New Decade

Vacation is already over and I have very little to report on. The few weeks off were rather boring because I did not have nearly enough "fun" as I expected and hoped for. But what is good about that is I am not really dreading the new semester all that much. In fact I am kind of really excited about school and starting a new decade.

I know it is totally cliche to talk about resolutions in the days following new years, but I can not help but do it anyways. Amongst the typical promises to myself to 1. exercise more (well at all) and 2. eat healthy, I have also decided to attempt to 3. be more positive in life and 4. worry less. Two areas that for anyone who knows me, know how desperately I need to do this. My anxiety and pessimism are hard characteristics to rid myself of but I am making a promise to attempt it. A final resolution is to 5. to finish what I start. All too often I start a craft project, start re-organizing my room or avoid cleaning up after myself which eventually causes my surroundings to become a total mess which stresses me out, something I want to avoid.

Round Up - Part 2

So in an attempt to keep with my resolution, I will tie up some loose ends from a couple of posts ago when I wrote a list of things I want to blog about but only ever got to half of them.I wrote about Halloween, Building a portfolio, Buying a new watch, Olympic clothing and Where the Wild Things Are.

Here is what was left:

6. Going on an exchange - I really want to go on one with my friend Teddy because I think I will be too much of an anxiety case if I go alone. Unfortunately, we have not chosen our top destination though the deadline is in less than a month. Though this week we vowed to get together to discuss and I plan on approaching teachers to ask for letters of recommendations.

7. Black ankle boots - gave up the search and instead bought high riding boots which I adore. In fact, my boots were featured in Cosmo this month.

8. Being more confident - This is not just another resolution of mine but rather an attempt to be more comfortable in my chosen field. Too often I am overly shy to approach people or take initiative, something that I need work on if I am going to succeed as a journalist. Also, in life I just want to 6. be more bold.

9. Dwindling group of friends - basically our high school clique is dead, a fact I have had trouble handling for the last few years. I waste a lot of energy being disappointed in friends and rather than dwell, I have decided to categorize my friendships into "worth it" and "not worth it". This may seem overly I don't know what, but I need to avoid wasting time and energy making an effort with someone who has not interest in reciprocating it. I don't mean this rudely just a little frustration vent.

10. Camp - I am not going back for the first time in twelve years, and I am not okay with it. I am actually the opposite of okay, I am depressed about it... especially since I have no plans this summer. Not to mention my blog description is "camp addict". How can I be a camp addict if I don't go to camp :(

p.s - after all the NYE dreading the night was not so bad... who could have predicted that?

Round-Up

Here is a list of things I have either meant to post about or that are really stressing me out:

1. Halloween a

2. Building a portfolioa

3. Buying a new watcha

4. Olympic clothing a

5. Where the Wild Things Are a

6. Going on an exchange

7. Black ankle boots

8. Being more confident

9. Dwindling group of friends

10. Camp

My goal is to blog about all these things in the next couple of days... weeks

Baaaaaack

After a much needed summer vacation, school has resumed for the fall semester. I only had one class today but it was long enough to exhaust me. I must admit that it was slightly fun to be back... there is nothing like getting a new agenda and seeing old friends (cheesy I know).

This is in fact my first post on my brand new Mac that I used my entire life savings on aka camp paycheck. I can already tell it was well worthy it mostly because of the intense battery life that is closer to 6 hours than my old pc that lasts maybe 20 minutes.

Okay so as much as I try to avoid watching CW shows that make me all depressed, it was the season premier of 90210 tonight and I obviously watched. Anyways at the end of the show one of the main characters goes something like "girls it is going to be our year". Coincidentally a friend and I made this same bold statement a week or so ago. I am beginning to think thought that it is the phrase of the month since I have heard several others in the past week say it too. I hope though that it will be my year, although it appears it hasn't exactly started off that way but who knows what can happen in a year.

