camp summer

So I made it! We traveled cross country and now I am in northeastern Pennsylvania at "Camp Summer." We are not allowed to use the name of the camp in any kind of electronic publications so I will now be using the moniker "Camp Summer."

So far Camp Summer has been pretty chill. There are no kids here yet, it's just training this week so I'm just making friends with some of the other counselors. I've already managed to dye my hands magenta however. Good times.

A few facts to note: I will not have constant cell phone or internet access, so I will mostly likely only be able to call/e-mail you on my days/nights off which will be Sunday and some other night yet to be determined. So, don't be offended if I take a week or so to get back to you on anything. The kids aren't supposed to see our cell phones or laptops so I will most likely not use them at all except when aforementioned. However, we are also supposed to cover all visible tattoos and midriffs and underwear are supposed to be covered by clothing at all times and that for sure doesn't happen so... We'll see what's what after the first week of camp.

Also, I have been experiencing a little bit of culture shock which is weird since I am from here. However, I realized this week that I haven't been surrounded by other kids my age who are not predominantly Mormon since high school and it's a little weird. I think I'm adjusting fairly quickly though and I've already made a few friends! One of whom is patiently sitting next to me in my car as we steal wifi from a neighbor in Hancock, NY on our first night off. He has toe shoes for mountain climbing which made him look like a ninja.

I will do my best to keep you updated on how things are going. Additionally, we are not allowed to use our cameras at camp because of liability or soemthing I'm sure, just like you can't take pictures in public schools without parent's permission. So, lame. I'm sorry. But try not to get too bored with my text-only posts for now. I'll see what I can do about making friends with the camera girls...

road trip day 2

Favorite moments:

(no picture for this one, though I wish there was)

As Claire and I were eating breakfast outside our hotel this morning (there were no free tables in the dining area) this old man (who was wearing these fantastic knee socks) walked over to us and asked, "So, have I told you about my goldfish?" Claire and I looked at each other and were like, "Is he being creepy or being nice?" We couldn't decide, so we just said, "No." So he continued: "When my wife and I left Missouri this morning our goldfish was really happy. He was just swimming around in his bowl, around and around, happy as a lark—which for a goldfish is pretty impressive because he wasn't born with wings—but then all of a sudden he hit a wall. And do you know what he said?" And Claire, all excited like, goes, "DAM!" really loud. He smiled and said, "You've been around the block!" and gave Claire a high five with his car keys still in his hand. Then he got in his car and drove off without his wife. Claire felt slightly guilty about fake cursing but she was just really eager to impress our antedeluvian companion. I think it worked.

The second day in the car alone with Claire was just too much for me. Luckily we found some discarded liquor on the street to help dull the pain.


We stopped in Kansas City, Missouri (not confusing at all) to go to the Negro Baseball Hall of Fame. Instead we ended up making quilt squares for a quilt that will become a permanent part of the Jazz museum in Kansas City. True story.

(no picture for this one, sorry)

We asked this kid at Wendy's why Missouri is called the Show-Me-State and as he was walking backwards back into the Wendy's he said, "Cuz we ain't got nothin' ta show." We couldn't have asked for a better response.

There is a town called Effingham, Illinois. We stopped there to get gas and Claire opened the door and said, "It smells weird here." So I said, "It must be all of that effing ham." I was probably right.

road trip day 1

First of all, last night my friends came over to say good bye and then they stayed to help me pack! I literally could not have done it without them. If Tess and Nate had not packed my car with their amazing Tetris-like skills I would most likely have ended up sitting in the middle of my living room floor in tears instead of on the road at 10 am—my entire life is in there and I honestly have no idea how it all fit. They very truly saved me. Plus Autumn stopped by and helped box (and re-box), Dave helped lift the carrier on top of the roof (then disappeared to find a motorcycle magazine to feed his obession) and Megan cleaned my room. True friends indeed.
This morning I said good bye to Megan. It was a tragic tale of granola and separation.
On our way down south we saw these windmills that I've seen at the base of the hills from campus and I never thought I would see in person. I love alternative energy.
Lots of bugs got stuck on the roofbag. Claire thought they looked delicious. They were not.
We are in Colorado and so are our feet! (Perhaps Aleisha's own feet once trod this very same trail...?)
I was coughing. Coughing out my voice.
...while Claire frolicked and tried to avoid the cacti. 

