Funeral

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I just got back from Grandpa Raymond's funeral. There were quite a few people there, and his service to camp was mentioned several times, which was nice. CJ, who was my CIT director and one of the best men to work at camp in my experience, spoke (he was a relative of him). It was paticularly hard to see him break down while talking.
There were some other staff there from camp, as well as Dan and Nate Raymond, his grandchildren, who also worked at Abanki. Dan and I were fairly good friends while he worked here, and it was good to see him, abit briefly. He's in the Army, and must have gotten an emergency leave to come. Hopefully they'll all stop by and visit. I miss them.

My job at camp, since Sara asked, is thus: I'm a village director- I'm in charge of one of the four villages at camp, primarily with the staff, but also with the campers. It's a different job than being a counselor, but just as interesting.

Sigh.

Admin Staff Training

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Admin Staff training is now almost over - today, we'll be getting the regular staff in for the coming week, were we'll be training them better to work with kids. In the past, Staff training has typically been made up of various work projects - this year, we've got a lot of more classroom stuff. More on how the kids work, how to work with them, and things of that nature, which I think will be extremely helpful.

We're also starting the week off with a funeral - Wily 'Grandpa' Raymond, who was a huge influence to camp and a wonderful figure for us here, died earlier in the week after a long battle with cancer. It's a shame, he was a good person. I took my night off to drive home to get some better clothing for the funeral.

Already some of the staff have arrived. We've got two guys from the UK, who are awesome, really like those guys. My friend Sam has arrived, as well as a couple scattered others. We've already divided them into cabins, where we'll be getting them ready for the coming week and the villages that they'll be assigned to.

The summer's poised to start. Now, as soon as I get some batteries for my camera, I'll start taking photographs.

Winner!

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I can't believe it - I won a contest. And to boot, the prize was a $300 backpack from Climb High. The other day, 104.7 The Point, the radio station that I listen to, was doing some promotional thing over at Climb High, which just reopened. So I stopped by before work, looked around, entered their raffle. Two days later, I got a message on my cell phone, and I was told that I won something. So, I stopped by this morning and low and behold, it was a backpack, a nice one. Hadn't heard of the brand before now, but looking it up online, it's supposed to be good. It's bigger than my regular one, but looks to be great for hiking. Can't wait to really use it.

After this fun news, I went and finished moving into my apartment in Northfield. Almost completely moved in. Should be by the end of the week.

Oh, and I got my license plates for my car.

Greenery

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Today felt like the first day of summer. After the past couple weeks of constant rain and cloudy days, it was a huge relief. I didn't work today, which gave me a bit of rest, which was nice. I caught up on some reading and did a bit more packing for my move into my apartment, which is still being cleaned.
I did a bit of driving between my house, the apartment and my car dealership, and noticed one thing that I really missed while in London - the trees. It was winter in London, no leaves anywhere anyway, but the only trees there were in the parks and along various streets. I live in the middle of a forest. Makes me pine even more for camp (no pun intended). I spend too much time inside - either guarding at the pool or just being inside the house reading or watching something on my computer or television. I need to get out and do some hiking.
I'm making the final move into my apartment tomorrow. Tonight, I'll be finishing up boxing up the books and other things that I won't be bringing with me, and when I get back from work, my bookshelves, desk, bed, couch, table and chairs will all be moved. It'll be weird finally living on my own, but I'm excited for it. My apartment is nice - save for the fact that the previous roommates left the place absolutely trashed - carpets need to be replaced, dishes were still in the sink, and who knows what else. Not really livable yet, but hopefully within the week.
Picked up the latest Star Wars book, Legacy of the Force: Betrayal, the first in a nine book series. Finally, Random House has gotten a larger series format done right: 9 books, three authors, all rotating. Aaron Allston's penned this one, and thus far, it's good, I'm really enjoying it, although I haven't had much time to read it. Karen Traviss and Troy Denning are doing the other six books. For the past couple weeks, I've been feeling that I need to re-read all the old Bantam Star Wars books. The ones that I really enjoy reading, that I started with in the first place, before the New Jedi Order came out and soured (in part) my feelings on the Literature side of Star Wars. Along with that, I've also been meaning to re-read Archer Mayor's books, the classic Joe Gunther novels, which much better than his more recent releases. I look forwards to all of his books, but Tucker Peak was really the last one that really fell with his older ones.
Now back to lifting heavy boxes.

