Over the weekend I went to visit Sam, one of my best friends from college. Claire, my college BFFL, came with. Whilst visiting Sam we stalked Alex, another dear friend from school. Also, we mysteriously kept running into this kid Will, who looks a lot like Sam.



Claire



Sam built a fire










And we chilled with his twin, Will








Sam-o





Will






It was delighful

Claire, Sam, and Will


Then we decided to go hiking

We came across some installation art...


And a swing...


And this...





Two more weeks until school starts up again.

Threadless, O Threadless, why have I strayed from thee?

My best friend sent me "Ask Me How I Became A Pirate" for my birthday in September... and I'm looking into getting "How to Draw ANIMALS" but other than that... my Threadless days have faded away.

Fear not, I return with an uterly useless blog that is a huge waste of my time (which I need to be spending on homework). For your viewing pleasure... my life at Bard College.





Sir Jeffrey, my first non-dorm friend, and the beard that he so lovingly grew for my birthday. What a good friend. Awww.







My dearest Alex, who lives in the room next to mine.



Alex and I handcuffed together... oh, what scandal!!!



Jeff, pretending to be a Bluecher resident.



Sam in his natural habitat... small clothing that conceals him, in hopes he might not be noticed. If the sweatshirt fails, though, he has the book to shield his truly ghastly appearance.

Sam folding his laundry in public. How raunchy.

Sam, unaware of my camera phone.

Sam being computer-clueless. Awww.




THE GREAT TRAIN ADVENTURE PART ONE
(in which Rachel, Claire, Jeff, and Alex travel home together)






Claire!





Jeff!













Alex!




And... that's enough for now. Seriously. Somebody stop me.

There are the pictures of the camp flood that I took on my cell phone.




Tree in the Lower Meadow


Lower Meadow
The dry parts are up higher


Porch to the dining hall about to be flooded even though it's much higher up than the meadow


Log that sits under a tree that had been picked up and carried away by the water











That's the swinging bridge going between Jr. and Sr. High. There is usually a 10 foot drop between the bridge and the water







Standing at Jr. High, looking at the creek that runs under the bridge. Everything across from the pink lines used to be land and is now part of the creek


Lower Meadow from the staff lounge above the kitchen



But apparently we're opening the camp for the rest of the summer! We were supposed to have the first half of next week off anyway, so the staff is all going back Wednesday. Woot!

This summer I'm working at a Christian summer camp. I'm in the kitchen with one of my good friends, Andre. We got through a week of staff training (I missed the first week of training because of finals and graduation -- I graduated high school, by the way!) and half a week of camp.

Then it flooded. Everywhere. Stupid Pocono Mountains.

I walked down to the kitchen this morning just after 7 and was met with this site.










There was a river running through our Lower Meadow.

And several inches of water in my kitchen.



Our trash cans were floating away.

More Lower Meadow






^View from staff lounge above kitchen^

Bob's Depot, our gym/big space/basketball court/worship area, was a bit... um... under water as well.


Bob's


Looking toward the path to Jr/Sr High


Looking toward Lower Meadow


Ian, our lifeguard/nurse, standing near Bob's


Jr/Sr High path log that floated significantly down the path


Took this picture standing on the log
Istvan and Kali


Istvan, from Hungary



There a swinging bridge going between Jr. and Sr. High that runs over Pocono Creek. There is usually a good 10 foot drop below the bridge before you hit any water. The water was running maybe 5 inches below the ends of the bridge, barely underneath it in the middle. A huge wedge of land was underwater and added to the creek, which decided to float down the path to Bob's and thus into Lower Meadow. Our pond has expanded a lot. The dock floated away. Meadowside, a building in Upper Meadow, is an island. The kitchen is screwed.

Life sucks a little. It was exciting. But now the camp might not re-open.

-Rachel

Last night a bunch of my friends met in a park that had a big fire place thing right in the middle of it. It was the last day of finals, senior year. So what did we do? We burned everything we had. Notes, books, tests, etc.

I burned all the notes on my stupid ass Japan paper (which I got a B- on... miracle!) and Billy Budd because that book was strange as hell and my English teacher sucked ass. I burned an old Latin dictionary, and all the Latin tests I could find from this year. And I burned physics shit. And an SAT II: Literature prep book. Haha. And Savage Inequalities, the worst book out of the ones we had to read for summer reading going into this year.

GRADUATION TOMORROW!!!


The fire when I got there around 9:15.


Me, burning my college rejection letters!!!


Sean and his marshmellow.


It was hot as hell.


Kris and Sean.
And Sally and her awesome pink hair.


Kris, being all Eagle Scouty and controlling the fire.


Bobby!


Paper ash building up under the flames.




I have sexy friends.


"That's so much information!!!"









That was a lot of paper.

But gahdamn... it was phenomenal.

My Sr. Ball was on Thursday night! We had it at the Camden Aquarium in New Jersey. It was... amazing. Here are some pre-prom and After Prom pictures.


Me and John


Me and my two best friends, Anne and Elizabeth


Me looking outrageously offended, and Elizabeth being a gorgeous picture whore


My friend Rachel and the kid I want to marry... Abe.


Beautiful Anne


The trolley that a bunch of us took (AWESOME!)


Tricked out bathroom at the After Prom at school


TJ, the hottest kid ever


Elizabeth, the coolest kid ever








John, the best prom date ever


Anorexic swimmer John




Us being vaguely adorable


Me on crack




John being super hot before we left for the beach

Word Up, Yo.

Some pictures taken in the fall of me and my friends and our Russian commie tank.



Tracie, Alena, Me, and Elizabeth
Commandeering the tank away from Kris



Alena, Kris, Tracie, Me, and Elizabeth
On a slide


Elizabeth, Tracie, Me, and Alena
Showing off the tank... and Kris


Tracie, Alena, Me, and Elizabeth
Celebrating running over Kris


Alena, Elizabeth, Me, Tracie, Kris
Peeking over tank


Kris, Elizabeth, Tracie, and Alena
Hiding
Me
Cleverly blending into the tank


Tracie, Elizabeth, Kris, Alena, Me
Hugging the tank


Elizabeth
Running over Kris

Maybe if I scream loud enough, you'll hear my pain around the world and understand how screwed I am.

I have 20 pages of notes (on lined paper) that I need to type up about the history of Japan. After that, I need to research my ass off about Japan's current political/economic shiz and write a section on that.

Then I have to blow smoke out out my ass for at least 4 pages about the future of Japan and where I think it's going to go and how well its political/economic shiz will do in the context of globalization.

10 page minimum.

Due Tuesday.

I'm 4 inches into the second typed page.

Busy all day Sunday. No school Monday.

Think there's enough coffee in the world to help me?

*no motivation whatsoever*

*SCREAM*

Oi. I have a huge paper due Tuesday. 10 page minimum. Anyone in my class who has gotten past the 1st of the 3 parts of the paper has over 10 pages. Last semester my best friend wrote about 30.

How many pages do I have? None.

I'm awesome.

I'm supposed to come up with a thesis about Japan's future. My friend Kris, who is also doing his paper on Japan, has come up with the following:

1. Return of Godzilla
2. Return to prehistoric times
3. No peripheral vision

P.S. Did you know that there are Rhinoceros people in Nigera?

No homo.