be very versatile.
It's a blessing and a curse.
I know what you mean. Since I am the Nature coordinator and considered Upper Staff, I could do an Taps program with the younger campers before they go to bed if I have an easy activity to do which I could read some Nature related stories for them
Oh and when you can sing, without embarrasement, over 300 songs about hippos, rabbits, coneheaded aliens and herding ducks!
When you know numerous Camp fire stories or stories to tell your campers during Taps
When you know about 75 camp songs off the top of your head
Wow, stormy! That manual sounds like the Ultimate Manual!!!
it is a work in progress.
Yeah I got many new ideas from this site and Ultimite Camp Resource.
when you hear the phrase "we're all in this together" in a movie and it start you singing "we're all in this together" from HSM cos you did it with your musical campers last summer!
When you get and email with this title "New Dinners on a Stick!" and get all excited thinking that it is food that can be cooked over a camp fire on a stick - and are then disappointed to discover it is actually Kabab recipes!
You learned the dance moves for'We're all in this together' by watching the youtube vids over and over.
Stupid question Mashnut but does lak have a high school musical theme week cuz i know northwoods does.
Yea HSM and Disney (which will be essentially the same week twice) weeks! Honestly not that enthusiastic about it, my Brownies had a couple of HSM nights and we did the dance then.
I was hoping to get my hands on an adult sized HSM cheerleader outfit but they only do kids ones (for good reasons I guess!).
I guess it's a good thing I'm so tiny. I swear I was created to wear kids clothes for the rest of my life! Although I think it's kinda stupid for northwoods to be doing an HSM week considering it's the "older" girls camp.
I'm ridiculously excited for the disney week. I will kill anyone in disney version of scene it. I own every disney movie ever created.
Oh gosh. You all have just made me realize a new fear for camp - an HSM week. Or a Twilight week!
dont get me wrong, I know the girls LOVE IT but they would probably be my LEAST favourite weeks of camp.
Twilight week would be hard...I like it but for VERY different and not camp appropriate reasons.
I have a friend with child sized feet and she can get both feet into one of my shoes! I was not designed to fit into clothes smaller than tent size.
I know all of the words to Under the Sea but after that I kinda run out of songs. I wouldn't be good competition! HSM for everyone! Either you'll have a load of fans that week or none at all. Be interesting to see how that goes.
I'm looking forward to Underwater Adventure week. That will be fun, I've got some good ideas for that!
I dont even know if we have picked our theme weeks yet or not - I assume we haven't though because we dont have a full confirmation on a program director
I don't think we'd actually have a twilight week, but...the thought terrifies me.
I dont think twlight week would go well at my new camp. In fact I dont know if they do theme weeks.
I wouldn't want to hear my campers talking about the inappropriate things they want to do to edward. My little cousin, whose 12 likes to talk about the things she'd like to do with him. Kids are growing up faaaaaaaar too fast. When I was twelve our idea of a date was sitting together at lunch or hold hands at recess.
I know what you mean. I had campers at my last camp describe the female anatonomy preetty frankly. They were only 8 years old
O.O
when I was their age, Titanic came out. Apparently all the boys understood what happened in the Model T car, but I did not. It remained that way until I was maybe 13.
Thankfully I have yet to hear my campers talk like that - but I know it happens. I just got lucky maybe? Let's hope for another year where I don't need to address those situations.
I just hope I dont hear campers saying that they want to do the hokey pokey with a female camper or have to deal with a camper coming out at camp.
Thank god I'm at an all girls camp i don't know what i would say if a camper wanted to do the hokey pokey with someone.
Try 2 members of staff coming out at camp! That was a more interesting aspect!
My Brownies talk about boyfriends (I never thought like that at their age). I try not to get involved cos I could go too far with the explanations and get shouted at by parents.
I would expect staff to come out before campers would.
Wouldn't happen with the younger campers at least. Might with some of the older ones.
We've had kids as young at 13 come out at school. It's possible.
A lot of the times they won't come out because the sessions are so short, it mostly happens after the session is over via emails or letters.
Positive female role models must help! Which is why we are counsellors!
TRUE STORY. Even as a camper my last year... I was 17 at the time the younger girls would clamber all over us and want our addresses and emails and such. It's so much fun to watch them grow up.
That's amazing! Wow....
There was a CIT who looked to me for support that summer and I couldn't help her. I'm vowing to look after the CITs better this year even though I'm not CIT director or anything.
The problem happens when you have an attention seeking camper who "comes out" to the counselors after camp as a means of seeking more attention. I'm not saying that everyone is a faker, but... you know it when you hear it.
But right on with positive female (and male) role models at camp; we're trustworthy and there to teach them right and wrong and how to be comfortable with themselves and with expressing themselves.