Today we drove through Utah, Colorado, and Kansas. We left Utah at 10 am and arrived in Hays, Kansas at 1:30 am Kansas time. Driving across the country is the best.

salt of the earth

So this guy Dave Adams called ABC4 after he saw our story on Tuesday. He owns a collision repair business (Adams G-3 Collision Repair in Orem) and said that he'd fix Chris's and my cars for free! What a man! I took my car in this morning at 8 am and they had it done by 5 pm so I could pack it up and pack it to drive across the country the next day. These guys are just really good guys. Joe, Dave's brother, told me that once a year they have a raffle thing where they give away a car they've fixed up to a single mom who's going to school and doesn't have transportation. How great is that? Check out Dave's interview on ABC4 ("under ABC gets results with Provo drugged moose story").

I gave Dave a Garrett the Carrot to say thanks for all his great work. My dad would be proud.

the moose that wouldn't die

So remember when a moose hit my car in the parking lot of the Marriott Center? And remember how Dale Liechty and he said that he would fight tooth and nail to get the state to pay for the damages to my car? Well it turns out that Dale is a liar. Sad because he sounded like such a nice guy over the phone.

I got a call from the Wildlife Resources insurance agent Jim Christensen yesterday at 7 am to inform me that they have evaluated my claim and, oh, determined that they are not at fault. They followed protocol so the fact that the moose damaged my car to the tune of $1500 is not their responsibility; no people were injured, just property. Really. Really?!

Well, my dad didn't like that. He didn't like that at all. So what did he do? He called people he knows who know stuff about sticking it to the man. And today ABC's Channel 4 News came down to do a little story on the whole thing. For real. The idea was to get the state to pay attention so they realize that just because they are the government they can't just do what they want. Granted, a two minute slot on a local news show is most likely not going to change anything, but it was worth a shot. We'll see what happens.

Here are some sketchy stalker pictures that Stephanie took of me talking to Kerry and the camera guy in my back parking lot by the car. They were both super nice and helpful. Stephanie too. As soon as the video is posted on the ABC website I'll be sure to link it here (under Local and State News: "Drugged moose falls on cars; state won't pay for the damages"). Follow that link to watch the news clip or just enjoy these lovely photos. Follow your heart.

brooklyn!

On Saturday, June 13th at exactly 12:14 pm MST I received a text message that reads as follows:

From: Tess Nelson

Hey, are you in utah? Cuz i am.

I was so excited that I immediately texted her back to find out if she would be in Provo while she was here and finding out that she, her mom Janet, and her sister Emily would be in Provo that night I called them to invite them over for dinner and when they asked if one or all of them could also spend the night I said, "Of course! Yes! All of you!!!" in complete disregard of the fact that we don't really have enough sleeping facilities for everyone who would be staying; I knew that it would all work out and it did. While we have 3 couches in our living room (enough for the 3 visiting Nelsonians) one of them was presently being occupied by Stephanie who was visiting for the week from Nevada because it has been raining a ton there so they have to wait until next week to cut the alfalfa so it won't mold. Normal things. She, like I do, knows the Nelsons from when we all lived in Brooklyn when we were just jellybeans. (Janet told me that she and my mom have been friends now for 25 years. That is a quarter of a century for those of you who like fractions.) I called Stephanie to tell her the good news and her response was, "Cool." In Stephanie language this really means, "What?!? Awesome!!! I haven't seen the Nelsons in like 5 years and I just love them!!!" She was really almost as excited as I was.

I had been walking home from my friend Aleisha's apartment when I got the text so as soon as I got home Stephanie and I planned dinner (BBQ chicken with smashed potatoes, salad, fruit salad and chocolate zucchini cake for dessert), made a shopping list and went to the grocery store to purchase the necessary food items. All the while I kept turning to Stephanie with a big smile on my face and saying, "I am so excited!"