Next matter is WHY is everyone all of a sudden doing things in life. Like getting jobs that help their future, going on exchange programs, volunteering abroad, getting published? I am about to attend my second going away party in less than a week. BYE BYE my friends have fun being productive in life. Sorry I am kind of really jealous. I know that the truth is that I can blame no one but myself but it still sucks when you are the one stuck at home.

Also, I am pretty sure I am unemployed. Though I would actually have to call my boss to tell her I am back to find out for sure... but word on the street is that the part-timers have ZERO hours, cool!!

Alright... I think this is the part in the long blog post where I promise to write more often and more interesting entries. So on that note - I hope to update more frequently and with more interesting subjects. Get psyched.

Milestones & Other Stuff

Seeing as it is The Whiteboard's one year anniversary tomorrow, I decided to reread some old posts. I headed back to my first post ever which describes my addiction to camp and my belief that starting a blog would help me prepare for daily writing as a journalist. It is funny to see how little has changed since my first post ever: a) I am still addicted to camp and just returned home from summer #12 and b) I still feel totally unprepared for journalism school. I don't want to get all sappy but it is hard to believe that soon I will be starting my second year of university, my second year of The Whiteboard AND that I will be turning twenty in a little over a month. They may not seem like the biggest milestones but I find them pretty major.

Anyways... There is still 3 weeks left of summer and I plan to make the most of it before school starts. Which is why today I went to Super Aqua Club and tomorrow I will think of something else that is awesome to do.
On a completely separate note I have to admit how much I am loving the 200 picture limit in facebook albums. I mean now everyone has one album maybe two unlike last year when my entire facebook was engulfed by peoples numerous westcoast or europe albums.

My only complaint of right now is that I feel like a social reject in my group of friends because I don't have a blackberry. I think I am losing friends over the fact I don't BBM.... but the good news is that earlier this month I dropped my phone in the toilette and it died but yesterday I turned it on and it worked! So exciting!

I hope that this post is a start to another year of blogging and I don't get lazy and infrequent about my postings like I did last year...

CAMP IS TODAY

One Week Countdown

Camp is creeping up on me... in just one week I will be heading up to Huberdeau! The thought is getting easier to imagine since its finally summer outside but I am totally freaked out about everything I have to do before there: walmart, laundry, labeling, packing, haircut, co-staff assignments, bunking finalization and shopping for a summer wardrobe. I haven't had a second to do anything this week because it was a big sale at work and I was doing twelve hour wrapping shifts. It is so much worse than one can imagine. It is over now and my last day is saturday which is happy and a little sad cause I feel bad leaving my co-workers.

So my good friend Lisa is over in China and has blackberry access which means lots and frequent emails. Lisa like me doesn't use a blackberry in the city... in fact we often make fun of users who when in social settings rather be BBMing that conversing with those in front of them. I just can't believe how addicted people are... I mean I have my phone on me at all times too it is just that I feel like a nuisance to my friends because I don't have BBM. I swear they shun me because they have to send me an actual text message. Yet as a proud samsung owner I must admit that only being able to send a email from my phone of 140 characters or less makes all my emails to lisa look like twitter statuses - which I imagine is super annoying to her. So as much as nag my blackberry friends when it comes to email access... I admit I am slightly jealous.

P.S - HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARO!

Summery

I haven't been especially busy these past few vacation weeks and while this may seem amazing to some it can get pretty boring and lonely with everyone but you jetting off. Of course facebook is mostly to blame since I am welcomed each log in with status filled of fun adventures in london, israel or even china. Don't get me wrong I chose camp this summer and absolutely cannot wait to go back it is just when I find out that other people are living it up overseas I get slightly depressed and jealous. It is true I had ample time before camp to travel somewhere I just couldn't really find anyone to travel with me since they were either working full time or in summer classes.

Work has given me zero hours lately probably as punishment for leaving for the summer and the need to train the new staff who will be there this summer but with the big oink oink sale next week (where everything is 20% off) I am working monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday and saturday. On the actual sale days, I am working 8-8 pretty much which will be okay if I am wrapping otherwise I just might cry/die.

