Summer Camp: A Typical Day

Dear Mom and Dad,

Thanks for being for being so nice and sending me that SWEET care package for my birthday! I don’t think any other son could be more lucky. Double Choco Chip Brownies?! Mom how did you know?! And just like you said in your note Dad, I made sure to share with my cabin mates. (Boy did they like your baking, Mom! Wally had TWO pieces!) These first two weeks at Camp Endstation have been VERY busy and though I couldn’t possibly tell you EVERYTHING I’ve been doing, I thought it would be nice to take just one typical day- to give you an idea of the kinda crazy stuff that goes on around here!

Thursday, June 4th, 2009:
7:50am
Alarm goes off. I slap it and go back to sleep.
8:00am
Alarm goes off. I slap it off and go back to sleep.
8:29am
Alarm does NOT go off. I wake up, realize I've got a BIG day and I’m running late, and scramble into the shower.

8:40am
Natalie tells me that our director Geoff is going to pick us up at 9:00am to take us to the local NPR station WVTF where they are going to interview us about the Blue Ridge Summer Theatre Festival. Because of time, I decide to go with the “short shower” protocol (don’t worry Mom SSP includes washing behind my ears.)

9:00am
Geoff, Natalie, and I drive into Roanoke, Virginia. We listen to WVTF on our way there. (Diane Rehm sounds more and more each day like the Crypt Keeper's wife.) Natalie tells us how she’s going to be going ALL over the country for a whole year when she goes on tour with the play “In the Heights” (including Costa Mesa, CA!) She’s VERY excited and kinda nervous too. Geoff says she'll do great. I agree. I’m so happy for her.

11:30am
We arrive at the radio station and I have to go the bathroom real bad. The guy who interviews us shows us around the station but all I could think was “Neat newsroom, pal. But where do you keep your potty!” Finally we walk by the restroom and I excuse myself. Oh sweet relief! When I get to the sound booth the interviewer asks us all kinda questions. Like how do we like Virginia, where are we from, what do we think of performing Shakespeare, and how do we like acting here for the summer. I felt like I was in school and we were having a pop quiz! Geoff and Natalie tell him lots of stuff that sounds real smart and interesting. But when he asks me all I could say was that I like acting and that Virginia is pretty but it sure does drive my allergies crazy. These seemed to be the wrong answers because the radio guy just stared at me. I then had to go to the bathroom again.

12:30pm
On our way back to camp Geoff asks us if we’re hungry and Natalie and I say “Heck yes!” So we stop at this neat Indian restaurant. It was delicious! I must have eaten ten puri breads the size of my head!

2:45pm
We get back to Sweet Briar College just in time to rehearse “My Brother’s Knife” the brand new play my friend Josh Mikel wrote. It’s pretty good, but because it’s a new play we’re always changing it. On account that when we read it sometimes some stuff needs to be clearer or we need to “raise the steaks” of the play (whatever that means!) I play this guy who’s thinking about killing himself but when my suicide attempt is stopped by a local police officer events unfold and long buried secrets resurface that threaten to tear apart a small Virginian town. It’s a really neat play.

6:00pm
Pretty much right after “My Brother’s Knife” I go into rehearsal for “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” This night we do “table work” on the scene where the “mechanicals” meet to rehearse the play-with-in-the-play “Pyramus and Thysby” and then my character get’s turned into a donkey. It was SO much fun pretending to be a donkey. Tommy, who plays Peter Quince, says I’m so good at playing a donkey he can’t tell the difference between me and the real thing!

9:00pm
I finally get home and boy am I tired! I brush my teeth and wash my sinuses out with the nose cannon Mikey and I got for my drippy-drop nose. I want to go to bed but I hear lots of laughing upstairs in the common room so I go up there and everyone in Cabin 5 is watching funny Youtube videos. So I grab a chair and we watch GI Joe PSA’s, The Count Censored, and Susan Boyle on Britain’s Got Talent (I love her!) until we’re all sore from sighing, laughing, and crying so hard.

12:00am
I have one final double choco brownie, say my prayers, and crawl into bed with EZ next to me. I lay in bed and think about all the day’s events for a really long time. I think about all the fun I’ve had and the work we all accomplished and all the stuff we still need to get done. But most of all I think about how much I miss you and how much I wish you were here. I also know I'm gonna miss not being under the same roof with so many wonderful people. I then kiss EZ goodnight and I go to sleep. And I dream.

With all my Double Choco love, your son,
-Sergio.
PS.
Send more baked goods!