pictures of Senior Survival

I ran out of batteries after these. So sad

Onward

I can't believe how fast this week went. I was feeling a little lonely after my family took off, but on Tuesday, I went to the post office to pick up a package that has been waiting there for me for a while, and what sight does greet my eyes but not just one, yes two christmas packages from Union. I opened them as soon as I got home, and found many wonderful things.

There were candies and socks, candies and newspapers, candies and frychick, candies and the peanut gallery, and candies and fake jerky! Oh there was some candy corn too.

It was just what I needed. I was thrilled just to get something from my friends at school, but there was so much awesome in there that it went beyond just thrilled. I had a wonderful time sorting through it all, and then putting it away.

Speaking of candies, i couldn't eat many because I am still sick. Got it pretty much down to a stuffy nose now, and am hopeful that i will be able to skip the coughing phase. Apparently the other symptom is inane segues.

So I kinda thought that the other sm's didn't get me anything for christmas since they keep putting off us having our little christmas. I tried to give them my presents, but was assured that this will indeed happen at some point. I guess i'll just wait.

I never did post much about senior survival. It was really cool. Most of the stuff was ropes courses, but there was also the ever dreaded "giant shoes" where you have to try to walk on boards with 10 other people. The worst part had to be the tiny tiny ladders they had. The ladders were just rebar pounded into the tree trunk, and in some places the trunk had grown out so far that they rebar was too close to the trunk to hook your fingers through. They sucked. The rest was fairly awesome though. There was this tree trunk you had to walk up barefoot, it was a balance thing, and I did pretty good. There was a climbing wall with slick wooden handholds which I failed pretty hard at. I even strained my grip muscles trying to hold on. With my weight, it was all but impossible to get off the ground. Even that was fun to watch, and I got to climb up a much shorter wall which did have normal handholds on it. We did the planks and stumps, and we had a rope for reasons i never did understand. We did the inevitable spiders web without having to start over. There was this one activity where we had to get a box out of the middle of a large circle with just a rope and a plank. We had to do it like 4 ways, and only 2 of them could we use the trees in the circle. The most fun ones were the giant swing, the leap of faith, the swinging bridge, and the stairway to heaven.

The stairway to heaven was one of those twisty ladders that look kind of like a hammock, every time you try to go up a rung it tries to flip you over... I made it first try, which was thrilling for me.

The swinging bridge was, creatively enough a swinging bridge. The complications were dual. First, the slats of the bridge were at odd intervals and angles. There were a couple with more than a meter between slats, and there were some which intersected the guidewires at 45 degree angles. The second was you were tethered, so you had to keep dragging a pulley with you which would trip you up if you tried to take a big step without it right overhead.

The leap of faith, they called the gibbon swing. After climbing the tall, pathetic excuse for a ladder, you jumped off a platform some 19 meters in the air for a bar about a meter and a half away. Then they let you down. It was very fun. I got the bar.

The giant swing, they called the butterfly swing. Shockingly, it was a giant swing. Creative nomenclature. You are harnessed in, and a team of people pull you up into the tops of the trees. You then pull a quick-release ( a screw that is pushing on your harness, very high tech) and plummet about 7 stories down and back, swing up to the peak of the next period and fall again. Very very fun.

I had an extremely good time getting to know the seniors better, and enjoyed them without energy drinks. Call me stuffy if you wish, but kids don't need those. Even kids older than me don't need those.

Olga had her birthday party, which was pasta and raviolis. They were really good. Potluck came and I mad a dish which got... sorta eaten. Maybe less spicy next time. I thought it was good.

Listening to Final Fantasy Advent Children theme right now while i play Neverwinter Nights 2. Gonna have to start over. I found out that the swashbuckler's insightful strike doesn't work on undead, and undead are pretty much the whole original campaign... too bad, because Swashbuckler is a very cool class. Probably go back to fighter, which is always fun, although I might try a weapon master prestige class

SICK!!!

Hey all,

These last weeks have been awesome. Pure, unadulterated awesome. First, the family was here, and then there was senior survival. You will receive pictures from both occurrences, but for the time being i will be sleeping. I know this has been fairly devoid of posts for a while now, and I will change that.

Good night