I never had it happen to me.... I saw it happen on the movie Happy Campers at the end of the session a 12 year old told the gay coubnselor " Guess what I am gay" which seemed kinda fakeish
We have had campers come out at camp but never to me - for which I am glad as I really dont know how I would react!
She was definitely a problem camper to begin with, to say the least.
I have had a student (in a school, so not camp at all) come out to me; it was hard, and sometimes you don't know why or what to do, but all and all they just really wanted to be able to tell someone so it was off their chest and they could feel better. Sometimes, just being a pair of ears is all people need.
Yea it's just enough to tell someone. In fact it's better that you don't say anything. I've been the first person to say that they are gay to someone but never been the first person that someone has come out to. (If you know what I'm saying)
I was actually in a situation where someone came out to me, and told me about her relationship with my fried all in one night. It was a really weird night, but not because of the whole coming out thing, but a whole bunch of other stuff that had to do with her talking to me and with her relationship. Both of the girls in the relationship were together at camp (I didn't even know it, how naive am I, plus they probably avoided showing togetherness when I was there, which is a whole other story).
Anyway, I've never had a camper come out, though I work with the ones who haven't gotten to puberty yet so they probably don't know if they are gay yet.
Just telling someone is enough for the most part I bet. It probably isn't the best thing to say a lot, though confirmation that you don't hate them for it and still value them as the same person they have been all session is good, even if you don't really say anything but treat them as you did before they came out and say that you are glad they can talk to you or something like that.
some of my clsoet friends are gay and the all laugh cus i never new tilll they told me now i know its really obvious and ill be walking down the strret and ill be like his hot and they have to but in with 'his so gay you cna tell'
dammmiitt
so im ok with gayness but if a camper told me i think i would be like whhattttt.. yeh think i would struggle for the first few minuets with stuff to say
I would be in the same position of not knowing what to say because I dont want the CD to be pissed at me for discussing sexuality with a camper.
Like we get told in Guiding... if the child brings it up then it becomes as safe as you feel about it.
Which means don't bring it up yourself!
I feel safe talking about it as long as the camp doesnt tell us to ignore what the camper tells us
Oh now that is totally dangerous ground. I could never ignore a camper.
At my last camp, we were told if the camper brought up anything sexual like sexually inappropiate things or coming out to send him/her to the head counselor or the camp nurse. The camp perfered the camp nurse
send him/her to the head counselor or the camp nurse.
Well I guess (depending on the nurse) that could be a good thing. Maybe that's my training kicking in.
It's good to tell the camp nurse because they may already be sexually active or considering it, and as campers are under 18, They could probably use "the talk" from someone they may take more seriously than their parents (who may or may not have had a really serious conversation about it - mine wasn't).
Also, they may have been sexually abused, and that's something the nurse has to consider.
Other than those, I think it's also good to listen before taking them to see the nurse, and letting them know that you're there to help them, and that they can trust you, and then tell them WHY you have to take them o the nurse (the whole confidentiality contract thing that we're all probably well aware of).
they may have been sexually abused
A thought that scares me more and more every single day!
Confidentiality has to be ensured or you could lose the camper's trust forever.
We had on of my campers disclose that they had been abused to my supervisor last summer - obviously she didnt tell me all the details just that - and it really saddened me - but it totally explained about her behaivour!
We had some sisters that... you knew something was wrong at home, but you couldn't put your finger on it. Truns out they were with their mother and her boyfriend, and it wasn't a very good situation. Obviously, the staff wasn't informed about much, but I can only hope things are OK now.
Previous to GS camps I worked at leadership camps for high schoolers, co-ed, and sponsored by MADD. We had all kinds of kids there, but mostly they all ended up fine. Our staff came from all kinds of backgrounds (divorce, drugs, alcoholism, etc); and it helped the kids get back onto the right track, so to speak.
Confidentiality was always touchy there, but it seemed to work out well; I keep in touch with a lot of my kids and still mentor them.
what is MADD (over here we have MAD - mothers against drugs!)?
When I was at the main idea we had lots of poor kids from that kind of back ground but cos we only had 2 days staff training the extent of the abuse training we got was talk to the nurese or camp leadership!
Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Very similar.
I had 2 brothers who were living with Grandma and the reason why they were not living with the biological mother was because the biological mother had physcially and sexually abused her young male children-- the campers were 8 and 6. The campers were also negleted because they looked small for their age and it was due to the biological mother not feeding them the right foods so they could grow. I dont want to give the details of the abuse here as it would proberly gross out most of the people on the board
abuse is a touchy subject...It goes straight to the CD after telling the camper that I have to report it so that they can go through the proper channels.