After that saturday I am home free and have the next week to buy everything I need for camp. With the weather the way it is, it is hard to believe that in just two weeks I will be heading up for camp for the summer. I mean I haven't even worn shorts outside and I am expected to be in a bathignsuit within the month eeeek. I feel like I don't realize how much I have to do before I go and will get stuck washing towels at 1am the night before I leave.

So in a past post I mentioned taking these weeks as an opportunity to do things in Montreal that were touristy - so far nothing has been crossed off my list not even the Imagine exhibit. However, depending on the weather tomorrow I might head to Parc Safari...

Just My Luck

So this post would ideally be about the amazing adventures I have planned after school and before camp but unfortunately... I have zero going on. There are a lot of birthdays coming up though but just my luck they will all fall on the same day. Not sure what has brought on this depressive post but it probably has something to do with the fact that I was cooped up inside today at work unable to enjoy the sunshine. Anyways I want to return to the phrase 'just my luck'... last weekend a couple of friends and I headed out to see monsters vs aliens 3D but we were late and got there 8 minutes into the movie. We had no other choice but to see Adventureland (not recommended) where the main character at one point goes 'that is just my life.' Thinking we were cool, Caroline and I decided that this expression has FML potential so we abbreviated it to JML (just my life) yet half an hour later we had already forgotten what it stood for and spend the rest of the night saying Just My Luck.

Long story short: I am trying to make Just My Luck happen. ok?

Best part of this phrase is that unlike the negative nature of FML, Just My Luck can be totally positive like for example: "OH WOW, I just got a parking spot right outside the door, JML!"

Sorry if this post isn't obvious that I am already struggling with exam studying procrastination, then maybe the fact that I already designed my camp sweatshirt is better proof...

Copyright 2009

Bye Bye Bread

Ahh not only is the end of the semester nearing... so are the days in which I can eat bread/anything with yeast. In an attempt to prepare for Passover, I am trying to eat every bread product imaginable. I have accomplished most - pita, pizza, Naan bread, challah, some delicious honey oat thing... all I am really missing is a bagel. Which judging by my track record the last couple of days, I can't imagine I won't eat a bagel before Wednesday. After that it is all Matza. I certainly miss elementary and high school when passover meant a trip to the matza making factory and/or a week off from school.

I registered for schoool this morning which was pretty exhausting since it opened at 6am and the eager student that I was set my alarm at 5:45 to prepare. A waste of time though since apparently the Concordia serve can only handle 600 students at once. So useless but it is done now so I can cross one more thing off my to-do list.
Only things left are 1200 word profile, 3 minute radio documentary and a religions response (plus three exams but they are far away). After that freedom to indulge in everything but bread.

I best be back to editing my documentary if I want to attend tomorrow's mandatory camp meeting... if it weren't for the lousy weather I would think it was nearly summer with all these camp events.

Too Early for Camp Mode?

So in my pursuit of a career in journalism I decided to run for my student association. Anyways as I have mentioned in an earlier post I was the only person with a running opponent. BUT apparently according to one voter today... the other girl dropped out! So as you all can imagine this makes me very excited :) Although I still need to have enough votes to get elected so if you're in journalism still vote for me.

Camp is getting closer which is great since school is totally overwhelming at the moment. Anyways as a supervisor this summer I am required to make sure my staff "bond" so yesterday I organized what I called a Staff Meet and Eat. Aka all my staff and I went out for breakfast to meet each other. As anyone who knows me can imagine I was so nervous all day Saturday and all morning yesterday but in the end (like always) it was really fun and I wondered why I was nervous in the first place.... Such a camp filled wekeend with the friday night dinner, and allergic reaction the breakfast and tonight which is the YCC Fashion Show... not my favorite of camp events but I am excited to see some campers and make a good impression on whatever parents might be in attendance.

