Wow, haven't had time to post in a while. Some major highlights over the past couple of weeks:
(longish entry, hidding behind an lj-cut to avoid flooding various aggregators...)
Opus and ConCentricAngie and I went to Opus and ConCentric. For those not familiar, it's an annual UU Young Adult (18-35yr olds) campout and spritual retreat. When we're there, we do activities, workshops, worship, cook, clean, sit around the fire, swim, talk, laugh, cry, and all the things that come when you throw people together in a space for 10 days. Every time that I go, I both miss it and am glad when I leave. Over the course of the year, I start to think about only the good parts and when I go back. But when I'm there, there's tempers, hurt feelings, things go wrong. At the same time, when I'm there, I meet some of the people I'll connect with the strongest over the course of the year. Sometimes just a feeling or a song from the camp will help me reconnect and push through in the year in between.
This Opus in particular was interesting. I'd been away for two years, after having been on the planning committee for two years. There were things I loved: There were new people, new songs, new games. I learned to crochet, swam naked under the stars, reconnected with many old and new friends. This particular camp in Maryland is the one at which I proposed to Angie in 2000. There were things that sucked: The cooking staff had trouble getting food out for the first few days, which resulted in one of them quitting; a few hospital visits for people onsite stressed my friend who was the first aid attendant. Fortunately, Angie and I have worked in camp kitchens before, and she was able to step in and fill that roll. A ...
I need a collective for a group of people that doesn't sound like 90's corporate psychobabble. 'team's are things that compete. Maybe I'll steal the word from the current Ubuntu release.
... knot of 4 of us are applying to be kitchen staff next year. I have to be careful what I commit to this year, since in general all commitments I'm making to people officially expire in February. I can't tell what life will be like on the other side of having a child!
It's also hard going to a camp where we've been before, I think. My memories of that camp are mostly centred around people who weren't there. One of whom is dead, many have aged out, many just didn't come this time. I miss all of you.
For the drive down, Angie and I rented a Smart Car from Avis.
(Photo by Simon Law) Driving down to Maryland was fun. These things aren't for sale in the US until 2008, and there were many pictures of us taken on the drive and at gas stations. At least a dozen SUV drivers walked over to us to ask the mileage. It sustains 120km/h with no problems and doesn't get blown around too much on the highway. A few times I took it up to 130km/h, but at that point it starts to blow around alot. It *is* tiny, though. Packing enough for Angie and me to travel for 10 days was a bit tight, and driving a Yarris when I got back felt *huge*. On the way down, including Angie going to work once, and us taking a detour, the Diesel cost us $35, and the tolls cost us $40.
We did the drive down in two days. The first day making sure that we crossed the border and getting from Montr al to Albany. On the drive down on the second day, we didn't want to hit the NJ Turnpike at 5pm on a Friday, so we stopped for lunch at a place called Eduardo's Pizza in
Boonton, NJ. They had some of the best pizza we've ever had, and the nicest staff. They gave us directions to a waterpark nearby which had a neat ride called
High Anxiety (
Picture 2 Picture 3). I prefered to call it Funnel of Doom. The park was overpriced for a full day for what you'd get, but the half-day discount prices were worth it and the park was mostly empty because of a state fair.
The drive back was mostly a day of hard driving. Being at camp was wonderful, but we wanted our own *beds*. We got a bit lost coming back, and somehow paid less than $10 in tolls, despite travelling in the same amount of time. I like adventures like that.
So what's next? Re-entry into the world is almost done, but now there's re-entry into the mainstream UU communities. This is the part I find the hardest. Opus is such an idealised world, where we talk about anti-oppression work, changing the world, changing ourselves to help create this new world. The worships are spritually alive (Elandria, YOU ROCK MY WORLD!) and the group doesn't stay long enough for alot of politicking to set in. Our jobs leaving there are always to take a part of that community and recreate it elsewhere. I think it's the toughest job I've ever had.
Go out into the highways and byways. Give the people something of your new vision. You may possess only a small light, but uncover it, let it shine, use it in order to bring more light and understanding to the hearts and minds of men and women. Give them not Hell, but hope and courage. Do not push them deeper into their theological despair, but preach the kindness and everlasting love of God.
- John Murray
For whatever God means to you of course. Blessed be. =)
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