Well the abuse went through the channels before camp... the grandmother got custody of the boys
that's good. I hope I never have to be invovled with someone losing custody of their kids.
I know. I avoided the details on here because it was so gross. I just cant believe what the grandmother was saying. It explained both brothers behavior issues. One was shy and introverted and the other one told on everyone for breaking a small rule like stepping out of line
yikes....and back to a happy subject.
when you get really excited when nalgenes go on sale and stock up on them even though you know the likelihood of you losing/breaking all three of the ones you own is slim to none.
Slim to None!? I have broken every one I have ever owned!
I honestly can't even seem to keep them anymore, I just refill a regular bottle.
I did get a free one this year at MidStates, so hopefully it will go better than usual.
It's mid December, and camp is no where in sight; yet you see a new backpack in a store, a cool beach towel, or a really fun t-shirt (or fill in the blank here) and you think to yourself:
"OMG I NEED THAT FOR CAMP NEXT SUMMER!"
My nalgenes are my life so I tend to baby them I've had one since i was 12...and i turn 20 in two weeks so that should give you an idea of how much I baby them.
My problem is that I work at a cosignment store sooo whenever hiking boots/tevas/crocs/waterproof watches come in I tend to buy them as say it's for camp it's okay. I pay my own paycheck.
I use the "it's for camp" excuse a lot.
I know I use "its for camp" excuse alot lately espically when I printed off my lesson plans off and it turned out to be many a pages. Also I printed off like 66 pages of camp songs and camp games. I can say I am prepared for camp as far as the activities are concerened. I am planning on going to my local Target tommorrow to do some camp shopping and I can see myself saying I could use this or that for camp
I use the "it's for camp" excuse a lot.
That and its for brownies!
This time of year I love using that excuse because I can say I am planning ahead and can buy my supplies at a cheaper price instead of paying a higher price at the last moment.
I love the it's for camp excuse as well!
when you are walking on campus to your next class, over a grassy area under a tree that has been walked on so much there is no grass for a bit and you think about how it looks like a trail at camp and then don't look up for a minute because you want to hold on to that feeling!
I had that feeling when I was going to college several years ago.
I am good friends with the person who will be my boss this summer and we have dinner whenever I'm home for college and we say we're having "business meetings" to discuss stuff for the summer.
And we definitely talk about past years and the upcoming year - but it's definitely all stories/reminiscing/etc as opposed to planning for this year!
as long as you mention one thing about planning for the upcoming year I guess your boss can use that as a tax deduction.
So that's how my manager gets away with taking us all out for pizza/hoagies so often. I swear whenever we make plan all week we go get food.
I guess your manager will have a low tax bill this year
When you are at a camp fire and get upset that the songs sung arent camperific!
when you have 66 pages of camp songs/ grace songs
Only 66?
My song book is 2 1/2 inches thick - has 7 (maybe 8) categories and is alphabetised!
I only put in the ones I don't know that well...if they were all in there i'd need quite a few binders.
63 songs (not including different versions for the same songs and my appendices). I've never printed it. Don't think it would be that thick it's a very small font and Pt size.
Yes Smudge only 66 pages as of now. I am still working on adding to it. I am trying to spread it out so I can afford to pay for the ink to print it off. I got most if not all the songs from ultimite camp resource. If you have any more websites for camp songs let me know.
I still need to add my songs from chenoa! I think that will make it at least 3 inches thick!
Wow thats a lot of songs.
Yeah - well was a guide for years and have worked at 4 different camps with staff from many more than that so year I know alot of songs!
I've been to 4 different camps and I don't even want to think about how many songs/binders/inches that is. the one's I have written down and printed out are taking up about 3/4 of my binder.
I could do alot more songs but with the cost of the ink for my printer I cant do that right now. I was lucky to print off what I could
When you use your printing access as a university student to print off all the songs, articles, and everything else you might need for camp on high quality printers - for free!
I used to had free printing access until I was finished my studies
I'd have free printing if I could remember my passwords! But I should be finished too.
You are soo lucky! I had to pay for most of my printing - but for a couple of years I had friends in the law school and i was able to use their labs and the machine didnt work properly so would take 2 credits whether you were printing 1 page or 25 (or more) so I would print lots of stuff in one go - just copy and pasting stuff into a word document!
That's a smart way to do it Smudge!
We get $9 per quarter printing money, and it takes about 5 cents to print 1 page. This is my 5th quarter in college and I have never come close to running out, but this quarter I might since I print off notes for 2 of my classes for each chapter or class!
We used to have unlimited, and now we have 400 pages a semester (which is good if you're a normal student, however when your a double major history and literature... that's barely enough sometimes!)... To think I complained about 400 page limits when I read what you have had!
