Enjoying the Chaos
Wednesday, July 9th, 2025
PUPPET GROVE circa 11:30pm—A pervasive skunk smell lingers over the Camp Kitchen and its adjacent groves. Counselors chit-chat and munch cereal in the darkness. Occasional vehicles broadcast their transit down the 101 with eerie wooshes that echo through the forest. Everyone is pleasantly fatigued from an evening of dusty madness.
The festivities began around 7:45pm when I addressed an audience seated at the fire circle.
“Welcome to Tipi Clean-Up Night!” I announced to the campers. Some giggle knowingly while others stare nonplussed. “Does anybody know what TSP stands for? Tri-Sodium Phosphate. Say it with me!”
“Tri-Sodium Phosphate,” repeated the crown.
“We’re going to scrub the tipis, the woodchips, and every surface in Camp until it sparkles,” I continued. “We have buckets, rags, and plenty of non-potable water. The last ingredient is the Tri-Sodium Phosphate. Bring in the TSP!” I exclaimed, motioning to Drumming Instructor Jeff Brown. He entered the crowd with a worried expression.
“I thought you said it was for Thursday,” he confessed. “It’s not gonna be here until tomorrow. It’s too late for Amazon same-day.”
“No, it’s for today!” I said angrily. “I told you, ‘Wednesday’! How are we going to do Tipi Clean-Up Night?”
“I’m sorry, man. There’s nothing I can do,” he said, leaving the circle with arms raised in resignation.
“There’s no TSP! Tipi Clean-Up Night is ruined,” I exclaimed.
“Nooooo!” responded the older campers, playing along.
“I guess we’ll have to go with our back-up plan, Adventure Night!”
The crowd erupted in cheers, elated to not be cleaning tipis for the evening. I went on to explain the rules of our carnival-style game night. I then beckoned into the circle the prize brigade. Nine counselors entered the circle with large boxes of chips, candy and soda held high above their heads. The crowd went wild with pure sugar lust, scream-cheering for nearly a minute straight. I then set the camper horde loose on the evening with a blow of the conch.
The campers proceeded to rage around the campus for the next hour, clambering through obstacles courses and competing in various challenges to earn Winnarainbow dollars. Once it became too dark for running, I blew the conch again, summing everyone back to the fire circle. It was announced that the winners of the coveted junk food were Orange and Flame tipis. The crowd reacted with passionate yells, some of joy, most of dismay. To settle the mood, we then enjoyed a calming story from Camper Advocate Lexi Takaki. For the grand finale, campers were treated to a display of fire juggling from our elite juggling instructors.
After the festivities had concluded, I camped out near the toothbrushing zone to garner a few post-game analyses.
“Something my dad says is, ‘Comparison is the killer of joy,” relayed Matthew, 10¾, Turquoise Tipi. “I enjoyed the activities, but the competitive element was frustrating. I don’t understand how my tipi didn’t win! We didn’t even make the top four! I think some of the sites were a scam.”
“My favorite site was limbo,” continued Matthew. “It kept going lower until I was literally lying on the ground. Then they put the limbo stick all the way on the ground, so I just lifted it up myself and squirmed under it. They didn’t say that it was against the rules! All in all, it’s just a game and the rewards don’t matter.”
“My job was collecting money from my tipi-mates and waiting in line to roll the dice,” said Eve, 14, Rainbow Tipi. “We did a team strategy, but we didn’t win. We won in spirit, though. I think I made my sprained ankle worse, but it was worth it. The Side Quest Wizard was cool. I had to serenade people with my favorite songs for my side quest. I sang the National Anthem and ‘Lunch’ by Billie Eilish because that’s all I could think of in the moment.”
“There was a Grim Reaper trying to tag everyone,” said Soleil, 10, Maroon Tipi. “If you got tagged you had to go to the Theater until your friends would tag you out. My favorite site was the spider web; it required a lot of skill. I went through once and got fifteen dollars. The obstacle course at the Aerials Site was fun—more fun than a roller coaster!”
“It was really fun,” said Kaia, 12, Scarlet Tipi. “It was exciting to be playing alongside all my friends. Some of our tipi was spending money on dice rolls, while some were spending money on renaming parts of Camp. We were kind of all over the place. I did limbo a lot because it paid pretty well, and crate ball was super fun too. The whole point is teamwork, having fun, and enjoying the chaos.”
Stay hydrated,
—J. Payseno, Editor
