california thursday

yesterday, i found out what adventure rec is. basically it's playing trust and teamwork games in the heat. actually it wasn't that hot, and the games were pretty fun. apparently it's unseasonably humid here right now. not nearly as bad as home but bad enough.

i went deep sea fishing last night. we didn't go too far offshore, only about a mile or so. the boat ride and the view was the best part. i didn't get so much as a nibble. the only fish i caught was the live bait in the tank. so i basically stood at the side of the boat for 2 hours holding a pole and reeling it in every 20 minutes or so to make sure my bait was still alive. i can't say that it was the greatest thing i've ever experienced, but it was pretty cool. riding back in at night was cool too. we didn't get back into the harbor until about 10 pm.

today was a fun trip to the waterpark. it was a very small waterpark infested with many small children. there were only 4 slides and we had to wait in line for nearly 45 minutes for the first slide we attempted to ride. after a lazy float in the lazy river type thing we chilled in the shade and some read books and others slept, that would be me. it wasn't the most exciting trip to a waterpark i've ever experienced but it was pretty fun. the older ones of us, kandace, melinda, tasha* and lorie*, talked about summer missions and college and stuff so it was cool to get to know them a little better.

tonight's the biggest push for salvation and a call for missions. cool stuff.

*tasha and lorie are counselors from one of the groups up here. tasha was a summer missionary in louisiana a few years back and had a partner from alabama whom i probably know, but can't remember. i hung out with their group on the deep sea fishing trip and at the trip to the water park.

photos from camp

california beach

i went to the beach today in oceanside harbor. the beach here has the coloring of an ashtray. the closer you get to the ocean the darker the sand gets and then it gets lighter again. the cool part about it is that when the sand washes away it has the cool kaleidoscope of different colored sand effect. there aren't any shells either...just smooth stones. they still hurt to step on. played a little frisbee...and a little football and didn't get burned. mainly cause i kept my shirt on cause the water was freezin cold.

i got a good response for sharing about my missions stuff in the morning. that's my main point of being here. i had a kid come up tonight and say he really enjoyed it and wanted to know how to be a missionary. cool...that's the whole point.

tomorrow..adventure rec. whatever that is.

photos from camp

california characters

i thought i'd give a little info on who folks are and what stuff is whle i'm here.

stram: state recreation adventure mountain & marine camp
mike: mike is a fellow usc2'er, who i went through interviews and orientation with, and camp pastor here at stram. his usual job is working in the california southern baptist convention office as youth evangelism coordinator. cool guy.
melinda: melynda is a summer missionary at the church of one of the assistant camp directors. she goes to school at mississippi college.
kandace: kandace is melinda's summer missionary partner. she goes to mississippi state. (fellow southerners.. :) )
don: camp director.

that's all of the peoples' names i can think of right now. if anyone else of interest arises i'll explain them as i go.

photos from camp

california day 1

after a successful couple of flights that actually put me in san diego, i had no trouble finding the two guys standing by the baggage claim holding a piece of paper with my name in big bold print, awaiting my arrival.

going into this deal i knew basically two things about this camp. we were camping in tents all week and the recreation included water activities like snorkeling, deep sea fishing, a water park and a trip to sea world. the first thing the guys who picked me up was, "it's really loud where we're staying." this kind of confused me. campgrounds aren't really known for their loudness. so i asked, "at the campground?" they kind of snickered and said yeah, there's a construction crew right beside us that starts to work at 5 am and a train that comes through about midnight. i still didn't get the picture.

after a somewhat lengthy drive through san diego and on northwards and after a brief geography lesson and an explanation of the "marine layer", cloud cover, and that it actually makes you burn faster than on a clear day, we finally arrived at our "campground," two little leauge baseball fields. smack dab in the middle of a subdivision right off of the highway.

ok so we're still camping in tents, there are port-o-potties and the typical rec league facilities available. there's port-o-showers available as well. there are a couple of summer missionaries here and a usc2 friend of mine who works in fresno, ca and is serving as the camp pastor here this week.

for dinner, beef stroganov. i'm skipping.

photos from camp

well california though

well i'm off to sunny southern california for a week. i'm the "camp missionary" at california state convention's S.T.R.A.M. camp. i don't know what that stands for but the camp is their marine camp. marine as in water, not as in the armed services. anyway, i'm told my week will consist of deep sea fishing, snorkeling, water parking and such as that. we're also camping out for the entire week should be great. i'll tell ya all about it as i go, or when i get back.

galileo galilei

more people should know this.

bama vs penn state

well i just finished my first game in the online ncaa football 2004 league i'm playing in. of course, i'm playing with alabama. luckily my first opponent wasn't one of these guys who has already played 70 something games online. he'd only played a few so we were evenly matched. it was a great game with lots of turnovers, which is typical in this game, and lead changes. i even got a safety. the final score bama 24 - penn state 20.

ncaa 2004 also supports the headset so i was actually talking to the guy while we were playing. nice guy..which made playing alot more fun. there are still some things that need to be tweaked in the game: defensive backs awareness of where the ball is is pretty low, there are way too many inuries and way too many penalties such as holding, clipping and facemasks. overall though its great. next up for me...pittsburgh.