Other interesting events of the weekend included: karaoke birthday festivities and ordering mcdonalds at work... there might be more about these events but no guarantees.Oh and hopefully tomorrow's Concordian will include a really fascinating article about composting written by yours truly, me.

Two Tablets - non-drowsy

Moral: Always carry Benadryl (when travelling with Caroline)

So lets go back in time to Christmas where at Alex's family dinner our friend Caroline had what we classified as a mild allergic reaction. She took some Benadryl and everything was great. Now several months later a bunch of us are at dinner for a camp reunion thing. We literally just sat down when Caro turns to me and I notice that her face is all red and swollen. I immediately recognize this as another allergic reaction. We decide to head up the block to get some meds at the depanneur. They don't have any, they don't even know what Benadryl is. We go check another dep on another block, aspirin but nothing else. Twenty-five minutes later and three more deps... still no pills. We decide to bite the bullet and head down to St. Catherine's where we know there is a pharmacy. We go in all excited to finally have ended our search, when we see it aka the metal gate surronding the pharmacy section. No pharmacist = no pills. Just fabulous. Then I see out of the corner of my eye the Bendaryl right next to the gate... arms reach. I stick in my hand and grab the closet one (ended up being the wrong one so I had to take another) anyways... I was worried that we would get to the cash and they wouldn't be able to scan it. Thankfully they were able to and Caro got her pills and her face de-swelled. We return to the dinner 40 minutes later having missed dinner. We were upset and hungry until we heard it was minced meat stuffed chicken that was served. Tear Tear.

This, That & the Other

So I am heading to bed really soon but I felt like giving a little update or lack there of on my election campaign. My total number of group members has peaked at 23, I have yet to create a poster of any kind and I have no clue what or even who my competition is. Yet... I am still very excited and hopeful!

My compost story is less than exciting and I pretty much stared at a blank word document for four hours without writing a single word. Thankfully there was no Self -Bullying involved tonight. If anyone has any suggestions on how to make a story about organic waste in a small private high school interesting, let me know.

It will be past two tomorrow (wednesday) before I step foot in school for the first time this week. I had to cut class today to conduct interviews ,I have no school Mondays and class tomorrow morning is cancelled... which explains my lack of schooling so far this week.

Even with all these impending deadlines and a never ending to do list, I haven't been feeling the pressure that usually encourages me to get my work done. This might be due to the fact a BFF from Santa Barbra is here on spring break and I seem to think I am too. I sense that there will be a bunch of very late nights in the very near future.

Ohhh and my camp staff brunch (aka our pre-camp bonding session) is this sunday! I am split between being nervous and being overly excited. I hope it goes well and if not... the truth is we have a whole summer to make up for it. I also plan to choose which item of clothing my unit will buy and personalize. I am not sure if I want to push the practical angle and get hoodies or sweats OR go for novelty and get like hooded towels, or footed pajamas.

Mild Freakout

What kind of terrible journalist accidentally plugs the microphone into the headphone jack? So that the entire interview is barely audible? With the assignment already a week late? With an entire grade penalty? With another project in that class due the day after the extension?
The same kind of person who has this comment on their -A test "Maybe you missed the key concept because you have the terrible habit of talking when I am talking" Note: this teacher in his course outline states that a 5% penalty will be deducted from your final mark for every incident you are caught talking. Sounds like I might need to drop this class. But I won't know for sure until I go speak to him Tuesday. Which is fine minus the fact that we have a 10 page research paper due on thursday... meaning I need to start a paper I might not even have to finish.

So Camp sends out a newsletter to all the campers. Being the supervisor means I have a picture and small blurb written about me so parents and kids know who I am. This is fine especially since I get to choose the picture myself. HOWEVER in this blurb they totally messed up my camp legacy saying it was my eleventh summer when really it's my twelfth. They also referred to me as the supervisor of the camp website rather than just simply calling me the camp photographer. So I may be overreacting a little but considering they know who I am and have for TWELVE summers I thought they could have been a little more careful.

