Memorial Day Weekend

Okay, it took a few days to recover before I could consider posting about the weekend. It all started on Friday when I ran by the church and picked up a couple of tents before heading to my friend Aaron's in Waukegan. We set up the tents in Aaron's typical suburban backyard and discovered that one of the tents was nearly as big as the house. We also hooked up an LCD projector pointed at the back of the house. As it was getting dark we set up the portable fire pit we had borrowed from Dianne and Sarah so as to make s'mores. One of the friends who was helping light the fire decided to run into the house to get more paper to get the fire going. She didn't make it. She ran forward and with a mighty thud struck an invisible barrier and rebounded down the steps onto the patio. She remembers going forward and suddenly reversing and wondering why she wasn't in the kitchen. In a beautiful imitation of certain Windex and Bud Light commercials one of Aaron's housemates had cleaned the sliding glass door earlier on Friday. Someone else had shut it and my friend had run right into it. She was okay and it was very funny. After Sarah and Becky stopped rolling on the ground in laughter we got the fire lit and eventually watched the movie Hoodwinked projected onto Aaron's house. At a later point that night the older sister of our door thudding friend also ran into the closed door. It was also very funny. The guys slept in the tents. Most of the girls started the night in the circus-sized tent but they went in to sleep around 4:30.

At some point on Saturday morning we got up and straggled into the kitchen for breakfast. In the process we tried the new Doritos X-13D experimental chips that I had purchased the night before. They come with the gimmick that you try them and then you can name them yourself. I don't think the company will accept my proposed name, "Crap Chips". On the other hand, as a reward for graciously making us pancakes, one of my friends has now been nicknamed "Crap Chip" because she seemed to like them. (I think Doritos was going for a hamburger taste, mostly they got mustard and the worst qualities of other Doritos). We learned that Anthony carries wet sponges in his pants pockets. "Always be prepared." After a long breakfast and general sitting around time during which and Anthony and Aaron emerged from hibernation we decided to disperse for the afternoon and meet together later for Pirates of the Caribbean III and supper. Steve and I took the opportunity to go to a graduation party for two of our friends who just finished high school and who will be Illini in the fall. Pirates III was great. We returned to Aaron's for another night of fun involving the projector and pizza. This time we were inside watching My Super Ex-Girlfriend (but my terrible movie) and playing Time-Splitters wherein I mostly died.

We rose early-ish Sunday morning and Anthony, who had previously learned the meaning of the word "androgynous" and that it was something he didn't want to self-apply, made us some good pancakes. At church we heard a challenging sermon from Ezekiel 33 about being a watchman. Over a Fodrak's lunch we learned about some friends' recent trip to New York and how one had said she could "dress like a 'ho'" on a national t.v. show. After church we joined a large crowd of folks from church for a fun game of mushball. The softball team had the weekend off but some of us wanted to play anyway, hence the mushball. Then we returned to Aaron's to play some volleyball. The t-shirts trounced the tank tops and we preened. I picked up a friend from the airport and then went home and watched part of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind before turning in. Others spent the evening at Aaron's playing games and talking but I needed a break.

11 of us gathered at the church around 10 on Monday morning to head down to Starved Rock State Park for an afternoon of hiking. While we were waiting we threw some frisbee and were treated to Steve's attempt to skate on a frisbee. It worked for about five feet before he wiped out. The drive to Starved Rock was uneventful except when Anthony was pulled over by the police in Utica, Ill. so they could check his and his female passengers' i.d.'s. They were "old enough." "Old enough for what?!" Anthony inquired. The officer didn't respond. The park was very crowded but beautiful. Most of the canyons had waterfalls in them and we had a good time hiking. One friend wiped out on a sandstone slope trying to deliver a caterpillar safely onto a leaf and later she accidentally shooed a bug down the front of her shirt when she was trying to make it go away. Neither incident resulted in significant injury, and both resulted in significant laughter, if not so much as her "force field" experience the previous Friday night. We got home tired just as it got dark and some of us took the tents down in Aaron's backyard before going to Chili's for supper. We also learned that Aaron can shower in less time than Anthony can poop. Steve and I returned home where he went to bed and I finished Eternal Sunshine. It was an exhausting but fun weekend.

Gratuitous Weekend quote:
"Something stinks."
"I think it's us." Crap Chip in the church parking lot after Starved Rock