So, why was I so excited that three of my friends (four, if you count Stephanie) dropped by almost unannounced for food and shelter my last weekend in Provo, just days before finals when I had about a billion other things I should have been doing instead of entertaining them? Well, because I love them. I love everything about them. I love that every time I see Emily her hair is a different color (earning her the nickname "Hair" in high school) and that Tess always has a different purse that she has made herself that is awesome and that I can talk to Janet late into the night about anything and everything. And I love that they proved my linguistics professor right when he taught us that women speak slower than men but that women from New York speak faster than men from Texas (as illustrated when Nate White—from Texas—came over and occasionally interjected into our speedy after dinner banter) and that even though I haven't seen them in months we are so comfortable around each other that we pick up right where we left off and everything is the best.

Also, I love that we can illustrate AT&T's motto of "More bars in more places."

laundry

Whenever I do my laundry it rains. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal but we don't have a washer/dryer in my house so I have to use the one in the basement of Campus Plaza. Not only is it inconvenient because it's far away, but not all the dryers are created equal so sometimes you have to run it twice, AND it doesn't take quarters it takes a card which you have to refill, using only $5s, $10s, or $20s. Really people? And, as I mentioned before, it always rains when I do my laundry, making it that much harder to get my clothes home all nice and dry. Sometimes I feel like the truck driver in So Long, And Thanks for All the Fish who hates rain and it rains on him wherever he goes. What he doesn't know is that he is a rain god and the clouds "loved him and wanted to be near him, to cherish him and to water him" (p. 10, 1984 Pocket Book edition).

Maybe my laundry is a rain god and if I washed my clothes more often Utah would no longer be a desert. Things to think about.

pigs

We live in the future. This article (written by my friend Erin) makes me think of that movie The Island. You know, where rich people pay big bucks to have clones made of themselves so that if they ever need organs or limbs or whatever they'll have a spare, but they don't know that the clones are self aware and then some (Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson) escape and it creates a big hulabaloo. So, imagine The Island, but with pigs. That, my friends, is our future.

creating

We watched this video (which you can download and keep for yourself) in Relief Society today and I thought it was beautiful. President Uchtdorf's talk in Women's Conference was one of my favorites and I really like how it was adapted into this video clip; I think it is a nice change from the cheesiness of the 80s that we are used to finding in our church media, though I'm sure that this too will be outdated soon enough.

Because it was the first Sunday of the month it was fast and testimony Sunday. I have to be honest in that I do not usually like these days because I am hungry and tired and end up feeling like everyone else is better at being good than I am. However, I had a little revelation today that testimony meeting is not a place where people stand up to say "I know these things and you should too." Instead it is a time for all of us little people, still trying to figure out what this life is about, tell each other, our friends and families, the things that we have learned so that we can help other people learn them too. I haven't gotten up to officially share my testimony in a long time, but I want to share some of the little things that I have learned today and will maybe help you in your learning as well. Here they are:

• I cannot fix the past, I can only resolve to be better in the future.
• If you have faith you show it through your actions.
• Change is gradual and must be built over a long period of time—things build hastily don't last.
• Teaching is a wonderful way that we can serve others.
• "The things women can and should do very best are championed and taught without apology here."—Julie B. Beck

So there you go.

this is why i love stephanie

This is an email that Stephanie sent me today:


here are two funny stories that happened to me the other day:

1) so when my cousin was in the hospital getting his femur bone all fixed and his parents were with him I thought it was a good idea to clean the kitchen so when they got home it would be all clean. Anyway, so I had just swept and mopped the floor and made some cookies and my cousin and i were enjoying these delicious peanut butter cookies with a glass of milk...then he spilled his cup on the floor and it went everywhere! hahaha it looked like he dropped the whole gallon. It was so funny! oh man, hilarious. I did a bad job of explaining the story but it was funny.

