Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving break starts today! The good news is that I'm getting out of Morehead. The bad news is that I don't get to go home. I'm going to go home with one of my brothers, Denny Rust. Its going to be a blast. I'm very excited about being out of school for a week and eating real food. I only wish I could have thanksgiving with my family and my girlfriend; alas, they are 2500 miles away. Oh well, going home and spending Thanksgiving with a brother is the next best thing and I'm excited. Besides, I get to go home in less than three weeks! That's such a small time compared to the over four months I have already spent here. I can't wait! I turn twenty in 12 days now, but I'm not nearly as excited for my birthday as I am for the break when I get to finally go home. No one should ever take for granted being able to go home and spend time with you family. I hope everybody has a great Thanksgiving.

I know, its been awhile since my last post. I've been so busy that I just couldn't spend any more time writing more. I need to practice a lot more. I'm so tired of playing the piano. I hate it because I suck at it so much. Right now I'm busy trying to memorize playing all of my harmonic and melodic minor scales on my tuba for the end of the semester. I had a biology test this morning that I had studied for last night like 5 hours. I think I did pretty good on it at least. Other than all that, I still have to write an 8-10 page term paper for music theory. I don't even have the piece analyzed yet. I need to finish it Thanksgiving Break and turn it in next week. That's going to be really hard. Right now, I don't even care if I do a good job at it, I just want to get it done. I procrastinate too much. This being my fourth year of college, you'd think that I would have learned by now that I shouldn't procrastinate. Yet I do it every semester and every single time it reaches up and bites me in the ass. Oh well, hopefully I'll learn some day. It has been in the 70's for a week now. Today it started snowing a little. It's so cold outside. I can't believe that it can drop over 40 degrees in one day. Its in the upper 20's right now. So cold.

Yesterday, me and bunch of other guys went and played football. It was definitely good times. Of course we played tackle so we're all a little sore right now. My head hurts a lot right now. During one of the plays, I took an elbow right behind my left ear. During one of my tackles, the guy rolled over top of my head. My necks is killing me. But that was the most fun I had all week. I can't wait 'till next Wednesday when we get to play some more football. Good times.

Don Giovanni

We are studying Mozart this week in Music Lit. and I found one of his operas to be quite interesting. It opens with Leporello, Don Giovanni's servant, keeping guard to his room and grumbling about how he pratically slaves to him all day. The scene then moves to the bedroom where Don Giovanni has the woman Donna Anna in his room with him. The Don hides his face so she doesn't recognize him. Don Giovanni then proceeds to rape Donna Anna. She runs away and her father, the Commandant, appears. They duel and Don Giovanni kills the Commandant. The opera then moves into Act I where it shows Leporello mockingly consoling Donna Elvira about the Don. Donna Elvira was just one of many of the Don's "conquests." Leporello then sings:
"My dear lady, this is a list
Of the beauties my master has loved,
A list which I have compiled.
Observe, read along with me.

In Italy, six hundred and forty;
In Germany, two hundred and thirty-one;
A hundred in France; in Turkey ninety-one.
In Spain already one thousand and three!

Among these are peasant girls
Maidservants, city girls,
Countesses, baronesses,
Marchionesses, princesses,
Women of every rank,
Every shape, every age.

With blonds it is habit
To praise their kindness
In brunettes, their faithfulness;
In the very blond, their sweetness.
In winter he likes the fat ones,
In summer he likes the thin ones,"

He continues talking about all of the Don's conquests. Apparently his standards are a little low. At the end of the opera, it shows Don Giovanni enjoying good food and good music. Then the Commandants statue enters the hall and commands the Don to repent. Don Giovanni remains defiant. Flames and smoke surround the Don. He cries out in agony as a chorus of demons sing of his eternal damnation. With a hideous shriek, Don Giovanni is engulfed by the flames of hell. Maybe its just the fact that I have a dark sense of humor, but I found this opera to be widely entertaining. I hope you did too.

Today the fire alarm went off again. I think that numbers around fifteen now. At least this one was in the evening instead of three in the morning. Its really annoying. I think the most annoying thing is that people look at us and see us as immature college students because a few individuals set the alarm off. But again, that's how a lot of things are. We constantly stereotype people without even thinking about it. Just because someone rides a motorcycle and is decked out in leather doesn't mean that they're out to start trouble. Just because someone's an Eagle Scout, it doesn't mean that they are the epitome of everything that is good. Just because someone is young, it doesn't make them incapable of being mature.

Wow, I'm so tired. I've only gotten like 9 hours of sleep the last two nights. I have work again tomorrow at eight in the morning. Its not fair that I just don't have enough time in my life to get my eight hours of sleep a night. I should be practicing my tuba or the piano right now. Or working on my theory term paper. I'm just too tired. I'm tired of school. I just want to graduate. I'm a senior right now and I won't graduate for another couple of years. I need to get out of Morehead. Oh well, I guess there's not much I can do about it now. I just need to suck it up and finish my years here. Then I can move back to Washington and finally start to settle down and get a real job, hopefully. Maybe I'll get lucky and get eight hours of sleep tonight.

