I never know how to start blog posts. All those fiddly words and paragraphs sometimes make me overthink things, even though blog posts don't have to be fine-tuned in the least.
It's just something that bothers me sometimes.

I got back from a fantastic family camping trip this morning.
     I bushwhacked, stood on beaver lodges, and even survived two nights sharing a tent with my dad and brother.
     While watching the sunset from the rocky shore of our camping site, it really sunk in how lucky I was to be Canadian. I'm so glad that I get to live in a country with freedom of expression and education and lots of trees (and rocks and water). Then my grandfather sat down beside me and started to rant about US politics, which wasn't really in the mood but still made me feel glad to be Canadian (or at least not American).*

     I wrote a few songs this week, which I've never really done before. Turns out that I accidentally made one of them sound far too similar to  Bowl of Oranges, but I still like the lyrics. I also learned The Cave on guitar. Did I mention that I sing in the shower?

I've got to go and husk corn.

<3 Gabi

*No offence intended to my readers from south of the border. I just don't like politicians.

Back to city-lit skies.

Hello, I'm back. I should go sleep, but a room with just myself in it seems daunting. 

My summer was fantastic. Tons of work, and fantastic. I really like lists and I'm not functional enough to do anything else, so here you go, if you feel like it. (I don't have many photographs because my camera was stolen.)

Some stuff I've learned:

• Carefully apply sunscreen to avoid a thin and inexplicable red stripe on your left shoulder.
• Pack extra underpants. Do not lose half of them.
• To avoid Jewfro, don't EVER brush your hair when it's dry.
• Your hair is not as bad as you think.
• Wearing polka dot rainboots, striped kneesocks, and plaid short shorts together is much, much worse than you think. 
• If you want something, go for it. Fighting for what you want is easier than you'd expect.
• Don't spend too much time in your castles in the air, or you'll miss out on opportunities to achieve them on land.
• Don't apologize for who you are. If change is required, just make the change. 
• Sometimes people will surprise you with a sudden revealing of awesomeness. If they don't, that's cool too. It isn't necessary to like everyone.
• Don't lend things if losing them would make the lending unworth it. (I failed to follow this one and lost my camera and the 300 pictures on it.)

Some stuff I was told:

A friend: "There's a fine line between hipsters and gay people." 

A good friend who I liked: "I'd never judge you because you vomited cheddar penguin crackers all over the floor in the middle of your cabin. In fact, I respect you for it. Wait, no."

Eccentric Israeli: "Now, what I say is always look of the life side of bright. There's a deeper meaning to this if you think about it. You see, bright has many sides, and one of the sides of bright is life. Life is one of the brightest sides of bright so you should always look at it, yes?" 

Same Eccentric Israeli: "Apart we are like couscous. Together we are. . . something else!" 

Some stuff that's in my memory box:

Our counsellors gave us all boxes. Mine is decorated with varieties of duct tape. We put stuff in from our summers.

From left across

• A medallion, with the Hebrew word for judge in silver Sharpie. Made carefully. 
• A paper bag puppet named Oswald. 
• A black and white playbill for a camp-run production of Little Shop of Horrors. My name is on it.
• A party hat, blower thingy, and tissue paper flower
• A piece of caution tape
• Me.
• A duct tape bowtie
• A menu
• A small cup and a large cup
• A hurried essay I still won with.
• A piece of the ocean.
• A newsletter
• A (mock) wedding invitation
• A piece of a bowl I broke.
• A movie poster for Return of the Cheddar Penguins (Story about that later.)
• Words of wisdom 
• A handful of compliments

*********************************************************************

Here's a picture. It's really classy. I'm the one with both curly hair and boobs. (Or the one on the far right.)

I've missed the internet. I've missed you guys. I wish I had time to catch up on your lives by reading your old blog posts, but I'm afraid I don't. Any updates? How was your summer?

<3 

Gabi