Archive for July, 2008

Partyin’ it up

Tomorrow morning I am packing my bags and going to summer camp for a week.  I’m slightly afraid for my sanity. It’s hanging by a thread as it is!  

I haven’t been to camp since I was a junior in high school, so… 6 years or so, at least.  I remember having so much fun at camp, but then I was a camper with all my friends. It’s a little different to go as a counselor! I have to be responsible and whatnot.  Granted, I know all the kids I’m going with, and we’ll have a blast, but it’s still kind of weird. Now I feel like I’m in high school. I mean, I am going with high school kids, but still.

I think my group will be pretty self-sufficient, so I’ll probably have a fair amount of time to myself to just do whatever. I am so looking forward to that; even if I don’t have any time alone, I don’t even care.  I need a break from work and the overall hecticness of life, and just be, without having to worry about deadlines or anything.  I have a lot of things to think about, both professional and personal, and I think a week with no connection to anything I normally have other than Jesus and these kids is just what I need.  And hopefully I’ll have time to take some naps, too.

Because then my friends and I go straight to a bachelorette party! One more wedding this year, and the first where I’m not in the bridal party and could actually bring a date and be able to sit with them!  I’m so thrilled for this one, mostly because I can just sit back and enjoy it 100 per cent.  Weddings are so crazy, but I love every minute of it. 

Anyways, I will probably come back more exhausted then when I left, but I’m hoping that I’ll also come back with some clarity and focus on multiple issues. It is my prayer for the week. 

I’m so excited!

The freaking happiest place on earth!

To tell you the truth, I’m kind of surprised I’ve never posted about it before.  What is it, you may ask? I answer: you should know what the happiest place on earth is, and if you don’t, well, you don’t deserve to know.

No, that’s probably not entirely true. I’ll tell you, but it’s mostly just because I don’t think I could write a post without using the name of the place I’m writing about. Although that would be quite a challenge… hmm. Anyways, moving on.

Disneyland. Just rolling the name off my tongue or typing and watching it appear on my computer screen gives me a tingly feeling inside. I love everything about it! I think that is the single best thing about living here. Not even the weather can beat it (at least in my book, since I’m opposed to the whole idea of the sun other than for the fact that we need it to live). 

I am not a people person; in fact, large crowds frighten me. I think that’s called enochlophobia.  Probably I don’t really have that severe a case, I just prefer to avoid large crowds whenever possible. But that melts away at Disneyland. There’s nothing better than zipping through the crowds, avoiding the strollers, the families glued together by the hands, the couples whose hips melt into each other so it’s like they’re moseying along in a three-legged race… it’s fabulous. 

And then there are the rides.  I just went on the new Toy Story ride, and let me tell you, it was totally worth the wait. I don’t even think I waited that long. It was phenomenal. Space Mountain – only the best ride ever. Every time I go it’s like a new ride. Although the last time I went on it, they somehow managed to block my friend from getting on with me, and sent me off without her. Then they put her all by herself in the next car so the party behind us didn’t get split up. It was ridiculous – we were in the front too. But really, I could list every single ride and they would just all be amazing in my book. Even the lines are ok, because I like to people-watch. There’s the ever-popular game of finding the oddest couple, or the most bizarre outfit, or eavesdropping on the random conversations around. There’s something for everyone.

I think that I need to go to more of the shows though.  There’s an Aladdin show at DCA that I’ve never seen. I haven’t been in the Tiki Room since they refurbished it, nor have I ever been in the Aladdin story-telling thing that is apparently now some Indiana Jones-related thing (which I definitely want to see).  And now they even have Indiana Jones fighting off bad guys above the Jungle Cruise!  I only saw the end, but Indy won. Obviously. I think there’s others, but whatever.  And one of the last times I went, some amazing 80s cover band was playing.  They were pretty hilarious, and actually not all that bad. We heard some Prince, some Go-Gos, some Billy Idol, watched some crazy lady rocking out a little too hard… then we left. 

Do I even have to mention the fireworks? Not only do I love fireworks more than a lot of other things, the Disneyland fireworks are just that much more exciting. They have lasers now too. It’s pretty spiffy.

So all in all, it really is the happiest place on earth for me.  I could be in the worst mood when I go, and as soon as we get on the tram – no, as soon as I pull in the parking structure – my mood melts away and I’m like a little kid again. It’s the weirdest thing, but it never fails. And it’s always depressing to leave. I don’t know if I could ever move out of this area, because then I would have to give up my annual pass. Or maybe I wouldn’t and I’d just come back once a month just to visit my old friend.  Who knows?