Well, this is it, I guess. I'll be leaving for Camp Jewell on Sunday morning at 10 am. Today's going to be filled with packing, cleaning, and getting mentally prepared. I'm really nervous about this. I know that it's going to be a unique experience for me, and I'm sure I'll probably enjoy it. However, I get really almost scared about entering in to new environments like this. I don't really know anybody, just some people who I met during staff training. I've never even gone to that camp before, so I don't know much about their way of life at all. I've never been away from home for this long, either. I know it sounds rather babyish, but it's true. It's going to be very strange for me to be away for so long, minus the time off I get, and to not be around people who I can really depend on.
In preparation to my leaving, I decided to have one last get together with Lindsey. She came over Thursday night. We were supposed to camp out back but, to make a long story short, the tent was not cooperating with me. She brought me something for my time over at Camp Jewell which I desperately need: a lap top! Ok, it's a really crappy, ghetto, early 90's brick, but it's still a lap top! The problem is the hard drive needs to be reformatted. Shawn agreed to do that for me as soon as he gets the chance, and if it's not done when he comes over tomorrow night, he'll have it dropped off for me as soon as possible. It doesn't really have anything on it like internet or music or anything, but that is GOOD! What I need that for is to type up my summer work, since the computers there only have internet access, and I know I'm not going to want to spend my time off writing essays! Plus, without the distractions of chatting, mp3's or online forums, I'm almost certain to be able to get the work done. Since I've been home I haven't done much of anything. I did finish reading "Demian," but only because I was babysitting at a hosue without cable or internet. So I know that when I have time at camp, I'm sure I'll get my work done.
Another plus side to going to camp is my mom bought me the new Harry Potter book to take with me! I was going to get it on the release day, but my Border's gift card from 3 years ago had expired, so she promised she'd buy it before I left for camp. I started reading it tonight, but I'm a bit lost. It's been quite a while since I read book 5, so I have a little catching up to do. I think I'll just ask my bunkmate who's a huge HP fan if I get confused.
Well, I really should get going. Big day a head of me,, packing and such. I'd also really like to get to the theater to see "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" before I go, too.
One last thing: While I'm away, I probably won't get the chance to update here much, but I am able to update my myspace journal often, so if you would like current updates, go to www.myspace.com/starfire87.

All I can say is "wow!" Ok, last Thursday I decided to go down to my grandparents house to visit with my niece and brother for a little while, and Shawn said he'd drive me home after that. Well, he didn't get a chance to fix the car, so we had to spend the night. Meanwhile, I had been talking to Lindsey, and she had a coupon to go to Six Flags for only $10, but she had to use it with Mikey, her neighbor/friend. She wanted to go up there on Friday, since that's when it had to be used by. And since she knew Shawn was going, she was wondering if we might make a big trip of it. Turns out, we did! On Friday Mikey, Lindsey, Shawn, Mary (his girl friend), Mark Allen (Mary's little brother), and I went to Six Flags- in one very small car. Getting up there was interesting to say the least. We finally made it there by about 2, but we had to wait for Shawn and Mary to get their seasons pass made up before we could do anything, and that took quite a while. But the day was amazing, nonetheless. We rode Superman, Batman 5 times, Mind Eraser, Scream, Mr. Six's Pandemonium, the log ride, and various other things.
After all of that, I was wiped out. Not to mention the fact that my migraines have been relentless, and the Excedrine had stopped working. So I spend the next two days in bed, no medication, doing a sort of "detoxification." That was not fun at all, and it only lasted 2 days. Monday night, before rehearsal, I had to give in and take 3 Excedrine if I ever wanted to withstand rehearsal. After I got out of that, I went over to the Henrickson household! When I go there, it was just Kurt. It dawned on us both how long it had been since we'd seen eachother. It'd only been about 3 weeks, but it felt like ages. I can only imagine what it's going to be like when he moves away.
