summer fun!

hey guys!

umm..i don't think i really have anything neat-o or thought-provoking to write about...i just wanted to say hi :) i'm getting pretty excited to move out to BC. sometimes i drive around at night or in the early morning and look at nice trees and imagine there are hundreds of them instead of just a few. you have no idea how excited i get over trees. i would live in one if the opportunity presented itself.

so, summer fun, huh! i haven't really been engaging in that so much this summer. i've just been working during the days and spending evenings visiting my visitors--family mostly--and staying out of the rain that punctuates the sunny days spent inside, and going through everything i own (which is a LOT of stuff because i lived in an apartment-dorm at school for 3 years and i was always the "local" roommate, so i am like one of those home stores that has everything from appliances to tvs to bakeware to lamps to furniture to decor...aaaah i hate owning so much stuff! but at the same time, sucks to get rid of it 'cause i don't want to have to buy it again. oh well, if i decide i want appliances again i'll just get married. for now...garage sale of the century!) i was going to get a second job and work myself into insanity again like i usually do in summers...but i keep getting nice little surprises, like my car insurance rate going down and giving me credit, my high school flute being appraised at $479 and getting paid $400 to spend a collective of about 2 hours speaking to a bunch of sweet kids for a week of camp...so things are stacking up in my favor i think? umm..except i lost my wallet. so that was a setback. but aside from cancelable cards, it only had $5 and, coincidentally enough, a vintage valentine in it. i live a pretty "worthless" life i guess?

speaking of that, i'm getting pretty stoked for speaking at camp. i just picked up a compilation book of C.S. Lewis' signature classics and read a few chapters at the end of Mere Christianity last night, which aligned perfectly with the theme i'm speaking on. i'm going to be talking about different aspects/elements of lukewarmness (from the Rev. 3 scripture). yeah leave it to shaina to pick something out of the book of doom to speak on at teen camp huh! but for real, i love making people uncomfortable. i think comfort is our culture's biggest weakness--spiritual, social, intellectual, you name it. huge pandemic. but you know, it won't all be doom and gloom of course...'cause we have that rad thing called hope! it's tricky telling upper middle class christian kids about hope. it's tricky telling myself about hope. maybe we'll all learn something.

well, i should go play with my dear little seventh grade boys who've drifted in again, as is their custom on days that are too hot to skate. (they're asking what there is to do. i told them to get some slurpees and 5centers, build a fort, and watch the ninja turtles movies. i think they are too young to decipher my early 90s dialect. one of them made fun of me for saying "rad" yesterday. further proof childhood is deteriorating.) actually, one of the kids looks like a young River Phoenix, which is inspiring me to watch Stand By Me, a definite summer fun tradition from the same vein as The Sandlot (shoutout to jamison for upholding!) maybe i'll get a slurpee and some 5centers and build a fort to watch those in--'cause chances are good it's gonna be another stormy night!