July 6, 1999.

10:44

I'm told that yesterday was the hottest July 5th since World War II. How ironic...that I should spend weeks immersed in an essay on appeasement, and then experience appeasement weather. U R There. I didn't notice, really. I'm getting used to oppressive heat: I only took 3 showers & slept 8 hours, not including the 20 minute nap at noon yesterday. Mad dogs and Englishmen indeed.

I dreamt that Q came to visit me at camp, but then he went off with my nemesis. In the way you know things in dreams, I knew they used to be involved. It was kinda depressing, but mostly confusing.

The most amusing thing going on right now is that the most obnoxious kid in camp (and there are some contenders, let me tell you) likes me. We had the following exchange last night before his team started the sponge toss:

kid: what are the sponges for? are we having a car wash?
me: yeah, it's a car wash. the cleanest car wins. (I'm very sarcastic these days)
kid: ooh! can I wash you? I'll get you from head to toe!

I was dumbfounded. I've never heard a come-on that bald - not even at the Dance Cave.

He manages to distract me at meals just long enough for the person I'm looking for to slip away. He shouts in my ear whenever he sees me. The really weird thing is that he gets really uncomfortable when he's paired up with girls at games. Does that mean I'm not a girl?

We've started having personality conflicts among the counselors. I've mentioned my nemesis. It looks like Sabrina is developing one of her own...and a girl on our committee is really angry today because the planning isn't going as well as she wanted it to. It's the heat and the lack of sleep and the fact that half of us are hyperplanners and the others...aren't. I'm of the latter group, of course. Things get done, no matter how meticulous the planning is, and I'm not killing myself in the group activities and coming home cranky to make my kids miserable.

At the same time, there are some really nice moments that swell my admiration for other counselors. I saw the biggest male counselor take a wet sponge in the nuts from my smallest girl and call her sweetheart 2 seconds later. That kind of effortless masculine strength impresses me greatly. The other kind of masculine strength - the muscles & tan type - usually turns me off, but we've got one of those among the counselors, and he's too nice to dislike. All the little girls and boys have crushes on him. My nemesis's cabin likes him far better than her, which makes me smirk. But as we've discussed, I'm evil.

The web page class is getting better. I'm less tired for one thing, and I'm less at odds with the instructors for another thing. They seem to be disciples of the church of java, which is pretty enough, but lacks substance. Of course, my pages are very functional rather than graceful, and I think I want to use some of their ideas for my cluttered first page. We'll see how far it gets in August, when I'll be hard at work picking the lint out of my belly button & lying down.

4:25

If 4-6 time is going to be reading everyday, I could get used to this period of forced cabin companionship. I have a sneaking suspicion that I should be pushing the girls a bit harder to participate. Oh well, it's only the second day.

Had a good long talk with Rex & Brady today. By far the best part of the afternoon. Yearbook committee is a joke - we're being used as warm bodies & it pisses me off. I also got a bunch of work done on transcribing yesterday & today's writing. This involves carrying a flowered journal and disk around constantly, & I'm dealing with inevitable questions by telling people I'm writing a tell-all book about the camp. Rainbow (another counselor) has really taken to the idea, gently teasing me every time she sees the book in my hand.

I'm not as hot today as I was in the last little while. I'm been sitting in air-conditioning a lot & in front of fans without being too pushy about it (I think). They recommend a glass of water at every meal & I'm rigorous about enforcing it with my girls. None dead or faint yet - and I guess that's the pay off.

I'm still having a ridiculously good time.

One of the girls is reading a recent Gordon Korman. I have a tonne of his work at home - but I don't feel like telling her that his work's been going downhill for about 6 years.

10:20

Ugh. Bedtime did not work. 3 needed to shower and one of those needed to call home. 20 minutes after lights out & there's still one in the shower. Feh.

I wish I could sleep tonight. All things considered, I'm not doing so bad: no headache, no yawning, no aching - but I still want to sleep. Lucky me, I get last night patrol shift. Joy.

There's also a Grade 8 theme party tonight for the counselors, which I'm quite looking forward to. Nothing like chips and pop and a good bitch session to settle us down.

The trend continued with tonight's evening activity. I thought it would suck, but it rocked. I keep getting big goofy grins during the day. I haven't been this consistently happy in a long time.

Part of it is that games allow me to be kind, to have fun & to turn a blind eye to a lot of cheating. Tonight I played a lunatic version of minigolf, with each house constructing a hole out of popsicle sticks and rubber bands and miscellaneous crap. I got to watch my girls play. They're nice, in all senses of the word: generous and encouraging to each other and not terribly hard on themselves either. We watched another house scream and rant at each other & just shook our heads.