Day 31

today was solid. really, it was all around good. i went out and organized and directed the short 'commercial' for a camp video. i really enjoyed the directing and ability to combine cinematography ideas with the script i'd written a few days earlier in order to bring together elements into footage that i'll start to edit sometime tomorrow. on the way back across the large field to the mountain-base office, i took a ride on one of the ropes course rides that some other staff called and waved from.

after dinner, paul and shaun and i met up with new australian and canadian staff members and we all took our longboards/skateboards to the main street in crofton to bomb the long hill. i decided to stick around after the intense ride and their decision to head back to camp and walked down the small town sidewalks to the ferry terminal after picking up a root beer from the corner store. i bobbed on a dried and calloused boat dock and looked  back towards shore at a massive ship and imagined being captain and standing at the helm and announcing that it was time to pull out. sea gulls settled and shrieked in sudden flight on the narrow pier behind my back and gave begrudged grunts when i went back through to the land. after riding what hills i could on the way back camp, i managed to catch a car ride the rest of the way. good timing.

i've always found it a good idea to make friends, or at the very least be on a first name basis, with the head cook or chef of wherever i've been staying for longer periods of time. i remember barb, the teen missions cook last summer, would offer to make me coffee almost every meal after the time we first met and i'd asked if there was any left after one particular lunch. wes, the cook here, told me after dinner that he'd left me a snack for later tonight in the fridge. sure enough, there was a bag of rolls and butter marked "for joe and friends."

we just came back from taking advantage of that. and from making some organic tea with a vegan friend. we're gonna try and make pine needle tea tomorrow night cause the survival book said it was a good idea. we'll see.

i've been previewing other blog templates. be ready for a change. soon.

the sun came out today but the cool air didn't change. look now, the conversation must be over.

Day 19

success. i finally figured out a way to get the mini dv to capture with the audio. it took rigging up some half-broken equipment, but i've been able to start editing the great prank documentary. this is tremendous news and literally made my day.

this week has really flown by quickly as well and as i went off after dinner to read and drink coffee with a rocking chair, i couldn't remember any period in my life where time had gone by so fast while managing to remain so constantly good and whole. tonight after dinner, some of the camp's challenge course rides were opened for the staff so most of us took a ride on the massive vertical-drop swing. the adrenalin rush experience really didn't match the intensity of the overall hight and speed of the ride for some reason, but it was still a fun time.

since 'blue like jazz' has been finished and passed on, i had begun the re-read of 'searching for God knows what', miller's second main, yet not as wildly successful, output. however, this has been temporarily postponed by a book called 'the irresistible revolution' by shane claiborne. both authors share modernish ideologies and adhere to a similar style of the recantation of secularized, christianity-based stereotypes, but, as can be expected, do so in different manners of wordsmithship. claiborne, a perfect example of the worthlessness of judging a person by appearance (just look him up if you're curious why this would be at all relevant), offers adjective-conservative and edgy sentences that still seem to remain as relevant as miller's introspective, train-of-thought guided raconteur. this is simply a matter of alternative vs jazz genres- if music were applicable to books and writing. i'll let you know if any of this changes as the chapters develop.

finally, i appreciate the several contacts of approval i've had over the past few days concerning the contents of this little blog. thank you. hello london and everyone back home.