October 30, 2006

Hillsdale Homecoming Part 3

Fri Oct 6, 6:00 pm: Allie, Nic, Kim and myself arrive at the Hunt Club to find out that the entire upper level of the tavern is reserved for us. Apparently there had been numerous fights over billiards games in the upper area, so they only use it for large groups. Amazingly we arrived before Dr. Reist, which may have been a first not only for us, but for anyone.

6:01 pm: Dr. Reist arrives.

6:01:30 pm: Dr. Reist tells his first joke and orders his first gin and tonic.

6:20 pm: As we start to wonder if anyone else is going to show up, Marty Muntz (he took over my position as youth pastor at Somerset Congo) arrives followed soonafter by Muffin Moorman, who finally finishes her day of travel that I think began at 5 am from Dallas.

7:15 pm: The party is jumping now as Crazy Carl and Robey show up, followed by the boys who have returned from Fort Wayne with a Mr. William Gray in tow.

7:25 pm: I order a boring salad, since nothing else on the menu agrees with my stomach as the effects of the funky cappuccino continue.

7:30 pm: Kim's slow friends finally show up. That would be just about all of them.

8:30 pm: With the party still raging, we all line up for a group shot in case anyone would later need photographic evidence to support an alibi.

10:00 pm: The group makes it way down to College's Homecoming Bon Fire and Fireworks. Since we were having so much fun at the Hunt Club, we missed the steel drum band the college brought in from Iowa. We were able to see the fireworks as we ventured down from Whitely to the soccer fields.

10:15 pm: Seeing the college students running around the bon fire, giggling like idiots and looking like junior highers, I realize that those days appear to be over for our group of friends.

10:16 pm: I turn around and observe off in the distance a sumo contest between Gray and Mohler. They enact the entire pageantry of the contest. The old man wins convincingly. Perhaps our glory days are still at hand. But then again I am pretty loopy at this point having had no sleep in over 40 hours.

10:20 pm: A Hillsdale Collegian reporter begins to interview Tony, Joel and myself asking for memories of days gone by and our thoughts on homecoming. After giving my two cents, she asks me for Joel's name since he left before she could ask. I think of three possible answers: 1) Joel (that is quickly dismissed), 2) Nate Davis (classic, but sometimes overplayed) and 3) Andrew Burns. Since Burns decided that the birth of his first child was more important than us, I told the reporter "Andrew Burns is his name."

10:45 pm: Tony, still retelling his collegiate tales to the reporter, is now through his sophomore year. The reporter eyes an escape route but none are available. (Here is the website of the article: http://www.hillsdale.edu/collegian101206/default.asp?sect=arts&item=they_did; Tony's comment at the bottom of the article is about yours truly.)

change before heading over to the Phi Mu Alpha house (where Carl, Robey and Mohler are staying) to hang out. But after not having slept in a long, long time, I hear the muses of the bed beckon me to sweet, slumber. I heed its call.

Sometime after 11:15 pm: Apparently Carl "accidentally" spills some Coke on Tony, who is able to control his five (maybe more this time) seconds of fury. I continue to sleep.

October 24, 2006

Hillsdale Homecoming Part 2

Fri Oct 6, 8:00 am: Try to sleep

8:30 am: Realize that I am unable to sleep due to funky cappuccino.

9:00 am: Time to find housing for the weekend. Take Tony and Kim to see my old boss, Jeff, up in Admissions.

9:30 am: Housing found! Jeff hooks Tony, Billy and myself up with a room in Simpson, one of the men's dorms.

10:30 am: Wandering around the Dale, checking out the new buildings and looking for Kim's brother, Nic, who is a sophomore at Hillsdale and in class.

10:50 am: Tony, Kim and I are staked out in different locations where there will be a lot of traffic from classes getting out in hopes that we might spot Nic.

11:00 am: No signs of the boy even though we know he has class in one the two buildings we are staking out.

11:15 am: Decide to look for him at his dorm and, Bingo, there he is. He had taken a back way home.

12:00 pm: Continuing the classic tradition of throwing the Frisbee whenever the boys get back together. This time, since our usual spot on the quad is not available due to construction, we choose to throw across the busiest street on campus, Hillsdale St. Here's the basic formula: Tony tries to throw disc very hard, hits curb, funkdifies disc, repeat.

12:30 pm: Joel's mother takes us out to eat at a rather new spot in Jonesville called the Saucy Dog. BBQ joint with specialized burgers. But I am not feeling up for the food due to lack of sleep and the continuing effects of the funky cappuccino.

2:00 pm: Meet up with fellow all night travelers Mohler, Robey and Crazy Carl. They had driven from St. Louis and had a chance to catch some Z's this morning. Mohler ops out of sleep to attend a math class and a history class. That boy is always showing us up.

3:00 pm: Tony, Mohler and Joel part ways with us to take my car to pick-up Billy boy. I decide to stick around the Dale to spend some quality time with Kim and Nic.

4:00 pm: Quality time seems to be defined as walking around campus saying "what should we do" to each other only to keep running into random old friends and chatting it up with them.

5:30 pm: Time to meet Allie at Whitley dorm and the four of us walk down to the Hunt Club for our big reunion dinner. Did I mention that it was an absolutely gorgeous autumn day in the Dale?

October 20, 2006

Hillsdale Homecoming Part 1

Thursday Oct 5, 4:15 pm: Exegesis of Romans ends. Time to hop into the car to pick-up wife from work. No time to go back to apt. Wish I would have slept more last night .

5:00 pm: Got wife.

6:30 pm: Depart from Joel and Allie's apt in Cambridge, MA. Car is gassed, stomach is full, and hopes are high.

8:20 pm: Driving through western MA. Found clear signal for Mets-Dodgers game. Joel happy.

11:30 pm: Mets win. Joel even happier.

12:00 am: Enjoying compilation Backpage Compendium. Reliving glory days.

2:00 am: Start my second driving shift. Just downed some funky cappuccino.

4:00 am: On yellow

4:20 am: On orange, but pass reststop.

4:40 am: On five alarm red. Cursing myself for passing reststop. Cursing Cleveland for not having more gas stations.

5:00 am: Squirming, barely able to walk from car to bathroom.

5:03 am: Sweet relief.

6:00 am: Unable to sleep from funky cappuccino.

7:30 am: Arrive at Hillsdale