Strange Things are Happenin' to Me/AIn't No Doubt About It...

   This past year I counseled three of my closest friends, lost my job, taken my SAT(all those at the same time), picked out a college, got enrolled, graduated high school, led worship for my youth group, started this blog, and just otherwise set about growing up.

   But this last month or so, a lot of strange things have happened.

   I went to my last church camp as a camper, and saw the Lord work in such an incredible way. It was amazing. Terrifying, but wonderful. It was a good time, but it was a somber enjoyment. Almost melancholy, in a way.

   One of the guys I grew up with got married. Not that there's anything wrong with that; but it's just an unusual path to take at this stage of life. But hey, if that's what God has planned...that's awesome. Kind of drove home the fact that "Hey, guess what? You're grown up now. Time to go face the world, do the best you can, and lean on God to pull you through."

   The Olympics are here, an event that only comes around once every four years; and in London, for the first time since 1948. In addition to showing loads of interesting sports we don't usually see that often on TV(Volleyball, kayaking, ping pong, track and field, equestrian, trampolining, gymnastics) and many non-interesting sports as well(Diving, synchronized swimming, water polo, swimming). Reminds you of all the amazing moments from previous Games, and you can't really help but use them as a marker of how far you've come in life. You think back to where you were the last time they were held, and see the ways you've grown, the mistakes that you've learned from, the blessings and mercies God's given to you, and makes you wonder what the future will be like four years from now. Kinda like Christmas trees, they do the same thing. By the time the 2016 Olympians arrive in Rio, I'll be heading into my senior year of college. What will my job be? Will I be good at it? How will I be able to serve God at that time? Will I have a girlfriend? Will I be married by then? (Unlikely, but it could happen in four years.) Will I have kids? Might I possibly have written a book that was published? If so, what kind?

   Wednesday night I went to visit my grandpa, he was really excited that I'm going to NSU. It was a good visit, the dogs were played with and swimming and gymnastics were watched.
   Thursday morning we went down to the campus for this thing called Rookie Bridge Camp, a get-to-know-you, here's-some-advice-on-getting-through-college type of deal; me for the camp, Grandpa was driving one of the buses. It proved to be an...interesting and eye-opening experience.
 
   We arrived at the student union just before nine a.m, luggage was checked in and nametags were handed out, then about five or six of us were ushered in, where we were, well...screamed at. Like, with people three inches away from our faces. Something about "cool pants" or something, we looked at each other in amused tolerance(and some fear) at whatever this was we signed up for. Those volunteers herded us into the basement, where we were hollered at and did some crazy stretching, then we were herded off to some more shouting volunteers, who instructed us to act like bacon. By now we rookies are really getting freaked out, and we flop down on the floor-skillet and cook as fast as we can to get on to the next station. Now we were  clamorously told to "Grab a rock!" We look around, there's several pails of spray-painted green sandstones with painted messages in white. Mine said "Who let the dogs out?" I was kind of starting to wonder the same thing, and exactly where was the dogcatcher?
   We then were hurried off into the elevator, where we were (again, loudly) instructed to "PARTY!!!" We feebly attempted to dance along with LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem", then were met by (yet another) screaming group of volunteers, taking us into this holding room by doing this dance called "The Wobble".
   All this in a space of about two minutes.

   Rookie Bridge Camp is a by-students, for-students type of thing, directed by a pair of upperclassmen, and then legions of other students helping out, with varying levels of responsibility. Extremely well-organized; however, the style is Total Chaos. Supposedly if you get thrown off guard in a situation like that, your defenses will be down(Due to the unbelievable onslaught of insanity and randomness) and you'll make friends easier. Not sure if that's true or not, but it's an interesting theory.

