Slightly less-quick update

Okay, I’ve got about half an hour here. Dinner is in another 30 minutes, Sandra has all the kids at the cabin, and I’m in the business office with a computer, an internet connection, and the keys remapped to Dvorak.

Saturday:
We got checked in, unloaded the van into the cabin, and parked Turbo Schlock in the upper parking lot right next to Emerald Lodge (the dining hall). He’s been relegated to the role of “general purpose locker” for the rest of the week. It’s easier having someplace in the center of camp where you can dump stuff and know it’s secure.

I got out the frisbee golf stuff, set up on the ball field, and positioned myself for some long drives. Sadly, my brand-new 134g Leopard leapt from my hand 45 degrees further right than I wanted it to, and then turned even further right…. off it went, over the edge of the field, across the road… the last I saw of it, the Leopard was making a gentle fade back to the left, but the trees obscured its final resting place. I hunted for it to no avail, and even came back on Sunday and looked for it with a stick and permission to tromple some deep wildflowers and reeds. Still no Leopard.

I’ll be buying another one. Probably heavier (so it’s actually LEGAL). I liked the way it flew. I wish I’d gotten more than the one throw with it.

Sunday:
Church. This was the monthly testimony meeting, and I took the opportunity to get up and say some stuff. I won’t trouble you with what I said — I’ll just say that I had more than a few folks come up and thank me afterwards. We all got pictures taken, had lots of quiet time, and I realized that I’ve got a mild case of altitude sickness. It’s nothing I can’t treat with fluids and rest, and that’s what I did.

I also drew a couple of cool pictures, and got out the markers and colored them. They’ll show up in the Schlock Mercenary Premium Gallery — sorry folks, only the comic strip and this journal crap is free.

Monday:
That’s today. The kids were in their program groups all morning. I did some more drawing down at the arts and crafts center with Sandra, and then I decided to go up the climbing wall. That was hard work. My hands, back, and legs are still feeling it. I wore my small, flexible, cheapo boots because they’re better for climbing, but once I got out onto the cables I was regretting it — the New Rocks with their thick soles would have been much better suited for that. But I doubt I could have successfully scaled the wall with those on.

After lunch I took Kiki and Link to “Aspen Follies,” which is a competitive fair of silly outdoor games. We teamed up with the Petersons, and they decided that I should name our team and come up with the cheer.

Team Name: “Mercenaries”
Team Cheer (done to hip-grind dance-step): “WE’LL DO IT! WE’LL DO IT! WE’LL DO IT… FOR MONEY!!”

I’m not going to recount all the games. Suffice it to say for now that I’m not sure we’re gonna get paid on this gig.

–Howard

Time to go!

I’m packed, I’m ready.

I brought golf discs, my portable target (complete with the inner set of chains I built for it), and this afternoon I went out and bought three more discs (including a 134g “cheater” they had on the shelf — legal minimum weight is 150g).

I’ve got a couple of books to read. I brought my marker set and my colored pencils. I’ve got a short stack of bristol and a big pile of graph paper. I’ve got my laptop (should I decide to write — typing is faster) and my pencil and pens.

I have a swimsuit, sunscreen, warm clothes, cool clothes, stylin clothes (a hot yellow dragon-print shirt I bought in Africa in 2000) and a hat for my shiny, easy-to-burn top.

I’ve got a small pharmacy packed, including allergy meds, Vitamin I, Vitamin H, and little self-contained packets of other vitamins for each day.

We’re bringing the digital camera, a connector cable for the laptop, Star Munchkin, Grave Robbers from Outer Space, Skip-Bo, a pair of cell-phones (do NOT call me) and both our vehicles.

I’ll be driving Turbo Schlock up the hill, while my wife takes the crew up in the minivan. The name “Turbo Schlock” was pronounced by Link, who read my license plate, and then read the “TURBO” label under the VW logo, and decided the two words needed to be strung together. He was right. They DO. There’s no champagne in the house (never has been), so I spritzed some Windex on a bug on the hood, wiped that off, and considered it christened.

I couldn’t be more ready.

I may enter some journal stuff from camp on their slow link, using their public web-browsing machines. Then again, I may not.

See ya!

–Howard

One over… AGAIN.

I tied my best-ever Disc Golf score for Provo’s Bicentennial Park: One over par. I’d love to be able to just get PAR for nine holes, but after a full year of playing I’m not there yet. My drives are still 100 feet short of where they need to be, and my putting game is crap outside of 20 feet.

I bought an InStep portable Disc Golf target on eBay for $58, and it showed up while I was in Africa. I got it set up and found that with the single ring of chains it has a tendency to not catch discs as well as the targets at the park. Rather than put up with a basket that teaches me gentle putting, I decided to install a second ring of chains.

I’m pretty pleased with how that turned out. It took about an hour’s worth of planning, and 30 minutes of shopping, but once I had the parts it took all of 5 minutes to install, and only cost another $23. I used mini-carribeeners from Wal-Mart, and seven two-foot lengths of chain from Home Depot.

I’m taking that basket with me to Aspen Grove in hopes of improving my game, having fun throwing in a new environment, and ruining my vacation.

–Howard

(Buffer update is here)

Writer, Illustrator, Consumer