Just a Little Thing That Made My Day. Also, a Quick Thought on Unconventional Friends.

This really has no relevance to anything, just me throwing my thoughts on a page.

So. The last year for me has been a bit strange. Moved out of my house, only contact with my old friends and family though the internet, and thrown headfirst into a world which I was not mentally prepared for. Between prepping for next semesters classes, looking for a job, and figuring out where the hell I plan to be living for the next year, I've been a bit stressed. And in the middle of all this stress something happened that pretty much turned my week around.

A couple friends of mine called me up in the middle of the night to yell at me for not volunteering at a summer camp I had attended with them for the last 7 years, 3 of those as a counselor.

It's hard to explain how invigorating this was for me. On one hand, it's just funny for two girls you only see in person one week a year (plus a short counselor retreat/briefing) to call you at 11:30pm and threaten to castrate you if you don't show up next year. Plus, I'm pretty sure they stole my little brother's cell phone to do so, so that was pretty hilarious.

On the other hand, it's very reassuring to know that despite the fact that I've felt like a colossal failure this year with school and everything else, that these two people are still demanding my assistance and trust me to be a net gain. Definitely improved my self esteem a lot, helped me stir up the confidence to go job hunting again. Just a little thing that really had an impact on me I guess.

There other thing that stood out to me was why a call from these two particular friends meant so much to me. I mean, it kind of seems strange. I have dozens of friends, some of whom I've known for nearly my entire life. Close friends, people who know me extremely well, know what I like, what I hate, what music I play incredibly loud while doing other things, you know. People I grew up with.

But honestly, in many ways I'm closer with my counselor friends at the camp. Part of that is unifying in the face of adversity; you do not know hell until you have tried to keep 12 3rd-5th grade boys on a fairly rigid schedule without fighting and keeping everyone involved. With one friend as backup, and a single 1.5 hour break every 24 hours to keep from going insane and/or strangling the most notorious troublemakers. Yeah. First year I did this, I had a mental breakdown and spent an hour staring at a wall while my honorary sister made reassuring noises. Not for the light of heart.

The other part of our strange friendship is part of the counselor training. As I just got through explaining, being a counselor is rough, and you have to be able to work with your co-counselors without any real conflict between each other. Any signs of strife in the ranks will be pounced upon by the campers like sharks smelling blood. So, in order to make sure we can work together as well as is reasonably possible for people who barely see each other most of the year, we have a retreat a few weeks before the camp. We rent out a beach house for a weekend and spend a few days interacting and going over the general plans for the camp that year. Lots of fun, great way to break the ice, etc.

Part of this weekend is a lot more somber than the general fun that goes on over the weekend. Part of being able to work together is knowing the hangups and issues everyone has, so you don't unknowingly step on a landmine. Obviously these kind of things aren't going to be shared naturally between casual friends like we were at that point, so the camp directors set aside a few hours one evening for everyone to get their shit of their chest if they need to.

And holy shit, its intense.

Full disclosure, I'm a spoiled white/Asian kid who wouldn't know hardship until it hit me with a semi. My co-counselors? Not so much. I'll avoid giving specific examples, but to say the least, a lot of my friends have seen some real shit. More than a lot of my high school friends ever did either. And I think that's the key difference. My co-counselors are friends who have bared the worst parts of their lives to each other. And on top of that, we then went and weathered kinder-hell scant weeks afterwords. They might not know me like my school friends do, but they know things about me, and I them, that are in many ways more important.

Anyway, I think I've rambled on enough for today. A bit of a weird topic, I know, but it's kind of been digging at me for the last few days, and I felt like venting. Thanks for bearing with me, and if you feel like it, I'd love to hear your thought.