   So we come into this second-floor holding room, while there's a lot of icebreaker songs and speeches and stuff. (I bet the volunteers had so much fun in herding all the shell-shocked rookies along all day.) Things like where this guy would say "Bananas!" and then the strategically-placed volunteers around the room chanted "Go Bananas!" and moving everyone around. A way to learn the other people's names, I guess, since you were supposed to introduce yourself to whoever happened to be standing by you at the moment. That lasted for about an hour, then we listened to a speech by a member of the faculty, and then off in the color groups(Black, Cyan(blue), Crimson, Mint and Violet) for some more icebreaker/mixer-type games, like People to People, Ships and Sailors, and Knight, Rider, Princess, and then breaking up into small groups.
   Then it was time for the Trust Walk, we were all blindfolded and hiked all around campus with only vocal commands to guide us. It was interesting, and a little scary. We arrived at a creek, where we tossed our rocks into the water, and left high school behind. A (very noisy and vocal) 45-minute bus ride later(I kinda felt sorry for the driver, putting up with all that noise. And everyone else was complaining that it was taking forever, didn't feel like anything to me.) we arrived at the campground, after learning the school fight song, more rounds of the holding-room songs, and bad attempts at Journey and Kenny Chesney. It felt kinda like a plane ride - so much scenery to look at and drink in, and so wacky people around you...and, you know, just riding in a school bus was interesting enough in itself, being a novelty.

   We ate lunch, learned a little more about each other in another get-to-know-you exercise, then it was free time. Since it was about 109 out, and we didn't particularly feel like catching heatstroke or anything, we sat in the air-conditioned building and talked. Then it was skit-planning time! Or, more accurately, "skong-planning time". (A skong is like a skit/song mashup, btw.) With an hour and half to go from concept storming to performing, it was awesome, and time to get creative. We set about preparing a song, a dance routine, American Idol parody, and That 70's Show scene, they all went pretty well, it was organized improv.
   Our skit involved the following cast: YT pal Chance as Randy Jackson, his best friend Aubrey as Paula Abdul, Avree(the one who thought up the idea) as Simon Cowell, Cameron as Ryan Seacrest, Kaitlan as Carmen Crimson, Kaitlyn as Mandyy Mint, Kaceley as Cheyenne Cyan, Mican as the janitor, and Wes as Brandon Black. Here's how the script ended up going:

"Cameron: Welcome back, America, to this year's auditions! We're here at Rookie Bridge Camp, and THIS...is American Idol! [Crowd goes wild]

Avree: Hello, what is your name, and what are you going to do for us today?

Kaitlan: My name is Carmen Crimson, and I'm gonna be the next American Idol.

Aubrey: All right, then, go ahead whenever you're ready. [Kaitlan proceeds to wave her hand in the air and do a siren impersonation, which was the Crimson group's "chant".]

Chance: I don't think that's quite what we were looking for right now. You got some mad props, though, dawg.

Aubrey: I love your hair, but it's a no from me. [Crowd laughs]

Avree: What was that? Three nos, go on with you, now! [Kaitlan exits, Kaitlyn enters]

Kaitlyn: YO, what's up, y'all? My name be Mandyy Mint(that's "Mandy" with two Ys), and I've got a rap for you peeps. [Judges roll their eyes, she then proceeds to try to rap through the Mint group's long, alliterative name, the judges stop her halfway through, saving her the effort of trying to get the whole tongue twister out.]

Avree: No.

Kaitlyn, exiting: I can't believe this! What kind of show IS this, anyway, if you don't appreciate people with my talent...[Crowd laughs like crazy, Kaceley enters nervously]

Kaceley: Hi? I'm Chey-Cheyenne Cyan, and-[Avree holds up a hand, interrupting, he shakes his head. She exits, crushed. Mican enters, pushing a vacuum.]

Chance: Um...

Avree: What are you doing?

Mican(looks at him as if it's obvious): I'm vacuuming.

Avree: Well, yes, I can see that, but why are you vacuuming?

Mican: Because I'm the janitor, and the floor looks terrible, and it's my job.
[Dialogue builds faster and faster from this point}
Avree: Don't you realize that we're in the middle of live auditions here?

Mican: Yeah.

Avree: So, then, why - ?

Mican: You wouldn't want the floor to look awful on national TV, would you?

Avree: Well, no -

Mican: So then let me finish and I'll leave.

Avree, exasperated: Get out of here!! [Mican meekly packs up her vacuum and walks out, the crowd is in hysterics, and I enter. Judges exchange a hopeful glance.]

Avree: Finally, someone who looks like they know what they're doing.

Aubrey: What's your name?

Wes: I'm Brandon Black, I've got something worked up I want to show y'all, if you don't mind. Just whenever I'm ready? [Judges nod, I do our Black group chant, mixing up the horribly alliterative syllables. Really, try saying " B-L-A-C-K, Bearded Ballers Everyday" in 4/4 time)

Chance: That was great, dude!

