A much-needed update

Wow. It has been so long since I’ve blogged. Are any of you still with me?

I’ve been working at a sleep-away camp in Malibu for a little over a month now, and though it has been completely time consuming and exhausting, it has also been incredibly rewarding. We’re nearing the end of the second of three sessions, which is a really weird feeling, knowing that summer is so close to over—less than a month away. Not that I’m not looking forward to the school year, of course. I can’t wait to be a sponsor, to start my new classes, see all my friends again, and return to a place I love so much. Since I was in 2nd grade, I have always considered this camp my second home, and now I guess I have a third home at school. That’s kind of a nice feeling. 
Anyway, I’ve been working with seventh graders both last session and this one, but my two cabins could not be more different. Last session was a very small cabin, only 8 girls, and they all got along incredibly well. Also, I was working as a life guard during the day which meant I didn’t spend tons of time with the girls/in the cabin, etc, so dealing with day-to-day discipline and petty fights wasn’t really my thing. This session I am a full-time counselor for a group of 10 girls (those extra two really do make a difference!) who are your stereotypical 12-year-old girls. Some of them act a little to old for their age, flirt with boys, wear make-up, and care about how they look, while others are still in that awkward, pre-teen, slightly dorky phase. The combination of those two groups in one cabin can sometimes lead to conflict. There is a bit of “girl bullying” if you will, (talking behind someone’s back, sabotaging their “relationship” with their “crush,” etc). At times it’s a lot to deal with, but all in all it is incredibly rewarding when I realize what a great time these girls are having at the end of the day. They all love it here just as much as I did when I was a kid, and that love for camp and the fun they have here definitely overpowers any petty fights they have throughout the day.
Today is the Color War and my good friend Matan and I are team captains for the yellow team. The theme is Candyland, so that makes us King Kandy, accompanied by the green Princess Lollypop, the blue Queen Frostine, and the red Mr. and Mrs. Mint. My voice is practically gone from yelling and cheering all day, but the kids are having a great time, so I’m happy. I’m definitely going to collapse tonight. Whew. Its 2:30 and I already can’t wait for bed time. Before that, though, is one of my FAVORITE nights in all of camp, and that is Derby Night. Derby Night is an amazing program that essentially pits counselors against each other in ridiculously messy and hilarious competitions while the kids bet on who they think will win. Last time, most of us ended up covered in whipped cream, ketchup, mayonnaise, chocolate syrup, green “slime,” peanut butter, and god only knows what else at the end of the night. Shower parties ensued. This time I think it might be a little bit cleaner, but hopefully still just as fun. I can’t wait to kick some butt.  That’s all for now, and hopefully I’ll be able to blog again soon....I don’t like this month-long hiatus thing. Love you all!
-Lauren

My puppies

My mom took Won Ton to a specialty vet down in orange county today. He had to get some deep bone scan on his wonky leg so we could figure out what was wrong. Turns out its just arthritis, which is good because it doesn't require surgery and it isn't life-threatening, but which kind of sucks because its chronic and hurts him. But it's good to know he's going to be ok! So, to celebrate, gratuitous pug pictures!

To Have and To Hold: Faith Leaders for the Freedom to Marry

The junior rabbi at my synagogue is getting married at the end of the summer. This may not seem like a big deal at first, until you realize that my rabbi is a woman, and so is her fiance. The amazing fact that these two women are going to be recognized as spouses in my synagogue, and indeed, in all of the Conservative Jewish movement, makes me so grateful for everyone who has worked so hard to get us to this point and so proud of the path Conservative Judaism has taken. I know we have so much further to go--and that I will be at the polls come November voting to extend this right to all people--but let me just say that I am happy for how far we have come.
Read a Washington Post article on the decision to allow gay marriage in conservative Judaism here.

Pictures

Here are some pictures from my recent trip to San Diego.

Sam and me (and a lion!) at the Wild Animal Park


Lion cubs playing


Momma lion


This was the most beautiful cat ever, called a Caracal. He was just hanging out on the lawn a couple yards away from us, playing with his chew toy.


