Daniel's Summer Blog

Sam said it not me, I dont recall what he meant by gimp, but it some some everyday object that is clearly not a gimp.
I am in Asheville, north cac for my 24 hour day off. We (me, daniele, jackie, erin, adAm, jen, rachel and veronica) are all staying at Veronica's house. Veronica's dog (goober), a welsh terrier, jumped on me, bit my arm and then punched me in the eye. Not surprisingly, I hate the mutt and I hope he crash crash craaaaaaashes into a ditch.
For those of you who will appreciate this, the wackty vegan restaurant we walked into at about 1030 last night was playing the Blackstar CD. Out of place, but very pleasing to the ears. Their smashed potatoes sucked though. As did their organic ketchup. Alright I think we are going to ...something. whoo. peace out.
-Daniel

The interloper has won; Operation Shotgun has failed. Disappointing to say the least. In the words of a wise man (J-Po from the block): "My pool is so dry that it's cracking. It's growing algae." Who knew pools could dry up in such a fashion?
I got to be rosh tower again when Ashira, Sam and AdAm went on an out-of-camp scouting expedition to investigate the possiblity of campers doing out-of-camp climbing trips. I went to the 80's Dance last night, it was ehhh. It was in the moadon for some reason. We got the hammock up and running. I managed to spend a whole perek in it before Evan sat in it and promptly broke it. I think that is all for now. I am not sure if am really looking forward to shabbat or not.

HaMayveen Yaveen,
-Daniel

Operation Shotgun dangles from a thread. An interloper, a confounding variable has appeared. Well ok, I knew it was there, but was not particularly aware of the threat level posed by said interloper. At the three week point in camp, I hope that there will be some closure to this, whether it is good or bad. Unlike when I applied to Penn and the deferred me in December until outright rejecting me in late April. I hate that sort of thing.
We played Four-Way capture the flag paintdodgeball last night for peulat erev which was alot of fun. It involved Matt, Josh and me filling waterballoons with some paint and a little more water and then hurling them at our campers. Once the balloons were spent, we just put paint on our hands and started slapping kids. Needless to say, it was mandatory shower night for all of gesher, tzevet included.
Daniele's birthday was the 20th, we had a little party on 1/2. Some brilliant people decided to buy and bring water guns to the party and as a result I was forced to kick ass and chew bubblegum. And I was all out of bubblegum.
For today, my holy day off, I am going to Athens with even more lifeguards than last time, plus Merav and Veronica (maybe other people too?).
Comment dammit,

-Daniel

Wednesday. Days off are superb. Mine was spent in the company of almost all the gesher miktzoim (Michal, Daniele, Jackie and Merav). We ate at Grapes and Beans in Clayton (eh), went shopping in the Highlands (one amazing chocolate covered preztel and I ogled a large shelf of bestselling books), ate at Louis's on the Lake (pizza, not fish) and saw Mr and Mrs. Smith. Thursday. The first really normal day at camp. I actually had to use sunscreen to postpone skin cancer. That what you get when you stand in the sun for 3 prakim belay little horrors up and down the tower. On the other hand, my gesher boys, all of gesher and its programming staff has embarked on a wednesday to friday journey, leaving the entire building to Arin and me. Naturally, I squandered some time packing for LA but I watched Mighty Ducks the original and hung out with some people. There was pool party, but I heard it was dull and I had unfinished business to attend to (remember casper? or was it ghostbusters?) either way, it turns out I have no unfinished business, but I did get a sweet serenading from the nivo boys and their counselors. Then I went to LA. On Friday. Something about a Eve's Bat Mitzvah. It was a large Haviv/Schmidt party. Sadly only one fleisch meal, but I rectified this by making myself two cold cut sandwiches for the journey home. Red-eye flights are not fun, but the babies kept quiet most of the night. I sat next to some guy with a shaved head and a huge handlebar mustache. Camp did not allow Ray or Gert to come get me, so I had to catch the shuttle to Gainsville and then be driven from there. In short, I landed at 715 and could have been at camp circa 1015 (915 camp time) instead I got to camp just in time for lunch (100 camp time). A late afternoon shower has prompted the tower staff to move inside and the rain relentlessly pounds every inch of camp, which is particularly disappointing because everything was finally dry today.
In the course of our staff meeting after lunch Ashira asked us who wanted to work nivo girls who would be coming to climb the wall during my perek. I was already working that perek (I dont think I would have volunteered in any case, and everyone was reluctant to as well) but I did have a thought that I shared with the group: "No one wants to work the nivo girls as much as the nivo girls want to be worked."

