Camp is very exciting. I was a camper myself going back to the 1990s. I went on to be a counselor at camps starting in 2005 in New York. I wanted to really briefly outline this era of camp counseling which was pretty special in my life. I want to quickly mention some of the highlights, both the good and the ugly from the good old days as they say.
CAMP COUNSELOR, GREEN OATMEAL ERA
2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011
MY NAME IS OATMEAL JOEY ARNOLD
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2005-2011, Counselor
Oatmeal Daily - 2022-06-12 - Sunday | Published in June of 2022
BY OATMEAL JOEY ARNOLD
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2005
I worked at the Snow Camp as a counselor at the Word Of Life Bible Institute in New York the winter of 2005. It was from around January to March of 2005. It was my first time as a counselor of any camp. It was my first time at their snow camp. From the top of my head, I remember leaving some of my campers at the top of the snow hill. I would kind of joke around about how they would go up the hill but never come down. Sometimes I felt like I didn't want to be too strong on the teenagers. I didn't want to become too verbally abusive like my alcoholic father. In some ways it can be better not to be too aggressive with children. But I should have at least asked for help if I felt like I couldn't handle it. I wanted to be cool and inspire my campers into following the rules as opposed to telling them they had to. My exact memories of that winter is a little Mango Hazy. Just like Mango Haze. It's tough. I may try to add details. We could probably debate the pros and cons of some of my actions that I made as a counselor but maybe not right now.
I also worked as a counselor at the Word Of Life Ranch which was the summer camp which is held at that same college that I was a student at. I went to attend that college, the Word Of Life Bible Institute in New York, in 2004. So, the last quarter of the school year is the summer. Students are required to work at a camp or something in order to graduate from the first year program at that college. They have the Word Of Life Island camp which is located on an island. They have a Campground. They probably have camps in Florida and other places too. I picked the Ranch for that summer of 2005. One time I sang a song to one camper, "Go to sleep little boy." He would not go to sleep. I got in trouble for doing that I think because it was creepy. One time a big fat kid punched me in the face.
I also was a counselor for the children camp at the Word Of Life West Coast Camp in Lassen Pines, California. I was a counselor for a week or for a short period of time. It was a 2 week camp which was held during the last 2 weeks of July. So, some of us stopped what we were doing at the Ranch and other places to fly over to California. I already got in trouble earlier and they eventually found out about it. So, they took me off as counselor in California. So, during that last week, my job might have been different. I forget what they had me do. I need to try to remember what it was. When we got back to New York, I was probably not a counselor again because I got in trouble for some things I guess. So, I think I was working as a dishwasher during the last few weeks of camp in New York in August of 2005.
2006
I was a counselor for Snow Camp again and probably did a better job at it during those eight weeks of Snow Camp. I was also a counselor at the Ranch that summer as well. This time, I didn't go to the West Coast Camp mostly because I didn't want to raise the $800 needed or however much it was. Probably around that much and I was already raising money for my mission trip to Quebec which was around March or April of 2006 I think. So, my experience working as a counselor at the Ranch this second time was probably different. I think they had a rotation schedule that summer which was different than what they did in 2005. So, in 2006, I think I was not a counselor every week. They would rotate and you would be a counselor on some weeks and on other weeks you would do other jobs. This way, some of the other students could rotate in to be counselors too. So, sometimes I was a dishwasher that summer.
2007
My younger sister inspired me to apply to work at Camp Kuratli. This was a Salvation Army camp at Trestle Glen in Boring, Oregon. Mike Kurtz decided to hire me partly because I drew a little drawing of myself with glasses on the job application. He took a chance on me because I stood out in the crowd at least in some ways. So, I was a wilderness counselor. We had many adventures. I like my first two years as a counselor in many ways. This was my third year as a counselor. I kind of like this camp more than the Ranch. I could probably talk all day about the differences and similarities between The Salvation Army and Word Of Life.
2008
During the school year, I went on a mission trip to Hawaii with The Salvation Army. It was called Revolution Hawaii. For the summer of 2008, I returned to my home state of Oregon to be a wilderness counselor again at Camp Kuratli. It was fun. In some ways, it was different or better. In some ways, maybe worse than my experience in 2007. I go back and forth on all of that.
2009
I helped out in children church and things like that a few times in 2008 and 2009 at the Agape Church of Christ in Portland, Oregon. So, technically, I didn't work at camps in 2009. But I may have done a few camp like things if they count.
2010
I worked as a Relief Counselor at Salvation Army's Camp Redwood Glen in Scotts Valley, California, the summer of 2010. I was there in June and July. I was in the skits with Farmer Hanna and others. In a lot of ways, this was a lot of fun. In other ways, it was a mixed bag as it came after the death of Moore Street youth pastor Blake Webb who I was working with. I was helping him out at the youth group and the children ministry in 2009, 2010, and that continued even after his death into 2011 a little.
Working at Camp Redwood Glen the summer of 2010 was my last time I worked at camps in the 2010s. I have a wide variety of feelings regarding that last summer. In many ways, it was painful. In other ways, it was exciting and I miss it truly at a pretty deep level.
2011
I worked as a counselor for the basketball camp thing around the spring of 2011. It was held at The Salvation Army's Moore Street Corps church in Portland, Oregon. The replacement youth pastor, Brandon Kyle, got that camp up and running. That was a good program that we did. After that, I ended up going off to Forest Grove to see my dad. I was spending a lot of time working on the Arnold Attic.
After that, I ran off to teach English in Vietnam.
I grew up attending homeschool for fifteen years in Oregon in the ghetto from 1985 to 2000.
After that, I attended high school and colleges for eleven years into 2011. After that, ran off to Vietnam in 2012.
I want to add more articles, videos, posts, memes, photos, links, etc, in order to expand upon this outline of my time as a counselor. My life as a counselor was similar to my life as an English Teacher in Vietnam in the 2010s. I want to try to write more about my life as a counselor. I want to try to extend and expand upon these stories. But for now, this web page will serve as an incomplete summary. Please click on the links provided on this page for more information.
The intention of this article here is not to talk about everything that I was doing between 2005 and 2011. I just wanted to focus on my life as a counselor during those years. Not to say I won't ever do counseling ever again in the future. I may not have time right now to talk about everything I want to say about this counseling era in my life. Stay tune to find out more. Also, please use search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc, to find some of my videos, articles, memes. Just use random keywords to FIND ME on the Internet. I get BANNED all the time off many websites, social media networks, etc.
So, good luck at finding my stuff when I am kicked off dozens of sites and everything else. Someday, you may not be able to find me, especially if I'm stuck in prison or murdered someday. If you don't hear from me in a while, expect the worse and continue the Oatmeal Legacy, good luck.
Write on a piece of paper a list of keywords to help you lookup and find what you are looking for. Download and copy and paste everything you want to save while you still can. My stuff is not COPYRIGHTED and you can always mirror my content without permission. You don't have to ask me if you can steal my things online. You can download and upload anything you want at any time. You can clip me. You can take me out of context, etc. You can reupload me. Just don't try to steal my passwords like Mango Haze and Cosmos. Thanks.
