Finding Anwenn: Camp Day 7 - "Friendship Night"

Dear Diary,

Friday brought a new slew of events, and a new batch of challenges.

I was able to attend a ballet class, but once again, the big kids were more of an afterthought, and while everyone else was RPIng being in a ballet class, I was struggling with animation offset positions in the barre. Still, it would have been an enjoyable experience and a fulfillment of a life's dream, if it hadn't been for technical issues.

I was still able to get a pic I rather enjoyed.

Events from earlier in the week had been rescheduled, and now a number of events were overlapping something fierce. For me, following the ballet thing, it came down to a choice between a game called “Krafties” and a game called “Mech War”.. and I chose the latter. Since the Krafties event was basically a Pokemon knock-off, I figured Mech War would be something different.

It was different.. But it didn’t get started til nearly half an hour after the specified time, so any hope of making it to the “Tug of war” event was lost. The event was fun tho, and a little complicated to figure out. Once we got a game plan going though, we did pretty well.

Following that, I attended a little event called “tugboat races”.. where we drove miniature tugboats. The race very quickly turned into a very cutthroat game with other players pushing each other outside the course to make them miss the finish line.. It kinda fell apart due to that, but I think everyone was having fun with it.

I was.

What followed next was some sort of crazy mega event.

The camp formal dance.. which wasn't terribly formal. Lots of just dancing and trying to get people to rez. Sadly, not everyone sees the same thing.

Following the formal dance, came friendship night.

Friendship night is difficult to explain. It’s just this big gathering where we all get together, and soak in the fact that camp is almost over, and we wish it would start again. It’s the time when all our wishes and fears get aired, all are newly formed friendships and renewed old ones are at their peak. It is very much the last “actual day” of camp, and the last time we’ll really be together as campers.

Some kids get up and talk to the group, about what camp means to them, how hard it will be to leave, etc etc.

It was different than last time, in almost every way possible. I got to sit with Mari.. And talked to her a little.. And I didn’t end up a useless twitching puddle of tears at the end. I even managed to get myself up on the stage and speak. I’m not sure what possessed me.

Okay so.. Unlike a lot of people, I don't have a prepared speech, and I don't type very fast.

Last winter was my first camp here.. and I have to be honest, I was really scared. I only knew one person in the whole camp.. though I'd been living vicariously through her pics for half a decade

I'm also really new at being a kid in general. and camp was really quite the crucible to test my metal

A lot of things went wrong for me that first camp.. and on friendship night.,., due to my own shyness.. I was alone.

And I know out there, someone out there is feeling alone. and it may hurt a lot.

But you're not alone. Even if I don't know you, even if you haven't reached out, or if that one friend isn't around.. we are all still here

If you need a hug, or someone to chat with, or whatever.. IM.. one of us, any one of us.

Because.. you're not alone.

I had to fight the people I care about to come to this camp, and some don't understand why this is important.

But it is important. To all of us, or we wouldn't keep coming here, families come and go.. but we.. all of us.. we're in this together.

This is our tribe. Our home.

And I'm grateful to Miss Jill and everyone else for keeping the doors open and the roof on.

Thank you so very much

There were so many technical issues that night, and afterwards came cabin wars. I honestly don’t remember much of the games from that night. Since it was the grand finale event, they but a good deal into the event itself, but only a very select number of people from each team could try the event, which left most of us bored in the grandstands, sitting out of draw distance, unable to hear or see what was going on.

After a while, I excused myself and went to find Mari and Isley, and we sat on the beach to take some pics and play our Ukuleles. Isley was having computer issues, so Mari and I took one together while we waited.

Afterwards, was the camp out night, where we set up sleeping bags and tents. I set mine up, as Mari and Isley logged off, It started hitting me that ‘this was it’.. the weekend would be owned by Relay for Life, there would be no events, and all too soon it would be over, and I didn’t want it to end.