Hey all, I'm back from my weeklong adventure along the St. Croix River and I have some more news to share, especially the purchase of a flight to Europe.  Later. 

With another week of camp completed, I can definitely state that my decision to decline a Y.E.S. program extension and become a camp counselor has been one of the best decisions I've made in a long time. Sure, I miss WDW--I don't really miss the parks all that much, but I do miss my fellow cast members and the occasional Mickey Mouse sighting quite a bit. Camp has been great, despite the fact that I have had only and exactly TWO sets of resident campers. The rest of my time has been filled with a week of day camp, a week of camp training, and a week of lifeguard training (you are, after all, reading the blog of a Red Cross Certified Life Guard with Waterfront lifeguarding certification, also).

Next week (all right, the week that starts later today) I'm one of the staff members assigned to travel to the St. Croix River, located on the border of Minnesota and Wisconsin. I'm pumped. I'm sure that I will have plenty of things to report to all of you upon my return (assuming I return..., all right, upon my return). Until then, remember a few things.

#1. Bats are your friends. If you happen to return to a cabin late at night and notice a bat, please do not try to kill it. Think of all the mosquitoes they eat. Mmm, mosquitoes...Maybe I'll try to bring a pet bat with me on the river trip.

#2. Apparently, real sickness does not occur when you feel nauseated. According to the camp nurse, who told a fellow counselor that she was not sick, "You won't throw up if you don't have a fever, and you don't have a fever." That counselor soon threw up.

#3. Capture the flag is the greatest camp game ever. And red facepaint requires a LOT of soap for good removal.

#4. The constellation Cepheus the King looks like a garden gnome.

A few things need to be said on this, three days after Canada Day. First is that I created a Canada Day 2004 t-shirt complete with the words to "O Canada," which I wore at camp all day on Thursday, with the exception of the party night costume (the theme was "Career Night;" I dressed as a Mountie). Second, my best efforts to convince people of Wal*Mart's pure evil seems to be less than successful. This is greatly disappointing. Perhaps I am just more frustrated this weekend by being around more Americans than usual. The internationals believe Wal*Mart to be a necessity as they get paid virtually nothing and bring very little with them on their voyage to the United States. At the same time, they acknowledge the pure evil and think it's great to hear an "American" speak in such a way. Also, the internationals love me because I believe Americans to be simple beings who do not care about anything they cannot see, which explains the initial support for invading and occupying Iraq, the passage of the Patriot Act, and the general "this-is-America-f@#k-everyone-else" attitude that is so prevalent, especially among the uneducated.

Perhaps the most important suggestion that can be made involves my plans to watch Farenheit 9/11 today, on this most "Patriotic" of U.S. holidays. If you have a good understanding of Americans and the operation of the United States, read Bradbury's Farenheit 451. Not having read that book (which I stole) since I was a sophomore in high school, I merely remembered having liked the book. Now that I've reread the first part, I am busy drawing parallels between Bradbury's vision and Bush's vision. One horrifying. One truly horrifying. I can only hope that someday, people will be encouraged to think and question. Maybe a day that celebrates a declaration of independence from "tyranny" should be that day.