Thankfully, this semester was low-key on the papers, so I printed off a lot of camp stuff last week.
At my college where I finished my studies, we had unlimited printing, the univeristy was thinking about putting limits, but decided against it, because some classes or majors had alot of material online or things we needed to print off. For example for one of my classes, we had no regular textbook, and our professor had our reading materials online and some weeks I would print off 125 pages or more. The school was complaining that some student organizations were printing off 25 pages for an adgena. Heck some people in the music dept. printed off like 500 pages of stuff at one time. When I was in a student orgainazation I printed off like 275 pages of stuff at once so we didnt have to pay the copy center anything. That was easy when the res hall who has a 24 hour computer lab has no overnight lab assistants
So today I discovered 2 more, however I only remember one right now!
...when you use "deer ears" to hear what a group of kids on the playground at the school you work at are saying to judge whether they need interference or not!
You know you are a Camp counselor for life when you:
want to sign your contract for next year on the last day of camp for this year
when you fill out next years application the day it comes out
when you start packing the day you come back home from camp this year
ok, so this one kind of goes with this thread, but I haven't spent more than 3 minutes outside at night or in the woods for like 2 weeks, and yet I managed to get a bug bite! (I also don't have a pet here so it's not a flea bite!)
When friends send you virtual birthday cake from halfway across the world.
When you are stood in the kitchen cooking sausages and sing "i'm gonna build my castle on the nile so I can live in elegant style..." and doing all the actions!
When you learn sign language through camp songs
when you proceed to discuss the yumminess of the flavor of virtual birthday cake!
When you are driving and still doing the motions to the songs
WHen you have contributed to making this thread 74 pages long!
When you buy things this time of year just because you cant live without it at camp
when you buy things even when it's your last $15 and your paycheck is 4 days away with the excuse...I'm going to need this at camp
When you arent going to be back at camp for a couple of years and yet you are about to start saving up for a nice new warm, goose down, sleeping bag!
when you pick a day to go "camp shopping" at your local Target so you dont do it a day before you leave
When your family sends you money for your birthday and tells you to buy yourself something nice you think about how much bug spray and sunscreen you can buy.
What little money I got today went into my new sleeping bag fund!
When you get money you think of what you can use that money for at camp such as day off activities or personal items
When you see Where the Wild Things Are in Asda and just have to buy it cos it reminds you of camp!
When you get excited when your camp packet came in and now you know what you need to buy for camp and I can finally make an appoinment for my physcial.
when you get into your car and it is really hot- yet you don't turn on the A/C to condition yourself for the summer.
That is so true.... I tend to do that myself so I can be prepared for most camp buildings to be without Air. At my last camp, staff would fight over who would take a sick/injured camper to the nurse just to be in the air conditioning for a little while
Anyway-- you know you are a counselor when you get your welcome packet in and it is the highlight of your week even though it involved alot of reading and forms to fill out
when you get nalgenes, a-shirts, and other camp stuff for birthdays and christmas!
When you get camp stuff for holidays instead of stuff you need at home
So, I live in Michigan, but I live in southeast Michigan which means heavy population, auto-industry, rust-belt type of environment. Lots of people and cars, not a lot of woods.
However, Michigan has "Up North" which to residents is anything north of Flint, but to most everyone else is the Upper Peninsula. It's like camp all year long.
So I went on vacation last week (hence the lack of replies) Up North and went hiking, and the the Sleeping Bear Dunes, and I tried to track a porcupine (I found his tree, but not him) and the whole time I just kept thinking about how awesome it would be to bring those experiences to camp; or to find something cool and bring it back to show the campers. 26 days can't go by fast enough!
Ah 35 days until I leave... So far away but so close.... I cant wait to leave.
You are a counselor when you try to fill out your pre camp paperwork right away
39 days!! Too early to start packing?
Maybe too early to pack but its never too early to do some camp shopping
I'm packing for camp now, but that is only because if I pack for camp now everything else I own can get packed up and moved into storage until I'm out of camp and have a new apartment!
You know you're a counsellor when you wonder if it is too early to start packing 2 months before you leave.
You know you are a counselor when you get excited to do camp shopping becuse that means camp is close
umm I was pretty much packed 2 months before I left because I have a very limited budget and needed to know what I needed so I had time/money to buy it.
When half (or more) of your room is decorated with camp stuff!
what, you mean not everyone has signed canoe paddles lining their walls?
And group photos..... and camp photos as the wall paper on their computer.....
and on their families computers (mums lappy has a camp photo as wall paper!)
