Boy Scout Camp, Randsburg Scouting Reservation, Pantera

Boy Scout Camp

I am back from the Randsburg Scouting Reservation (RSR) and wow, what a week. I am so glad to be home as I am totally exhausted from the trip. I did adjust my schedule to accommodate school. After driving some Scouts into camp on Sunday, I left Monday evening and went home. Tuesday I spent roughly 12 hours catching up on homework and writing a paper then slept at home Tuesday night. I left early Wednesday morning where I saw Ted and delivered some Body Glide for him so he could deal with the rash he said he earned. Then I stayed through the rest of the week, leaving early Saturday morning to come home.

OK, the nitty gritty. What an awesome experience for Scouts, and what a harrowing experience for me. It rained everyday. The first day they got almost two inches, then a half inch every single day afterwards. Of course, it was hot and I didn’t sleep well. I also struggled with the heat some and had to go into an AC building a few times to cool off. Honestly I kind of struggled there. The Scouts did not though. They just seemed to have unbounded energy and kept going. What a wonderful place to be a youth though. They had over 50 merit badges they could earn. There were STEM centers, arts and crafts, watercraft, horses, zip lines, and so much more. It was also full of geodes, which I’ve never seen before. The property was beautiful. It was on a large lake with full mature trees. The tents were not so great. The Scouts slept in canvas tents which were hot, and they leaked. All of them got wet it seemed but they got through it. The food was good. Meals were served family style as opposed to cafeteria style like at Cub World. The campfire experiences were more energetic, as you can imagine it would be. I’m not going to go into how I would’ve loved to have experienced this as a youth, but I will say I am so happy Teddy got to see it.

I did make one major decision. I don’t think Scouting America leadership is for me. Being a Cub Scout leader was great, those youth were fun to be around and their needs were much less. Boy Scouts are much different. They have interpersonal issues, and the program is really complicated. As someone who did not grow up in it I am having trouble with all of the unpublished rules (another leader I talked to echoed that also). There are just a lot of traditions and what not that I just don’t think I want to learn, not now while I’m putting so much energy into learning new technology and getting an MBA. I am going to let the leaders know I don’t foresee myself becoming a Scoutmaster or even an ASM. I will work on the Committee though, helping make sure these guys have the resources they need. I am really good at recruiting, so I am going to focus there.

Pantera

I went to see one of my favorite metal bands in the world, Pantera. I realize I’ve been to concerts more this year than probably any year in the past, which is notable. This is the third time I’ve seen Pantera, the last time was twenty years ago. They played a lot of their hits. Yes, when I went to see them was the day of Ozzy Osbourne’s death. Pantera did a nice tribute to him, showing pictures of the Ozzy and members of Pantera throughout the years. It’s hard to really oversell how significant Ozzy was to metal. Ozzfest used to be THE metal show of the year. It’s hard finding many metal bands without at least one Black Sabbath cover on an album somewhere. To be honest, I think metal is probably dead and it is fitting it ended with the death of Ozzy. That same rebel attitude is kind of gone now, and metal is mainstream enough where young people aren’t attracted to it I think. I look for new metal bands but many of them sound the same to each other. Most kids seem to gravitate more towards hip hop, pop, and electronic music (the latter of which I think is taking metal’s place). But who knows? It kind of seemed country was on its hind legs but there’s been a surge in good solo artists recently. But, metal was always a niche musical genre for what is really niche people.

Other Updates

I am getting back into the swing of things after being off for 7 business days, which is the most I’ve taken off from any job I’ve ever had. There were some changes while I was out that I am adjusting to this week. I also have another doctor’s visit and I’m rolling in some more cardio into my routine to take advantage of all of the walking I did at camp and the strength I gained in my legs. I am also taking advantage of a fasting blood draw so I’m going to roll in a 6:1 nutrition schedule. I learned at camp that if I also eat oatmeal as a supplement for my breakfast that I’m just not that hungry throughout the day.

This weekend I’ll be doing catchup work for my MBA since I was out, luckily the third week is a little lighter than weeks one and two so catchup shouldn’t be too hard. Health habits this week 1) Daily Stoic check in 2) 60 minute weights 3) 30 minute cardio 4) daily Bible chapter reading 5) 10 minute meditation (Apple) 6) 30 minute evening workout 7) 15 minute cleanup.