Veronica Mars : Season 1

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I just finished the first series of Veronica Mars, which I picked up because of several positive reviews from friends and a number of really positive internet reviews. I did a bit of research with it, looked up the soundtrack (http://veronicamusic.blogspot.com) was an enormous resource with the music of the show (which is outstanding set of music) and several transcripts of episodes. I wasn't 100% sold, but I knew that it would be enjoyable.

I was completely right - Veronica Mars is one of the best shows that I've seen on television to date. For me, it's right up there with Firefly, Battlestar, LOST and Prison Break, although at the moment, better than the last two, at least for now.

Several things really stood out from the pilot episode, and hooked me from the start. The writing, the plots, the cast, the camera work and overall feel to the show. Everything just seemed to click for me.

I've always liked mysteries, they were some of the first things that I read as a kid, and the interest has continued. The show is about mystery. The main story is centered around the title character, Veronica Mars. A year before the show starts, her best friend, Lilly, was murdered. Her father was the town sheriff and accused her father of killing her - something he was kicked out of office for. As a result, Veronica is shunned by her previous friends and comes to at a party with the impression that she might have been raped. Over the course of the season, she works with her father and various friends and classmates as new mysteries and problems as they arrive.

One of the big comparisons made with the show is that it's similar to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Even more so, Joss Whedon, who created Buffy, has deemed the show the best show ever created and even guest starred in a season 2 episode.

There are quite a few parallels. Youngish, blond heroine, shunned by her classmates, works to solve some major problem, with a couple friends here and there. Minus the magic, mysticism and vampires, and we have the framework of the show.

However, there's more to it than a Buffy clone. The stories are much more structured - overall, there's the main story with Lilly's Death, and everything assosiated with that, and generally another couple mysteries that she works on as well.

In addition to stories, there's also a much higher attention to film work and camea movements. Flashbacks are indespersed throughout the stories everywhere, and they're usually accompanied by different shadings, as well as some extremely innovative slow motions, circling camera shots and angles. In addition, there's a huge noir influence to the stories and filmwork, which really helps with the mystery aspect to it.

The show also really benefits from it's fantastic cast. Most of all from Kristen Bell, as Veronica, who really carries the show. She's very cute, smart, sarcastic and funny. She's joined by Wallace, (Percy Daggs III) who's her best friend and helps her father, Keith Mars (Enrico Colantoni). Duncan Kane (Teddy Dunn), Lilly's brother, is Veronica's ex, best friend of Logan Echolls (Jason Dohring), the smartass son of an actor. Weevil, the last of the title characters, is the leader of a motorcycle gang who's constantly in and out of trouble. The acting on the part of these guys is fantastic.

Bring all of these elements together and we have a great show, one that's lasted two seasons thus far, despite fairly low ratings, and has been upped for season 3, which will air this fall on the new channel, CW.

Happenings

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Hopefully everyone is have a restful and productive Memorial Day. Not much has been happening around here for the last couple days.
Big thing: I have a mobile phone now. For people that I know directly, drop me an e-mail or check my facebook account for the number. I'll be handy now that I have a car, in case I have a problem with it.
Almost done with Veronica Mars, and slowly making my way through Battlestar Galactica Season 2. Outstanding, the both of them. I'll post a review of VM later on tomorrow or sometime this week, whenever I get a chance to sit down and review it.

