The end (of summer) is near

The conclusion of cheer camp yesterday marks the beginning of the end of summer. If you see me sporting an unusually chipper attitude on August 26th, it's because school starts that day. If you see me reverse course completely on August 27th, it's because homework and extra-curriculars have kicked in.

Cheer camp was everything I expected and more....the "more" being the parking ticket that was waiting on my windshield for me when I arrived back at the car three hours later, struggling with an armload of my daughter's bedding. Just when I thought I was thrilled to go back to my alma mater, they managed to douse my enthusiasm with paper admonishment. I guess it's karma getting even with me for squeezing out of that license plate debacle unscathed just days ago. Oh well, at least my money is going into the pockets of Texas A&M, even if it's going to the Parking Nazis.

When I arrived at 9 am, the squads were getting ready to perform their cheers and "extreme routines" (panned by my husband in a previous post). I can attest it was adequately annoying, especially when repeated a hundred times. The highlight of the day (aside from seeing our squads perform) was finally seeing the facility that I was forced to fund while in college but never actually got to use.

My daughter and I went shopping at the local mall (if you can call it that) once we were done with lunch. It was truly depressing to walk through once-proud Post Oak Mall. The quality stores that once lined the building were nowhere to be found, only to be replaced by the likes of "Lucca Fashion Boutique" and the always-popular "Pink Zebra". I guess since it houses a "Spencer's Gifts", it automatically qualifies for mall-status. I was really disappointed with the picked-over selection (or lack thereof) and disorganization at Dillard's, akin to shopping in Russia.

While we picked through the sparcity at Post Oak Mall, my daughter provided entertainment in the form of anecdotes from camp. One in particular got my attention -- the dust-up between our squad and the squad from my husband's high school alma mater, Taylor High School. My daughter described the fracas which originated from a complaint lodged by our girls to their girls regarding the volume of their music in the dorms. According to my daughter, our girls "politely" requested that the Taylor girls cool it with the Hannah Montana nonsense (Really?..Hannah Montana? Really?). Apparently, that set off a chain of events the world hasn't seen since the Paris Hilton/Nicole Richie conflict, except this one didn't play out in the tabloids.

You would have thought they could have settled things the old-fashioned way, with a hearty round of "We've got spirit, yes we do....we've got spirit! How bout you?" Obviously, this was something that only childish smears and full-out ugliness were going to solve. Plus, turning the music up even louder. My daughter and her bunkmates tried to retaliate but were only armed with a clock radio. It was just no contest against the muscled-up ampage blaring from next door.

When we got home, my daughter settled on the couch for a record-shattering 12 hours, even sleeping through a few episodes of "24" that were playing on the TV just 5 feet from her head. I guess if you can learn to sleep through Hannah Montana, you can sleep through anything.