2) Then that same day a different cousin, Luke, and I went out to go feed the calves their bottles of milk. We filled the bottles up and put them in a basket and on a four wheeler like we always do. But I wasn't quite on all the way when he started going and turned a very sharp corner. In an effort to save the milk I pushed the carton back on the 4-wheeler but then I went flying off. I thought he noticed and I was just laughing so hard because it was so funny. But he didn't notice and then drove off very fast and the milk fell off and went flying everywhere and broke open. He looked back and said he was so surprised to see me all the way back near the house. hahahaha oh man, we just died laughing. He said he didn't notice at all and was just singing away. hahaha

a day of much laughter and spilt milk.

I love you cassi
and miss you more than the cookie misses milk

love,
steph

my story was better

(click on article to enlarge)

Courtesy of the Daily Universe

5 June 09

moose on the loose

So today a moose hit my car. That's right, a moose. Hit my car. It was a run and hit, not a hit and run. To his credit, it wasn't really his own fault. This is what happened, as it has been related to me:

A young moose, a calf, wandered out of the mountains this morning and into the city of Provo. The poor little guy was lost and probably just trying to find his mom. He wandered over to Provo High, up to BYU campus and over to the MTC, all without getting hit by a car (which, let's be honest, is pretty impressive and leads me to believe that he is a little more street savvy than perhaps I've given him credit for). The police had been called and were monitoring it up to this point, just waiting for the wildlife guys to show up. Eventually they do, while the moose is still at the MTC, and they shoot it with a tranquilizer gun. Supposedly when they do this normally the moose walks about 50 feet, turns to look at the guys that shot him, then lies down. However, this little guy, not knowing that this is moose protocol, instead takes off, runs down 9th East through the police barricade, takes a right down University Parkway, turns left into the Marriott Center parking lot, runs past four rows of parked cars, and this is when the tranquilizer finally kicks in and he collapses between my car (the silver Yaris) and Chris Hair's (the white Saturn). But mostly on my car. He cracked my windshield and the side of Chris's car. Then he was hauled away unceremoniously in the back of a truck. There is still moose snot smeared across my windshield and down the front of the driver's side. Delicious.

Luckily, I talked with the people at Wildlife Resources today and they apologized profusely, assuring me that this has never happened before ("At least not in the 22 years I've worked here!") and that they will pay for all the damages. And I was able to get an appointment to get my new windshield tomorrow. They won't have the paperwork done until Monday but Dale (my Wildlife Resources contact) said that it shouldn't be a problem for me to just submit the bill to them after the fact. He also said not to quote him on that, but that he would fight tooth and nail to make sure they take responsibility for the expenses. Contradictory? Perhaps. But I feel safe in my assumption that it will all work out.

I just laughed all day thinking about the ridiculousness of what happened. Really? A moose? Hit my parked car? In Provo? This is one for the history books, folks.

hot parents

My parents were in town tonight! The three of us went out to dinner at Guru's (their sweet potato fries are the best!) and Jeremy Warner was our waiter, who, coincidentally, is in the band Hot Parents. Sometimes the universe is just trying to tell you something and all you have to do is figure out what it is. But beware, it doesn't always tell you with the type of enthusiasm my dad has. Sometimes it's more like Jeremy Warner.

facts about today

1. It is the death anniversary of Helen Keller.
2. It is Clarissa's Plimpton's 20th birthday. (Coincidence? I think not.)
3. I watched Gattaca for the second time in 3 days.
4. We made theater seating for our living room using cinderblocks. It completed me. (Though looking at the pictures I realize that it looks a little ridiculous because our tv screen is so small. Our only defense is that we're girls. Don't hate.)

5. I did not fall asleep in any of my classes.
6. There are new episodes of Pushing Daisies!!!
7. My comparative lit professor knows that I love Pushing Daisies and I'm not sure how he knows.
8. The Vest will soon be returning to Provo!
9. I sold my first book on Amazon.com. It was Portrait of the Artist As A Young Man by James Joyce.
10. My friend Brendan had a strange dream involving an intelligent talking globe, Princess Leia, an android, and the theme song of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
11. Sometimes people fill in blanks where there were none left empty. I won't name names.