In the Presence of Comic Geeks

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I had a good day today. Awoke in a good mood, did some things at home then went to work, only to find that I wasn't on the schedule today. Went out and bought Veronica Mars, went to my friend Blackwell's house and watched part of it with him. Great show, highly recommended if you haven't seen it yet. After a couple hours of that, we went out and watched X-Men 3, with a bunch of the Abnaki group.
I liked the movie. It wasn't great on any critical level, but it was definently a fun one to watch. It has a number of serious flaws with aspects of it. The entire thing felt very rushed, and there were about two too many storylines that didn't need to compete with each other, the Dark Phoenix saga, and the Cure saga, which came mostly out of Joss Whedon's recent comic line. The Cure storyline worked very well, stuck pretty closely to Whedon's comics, some aspects of it, but the Phoenix saga really sunk, no where near the comics, which is a huge shame. What should have happened is they should have saved it for a future film, and focused on the cure. The strength of the movie was the minor characters. Kitty, Colossus, Iceman, I was very happy to see those guys in there with some fun roles. I think that my favorite X-Men character is now Kitty, especially with her role in Whedon's comics. Some scenes were absolutely fantastic. The opening danger room scene was really good, especially with the Sentinal's head, as well as most of the other action scenes, most especially the finale battle between both sides. Other things seemed very glossed over, like Mystique's exit from the mutant world, as well as some of the newer characters, mainly Angel, who played no real part in the movie from his few scenes. At least Beast had some storyline that was somewhat explained for his absence in the last couple movies. Overall, fun movie, although not as good as # 1 or # 2. This story should have had Bryan Singer at the helm, but hopefully Superman Returns will benefit from his direction.
It's fun to go to these movies with comic geeks. I've never really been sure if I'd truely qualify as one, but I'm getting there, as my collection slowly grows each month. My friends are huge fans of the comics, and a bit more knowledgable with some of the older storylines that I'm working on learning more about. The converstation between Beep, Billy, Wells and I was fun - It's fun to debate about these things.

Okay, I'm off to bed soon. Have a good night everyone.

Geeking Out

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I've spent the couple days up in Burlington to save money on gas. Many geek things have been going on. First, I saw the season finale for LOST, which was intriguing, fantastic, and still didn't answer enough questions, but still really good.
Second, I met up with my friend Blackwell, one of the members of camp's Geek Squad. He gave me the entire series of Dr. Who, the new incarnation, high quality and commercial free - AMAZING show. British humour mixed with science fiction - absolutely thrilling and original. As the good doctor says - Fantastic! I also got the entire Season 2 of Battlestar Galactica, which I'm really looking forwards to seeing.
While I was with Beep, (Blackwell's nickname), we went to Borders - ran into Sam, our other member of the Geek Squad, whom we thought wasn't in the state. While we were talking with him, Billy, another member of Camp came in, and we wandered around. We ended up running into three more members of Camp - a regular reunion on Church Street. Fun times.
Lastly, I found that I'll probably be able to attend Celebration 4, next year, because they bumped the date back to late May. Previously, I'd thought that it'd be right before or during exams of my senior year, something that I couldn't miss. wOOt!

New Car!

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I just bought a car. It's a 1998 Chevy Prizm, essentially the same thing as a Toyota Carollia. I've driven a Toyota for years now, and loved it. This car's got the bare minimum of things. It's got a radio, no tape deck or CD player, manuel everything except the transmission, but it gets very good mileage with gas, so that was a huge plus. Just need to look up insurance and things like that.
Very excited about this. I'll take a picture or two when I find batteries for my camera.

Rain

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It's been raining for the last week. The states around Vermont are somewhat flooded, and we're under constant flood warning. I honestly don't remember a time where it's rained this much in the past couple weeks, but it's been just coming and coming. I think that it'll be gone by Monday or so. Coming into work this morning, I got soaked during the ten or so minute walk to the Y.
I've been finding that my day goes by a little faster if I bring a notepad or paper with me. During my downtimes, when there's only one or two people in the pool, or especially if it's empty, I've been doing a bit of writing. Finished plotting out a D20 Modern campaign that I've been planning to GM for some of my friends at camp, and later school, and started working on a series of essays about fandom that I've had ideas about for about a year now.