K I am done crying... and if you read to the end of this post I apologize for my emoness

Oh and PS - we lose an hours sleep tonight... sucks

Keeping it Short

So typically I update my The Whiteboard on sundays but this weekend
has been slightly overwhelming. I went up north to camp for the supervisor bonding weekend. It was super fun despite the fact it was also pointless. Camp in the winter is so weird but also really pretty. Disregard the fact that I ruined this picture by blinking.
Came home to a lot of homework which occupied my time yesterday and today. An 800 word article and a radio news story is an understatement but I felt like it was necessary to say hello. I should also mention I kickbox with Lisa and it is our new addiction. Maybe on next weekend's ski trip we can practice.. maybe not.
Anyways Happy Birthday to Everyone! It seems that world is celebrating birthdays this month.
I leave you all with great procrastination advice - fmylife.com... If you haven't heard of it, you are living in the dark and if you have I am surprised you were able to tear your eyes and mouses away long enough to read this blog. I take no responsibilities if you become addicted.

Hired & Home

All in all, it has been a very awesome weekend.
Camp FINALLY hired me for the position I wanted which is very exciting because karen and I now run all of junior side girls. Oh boy so much responsibility.

Moving on, BOSTON was this weekend and it was amazing. The weather was pretty decent and so was the shopping. While there, I thought of so many things to write about in my blog but now that I am home I obviously cannot. So frustrating. Hopefully though some stuff will come back to me.

This was just a quick update before bed because it has been almost a week since I have written anything and even longer since I have written anything good. Also, not sure who the anonymous commenter is but I am really glad you liked the blog title but please for the sake of my sanity who are you? (note: you can notify me via facebook or text if it is more convenient)

Connect Four - Creating a Legacy

I live 10 months of my life for 2. Camp.
For eleven summers I have gone to the same sleep away camp and plan on making it a twelfth if they ever call to hire me. (I have only spent all day nervously staring at my phone). My anxiousness reached such extremes that I left my cell with my mother because it was preventing me from functioning. Now shes upstairs with it and every time I hear the floorboards creek, my heart is in my throat. Totally not what this post was supposed to be about.

Moving on...
For those of you who aren't aware, I am an only child. Therefore, at camp or at school I create my own legacy which ends once I leave. Yet recently my younger cousins have 'come of age' for sleep-away camp. So when they told me that they would never attend sleep away camp, you could imagine I took it personally. Here was my one shot of maybe having someone continue my legacy but no.
I was pissed.

Anyways, my cousin told me he was the best Connect Four player ever. I told him that there was no way he could beat me, I am a professional. But he insisted and after a close game I won. (No great feat considering hes 7.) Then the rest of my anti-camp cousins challenged me and I proceeded to beat each of them. Then beat them again when they took me on as a team.
They were not happy.
And refused to play against me ever again.

I guess I should have let them win at least once, but my immaturity to their anti-camp spirit got in the way.
Then they asked me how I got so good at the game.
My answer?
Camp.

Maybe now they will reconsider.
Maybe I should gain some maturity.

Summer of '98

In June of 1998, I spent two weeks at YCC, a sleep-away camp up north. I was unaware then that these two weeks would determine where I spent the rest of my childhood summers. This past Saturday I returned home from my 11th straight summer at the Y Country Camp.

One would think that after over a decade at camp, I would be ready to move on in life. This is not the case...
In truth: I am addicted to camp.

This addiction seems a little childish considering I begin university in a little over a week. I am going into Journalism totally unprepared because I rarely write. Friend #1 Jamie thought a blog would be a good way to get me into the habit of writing daily. This seemed liked the perfect solution and with the help of friend #2 Bram, I created The Whiteboard - in hopes of becoming an avid writer.

Problem: it took me three days before I finally wrote something...