A little while later, the rest of them returned from Wal Mart. Not only was Anna with them, but there were four international staffers from Camp Berger who stayed the night and went with us the next day. We all stayed up kind of late, watched "Ocean's Twelve," and Anna, Tom, Pable (I have no idea how to spell his name!!) and I went swimming until 2 am. Tom and Pable are from England, and are completely amazing! We stayed up so late just talking, joking, splashing around in the pool. It was so much fun! I never wanted that night to end! But I knew that the next morning would be much greater.
I didn't sleep hardly at all that night, and I got up some time around 6:30, and I soon found out Kurt did as well. Him and I chilled out for a while on the computer while breakfast was being made and the others rose. Soon enough, we were on our way to Six Flags! The trip we had been planning for so long was finally here. Instead of being Kurt and I, which we originally wanted, it was Kurt, Anna, the four internationals, and me. Regardless of my apprehensions, the day turned out to be well worth it, and just more than I could ever ask for. We got to go on Superman twice, Batman, Mind Eraser, Scream, the log ride a couple times, Blizzard River, Mr. Six's, and Cyclone. We didn't have as much time as we had wanted because they all had to get back to camp for 6 pm, but it was enough for us. The weather was just so hot and humid, it was nearly too much to take. I know that I really wasn't supposed to be out in that weather because of my asthma, not to mention the condition of my head due to migraine over-exposure, but I wouldn't have missed that day for the world! This trip was really the last hurrah for Kurt and I. It was our last big adventure before he leaves for God only knows. I'm really glad that we were able to have this day, but it pains my heart to know what it really signifies. In a few days, I too will be leaving to do my two sessions at Camp Jewell, so I'll have no contact with pretty much anyone. But knowing that when I get back I'll be starting school soon afterward, and without Kurt in the hallways anymore, is really something that will take me a while to get used to. His family is planning to move to the south some time around October, and I think he may be gone sooner than then. I'm just really glad we finally got this one last day together, because there's no telling when we'll be able to reunite again.

There's a very good reason why I haven't posted since the 4th, (other than the random picture which doesn't symbolize anything and is still there for the sole reason of it didn't go away when I deleted it) and that is because practically nothing has happened! Well, a lot has happened in the world, but not in my world.
As the summer vacation lingers on, so does my mind. I find it more difficult every day to wake up at an early hour, and more difficult to go to bed before it turns back to morning. But, I seem to be getting a lot done, even if it is only at late hours of the night. I've been working on my room lately, trying to contemporize it. I really want to get my room away from the little-kid vibe that I enjoyed when I was ten, and more towards the feeling of elegance and art which I enjoy now. It all began with getting a new mattress. I'll be getting a new bed soon, a queen size, which is substantially larger than my twin bed now. So I need to make room for this new bed, which means cleaning my room. I decided that if I was going to clean it, I might as well revamp it altogether. So far I am happy with the results. What I've got done so far is reorganizing the closet, getting rid of old, useless items, clearing out my bookshelves, desks, and bureaus, and clearing my walls of all the cute, fuzzy, nauseating unicorns. I have also managed to redecorate one wall completely. Where I used to have four pictures of Stone Cold Steve Austin, 2 pictures of fuzzy kittens, and a scooby-doo wall clock, I now have a fun and artistic entertainment arrangement.

If you can't tell, I have an Italian vintage movie poster, a Michelangelo painting, a print of the Eiffel Tower at sunset, and a painting of the Chateau De La Clayette. There's also the three record bowls which I made out of real records. That wall makes me soo happy!!
Ok, so I'm going to stop talking about walls for a while, just because I'm sure nobody really cares. Yet, the only other news I have is not much more exciting than walls anyways. I'm glad to report that Lindsey is back from Germany, safe and sound! I haven't seen her yet, because she's only been back for a day. I'm hoping to get something together with her soon which includes a tent, a large fire, and my precalc notes and music theory project... you do the math.