Reunions

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Graduation was Sunday. I missed it. I knew quite a few seniors, and it struck me earlier today that there's a very good chance that I'll never see some of them again, which is painful, because I never got the chance to say goodbye. I stopped by the other night to say goodbye to Kyle, who's going off to Washington DC to work for the summer, and I got to find Karthik and Corey, two friends who just graduated. I'll really miss Karthik, and I was glad that I was able to say bye to him.

Sam came home on the same day, and I finally got to see him and his girlfriend, Miranda today. We spent the afternoon and evening together, talking about our trips (Sam when to Japan), things for the summer. We got dinner and watched A History of Violence. Decent enough movie. The best part of the day was the miniature Abnaki reunion that typically happens any time anyone from the camp sets foot on Church Street. The three of us went to lunch at a sandwich shop where Billy and Shane both work, and because it was a slow point, we talked for about 20 minutes about comics and RPG campaigns and the upcoming summer, as well as life in general.

Work is dull. But it pays. I might actually increase my hours to get some more money and to fill the time. I guess that we'll see.

Nodding, Ups and Downs

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I slept horribly last night. Went to bed at midnight, tossed and turned for two hours before finally passing out. I'm not entirely sure why, although I have some vague suspsions that I won't go into.I now have a job. In addition to what I do at Camp, which starts in five weeks. This job involves standing or sitting for hours at a time watching people in a swimming pool, basically ensuring that they don't die. Lifeguarding, wee... But, it earns money, which is needed. I was ready for a job interview this morning. When I got there, the guy, Ted, had me fill out payroll forms and timesheets. I guess they really needed someone, fast. After that, I walked around Church Street, saw a couple people that I knew, then went to the movie theatre for the highlight of the day- Mission Impossible III. I've been a little aprehensive when I learned that they were making another one of these. It's been in the pipeline for years now, and after MI2, I was ready to write off the first movie as a one hit wonder. But then the powers to be assigned a man named J.J. Abrams to the project and it became something to be interested in. Abrams, if you don't know, is the guy who created LOST and Alias, both quality television shows. But Alias is a spy show. Thus, Abrams has experience with the genre, as well as being a new guy. This means that he's got new ideas, as well as some really good camera work to the big screen. Granted, it's got Tom Cruise, whom I don't mind too much, but he's certainly not the best actor in the world. But how much acting do you really need for a spy movie like this one? Overall, I really enjoyed the movie. The action was top notch, very reminicant of the Bourne Supremacy, which I loved, and which I was happy to see here. I would die if Abrams did the next Bourne movie, but Paul Greengrass, who directed the last one, as well as the recent film United 93, is helming it. Mission Impossible worked because Abrams was at the helm. The second one was a lot of explosions and some action scenes. Interesting to be sure, but we'd already seen it. MI3 brought an interesting plot, actual spy stuff, sneaking around, but several explosions and gun fights, as well as one helluva helicopter chase through a wind field, of all things. And, automatic baseball pitchers are great (and hilarious) distractions when breaking into a building.

Closing Out

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We had our last meeting of Tactics for the year, and most likely my last meeting ever in Harmon Hall. For the next two years, it'll be renovated and revamped so that it's better, but I won't be around when that happens. We spent the entire time on a proper meeting, something that hasn't happened in a while, going over plans for the next semester, recruitment, events and games, and for once, we're on good footing, for now. After the meeting, we played Risk while watching Stargate SG-1 and Dr. Who, for a grand total of about 4 hours. No one won in Risk, although we did pinch Stuart out of Europe before deciding that we really didn't want to spend another four hours trying to dislodge each other off of our respective continents. After we finished taking over the world, we began our close out of the club room. All of our games, books, materials and even the paper from the wall listing some club things (that predate my entrance to the club) all went into my car. None of us really trust Norwich to take care of our things, given that they're ours and expensive, and the risk of losing it all is just too much. So now it's sitting in my room.
Along with the games, I'm slowly emptying my shelves of books, packing away the ones that I'll be bringing with me when I move out sometime this summer. Kyle and I signed for the lease for 46 Catamound Drive, Northfield, and I'll be out of the house, finally. Currently, I've got three boxes of books, and it'll probably be a total of five. Plus my computer, bookshelves, desk, couch, chair and clothing, and I'll be on my way somewhere else.
It's odd to come back home and to begin packing for a new one so soon. After I move into my apartment, I'll be off to Camp once again, and I'll have most of my things with me there, my computer and clothing at least.
I've picked up a couple books in the past week or so. First one is The Map That Changed The World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology, by Simon Winchester. Facinating read, provides a good look at England in the 1800s, through the results of the Industrial and Agricultural revolution, something that I learned a lot about while in London. The geology part is also facinating, although I haven't gotten too far into those sections yet. The other book is Shopgirl, by Steve Martin, the actor. I've read one of his other books before, and they're quick reads, this one being no exception. Frankly, it's really depressing, none of the characters are terribly likable and it's gotten me into a sour mood. Not a bad book though, so I'll finish it later tonight. I think that I see myself and some other people too much in the characters, and that's what's gotten me down a bit.
I took a drive earlier when I dropped my sister off for some church thing that she's doing. I've found that it really helps clear my head at times. The lighting was great on the way back home, sun was just setting, and the roads were empty. Very lonely, matching my mood perfectly. I need a distraction.