There had better be alot of meat for dinner,

-Token (my call sign for the tower walkies ABRA I AM USING THEM)

Today is Wednesday, the day of rest for miktzoim (specialty) counselors. Consequently I have time to write my blog. Coincidentally, my gesher campers are gone on a 3-day etgar so I will not see them until sunday when I get back from LA (cousin Eve's bat mitzvah). Here are some anecdotes for you to dwell on. Jake gets a banana and puts it in his pocket. Graeme says, "Hey jake, is that a banana in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?" Jake: Um no, it's just a banana in my pocket. Next. We the tower staff have on of those rechargeable little airplanes courtesy of Mr. Lipman. After roughly 50 flights, the plane finally goes into the lake and Veronica and Zach promptly wade in to rescue it. Now the good stuff. Your friend and mine, Daniele, locks two less-than-innocent cochavimers (miles and The Baron) in the pool. Turns out they did not hear repeated calls to get out of the changing tents and go to lunch. Miles squeezes through the gates and calls the chadar with the pool phone (the baron's girth does not permit his escaping), where Ashira (my boss) picks it up and reports to Janet (Daniele's boss). A few hours later, Piper puts a roll or packing tape around Daniele, pinning her arms to her sides and making a general spectacle. Operation Shotgun has reached a breakpoint. No, just kidding, it's still in progress. With any luck there will soon be a one-line post declaring its success. Oh! Mother of G-d I almost forgot. For tikkun leil shavuot, which was completely insane by the way, I did a rap for vayera (the 3 angels, sarah bears isaac, the akaydah). It went a little something like this (i wrote every freaking word).


In west Iran, born and raised
giving hospitality most of my days,
chillin out maxin relaxin all cool and chillin with the angels outside of the school,
when a coupla cities who were up to no good,
started makin trouble in my neighborhood!
Sodom and Gomorrah got destroyed, and Lot came to live with me and my lack of little boys.
(little shimmy)
I whistled for my angels and when they came near, the license plate said BABY and there were dice in the mirror,
I thought to myself "a miracle is rare,"
so I yelled to the angels, go home to up there!
(little shimmy)
I. pulled. up the mountain about 7 or 8 years later and i said to the servant
"go home smell ya later,"
looked at the sacrifice, I was finally there,
would've killed my son, but G-d DID care.
(Final Shimmy)

If you dont know the source, infinite shame on you.

It has been a while since I have posted, mainly because has started and everything is insane here, in the best way possible. I went to the airport yesterday and was a a member of the honorable luggage staff. After we dealt with all the 800 pound bags that kids mom's packed for them, the luggage crew went out for well deserved kosher shwarma and then expiditiously drove back to camp. Once I was back in camp I distributed luggage and tried to learn all of my kids names. All the kids are really good so far, I hope it will last the entire summer. There are several things that I should be telling all of you, but I cannot remember any of them at the moment. Ashira has returned from Germany (she is now a master of Efficiency) and she brought us chocolate. This conveniently tranfers all of my responsibilities to her, which is great because there are alot more of them now that the campers are here. It's Rosh Chodesh, so shul was ridiculous, which was only compounded by our lack of a Torah so we had to join another Eidah for torah service and musaf. I am going to do something or other with the campers now. Just like whatever-we-are-calling-it in Iraq, Operation Shotgun endures, but I think I am doing better than the coalition of the willing. ------Out

Staff week is under way. This of course, means the internet here is ridiculously slow because evreyone is using it at the same time. I am rosh climbing (I get a walkie-talkie) until Ashira returns on sunday. The weather at camp is less than pleasing. It rains every day, and it's not even hot between rainstorms. I despise walking up the hill to my cabin, and am trying to avoid it at all costs. In current events, Asher stole Tadd's sandwich, causing Tadd to vehemently curse him until the director personally asked him to stop. Asher went and made Tadd another sanwich with a wrapper of some sort, which Tadd ate. Once he discovered what he had done, Tadd crammed the rest of the sandwich into Asher's coat pocket, to be discovered later. I am meeting new people, blah blah blah. Lunchtime. Boggle Forever.