pratice final

Practice final started at 1:37 Tuesday

I really don't have a lot of hobbies. Mostly I get paid for my hobbies so that kind of excludes them as hobbies. What I mean by that even thought you are doing something you like to do, if you are getting paid it becomes a job. I can say that the one hobby I truly enjoy, even though I have not been able to do much of it in the past couple years, is camping. Camping with good friends can be one of the greatest rewards in life for me, and every time I go camping I find I learn something about myself or those with me.

When I say camping I mean in a tent, not in a camp. I find that when you use a tent, and go some place that is off the beaten path, it makes the greatest difference in the experience. Camping is so popular in Maine that getting off the beaten path can be a challenge sometimes. In the past I have done most of my camping with one or two other people usually close friends. But being “out there” seems to make all the difference with people when no one is eavesdropping in the campsite next door. Sitting around the camp fire on a nice night has lead me to learn a lot about my friends. Sometimes conversations are sculpted with the help of alcohol, and sometimes not, but I have had friends open up to me in ways they would never do if others were around. I have learned some of their deepest, darkest secrets, their regrets and triumphs, things that no one else on this planed but me knows.

I once planned a fairly lengthy trek with a good friend. The plan was to travel light and move fast, to cover about fifteen miles over a mountain trial in two days. Just after we started out it began to rain, the wind picked up, and the temperature began to drop. We figured we could push through and make it to a lean-to camp, partly because it was the only two days the two of us had for a while and partly out of determination. As the day passed and the night came the weather did not let up. I had always thought that my friend was very tough and the I would give up on things much before he would. I found that my tough friend had a weakness. About a tenth of a mile from the shelter of the lean-to, he sat down at the base of a tree, started to cry, and resigned himself to death. The trouble was that we were no where near death. It was summer time, it was an easy walk to the lean-to from there and at most it was going to be a very uncomfortable night. I learned that everyone has a weakness and my friend it was the combination of wet, cold, and dark.

I have used some of my camping trips to test myself. I have tried to challenge myself in different ways so that I may learn more about my strengths and weaknesses. I have made trips that were long and rough and very physically demanding. I found from some of these trips that I can dig deep into my energy stores, push on, persevere and make it further than I ever thought I could. This is one of my strengths. I have found one of my weaknesses as well. I used to work for Outward Bound, I had time off and I made arrangements to be put on a tiny, uninhabited island, with minimal supplies and to be checked on every morning to see if I was alright. I learned that I could only go fifteen days without human contact and on he fifteenth day I signaled to be picked up. It wasn't the lack of food or good shelter that got to me, it was not being able to talk to someone that had a profound effect on me. I thought I would have lasted longer but I could not take the isolation.

I truly enjoyed the last several time I have gone camping, it has been much more relaxed than years ago. We camp at sites that we can drive to and not hike. We usually have ample food, drink, and firewood. If it starts to rain I can always sleep in the truck. I use to find great pleasure camping out under the stars, “roughing it”, and pushing myself constantly. As I have gotten older greatest thing that I have learned it that you don't need to push yourself all the time, you can learn things just sitting there by the fire. But it never seems to fail, that no matter how great or how small, I always learning something every time I go camping.

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