Happenings

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I rewatched the pilot episode of the new incarnation of Dr. Who, a very popular show in the UK. It's filmed in London, and as a result, I recognize places, which makes me miss England even more. I've awoken a couple times and rolled out of bed, having a couple minutes before it strikes me that I'm no longer living in flat 9 of 5 Doughty Street, WC1N 2PL, Greater London.

On top of that, I've learned that two of my friends are going to be going through the same program next semester. I'm wondering if I picked the wrong semester to do, and realise that I wouldn't trade my experiences in London for anything else in the world.

Living in London made me more independant. My friend Kyle and I are getting an apartment just off of campus. It's not too bad pricewise, and once it's cleaned (The owners who live there make my room look clean) it'll be a great place to live (I hope.) I got to liking buying my own food, managing my own schedule, etc. It'll be even better not being the geek-who-lives-in-his-parents-basement.

And, I have a job for the summer. Let's see if I can find one for the next 5-6 weeks. London is expensive.

Current Music: Roll On, Norah Jones / The Little Willies

I'm Back

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I'm home, and already I miss London a little. I miss the streets and the friends that I made there, but at the same time, it feels great to be back to familiarity, with my family and dogs and walls.
Reintigrating back to normal life hasn't been hard at all. Nothing's changed here very much. My friends have been up to the same things, and it's like that I've never left. I spent yesterday looking at an apartment and along with Kyle to look at used cars. It was great to catch up with friends that I haven't seen in months and seeing places that I haven't seen in as long.
But despite it, I'll miss London. I think that some part of me will never leave.

I remember...

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First arriving at Customs with my belongings, meeting Barbara getting out, my first taste of the packaged sandwiches, the long tube ride to central London, meeting Fran for the first time, my first visit to the British Museum and the awe that it inspired, getting on the wrong bus with Will and ending up across the city with no clue where we were, Katie Bell's visit and my first taste of Indian food, finding Gosh Comics, learning to look the opposite way for traffic, using the bus, my first solo tube ride, the visit to the Tintin Shop, seeing Tintin live on Stage at the Barbican, getting blissfully lost on numerous backstreets, meeting Sara, a former Norwich Student, Chinese New Year with Luke and my roommates, hanging out with Jason and Zach, trying to watch Galactica with Ben, meeting the Marymount students, visiting Oxford for the first time and drinking in the Eagle and Child, my first beer, the Tate Modern and seeing the ledgends, House, MD and Prison Break, seeing Dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum, Ben's Cookies in Oxford, The small Geology museum at Cambridge, getting lost trying to find it, seeing where DNA was discovered, calling home for the first time, My first day at the Charter School, meeting the professors, planning my trip to Scotland, the long ride up, seeing rocks for the first time and elevation, watching the Olympics, seeing Scotland for the first time and the problems finding my hostel, Hiking on a volcano, calling Rachel from my hostel and running out of change, seeing Goodnight and Good Luck and Munich in theaters, travelling to Stratford Upon Avon with the Marymount people and making friends with them, learning that I'm going to see Philip Pullman, learning to update my iPod on a school computer, then having it crash on me, Oscar season, depression, Thinking about my next trip, reading book after book after book, learning that Nate died, presentation on the Grand Canyon at Charter, meeting Philip Pullman for the first and probably last time, Booking Greece for my final trip, learning that I have a job for the summer, classwork and problems, visiting Norwich, the real one, getting drunk with Jason and Zach, Eastbourne with Katherine, discovering Green Wing, more school work, panic, Greece coming up too fast, early morning, flight, 10 hours in Munich, landing in Greece and meeting Chris, walking around and getting lost in Athens, seeing the Pantheon for the first time, meeting Heather, Emily and Meghan, meeting Chris and Todd, showing them around, visiting Marathon, flying home, meeting the Green Wing actors, Prediep's visit, showing him around the city, my last day at Charter, last trip with Lexia and sitting in front of a computer wondering what I've missed, and that there's too much to type.
But finally, the goodbyes. Goodbye to London, to Luke, Jason, Zach, Ben, Katherine, Melissa, Bryant, Mark, Joanne, Jeremy, Sara, Mr. Dean, Mr. Hand, Mr German, Mr. Henderson, Fran, Will and Barbara and anyone and everything that I've forgotten for the moment.

