The difference between what I should write and what I have time to write has reached a critical status. I don't like letting this happen but it sometimes done and then all my entries result in an intro consisting of apologies for late posts. That's poor form.

My last full post was eight days ago. Since then, I've had a weekend and a mildly eventful week. The weekend consisted of a laid back Friday. Surrogate Mother and her family left for vacation leaving the Camp Adventure team to house and pet-sit. Bird-Bird, Cat-Cat, and Drew Bledsoe (yellow lab) were all very well behaved until Cat-Cat decided to express his frustrations with being cooped up inside by pooping on the kitchen floor. Other than that, having use of the house was nice. We made dinner in a proper kitchen and watched a movie on a nice big TV. Like I said, laid back. Good bonding time with the two new counselors after their first full week.


WEEKEND

Saturday, was laid back as laid back can be. I slept in then went to Hooters to watch the Germany-Uruguay third place match. Back at base, I hung around the house and waited for dinnertime. Watched another movie with the crew and then went to bed.

On Sunday, we woke early and everyone prepared for church. Typical weekend except for the fact that I somehow got the mass time confused so we had to wait an hour and a half for the next service to start. No problem though. Afterwards, the three others who had gone to the chapel on base were at the house making breakfast in the kitchen. French toast was on the menu and I helped out. Everyone enjoyed it, we cleaned and left for downtown.

Driving was an experience. As we reached the edge of the Westbank, our driver realized our severe lack of gasoline. We pulled over to a service station, I got out to pumped and instantly screwed up my face like I had just put my nose to the kitchen floor after Cat-Cat had been through. Something was wrong with our car. The unkept roads of New Orleans are famous for their waist-deep potholes and so we chalked the smell up to the water on the roadway splashing onto the bottom of the car. Hitting the road, our driver then noticed a difference in braking. Her noticing a difference consisted of a gentle tap on the brakes, not getting a response, pushing harder, still not getting a response and finally slamming the brakes down, sending my skull into the dashboard. Pulling my head out of the glove compartment, I cheerily held the line about the car's underworkings being wet and agreeing "oh, that must have been the wet brakepads, that's all". Across the bridge we trundled and after a few more nervewracking minutes, I offered to drive on the way back. Seeing we didn't have far to go, I kicked my reassurance-cheerleading into high gear. "We're almost there!", "Hey, I don't think I can smell it anymore!", "At least we haven't died yet!". Then we realized the parking brake was on.

We parked and went to the Tropical Isle to watch the World Cup final. The two new counselors went to explore the French Quarter. Arriving at the bar, I had to sweet talk my way inside: "But I'm military", I said. When that didn't work, "I'm not drinking, I'm only watching the game". Still nothing. I swallowed and looked the mid-day bouncer (this breed is about half the size of the more irritable and intimidating evening bouncer) right in the eye "Look," I said, "I was here last week and there wasn't a problem". He let me in. I was pretty happy about that.

We watched the game. I could gladly recount all the drama of the match but the quote at the end of the game summed it up nicely: "Red over Orange in a final full of yellow for some very black and blue play".

We were joined by our fellow counselors who had braved the torrential rains to meet up with us. We all went to the Hard Rock Cafe (my first experience there) for dinner and then to a few stores for browsing. Once finished, we drove back to base, decorated for the coming week and turned in for the night.


WEEK

This week has gone fast so far. Monday, I went bowling with my group. Favorite quote

New Camper: "Are you my first grade soccer coach?"
Me: "No...why?"
NC: "Because you're handsome like him"

Finally, a camper who won't tell me that I'm fat or that I have a belly. I made coffee on the alley's machine and offered some to Miss Mint. A camper overheard me and, combining the Christmas in July decorations with my offer, reached the conclusion that I am Santa Claus and Miss Mint is my wife, Mrs. Claus.

Tuesday was rough. The day started out fine when we went to the Liberty Center to watch "Night at the Museum 2" but in the afternoon it started to fall apart. My group was supposed to go swimming but due to "high levels of chemicals", the pool was closed. Next thing I knew, I had 20 hyperactive 7 and 8 year olds running around inside with nothing to do. We decided to let them spend some energy outside on the playground. The phrase "Black Flag day" was thrown around (means its too hot to go outside) but we were in a crisis. Some kids burned off their energy. Others just burned. By the time the day was over, everyone was chugging water and laying helplessly on the floor. Our plan had worked.