It's for the children, fer fuck's sake.

The kids arrived last Sunday and Session One 2007 is in full force. I'm so happy that the campers are finally here, and I'm sunburned and busy and circusing for 6-7 hours per day and it's great. What's really cool is that, along with a lot of my favorite first session regulars, a bunch of other kids I love who usually don't come until second session came early. Plus there are a bunch of newbies who are great too.

The show we're doing this session is called "Circus Rocks" and all of the acts are being done to different rock songs. We're also hoping to have our camp's tech staff do an airband gag at some point in the show (to cover some rigging, but also because it's funny and those guys are a bunch of hams anyway), and then during the finale we're going to have one of the camper rock bands play. I'm teaching web/rope, aerial hoop (we've been using too-small lyras for years, and I finally got camp to allow me to buy two new proper-sized aerial hoops this year and they arrived today! Yay!), double trapeze (for which I am also basing), ragdoll/adagio (for which I am also a catcher), and flying trapeze (for which I am also ALSO the catcher). It's funny basing a 65-pound 11 year old in doubles after basing an adult all year. Holy cow, these kids are light, but they are also constantly giggly and that makes them floppy. But they are so cute, you'd just want to vomit if you saw them. I'll post photos soon if I think of it.

Anyway, we're also doing juggling, hula hoops, rolling globe, triple trapeze, tissu, tumbling, mini tramp, and meteors in the show. It'll be good.

I've been here for two weeks and one day now, and it seems like I've been here for months already. Funny how that works.

I don't know what the heck is going on outside my cabin. Sounds like the tech boys are maybe having a water fight? They scream like little girls.

We've had all sorts of wildlife encounters already this summer. There are a couple of chipmunks who've built a nest (or whatever you call chipmunk habitats) near where we store our circus equipment, and we also have a lovely robin couple that have moved into the rafters in the same storage area. They apparently have babies, because we often see them flying back to their nest with food in their mouths. Cay-ute.

A couple of bears have been wandering around camp at night too. One was hanging out by my cabin the other night, but I didn't see it because I was inside. I heard it, though, and Chrissymine saw it when she came home to go to bed.

PLUS, there were some coyotes wandering across camp earlier this week too. That's a little unsettling. The bears won't bother you if you don't sneak up on them, but coyotes mean business from what I hear. Hopefully the bears will scare them away.

My first day off is Monday, which also happens to be Chrissymine's birthday. I'm trying to find a way to get us out of town for the day, but since we're lacking a car, it might be difficult. We'll see. Regardless, I'm so ready for my day off I could just about collapse. I'm sure the rest of my staff feel the same way.

Okay, I have to get ready to go on duty. One night each week, each of us is assigned to go sit outside the certain kids' bunks from 10pm to midnight so the bunk counselors can have some time off (except the nights they are on duty, of course) while the kids are still supervised. This year, for the first time, I get to be a head OD (OD stands for "on duty", not "overdose", of course) which means I get to sit in the warm office and make sure everyone knows where they are meant to be rather than having to sit in the cold and/or rain and trying to get kids to be quiet. Awesome. Unless something goes wrong and I'm supposed to handle it. Then it's not so awesome.

So that's all the news from here, pretty much. More later.