Farewell.

Leaves

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London's changing in the last days that I have here. Walking down the street yesterday, I noticed that John Street and Doughty Street had a different feel to them than they have all year. Looking up, I saw that the leaves were starting to come out on the trees, changing from the bare skeletons that they've been the entire time that I've been here. It's a nice change.

A friend of mine, Prediep, from Paris came to visit, and he came at a good time. The leaves were coming out, and it was sunny for most of the weekend, while I took him around to all the major sites in London. We caught up on what we've been up to since this past summer at camp. It was good to have a new person to talk to.

We visited a number of parks and walk ways along the Thames. With the sun and leaves starting to come out, it was a nice feel to the city, especially in Covent Garden and Leister Square.

Prediep's visit served another purpose, something that I didn't come across until after I saw him off on his train earlier today - It was a chance for me to say goodbye to the city. During my tour, I showed him the major sites of London: The London Eye, Parliment, Big Ben's tower, Wesminster Abbey, King's Cross, South Bank, St. Paul's and a number of others. I showed him some of the pubs, the back streets, all the while talking about the meaning of being a tourist and fitting in, among other things. During this long walkabout, I saw a number of the things in London, probably for the last time in a while, ending today with something that I hadn't made the time before to see, Abbey Road.

There will be a lot of goodbyes in the next days, as I begin closing out and packing. Goodbye to friends that I've made and the places that I've come to call home.

nostalgia

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It hit me as I was on the train this morning. In a week, from that moment, I'll be on an airplane, going back home. Everything that I've known and been forced to get used to will be gone. The money will change, my friends will seperate and go their own ways and in the end, all we'll have is just the memories.
It's a bit sobering, at just how fast everything has gone past. I remember coming in very clearly. My own nervousness and self doubt even a day or so in, hoping to hell that I had made the right choice, coming out here.
So far, I have few regrets about making the trip. Now, I'm torn over returning. Now that I've lived here for four months, I'm reluctant to leave the confines of my squeaky flat, my own cooking, the city and the people around me that I've come to know and enjoy being around. In a week, that'll all be gone, and I'll be back home with familiar people and surroundings.
On the other hand, I'm eager to leave. To see my friends and family back home, to share my experiences, pictures and stories that I've slowly accumulated over the past 104 days that I've been here. To see my two dogs, my sister, my room and my own computer, and to be away from my roommate and for the near future, work in general.
Most of all, I'm aprehensive about what's coming up, I think. Living here has been a dream. I'm surrounded by things that are fantastic and different, and that'll be gone soon, and in the next year, I'll be coming up to my last year of school, and spat into the real world, something that I'm nervous about and not sure if I'm ready.
I don't have a plan, an idea or a clue about what to do next.