When you have decided that best way for someone you have never met before to identify you in a crowded train station is to wear a hoody with either your camp name on it or S'more people!
Ha I was going to wear my Guider hoodie.... since all my GS t's are at my parents house now!
I might wear that or something chenoa!
When you have cabin/camp photos in your room from 10 years ago
When you take a nalgene with you to the cinema
You test your nalgene to see if it will hold diet cola for an afternoon!
The design on your thermal coffee mug is the camp map!
hehe - i just assumed that it would - although the pouring in might make it go a bit flat!
I think the lid will hold. It's far more watertight than the coffee mug!
.... you can tell how old a map is by the changes in the units... and you use and old one to reminisce about the old times.
... You puzzle yourself over looking at a camp map from 2003, a camp map from 2006, and a camp map from 2008/2009 that have things spelled ENTIRELY different!
(seriously, is it Bug lake, Bugs lake, or Buggs lake??)
Though it doesnt even matter to me, because all three of them were terrible to use to try and navigate camp (they are great if you're driving through camp, but terrible if you hike) that I used yahoo maps and google maps and made my own!
When you own at least one stuffed animal with a camp name on it - I have 3 all with different camp names and one of them glows in the dark!
You rearranged the trading post even though you weren't working there and found more stuff to buy.......
When you have worked in trading post!
When you have over the course of 2 years made about 50 CIT, Intern, Ranger and staff ties and tied them into friendship knots!
When you figured out a way to not spend crazy amounts of money, and still get a lot of camp memorabilia. I buy a staff hoodie, a camp t-shirt, and tie-dye one of my white shirts that was for Sunday and Friday (we wore blues and whites as "dress up" uniform) towards the end of the summer. I am trying to get camp to order white shirts with the camp desgin on them to sell in the TP so I can just tie-dye that, thus making 1 camp t-shirt and 1 hoodie per summer instead of 2 t-shirts and a hoodie! It hasn't worked yet. I think the campers would enjoy it too, and the parents!
When you have never worked the job at camp that puts you in the TP every Sunday (arts and crafts and kitchen, I believe) and yet you have worked the TP!
When you are already talking to camps for summer 2010 and you still have 1 month until summer 09!
When you wish the month until camp 2009 would only be 1 day
When you get bug bites during the school year and it just makes you miss camp more. When you figure that if you are getting bug bites you should at least be able to be at camp when you get them!
When as you pack your bag more space is devoted to kids books and games (and swimming equipment) than clothes!
When you are always looking for new ideas for your activity that you are teaching and giving the new staff tips on how to instruct their area
When you see a train going to Chester and start sing "Chester have you heard about harry just got back from the army?"
when you pack for camp a week before you leave
when you've been packed for weeks and keep finding more stuff at target/walmart/cvs to add to the rubbermaids!
And when your idea of packing is putting things in rubbermaids and rolling drawer thingers
When you have dreams about camp for weeks before camp starts
When you have dreams about camp any random night of the year.
When you spend a lot of time in Target/Wal-mart looking for random items you may need at camp for yourself or activities you may be in charge of at camp
When you go into the dollar store to buy something for the church nursery and leave without what you came for, but $10 worth of stuff for camp!
When you get the email inviting you to the camp staff facebook group and go immediately to join it and then read all the posts that are there and reply. During all of this you realize that the only other people in the group are the AD staff! Within another hour only 1 other person has joined and she is new. You have to resist the urge to immediately bombard her with introducing yourself and enthusiastically asking questions and talking about camp! Ok, so that was like 5 "You know you're.."s in 1!
When you incorporate camp into your children's book that you must write for German class because you have no idea what else you could possibly write about! Or would want to write about!
When you try to read as many camp related books or watch as many camp movies before leaving
When you're watching The Deadliest Catch and you're making comparisons of crab fishing to camp counseling.
- Teenster
When your non camp friends ask what you do all summer at camp and you tell them to watch the movie "Summercamp" or "Meatballs"
When you see a Hershey's commercial where they had s'mores and it makes you miss camp!
when you see supplies for s'mores at your local grocery store and you become camp sick
When you dream about camp even when you cant go this year!
When you have played games that you learnt at camp with your brownies/guides/CF group/youth group etc.
when you make your drunk friends play camp games and laugh when they can't play it when a group of 6 year olds can!
haha-- I know what that is like--- heck even a drunk counselor cant play camp games as a group of the youngest campers can
you know your a counselor when you want to sign a contract for 2010 before camp 2009 is over
you know you're a counselor when you realize that no matter how much fun your friends are having at the beach this summer your summer is going to be sooooo much more fun!
you know no matter how boring a summer in your town is, you are being paid to have a much better summer many a miles away from home
When you tell your family you are saving to go to america and your family automatically think that means you are doing camp america!