Pigott pictures

Here's more pictures from Camp Pigott as requested:
Our COPE course
Our Climbing Tower
Omache Lake
Repelling
Archery Range
Rowing in the Dining Hall
Troop 324 around the campfire
Rowing
Rendesvous Run
Gathering in the Parade Field
Climbing Tower 2
Climbing Tower 3
Thats all I have for now. Enjoy!

Thoughts to consider

"The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese." -Anonymous

"Give man fire, and keep him warm for a day. Set a man on fire and keep him warm for the rest of his life." -Anonymous

Boomerang

After Rena and I broke up a month ago, one of my best friends, Kyle, told me something that helped me get through those tough times. He said that girls are like boomerangs. If she's right for you, she'll come back. If she doesn't come back, then she's just a stick. I'm glad that Rena was my boomerang.

Pictures from camp

Here are a few pictures from the camp I work at:
Omache Lake with a view of the Cascades.
Pictures of Brinkley Beach.
Pictures of Scoutcraft at Brinkley.
Support Services
Other places around camp plus a picture from Parsons
Ray Sayah's Mountain Man Pouch
Camp Brinkley Patches and Pins
Picture Gallery of Brinkley Areas
These are all the ones I can find for now. This is my home. Hope you enjoy!

Hurray!

I just got back together with my girlfriend! I'm so happy. I love her more than anything else in the world. We've gone through some problems, but after almost a month, we're finally back together. I feel so completely content. I can't wait to tell everybody.

A little bit about me.

I guess I might as well tell you guys a little bit about me. My real name is Christopher and live in Port Orchard, Washington. I'm currently attending school at Morehead State University in Morehead, Kentucky. I'm majoring in music education and my primary instrument is the tuba. I want to be a Jr. High band director. I'm probably crazy. Last year I joined the fraternity Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. It is a social/music fraternity. It is also the largest music fraternity in the world. I'm in the Theta Pi chapter of Phi Mu Alpha. We are currently the largest chapter of our fraternity with around 60 active members. I love my fraternity brothers and would do anything for them. Unfortunately, I really don't like living in Morehead, Kentucky.

Throughout my childhood, I was very active with the Boy Scouts of America. It forever changed my life. When I was fifteen, I started working at Camp Brinkley, a cubscout and boyscout camp. I have been working there for five years now and will continue to do so until I am no longer able to for whatever reason. When I was sixteen, I became a full time staffer and starting working in the Scoutcraft area, where I found my affinity with fire. Halfway throughout the summer, I got moved to the Nature area, which is where I applied to in the first place. The year after that, I became the Asst. Nature Director and the year after that, I became the Nature Director. This last summer I was the Asst. Program Director and eventually I expect to eventually become a Program Director; a position that I do not want quite yet but will do it to the best of my ability if asked of me. When I finally do turn 21, that will be a position that I am ready for. Camp is my home and the other staffers are my other family other than my fraternity brothers. I'm honored to have this many close friends. I learned ideals working at camp that will be with me the rest of my life. I get the opportunity to teach these very ideals that I learned to the campers and the junior staff members, just as they were taught to me. The other staff members that I work with are the best people I know. "Haiyoo Wawa Canim Stick" is actually my Vigil name that was giving to me when I was awarded Vigil Honor in the Order of the Arrow. In English, it roughly translates into "Screeching Cedar". I choose this name because of two things. The cedar tree is my favorite tree because it has many uses and stands proud and protectively over you. Screeching is supposed to show the fury of my passions in life.

Poem

One of my friends is having relationship problems. We were talking about it a couple of weeks ago and she told me a poem she wrote about how she feels. Its titled "Lost". Here it is:

Lost in Life, with swarming thoughts,
of friend to keep or should not,
they've hurt you once, and you've been caught,
leave that friend and let them rot,

a cold heart grows stronger too,
filled with hate, I do love you,
let them go and leave them be
if they were true, they'll fight not flee,

a friend's a friend, a person who cares,
they fix thy heart, not let it tear,
in this case, it's not so true,
for they have turned their back on you,

they've made you feel cold at heart
and treat you if your not so smart,
you want to scream, or maybe run,
instead you stay, to say "were done"
-Erica
Sometimes we all feel like this. I know I certainly do. Sometimes you don't know how you can keep on going with your normal life. But that's all we can do. We can't change the world and we certainly can't change what has already happened. All we can do is keep on living, because in the end, all we have is our own life. I really hope that Erica's life gets better. She is one of the best people I know and she deserves someone who will take good care of her. I know her life will eventually turn around.

If you like to hear what's on other peoples minds, look at Rena's Website . She's a really good friend and says what's going on in her life. A good website that a lot of people should visit.

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." -Semisonic
This is my favorite quote. Just because we start something new or we move on doesn't mean we should ever forget about the past. In order for something new to happen, something else always has to end.