This cat can jump 12 feet into the air! Check out the back flip action...


Pretty giraffe (and mini giraffe in the corner!)


Cheetahs


I'm covered in Lorikeets! It was so much fun!


Meerkats!


Sam and me, and a gorilla in the background.


Big gorilla man.


Me comparing my hand to that of a gorilla.


And, of course, the beautiful San Diego beach

I promise!

I will get back to blogging regularly, I promise! Eep!
I was in San Diego this past week visiting Sam and it was lovely! Now, I know San Diego is not th The Middle of Nowhere and I did have computer access, but I just wanted to enjoy the vacation and not worry about much else. And, I did! We lounged around on the beach, went to the Wild Animal Park (pictures to follow), played Wii Sports, went to the beach some more, and generally had a great time. It was so beautiful down there, and really nice to spend time with him and his family.
The Wild Animal Park was awesome! The park is structured in essentially two parts, a zoo-like section when you first walk in and the 1600 acre reserve section where the animals literally just roam freely about...its amazing. Sam and I payed a couple of extra bucks to take a tram ride around the reserve section of the park and boy was it worth it! Besides separating the predators from the herbivores, the Park pretty much lets the animals just run free. Though they have their own territories that they have defined, they essentially all overlap with each other, free of fences or barriers or anything. They get to truly behave like they're in the wild, which helps not only their mental health, i'd imagine, but with the transition back into the wild if such a transition is planned. The park gets between 300 and 500 animal births a year--pretty much at least a birth a day!--and we got to see a gazelle that was only just a couple of hours old. I'll upload my pictures tomorrow...I got some really good ones!
So, since coming back from San Diego on Friday I've pretty much done nothing, which is both lovely and a bit boring. I did some more shopping with my mom--always lovely--and helped her get ready for a fancy dinner she and my dad went to tonight. I'm also in the middle of reading a couple of books and have been watching my share of crap TV. I tried to read some of the Animorphs series that I loved so much as a kid today, but I couldn't find the box where we stored them all...I'll probably try again tomorrow.
Time to try to sleep now. Take care!

At least someone in this room is sleeping...

.

This is like my fourth "can't sleep" post in the past two weeks. What a lovely trend. What is different about this night, however, is that I have a lovely little snore-er on the floor next to me. Or, that is, he was on the floor a moment ago. Now he's chosen to snooze on my bed. Well, at least he's stopped snoring. This is Dash, and I'm dog-sitting him for the weekend.


In other news, here's my favorite photo from LindyGroove. Thats me and Ian, one of my favorite dance partners and an all around awesome guy. Photo curtsey of Duncan.


Ok, I'm going to go listen to some more NPR and try to fall asleep. Dash is snoring again. :-)

Sleepy

I'm too tired for a real post, but I feel like I've been neglecting my blog lately. So, hello all. I'm still here. Just sleepy....verrrrry sleepy....

Can't Sleep

I've been watching Eddie Izzard videos on YouTube because I can't sleep. Enjoy!

Home Again, Home Again

So, school is over, finals are done, my room is packed and I'm back home. I spent the day lounging around with my pugs and my mom, watching So You Think You Can Dance and catching up with each other. It's good to be back, but it's also really weird to think that a quarter of my college career is finished. Dang.
I went dancing the last two nights. On Thursday we (many Ballroom people, Duncan and I) went to LindyGroove and last night I went to Friday night Salsa on campus. So much dancing, so much fun. Social dance is just so energetic and friendly and incredibly fun to do...I love it.
Leaving school was weird. Packing up, saying goodbye....I'm never really great at that stuff. The worst was saying goodbye to Sam. I know I'll see him in a couple of weeks, maybe next week even, but it's just so different than seeing him every single day like I do at school.
But, be that as it may, I'm home and I'm happy to be here.

Happiness

SUMMER BREAK!!!