When you save up for air fare and your family thinks you are taking a vacation instead of working at camp
How have we let this thread get to page 5 or 6 of the threads?! Counselor Brain in a Box and Countdown '09 were posted on more recently than this thread!!!!! It's been like 10 months!! wow!
Ok, so I'm not just bumping this to bump it, but also because I've got another one!!
You know you're a camp nerd when you walk around your school campus and purposely walk under the trees where there are roots and dirt and needles and such so that you can look straight down and pretend for 10 seconds that you are at camp!
when you write your senior thesis on the history of residential summer camps in america.
You know your a Camp Crafts Lady when you have a mountain of empty TP rolls ready for the summer
You look at rocks and think "that would make a good dinosaur head"
You know your a nature instructor when your at college and you think of new nature projects when you are at your schools pond or at the schools nature area
you know you're a camp person when you buy tie-dye duck tape.
You know you're a camp person when you find out someone else got tie-dye duck tape and are now jealous.
thought it was time to bring this thread back! It's been almost a year since we've posted on it!
you know you are a camp person when none of your duct tape is a "standard" silver colour of tape.
Personally, I carry bright blue.
you know your a camp person when you are excited to get a new water bottle!
You know you are a camp person when you can be awake an alert at a knock and "the drama" is over go back to bed and sleep!
when you get an geography assignment to come up with your own country and you base everything off of camp..
I've done that crstrdgecutiepie. 4 out of 5 of my art assignments were camp-related. The 5th would have been if I had my camp stuff over at school with me, like my clipboard and such.
I of course do it with every possible assignment, which over the years have been many, though now with most of my assignments being lessons and such it's more difficult.
When the challenge you have in teaching your Brownies a new song isn't that you don't know any songs but rather you know too many and don't know which one to do!
I have that problem all the time smudge! lol
when you realize being away from camp is the worst thing in the world!
when you can relate everything in life to camp!
When you know more people with random names like random and giggles and pringles and itchy than you do with real names
when you want to teach your preschoolers a new song and mnage to find one to fit the theme of the week at least a little every time. (now whether or not the song will work well with 3-4 year olds to teach in a couple minutes to the point that they can sing some of it is a whole other matter)
when you thoroughly enjoy finding/making up alternate versions to songs. I found this one online somewhere
On My Honor - Cookie Song
Chorus:
On my honor I will try
To sell Girl Scout cookies all day and night
We'll sell our cookies until they are gone.
Cause there's many more where they come from.
People don't need to know my name
They'll buy my cookies just the same
For three dollars a box, they get quite a treat
When they open their box to eat.
CHORUS
I've tucked away a box or two,
If you buy our cookies you'll have some to.
If you need samoas then we have some,
And there's plenty more where they came from.
CHORUS
We sell our cookies at the grocery store,
and we even go door to door.
Our Thin Mints, they are really great
So freeze them now before it's too late
CHORUS
We've set a goal that we plan to keep,
To sell fifty boxes before we fall asleep
So buy several boxes so when we're gone,
You can still be munching and singing this song
CHORUS
With our profits we have lots of fun.
We sell and sell nearly a ton.
Were going camping, and horse riding too
and we even get to sleep at the zoo
CHORUS
Our cookie sale lasts only two weeks.
But we have lots of fun with the people we meet.
So buy our cookies before we go.
Cause we won't be back for a year or so.
CHORUS
-- Thanks to Debbie, Totem Council
hehe - awesome but now I want thin mints!
I have a habit of making the counselors near me laugh by singing the last bit of on my honor like so:
"And we've made a promise to always keep
and to sing day is done before we sleep
we'll be Girl Scouts forever and when we're done
we'll still be trying to sing this song."
Mostly because our staff somehow could never get the order of the song right, if we could even remember all of it.
And sometimes "hmmmmmm hmmmmm we need a metronome" gets whispered/sung because half of staff will sing Linger faster than the other half, and it's terrible.
Anyone else have alternate lyrics?
hahahahahahaha the metronome one is excellent, stormy! And soooooo true with Linger and with a few other songs. Or over the years or even the summer a song will speed up or slow down and then the fast song is now a slow but enthusiastic song.
I have seen a couple "girl scout" versions of Barges that are pretty funny
GIRL SCOUTS
RENDITION
OF BARGES - Out of my tent flap looking in the night,
I can see the campfire's flickering light.
Curlers in their hair and cold cream on their face,
They could help a turtle win a race!
Leader's I would like to go with you,
I would like to see the Boy Scouts too,
Leader's have you treasures in your heart,
Being Girl Scouts means we will never part!
