Here at CTT there is a certain sect of campers and counselors who I consider clinically insane. A lot of people agree with me about this group of crazies, and I think you will too when I tell you what they are in to.
These campers, led by Trow and CB, get up when the bell rings and sprint to the pool. Then, despite the chilly temperatures the West Virginia morning brings, they jump into the already-freezing swimming pool. This act of madness is known as dippies, and there is a strong following. Today, even Glenn and Emma joined in the ludicrous exercise.
For the entire summer, dippies has been the chief physical activity for campers in the morning. It stood unchallenged and confident, knowing there wouldn’t be anything to contend with their nonsense. It looked as if dippies was your thing if you wanted to be active in the morning.
Until today, anyway. In an act even more absurd than jumping in the pool in the early hours of the day, Krista and Staci have formed a group to participate in something known as runnies. This bunch of wackos woke up early and went running. They took Gerald and Simon along and plan to make this an every day thing!
I feel both of these groups are crazy. I am a staunch proponent of the only group that makes sense – sleepies. We basically lay in bed, like normal people do, until breakfast. But hey, it is their call. I just know that sleepies has the biggest contingency of campers and therefore is the best.
After dippies/runnies/sleepies, a lot of neat things happen around camp. For example the boys in the BV all learned how to shoot a bow and arrow yesterday. Mary started the day not knowing how to cast a fishing pole, and ended the day by not only catching her first lifetime fish, but hauled in a second one as well.
But not everything that can be accomplished at CTT can be done on the athletic fields. For some reason, a group of counselors take a lot of pride in what they do in the dining hall. A while ago, Jason Gersh was hungry and ate six chicken patties for dinner, setting a new camp record and something chicken sandwich enthusiasts could shoot for in the future.
One of the enthusiasts, Flip-Flop (the counselor), sat at the table (wearing flip-flops, the shoes) yesterday with nothing but a pile of chicken patties and a dream. He started wolfing down patties when dinner started and didn’t stop until dinner was well over. He didn’t have much fanfare, but Jason and I stuck around to see him attempt the record.
And I’m glad I did. Flippy chomped down seven patties to claim the new record. Jason had to announce the record today at breakfast, and now the whole camp is aware of Flip’s new record of gluttony.
And those are the big headlines from the first day of the third session. A new group of morning crazies, a rookie fisherman turned into a master angler and a counselor proved himself a chicken patty hog. With all of this going on during only the first real day of the session, who knows what else the next two weeks could have in store?