Fuzzy Thoughts

So now that NOAC has ended, and I have some time before I leave for vacation, I guess that it is time to write about what went on this past week.

The train ride up was long… the 10.5 hour train ride ended up being around 15 hours becuase there were points along the track where it was only a single track, and we had to wait for freight trains to go before we were able to get on it. There were also people taking their sweet time when it was time to get off the train, and the one person who didn’t get off at their stop, causing the Amtrak staff to get on the PA and page the guy. So after about 26 hours on trains and the bus, we finally got to MSU.

Orientation was the same as the past two NOAC’s I’ve been to…boring and not that informative. The opening show was boring as usual as well…it was the “installation” of the new officers and a little blurb about the high adventure places for the OA.

I only went to one training session…also usual for me. It was on LodgeMaster…and I can’t wait for that program to finally come out. It looks like it is going to be a good thing for the Lodge to use. It can even track finance, and even though Wardwell doesn’t want to use it, Chris might force him to…since it looks like the output is easier to understand than the stuff he’s been giving us so far. I espcially like how I woke up 15 minutes before the class started and only got there 7 minutes late…and didn’t miss a thing.

The lodge took part in the Ultimate Frisbee competition again this year…and I am pleased to announce that Owaneco Lodge is back-to-back Champions. The lodge also had a few dancers compete in the individual dance competitions. Russ withdrew himself after one of his feathers dropped. A few of the judges came up after the heat was over and told him that he would have gone far…something we already knew. Good job anyways Russ,its too bad that you won’t be able to compete in ‘09. We also had Shane compete, and although he didn’t get into the top 3, he did make it into the top 8. Congrats Shane, and good luck (you better compete) in ‘09. And to the other two dancers, at least you took the first step and entered the competition. Keep up the good work, and enter again in ‘09.

ICE CREAM!!!! Everynight, we went as a group to the dairy store and got ice cream for ourselves. After the first night, we would sing to the cute girls that worked there. They en joyed it and sang along with us. A few of the guys even got their picture taken with the girls.

The trip home was an interesting one. At the ball game, after the 4rd inning, one of the younger guys and I went around to see if any of the girls there would get their picture taken with him. Both of the groups that he asked said no, and after five or six trips around the stadium, we went back to the area where the lodge was…and one of the groups that he asked was sitting there talking with Shane and a bunch of the guys. Russ decided that he wanted to pretend that he was drunk, so he was loud, and just being silly. Later on, Shane asked for the girls phone numbers…but they said no, becuase their parents had taken their phones away….so he gave them his screenname when they asked. When they left, Shane told us that they had thought Mark was going to rape them when he asked them to get in a picture with him.

When we got the the train station, we had a three hour wait, so in true Owaneco fashion, we set up the projector and watched Batman Begins projected across the tracks onto the side of a roof support at the station. Once the train came…we found out that they didn’t have enough cars for all of us…and they wanted some of us to sit in the lounge. But we found out that they had a “dead” sleeper car on the end, us older youth and the adults stayed there, while the younger guys had regular seats. Tischani didn’t like that we had a sleeper, but who cares what they think. The even though the two earlier trains were late, we still made it to the New Haven station pretty much on time…only 20 minutes late.

Overall, it was a fun trip. If I had to compare it to the other two NOAC’s I’ve been to, I would say that it was better than ‘04…and nothing is going to be better than ‘02 (unless we have another 15 passenger van trip).

And now since the power is out here, and I only have 20 minutes of battery life left…I guess it is time to stop writing and go do something else… :/