Curse you, Apple!
So here I am, sitting at the computer, loading music onto what is now my iPod (yeaaah!!). Unfortunately, this is a very time-consuming process, and I feel like a time-squandering sloth. I mean, is it really worth it to blow forty-five minutes on preparing entertainment for myself? And no, that is not the same as going to a movie. When you go to a movie, you are devoting time to your own valuable (hopefully) recreation, but here I'm just...frittering.
This is frittering that will prove to be worth it, though. It sure better, or else Steve Jobs will soon find himself facing a ball of high-pitched, adolescent fury.
* * * *
Hrrmph. As long as I'm doing this, I'll write an actual post.
So, I spent about 6 days out of last week at Christ the Redeemer Leadership Camp over in Mt. Angel, Oregon. I've gone to this camp every year for four years now, and I've always had a love-hate relationship with it.
Love: Something about it--especially in the first two years--had some intangible good effect upon me. Also, it's full of people who take the faith seriously but aren't puritanical about it. We have daily Mass, spiritual counseling and all sorts of other good stuff like that.
Hate: I'm spending a week in largely unfamiliar circumstances; I'm out of my zone, homesick, etc. This is largely caused by the fact that I've never been the camping type; I prefer to admire nature from a distance. Also, this camp is big on competition, particularly sports. And sports are not my thang.
Anyhoo, this year was especially challenging for me. I was a team captain, and usually the captain is subordinate to a team counselor, who largely leads the team. That wasn't really the case this year, though. The counselors this year would "adopt" a team and help them out--but not directly lead them. Much of the actual leading was my responsibility. Gulp.
Remember what I said about lots of competition? Right. Well, for much of the camp, our team, "the Bravehearts," were in last place. Last place out of four teams, granted, but leave it to me to make a mountain out of a molehill. Also leave it to me to make horrific, accidental alliterations.
Anyhoo, that was giving me an ulcer for quite some time. But I learned some valuable lessons from that experience as captain.
First of all, it was very humbling. Being somewhere outside "my zone" showed me that I'm not necessarily the skilled, able-to-handle-anything type of person I sometimes perceive myself as. Oops.
And I got to see how well I can hold up outside the familiarity of home, without people like my parents to lean on.
Finally, I got practice on quieting my brain; a valuable skill. Whether through personality or acquired habit, I tend to analyze things, worry about the future, second-guess myself, etc. Somehow, I figured out that during this camp I'd have to get the gray matter to shut up; I was just to busy to be thinking all the time.
Overall, the camp was really a good experience. I mean, I was expecting it to be good, but I wasn't really expecting to be profoundly affected by it. At 17, I'm definitely on the old side of the age limit, and I went to the camp figuring that I'd give it one last spin before saying goodbye to it. No biggie, you know?
Obviously, I got more than I bargained for. A pleasant surprise.
This is frittering that will prove to be worth it, though. It sure better, or else Steve Jobs will soon find himself facing a ball of high-pitched, adolescent fury.
* * * *
Hrrmph. As long as I'm doing this, I'll write an actual post.
So, I spent about 6 days out of last week at Christ the Redeemer Leadership Camp over in Mt. Angel, Oregon. I've gone to this camp every year for four years now, and I've always had a love-hate relationship with it.
Love: Something about it--especially in the first two years--had some intangible good effect upon me. Also, it's full of people who take the faith seriously but aren't puritanical about it. We have daily Mass, spiritual counseling and all sorts of other good stuff like that.
Hate: I'm spending a week in largely unfamiliar circumstances; I'm out of my zone, homesick, etc. This is largely caused by the fact that I've never been the camping type; I prefer to admire nature from a distance. Also, this camp is big on competition, particularly sports. And sports are not my thang.
Anyhoo, this year was especially challenging for me. I was a team captain, and usually the captain is subordinate to a team counselor, who largely leads the team. That wasn't really the case this year, though. The counselors this year would "adopt" a team and help them out--but not directly lead them. Much of the actual leading was my responsibility. Gulp.
Remember what I said about lots of competition? Right. Well, for much of the camp, our team, "the Bravehearts," were in last place. Last place out of four teams, granted, but leave it to me to make a mountain out of a molehill. Also leave it to me to make horrific, accidental alliterations.
Anyhoo, that was giving me an ulcer for quite some time. But I learned some valuable lessons from that experience as captain.
First of all, it was very humbling. Being somewhere outside "my zone" showed me that I'm not necessarily the skilled, able-to-handle-anything type of person I sometimes perceive myself as. Oops.
And I got to see how well I can hold up outside the familiarity of home, without people like my parents to lean on.
Finally, I got practice on quieting my brain; a valuable skill. Whether through personality or acquired habit, I tend to analyze things, worry about the future, second-guess myself, etc. Somehow, I figured out that during this camp I'd have to get the gray matter to shut up; I was just to busy to be thinking all the time.
Overall, the camp was really a good experience. I mean, I was expecting it to be good, but I wasn't really expecting to be profoundly affected by it. At 17, I'm definitely on the old side of the age limit, and I went to the camp figuring that I'd give it one last spin before saying goodbye to it. No biggie, you know?
Obviously, I got more than I bargained for. A pleasant surprise.
posted by James at
5:50 PM