Aubrey: I loved it.

Avree: That was easily the best thing I've ever heard all day. If you had a background group or something behind that, I would sign you right now.

Wes, aside: Are we watching the same auditions? I wouldn't have voted for myself there. I'll take it, though. [Crowd laughs] [to judges] Glad you liked it. Um, about the signing...were you serious?

Avree: Yes! If a group could do that, I would be in...like, that would be heavenly.

Wes: Well, then, let's see if we can't find your ticket there. [Aside to rest of our color group] Hey guys-!! [They all come marching onstage chanting, the judges are enraptured, and the crowd goes wild as we exit.]

The End."
   (If we could think of a way to do so, we were supposed to make fun of the other groups, Violet kept calling themselves the Vacuuming Vikings, so that's where Mican the janitor came from. Mint was the Magnificent Mafia, or something along those lines, so we had Kaitlyn be all gangsta.)
   The following skits(no song elements at all) by the other color groups were all much more poorly organized, awkwardly presented, or just straight out raunchy. It was painful to witness, and thankfully it ended after about an hour. Then it was time for - whatever you felt like doing. Me? I headed for the volleyball court, had to get the nasty taste washed out. And when there's competition, you meet people. And besides that, I was tired of control games where nobody wins anything. And it's FUN. So I played volleyball for nearly two hours, we had one of those workshop lights set on a tripod for light. It was kinda dark, could hardly see the ball. Met a lot of the volunteers, they were pretty good about answering "What-will-I-need?" or "So-what-exactly-should-I-be-looking-for?" type questions about what we'll be facing. A guy named Randy was on my volleyball team, he seemed cool. Also, there was a neat guy named Roy, he was also a volunteer. Corey, too; he was one of my small group leaders.

   We played until 11:45, when we had to quit. Nearly got to sleep around 12:30 a.m, when everyone was roused for singing the girls to sleep? I mean, not that I have anything against singing, but I'd been running up against who knows what all day, and that wears you out. And really...it was late. And I just didn't really feel comfortable with the whole thing. Thankfully, this guy named Ethan(he was one of the two directors of the whole thing) and Randy were fine if I sat out. So I just sat on the front steps and thought a while, prayed some, while waiting for the rest of the guys to come out of the girls' cabin, and watched the lightning in the distance, wondering if the float trip on the river would be canceled.

   The atmosphere once we got back was incredibly toxic, I wanted to escape so bad. Just was praying constantly, "Lord, please let me survive! I know I've been asking  that all day, but really...it's bad!" I got to sleep(finally) around one or 1:30, woke up just before seven and took a shower. Then it was breakfast time, a few more control-games, and getting back onto the bus for the ride back to campus for lunch. This ride was quieter, I think about half the bus was taking a nap. We ate lunch, then back on (another) bus out to the river for the float trip. The bus driver's six-year-old daughter was riding along with her mom, we made her day by talking to her, and then getting all these really old people, (in college), to sing The Alphabet Song, I'm a Little Teapot, and Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. (And also She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy, but only half of us were doing that one). It was really fun.

   Five people could be on a raft, Avree, Mican and I picked out boat 196, Roy and Jacob hopped on too, but then defected to other boats pretty quickly. Never having floated the river before, I wasn't too sure what to expect, was a little nervous, but it was really neat. Kind of a six-mile hike through water, since the water level was down this year, because of the dry spell we've been having. And, since I'm really short, it got too deep for me to pull pretty often, I became quite adept at leaping into the boat MacGyver or Bear Grylls-style. And then rowing kept me kind of busy, too. It was a really neat time, relaxing and good conversations. And we had the snack boat, kind of a water-bound drive-thru service, so we made a lot of people happy by being the food sharers.
   The pace was kept pretty steady, we made the six-mile trek in about four hours. We then rode back to campus for dinner, and shared experiences of what we'd thought of RBC, and re-crossed the bridge from Rookies to College Students.
   I think I met a handful of people I'd like to stay in contact with, hopefully, here in the future, we'll have to wait until this semester ends, at least, to see if the trip was worth it or not. But whether helpful or no, it was a valuable taste-test of the challenges I'll face in school, and I know that God'll bring me through whatever storms are up ahead, I just need to stay strong in the Lord, and lean on my pals for help every once in a while.