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Tuesday, July 24,
2001 A small band of campers began stirring at 6:00AM this morning with a top-secret mission: to surprise Mike by decorating his door before he got up. Gingerly, they tiptoed past those other campers that had arisen early to preen themselves, carefully skirting all obstacles on the way to their goal. Quietly, and with great care, they hung the black balloons and "Over The Hill" banner around Mike's door before quietly slipping away into the morning mists. Mike's reaction upon opening his door later this morning? "Incredible!" As for breakfast itself, a healthy and nutritious (if aesthetically displeasing) repast was had by all. What an eventful morning! The kids in Hypnosis class learned about the medical uses of hypnosis, in particular its use as an alternative to anaesthetic. (Personally, I'd prefer to be put out cold). Meanwhile, the Chess class played host to an infiltration by the Acting class, who performed a spontaneous slow-motion riot before an amazed group of chess players before slipping out the exits so that they could bring their unique brand of anarchy elsewhere. In the Programming class, evil cackles were overheard as campers designed their own calculators, adding in some unusual features. Lastly, the Photography class stumbled around the dark room (presumably bumping into things) after taking a big pile of pictures. The Dance class continued to learn East Coast Swing today, learning how to dip, different kinds of turns and even an aerial move or two. (Yes your sons and daughters were tossing each other around...). In the Physics class, campers learned all about energy and waves, making a wet mess of the science building. Discussion of teen issues continued in John Hagney's "Road To Nowhere" class, the campers in the Sculpture class continued to work away on their projects, hoping to have them done in time to show at Closing Ceremonies and Doug Clark's humor writing class had them rolling in the aisles... A sedate affair, campers dined on grilled meat and cheese sandwiches and tacos. There was much theorizing about what tonight's "Mystery Activity" might be, and there were also several spontaneous renditions of "Happy Birthday" for both Mike Cantlon and Chris Mathieson (a counselor / instructor who also celebrates his birthday today). In other news, "Doing The Ricky" is now a popular pastimes for our first-year campers. (Ask them to explain, we couldn't even try...) This afternoon, campers in the Philosophy class were seen running around campus collecting examples of logical fallacies (formal errors in reasoning) while those in the Parapsychology class tried their hardest to not use their reason at all, particularly while performing the class 5-card psychic test. They also engaged in a serious conversation about religion and spiritualism. Those in the Harry Potter class continued to examine some of the major themes in the Potter books and explored the role of classical mythical creatures in the series. Lastly, the Genetics course continued to play with various interesting lab toys, gearing up for their end-of-week project: solving a simulated crime with DNA evidence.... Campers continnued to learn to fence, played water basketball or wallyball
(volleyball in a racquetball court) or countless other activities; a particularly
popular attraction was playing with Madeline, the one-year-old daughter
of Erin (one of our counselors). Others played cards, conversed in a quiet
corner or read books. Everyone seemed to have a good time. Not yet complete. Anticipation continued to build regarding this evening's coming Mystery Activity... Overheard was much theorizing about what it might be, if not the traditional Skit Night...
Anticipation high -- the tension palpable -- campers shuffled into the Streeter / Morrison Cafe for the evening's Mystery Activity. Hoping to find out right away what the activity actually was, campers were instead frustrated to find out that some mundane business had to be taken care of beforehand. As such, mail was delivered, announcements were made and Mike rambled on about something "incredible". Just as he was about to hand things over the Chris Mathieson (counselor / instructor / organizer of the "mystery activity"), he was interupted by a funeral procession. Shuffling in slowly from the back was the entire counseling staff weeping, dressed in black. At the back, however, was Thomasina: a sight that delighted both Mike and the campers. Once the procession got to the front, they all sat down, except for the lovely Thomasina, who instead presented Mike with a black rose and a poem. Following that, a choir comprised of counselors and assistant counselors sang the classic "Old Friends", as Mike sat in the seat of honor. Considering that they'd only had a couple of hours to practice, they were completely amazing! They were followed by another musical treat, this time one of our first-year campers, Michaela Alden, played an original composition for Mike. The girl's got definite talent! Following all this, several people got up to each say a few words about what Mike and his creation, Satori Camp, have meant for them. Several camp alumni, Nathan Collins and BJ Zahand among them, each expressed great and sincere appreciation to Mike for the lasting friendships and wonderful opportunities that Satori has given them over the years. (It was estimated that, when added together, the entire group of campers and counselors had over 300 Satori Camps under their collective belts). Although quite a few people had the opportunity to speak, there were many more that we didn't have time to hear from; many of those people approached Mike later that evening individually. (Yes, we were sucessful in making Mike cry...)
It was then explained to campers that Rube Goldberg was a cartoonist famous for his drawings of wacky, complicated machines that performed the simplest of tasks. He was, after all, a firm believer that when people are given a choice between the easy way and hard way to do something, they will often pick the hard way. In that spirit, campers were being asked to use props from the prop bags as well as any of their own items to create (in only an hour) a "machine" that would perform an assigned task. In keeping with a camp theme, the task to be performed was determined to be the picking up of a dirty sock. (Since you know what their rooms are like at home, just imagine what they're like here...). Campers were broken into groups and then given an hour to come up with the most complicated "machine" possible. (Understanding full well that it was basically impossible to come up with an interesting machine that works in only an hour, campers were instructed to include themselves in the machines.) An hour later, they returned, excited about what they'd come up with. Each group showed great creativity in the design of their "machine", some of which involved levers, television sets, matresses, Febreeze (for the dirty sock) or even Bob, the camp mascot. Although the designs varied greatly, they all had a few things in common: great creativity, high entertainment value, and every group managed to include every single group member in their machine. After the event was finished, campers started to make their way to the door but were stopped quickly as an announcement was made that there was cake for everyone to celebrate Mike and Chris' birthdays. The crowd cheered and then lined up up for their own piece of cake, which many took back to their rooms. Others hung around to wish the birthday boys a Happy Birthday, and both were inundated with presents. (Mike even got fresh baked cookies, which he shared with everyone...) There was quite the buzz in the air this evening as the cheerleaders moved into the residence next door for their own week-long camp. The counselors have decided to greatly increase their number of late-night rounds, especially since having all the boys rush to one side of the building has caused the entire building to shift on its foundation. |
