A Bad DAY :-P

Every cloud has a silver lining, right?

I missed a plane today - :-/

Oh well. You just have to try your best, right? :-)

Anyway, hmm... So remember morning announcements? They're incredibly important, etc, etc... Well, one of the fun things about morning announcements are the skits.

At first, Nacho and I reenacted famous scenes from movies (something from Star Wars was the first one, if I recall correctly)... That got uninteresting fast, so we had to come up with some original material. We built off of the Superhero / Villain dynamic that kids loves and made some ridiculously wacky personae.

Dr. Underpants, for instance, (who, BTW had nothing at all to do with "Captain Underpants") tried to take over camp several times and was always thwarted by the resident hero, Captain Tepee. The plot started simply and then evolved into a multi-character soap opera involving Major Pain, The Dark Lord of the Tepee, Princess Tepee, Shiny Shirt Man and Bold Man to name a few...

Eventually they all fell to the cunning and daring of Captain Tepee (or Princess Tepee)... except for Shiny Shirt Man who *did* successfully take over camp a couple of times.

[more 2 come]

The Princess Pat...

Someone recently pointed out that one of our favorite songs, "The Princess Pat" is based on a very similar song about the Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry.

From Wikipedia.org:

Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI) is an infantry regiment in the Canadian Forces (CF), belonging to 1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (1 CMBG). It is one of the most decorated regiments in the CF. It currently consists of four battalions, three in the Regular Force and one in the Reserve Force (militia). The PPCLI is ranked second in the order of precedence for the regular infantry, and 38th in the infantry militia. The regiment's RHQ is located in Edmonton, Alberta, with its three regular battalions located in Alberta and Manitoba. The regiment acts as the "local" infantry regiment for western Canada.

If you check out the entry, you'll see the original lyrics toward the bottom of the page. Those, of course, are the *official* serious verses. At some point in history, these words were adapted by children's artists and campers to be more accessible to children. For example, instead of "light infantry" we use "lived in a tree." This makes the song something else entirely: namely a style parody, where the subject is completely changed.

Another similar song is "The Ants Go Marching..." which was a children's version of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" (which itself was a variation of an anti-war song).

Isn't history fun?

My Bonny Variation (Thanks Jess!)

A fan the site sent me a variation of one of my *personal* favorites / specialties, "My Bonny."

She says that this is the "Alaskan modification," although I would think they have polar bears, not black bears... but what do I know? [I did make some slight modifications to her version, only for *appropriateness*]

My Bottom (variation of "My Bonny" from Alaska)
[stand or sit on every "B" word]

My bottom was bit by a black bear
My bottom was bit by a bear
My bottom was bit by a black bear
Won’t you bandaged my boo boo for me
Bandage, Bandage
Won't you bandage my boo boo for me for me
Bandage, Bandage
Won't you bandage my boo boo for me


[video coming soon]

The Importance of...

When I started working at my old camp, there was no opening or closing ceremony. In fact, there was nothing really to mark the beginning or end of a day besides the bus drop-off / pick-up. I'm sure there are many staff and camper alike who would swear that such a thing existed back in those days, but the truth is that they didn't... The days came and went, any major announcements being done through paper handouts (yuck!).

I became the Special Events / Specialist Director after a couple of years and took control of the entire schedule. Every day was to have at least 20 minutes before and after camp for announcements, songs, skits and fun.

Since then the morning announcements and closings have been a staple of that camp: a completely necessary and essential part of the day. Although sometimes they drag on a bit or don't really make sense, I recommend that all camps do something similar...

[more 2 come]

...

sad day...


a former employee and friend of mine was lost.


...



"Let children walk with Nature, let them see the beautiful blendings and communions of death and life, their joyous inseparable unity, as taught in woods and meadows, plains and mountains and streams of our blessed star, and they will learn that death is stingless indeed, and as beautiful as life." - John Muir.