Leader version-
Looking out our tent we can see our Girl Scouts,
Without shoes, they're running all about.
Flashlights shining bright and straight into our eyes,
And they flicker on and off and up to the skies!
Girl Scouts we would like to question you,
Where's your buddy, and where's your whistle too?
Girl Scouts have you treasure's in your tents?
Anything like candy, gum or mints?
Barges- Girl Scout Version- funny
Out of my tent flap looking in the night,
I can see my counselors having a fight.
With curlers in their hair and cold cream on their face,
I can see their panties made of lace.
Counselors; I would like to go with you,
I would like to see your boyfriends too.
Counselors; please don't throw me in the lake.
I don't want to get bitten by a polk-a-dot snake.
Another silly version
Out of my tent flap, looking through the night,
I can see the Guiders, gathered round the light,
Drinking wine and colouring their hair,
And was it me, or did they swear?
Guiders, I would like to stay with you,
I would like to have some privileges too.
Guiders, have you cookies in your hold,
Do you fight with Scouters, brave and bold?
Out of my tent flap, looking through the night,
I can see the Guiders, having a fight,
Somebody throws a pillow through the air,
And there goes someone's underwear.
Guiders, I would like to stay with you,
I would like to have some privileges too.
Guiders, have you cookies in your hold,
Do you fight with Scouters, brave and bold?
well how's that for lots of different versions of Barges!
I know some of my fellow staff made a canoe and an archery version of pile of tin but I don't remember them.
we had one summer that the director would not let us say god to we changed all the gods in different songs to prairie fairy and it stuck.
some of the counselors came up with once a pirate when sailing on an ocean so blue to the same tune as the austrian it was really cute. they even dressed up as pirates.
the girls always come up with there own version of if I was a counselor they each pick a counselor mostly its cute and harmless there have been a few times were the counselor did not come off in a good light. they have also done this with the sixties party song
Does your Austrain song involve Bon Jovi?
we had one summer that the director would not let us say god to we changed all the gods in different songs to prairie fairy and it stuck.
some of the counselors came up with once a pirate when sailing on an ocean so blue to the same tune as the austrian it was really cute. they even dressed up as pirates.
the girls always come up with there own version of if I was a counselor they each pick a counselor mostly its cute and harmless there have been a few times were the counselor did not come off in a good light. they have also done this with the sixties party song
can you tell me about the if i were a counsellor thing??? sounds cute!!!!
do you want to know the song in general or the way the kids changed for the counselors?
When you start singing camp songs any time of the year but especially when you start counting down the days until camp.
and when your countdown and other random camp things have you so wired for camp that you dream about it. Heck, when you dream about the first day of staff training...
yup, that was me last night using my new-found knowledge about camp and whatever I didn't know I just used my old camp for apparently.
when you use quiet camp songs to calm your friend after she has a seizure!
when you sing camp songs to the babies in the nursery when you're trying to get them to sleep, and when you teach preschoolers other songs, especially motion ones for their motor skill development (that's how you know you are a preschool teacher when you think of gross and fine motor skills when thinking of songs to sing).
when you are in your science class and looking for a way to light the conveniently strike-anywhere match besides the side of the box. Heck, when you know without trying what definitely won't work and what has some potential.
when you compare your school kids to your possible camp kids and what you do the same at your job as you do at camp and what you do different at your job than you do at camp.
when you hear songs and you bust out random dance moves like you do at camp.
when you get all excited about socks with tents on them!
yes! I'm so excited to see those socks!
when you send things to people you've never actually met and that live in a different country/on a different continent. Especially when these things are totally randomly awesome things that no one else but a camp person would appreciate.
when you know that there are awesome people still awake who you can talk to when your neighbors decide that 1.30am is a good time to start blaring music!
When you dress for school (including wearing old shoes and changing to your really dirty camp backpack) so that you can puddle jump on the way back...
when you wear socks a camp friend got you for this puddle jumping because you know she would love that they went puddle jumping with you, especially since you can't go puddle jumping with the person.
when you know you have to take 1 plane and 2 busses and a camp van to get to camp
Your non camp friends are tired of hearing your camp stories
You frequently respond to yes or no questions with "YeeHaw!"
You wrote a college entrance essay about camp
The word Linger makes you tear up
You have friends all around the world, but have never left America
You tear up at the thought of your first summer at your childhood camp
You got to see your favorite camper become a counselor
You call your co-workers your family
You dated a fellow counselor
You truly understand the value in Walmart
A walkie-talkie is a sign of power to you
You spend all year getting rid of tan lines, just to get them back this summer
You have to untag pictures of yourself, because they are not camp appropriate
You smiled at all of these posts
Oh man! I am pretty sure I get a walkie-talkie for the first time this summer and I'm ecstatic about it! It's the same as getting to drive the golf cart!!
when no matter what the question or explanation or anything as long as it's about camp you are eager to talk about it! (I'm asking questions about my new camp to someone on facebook!)
when you have sent at least one walkie talkie to a watery grave!
hahaha, I just hope this doesn't happen to me this summer!
when you read the parent guide of the camp you're going to
When most of your stories start with " at camp last summer ..."
