Halloween

Kids taking over the streets, fueled by high fructose corn syrup. Leaves blowing through the yards, the scent of winter coming on strong. I love that halloween feeling. The fact that you can go to any random person's house and they give you candy. Just like that. All you have to do is dress up and yell "trick or treat!" when you get to the door. It's nice to know that I live in such a safe town where nothing would happen if I went into a certain neighborhood for candy and it's okay to walk around in the dark. It gives the town a good connected feeling. Even though we are about 30,000 people, it seems so small on halloween because the whole town takes part in celebrating it. Also, halloween is awesome because of all the candy. I love candy, the sweet, the sour, and the chocolatey. Yummmm. After halloween, I have a full candy bowl for months, and even after that I'm forced to throw it all away because it gets stale. The best feeling is when you reach a house and the owner pulls out a huge bowl of king-sized bars. You feel so successful and happy all at the same time. I know it seems weird for me to know this feeling given I am 15 years old, but it still gets me every year, that good ol' halloween feeling.

Birthdays

As I am sitting here at my desk thinking of something to write about, I look immediately to my right and see 2 rolls of duct tape and a package of sesame street bandaids. What kind of weird 15-year-old would have these? Me. I'm sending them to my camp friend for her birthday as bribery to return to camp next year. She is hesitant about going back, but one month in minnesota without her makes camp just not the same old fun. Luckily, I still have my good friends Annie and Nora returning, but it still won't be the same. I feel like camp is like this every year. Just something missing..... This was the first summer that I was able to say everything was complete, but next year I will have to again, alter my description of 'complete'. As I think about it, camp is like a birthday. Like birthdays, camp is only once a year, one month only. You long to be at camp just like you long for a birthday, but when camp is over, much like when a birthday passes, the longing starts again and the yearning for another experience much like the last one grows stronger and stronger until you reach the point where there is no place you would rather be than at camp, or no better day than your birthday.

Camp Birchwood

I believe that everybody deserves the chance to go to summer camp. It is an amazing opportunity and the best place I have ever been to. At my camp, Camp Birchwood, there are so many  activity choices and I achieve so much more than I do at home. At home I sleep in until 11 everyday and usually never clean my room or do anything until nighttime. At camp, I'm up at 8 o'clock every morning, must clean my bunk and the shelves around it, and have finished my first activity by 11 o'clock. That's a huge difference. Also, camp is so much more fun because instead of living with your parents, you get to live with 2 counselors close to your age for a whole month, not to mention the 11 other campers living in your cabin. By the end of the session, you get to leave knowing you will have 11 have sisters waiting for you next summer to pick right back up on the fun. One of my favorite parts of camp is sailing. This summer I got accepted into my camp's leadership program where I was a 'senior camper' and assisted in sailing every day. I loved just being out on the water for 3 hours a day with my only control being me and feeling free. Also, I enjoyed teaching the campers how to sail and different skills for their awards. The biggest satisfaction is when a camper you've been helping all session gets their award and you get to watch their excitement as they told all of their friends and counselors. All of these things just add to the true magic of summer camp, nothing at all like home.

Homecoming Week

Today the biggest thing on my mind has been homecoming. Walking through the halls there are tons of reminders that this weekend is going to be special. The halls are decorated with music notes and song lyrics, there is a constant stream of music coming from the student activity center, and most of the school is participating in the dress up days scheduled this week. Monday (yesterday) was “got the Monday blues” and everyone wore their pajamas. Today is Rock Star day and people are either dressed up as their favorite musician or wearing a band shirt. Tomorrow is Western Wednesday and I’m expecting to see a lot of plaid shirts and jeans. Thursday will be the weirdest day, GBN goes Gaga, because Lady Gaga has chosen to present herself in many outrageous outfits, some of which I’m sure will be displayed. Then Friday, of course, is Spartan pride day in which the whole school will be decked out in all of their green in gold clothing, for fear of being shunned otherwise…..Friday will be my favorite day because one, I won’t have to pick out an outfit due to my poms uniform, and two, it really shows how close our whole school is even though we are about 2100 people in total. Even though we’re all completely different we can somehow come together and show our school spirit. After school on Friday there’s the homecoming parade in which all of the clubs make floats or hand out candy in cars to show off our diverse school to the rest of Northbrook. It’s another fun event that the community looks forward to, especially the parents of younger kids who want some reassurance that their kids will have many opportunities in high school. This year there is a new tradition that the upperclassmen want to start. A tailgating party will be held before the varsity game and tickets are sold for 5 dollars, all of the profit going to charity. Some of the restaurants around town are donating food to the event. I know that Sunset is bringing chips because my dad set that up…I think that this tradition will keep going and I hope to be able to go next year because this year my poms squad will be performing during it. See? This is just so much fun to look forward to, I’m not surprised it’s been clogging my mind all day.

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