Other than sitting around, doing just a little babysitting, reading, and talking to people online, I really haven't done much lately. I am glad to say that I've been talking to Alain a lot more lately. It'd been a while since we had corresponding schedules, so we hadn't talked for a while. He also introduced me to a guy my age from his town who has a grunge band, Dorian. (If you know anything about music theory, you'll know why Dorian is such an appropriate name for a musician!)
For this evening's quote, I'd like to quote the book for school which I just finished reading. The book is Demian by Hermann Hesse.

It's been about two weeks since I've written in here. For that, I am sorry. Let me start at the beginning;
Monday the 20th was the last day of school. It was so incredibly sad, but yet so amazing! I had a really bad day that day, because I found out about precalc. I won't go in to the details on that one, but you can probably figure it out. I did, however, pass for the year, miraculously. I had to hang around the school for a while afternoon, so since it was just Minnerly, Atkins, Nhu and I, we decided to get lunch. Nhu and I went and picked up chineese food, and went back to the school. If it hadn't been for that amazing afternoon, my day would have been ruined completely. After that, I just didn't care what crap had happened over the course of the school year, because suddenly none of it mattered at all. The next day, of course, was graduation. It was also my niece's birthday, but I didn't get to see her, unfortunately. Graduation was really sad and really nice all at the same time. I was supposed to be running lights, but I ended up being completely useless. Either way, I ended up being there for graduation, and not just in the audiance. I was sitting right on stage, well backstage at least, and Kurt and I had like three non-verbal conversations during the ceremony. Mr. Minnerly and I were making random commentary backstage. It was great! I got some nice pictures, too, but my computer decided to delete all of them. I'm left with just one. One. It's a good picture, but I unfortunately lost all the others.
The next day I left for Camp Jewell for Staff Training. That was so intimidating for me, probably the worst experience of my life. I was thrust in to a new environment, with all new people, and no idea what I was doing. That first day was the worst, but it got better towards the end. I only stayed until Friday, because Saturday was the start of the greatest thing on Earth, LAUREL MUSIC CAMP!!!
Saturday morning I packed, and we got down to Camp Workoeman around 10:30. I got all checked in, had my audition, and had the first rehearsal that night. The week was amazing. We played some incredible music, I got to know Mr. Friend, who was one of the best conducters I've ever had, and made so many memories. One of the most prominant memories came on Thursday. Every Thursday of the camp we have the end of the week dance. Luc wasn't feeling well, so Minnerly brought him up to the nurse. A few minutes later an ambulance arrived, and we saw that it was Luc who was being brought down to it. None of the staff members would tell us what was going on, and we couldn't get to Minnerly (who would've told us!). Eventually, when Minnerly got back from the hospital, he told us that Luc's lung had collapsed. He obviously couldn't play in the concert, and would have to be in the hospital until Sunday. I freaked out. I was literally hysterical, to the point where random staff members were comforting me. I felt so bad about the whole thing, but I knew there was nothing anyone could've done about it. I guess you could say that it's good that it happened late in the week, because we were all able to enjoy the week up to then.
So the concert was a great success, and we all had a wonderful time for the most part. At least everyone has an interesting story about this year's camp. I really can't wait until next year, because it might be my last year, and it'll be amazing. Today, Tanya, Kurt and I went over to Luc's house to see how he's doing. He's actually doing really well. He's up and about, talking fine and everything. We even played a game of pool! Then, Tanya brought Kurt and I back to Kurt's house. Bob was over, and we all watched "Forest Gump," which I'd never seen before. That was such a good movie! We chilled out for a little while, and then I had to come home. Now I'm waiting for our party to start up. We've got a ton of those fireworks that are actually legal in Ct. Dad loves them, he thinks he's all pyro when he lights them off. So we're going to eat soon, and then have fun. All the while, Lindsey's still in Germany! Oh, yeah, she's been in Germany for like a week now! She also went to Paris, the little bitch!! Ok, I'm not just a little jealous or anything... But I'm glad she's having a great time, and I can't wait for her to get home!
If there's any one quote that sticks out from these last couple of weeks, it's definitely this one:
"Fellowship through music." ~"Ma" Sonier