When Ductape and Sharpies Make You Popular
And so does proper British cadbury's!
when getting to drive the gator is considered being "someone important"
when markers and crayons make you happy
when coloring is a daily occurrence
when lanyard keychains adorn every backpack/purse/zipper/bag/etc.. you own
when cleaning is fun
When you guider in charge comes to guides raving about some new craft she has recently learnt - and you are like yeah cool they were really popular at camp with hemp and wooden beads (rather than the expensive tacky bling beads they are using) and when you think your hemp and wooden bead ones look better!
When you see kids playing outside and you wanna join them and set up some sort of game
All of your friends go to havasu or cabo for spring break, you go home to work weekends at camp.
You don't own white tshirts that are still white
Getting a package at mail call is like christmas morning
Complain all day about being tired, plan to go to bed early, stay up for hours talking to other counselors and eating nutella
The two bite rule only applys to campers
you know about a hundred ice breakers
Oh man, that spring break one happened to me just last week!!
I only own still white t-shirts because I used them as part of what i had to wear to closing campfire and on first day of a session. blues, whites, and staff tie!
You look for similarities to camp in your "real-world" job.
You think the only way to go anywhere is in groups (2's, 3's, 4's)
you have ties? shoot thats crazy! we have to wear jeans, our green staff polos, a western belt, boots and a white cowboy hat
a staff tie is like a fabric necklace that is folded/tied in a triangle at the bottom.
[img]https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=460321591136&l=557b06839f[/img]
When you look for a real world job that allows you to have the summer off so you can work at camp
When years after you were last at camp you are still posting here and your bedroom decor is still predominately camp themed!
When even though you could not go to camp due to physcial issues, you watch camp themed movies such as Meatballs, Ernest goes to camp and others like to so you dont miss camp as much just to realize that you miss camp more then ever
By the way Smudge, I am the same way--My bedroom has alot of camp decor after almost 3 seasons off from any kind of camps.
I watched camp movies all the time when I wasnt able to work at camp. even working at day camp I still watched the movies it wasn;t the same as resident camp...
I watched camp movies and compared it to the camps I worked at
I post camp movie reviews on Netflix stating how un-realastic a movie is compared to a real life camp
have you seen wet hot american summer?Its camp related and some what funny but I kept pointing out all the rules the staff were breaking!!!
I LOVE Wet Hot American Summer, except for the drug scene when they go into town.
I like the part where the camp director is going into town and the staff that is off all runs and piles in the truck and one of them screams wooho or something all the way into town....
I love the movie Meatballs-- the orginal-- I know its kinda old-- from 1978 but that is the one movie most of my non-camp friends think of when I say "camp movies" and they cant remember others jyst the Wet Hot American Summer, Indian Summer, Camp Nowhere to name a few-- I will defentialy have to watch those a few times this summer because I will miss not being at camp all summer.
I'm a big fan of Parent Trap, the Lindsey Lohan one (it's the one I saw first and for years before even seeing the original once). Oddly enough I haven't seen too many camp related movies.
When you email your director asking when the staff manual will be online so you can memorize it before camp even starts, and yet they will give you a hard copy when you get there anyway and that's when everyone else will likely look at it first.
I think I own each camp movie with some limited execptions-- ie Parent Trap and Camp Cumonga
When you can not wait for any camp releated event and clear your schudule weeks and even months in advance
I LOVE Wet Hot American Summer, except for the drug scene when they go into town.
I also love that movie! They filmed it in Honesdale, PA... the town that my camp is near by. I recognize all of the buildings, etc. from that scene!
- Teenster
When your mother is watching a documentary and buffalo are mentioned and start singing "big buffalo"
haha, I don't know that song but I have been teaching my kindergarteners some camp songs! I just taught them Animal Fair today. I have also taught No Bananas in the Sky, Mr. Moon, and Yogi Bear. I started to teach them a couple motions from Friends are Nothing Til They Sing Together but we didn't get very far.
When you teach anything, especially a song, no matter where you are, you teach it line by line!
My friend has one too- when you see a bunch of neighborhood kids outside horsing around and you go out and teach them the Great Big Moose song!
When you need a song or game to fill some time at Brownies and you are called upon!
You sing camp songs at random times