Down, but not out.

 Dear Diary;

Okay, well… the conference was really interesting. Here’s a quick1 run down…

Friday May 7
I got up around 4:30am to get ready to go, left around 6am and headed for the outdoor center in Ottawa. I had to meet with Kate and pick up the rental car (which was supposed to be paid for by the Y- but they fucked up and it got charged to my credit card, which is now completely maxed out. I’ll get paid back, just not as soon as I’d like) and then headed back to the outdoor center to pick up another staff member who was coming as well. At the last minute we got a call from a girl who works at the camp we were heading to- she lives in Ottawa and needed a ride, so we picked her up and the three of us headed out around 9:30am. We arrived at Camp Pinecrest around 4:30pm- they put us in separate cabins (sigh) and then we got a quick tour of their GIGANTIC camp before meeting the rest of the group to play a few GTKY games. By the time we hit the dining hall for dinner I was dizzy, headachy and seriously thought I was going to throw up from being so tired. I opted to got to bed at 6:30pm instead of sitting through a session and I don’t regret it.

Saturday May 8
I felt a lot better when I got up at 7:30, which was great. Went to breakfast- they like to split up people who know each other- which in a way is fantastic but in another is REALLY FUCKING ANNOYING, especially when everyone else seems to know each other anyway and it just means that I’m sitting at a table with a bunch of people who all know each other and I’m the odd one out. *eye roll*. I’m terribly shy, if you haven’t already gotten that picture, so I felt terribly out of place and anxious.  The sessions were FANTASTIC though. If nothing else, I got to listen to some great speakers2 and learn some new things that I can take back to our camp- which was the whole point of this anyway. In the afternoon I was able to spend more time with my co-worker and our new staff that we had just met at the conference to brainstorm and hang out. I got to really bond with Emily, our new program coordinator, which was nice. The weather all weekend was HORRIBLE. It rained all day Friday after we got there and all night, and then it rained Saturday morning and turned to snow in the late afternoon. It was windy and COLD and we often found ourselves huddled in front of the nearest fire place trying to unfreeze our fingers, toes and noses. Saturday night we played an awesome game of Human Scavenger Hunt, but our group lost. Oh well.

Sunday May 9
We packed our stuff after breakfast and then settled in the d.h for our last session (which was again, awesome) and the annual t-shirt swap. The t-shirt swap happens every year at the Lead The Way conference; everyone brings a t-shirt from their camps and then you get to pick a t-shirt from another camp that you want to take home. I ended up with a Camp Kitchikewana t-shit that’s pretty cool. I also got an awesome Lead The Way t-shirt. We read letters from a time capsule from participants of the conference in years past (from our camps) and then wrote one of our own for next year. We left the camp around 1pm and got back to Ottawa about 6pm. By the time I got home it was close to 8pm and I was exhausted. 

♥ Camp Pinecrest is HUGE. Someone told me that Pinecrest = $$$, and I believe them now. If Pinecrest was a fully grown adult, Davern would be a newborn infant. That’s the best comparison I can make. There’s a movie (the name of it escapes me now…) and the part where the guy meets his father- it was filmed in a hundred year old cabin at Pinecrest. They also have 2 waterfronts (their located between 2 lakes) and they have insulated cabins with electricity. 

♥ My belaying harness still hasn’t arrived and I’ve received no response from anyone I emailed. I’m pretty fucking pissed about that.

♥ I had $-3.46 in my bank account this morning and my visa is maxed out. Can you say "meghan is broke"?

♥ Mom (thankfully) gave me some money to put towards a new phone because mine is.. well.. dead. I went in last week to look a them and get some ideas about cheaper plans and they had a phone that I’m going to get. She told me it would arrive last thursday or friday- but I never got back to get it because I was busy getting ready for this trip. I went in today and guess what? They don’t have any. Of course. It’s back-ordered until God knows when, so that was a bust that left a bitter taste in my mouth. I’ve been in a bad mood all day and that just made me want to cry. I know it’s only a phone, but fuck man, that makes me mad.

♥ I’m about 97% convinced that based on first impressions people hate3 me.
 

 1 Okay, not so quick. I lied.
 2 Leaders from Other YMCA camps in the Toronto area.
 3 Yeah, hate is a pretty strong word. Maybe I should’ve said "dislike" or something. Either way though….