The Mother of All Updates...
Wow, not only has it been quite some time since my last update, but A WHOLE FRICKIN LOT has happened between now and then. So I'll try to condense it as best I can without leaving anthing too important out.
The End of Work: The camp shows went well, very well. My kids managed to do a wonderful job and made me really proud. I even got to "choreograph" a number for them. As always, it was really hard saying goodbye to all of the amazing people that I work with. Thus, the final counselor party on the Saturday after work was wrought with emotion. Allow me to just say that I love Holly Hughes and will miss her terribly.
The Cruise: Wow, my first cruise certainly didn't let me down. I got to do all sort of amazing things (like losing $60 at the blackjack table). My shore excursions included a historical tour of Key Wesy (I'm such a nerd) and a snorkeling trip off of Pearl Island near Nassau. What was really great was hanging out with some friends whom I hadn't really seen all summer. So we did some good catching up while we were at sea. Also, my knowledge of wine has been dramatically improved, so any ladies out there that want to be shown a good time, give me a ring. (Why do I say things like that?) Oh! One of my favorite memories of the trip and probably the summer was sitting on the aft deck with my friend's dad (who is like a second father to me), dipping the ends of our Cuban cigars in brandy, and discussing religion while puffing away. It was a good time. But, unfortunately it had to come to an end. However, thoughts of leaving on Road Trip Part II the next day kept my spirits high.
Road Trip Part II: What do you get when you cram Chris MacDowell, Quinton White, Russell Hainline, Adam Pearthree, and Craig Wickless into a medium-sized SUV for hours on end? One hell of a good time! From the rolling hills of Kentucky to the urban center of Cleveland to the quaint and tranquil streets of Windsor, Ontario we managed to drag our foul mouths and our even fouler minds across the southeastern half of the U.S. There were far too many memorable moments to mention here, but to quickly point out the highlights: My older sister and Co. are incredibly kind, I rock at mini-golf, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is still one of the greatest places on earth, umm...I also rock at bowling, Jody is one of the coolest girls that I have ever met...in Ohio, Cuban cigars taste better on this side of Canada, and driving late at night is not fun. Well, that about sums up the trip. One more thing, Mac, Q, Russell, Adam, you guys are some of the best friends a guy could hope for thanks for helping to make my summer so awesome.
Post Road Trip: Well, we made it back to Jacksonville just in time to get ready for hurricane Charley. I was so excited about the storm hitting Jacksonville because I love big violent storms, and by the time it got to us it wouldn't be strong enough to cause a lot of severe damage. A lot of my friends from Orlando were already back on campus so they were prepping for the storm too. Well, after waiting up with Sean, we were dismayed to see that the storm missed us altogether. I think it lightly rained at his house for a couple of minutes. Orlando, on the other hand got the shit kicked out of it. But I wouldn't see that damage for a couple of days. In the meantime, SuperTrivia kept me busy. After an abysmal first half the team managed to pull it together to finish in third place and scoring a $50 gift certificate. The next day was delicious food at Adam's. The food was good, the movie selection follwing dinner (High Fidelity) was great, and the company couldn't be beat. It was a good way to spend my last full day in Jacksonville.
Moving In: Monday rolled around and due to the postponement of training at Rollins, I had the pleasure of halping Adam move into his apartment. We (Adam, Q, Matt Flagler, and I) got everything loaded with relatively little difficulty. We were soon on our way to UF, but when we got to Adam's pad we found out that, due to some mistake and the lack of compassion from the lady in the office, Adam couldn't move in. By the time we had the mistake sorted out, the office was closed. So we all spent the night at Camille's where we had lots of fun watching Die Hard and playing Trvial Persuit. The next day, we got Adam all moved in. His place is awesome, and I can't wait to visit. Then we hot-footed it back to Jacksonville. I packed up and threw my stuff in the car and left for Rollins. It was about 8:00 when I arrived to find that my dorm was one of two dorms that still didn't have power. So my dad and I moved everything in the dark and laft all of my stuff splayed about the room. I ended up spending the night in a random empty room in the on-campus apartments that was being used by people from my dorm to shower in.
Training: Peer Mentor training was long and boring. To make matters worse, I didn't end up getting power until yesterday. Oh well, it could have been a lot worse. I actually just finished my last session of training. All of the new first-year students arrive tomorrow morning. So my day will be split between helping with the move-in process and going to Mandy's birthday party which I REFUSE to miss. All in all I think that this semester is going to be pretty damn good, but it'll be a lot better when things settle down a bit.
The End of Work: The camp shows went well, very well. My kids managed to do a wonderful job and made me really proud. I even got to "choreograph" a number for them. As always, it was really hard saying goodbye to all of the amazing people that I work with. Thus, the final counselor party on the Saturday after work was wrought with emotion. Allow me to just say that I love Holly Hughes and will miss her terribly.
The Cruise: Wow, my first cruise certainly didn't let me down. I got to do all sort of amazing things (like losing $60 at the blackjack table). My shore excursions included a historical tour of Key Wesy (I'm such a nerd) and a snorkeling trip off of Pearl Island near Nassau. What was really great was hanging out with some friends whom I hadn't really seen all summer. So we did some good catching up while we were at sea. Also, my knowledge of wine has been dramatically improved, so any ladies out there that want to be shown a good time, give me a ring. (Why do I say things like that?) Oh! One of my favorite memories of the trip and probably the summer was sitting on the aft deck with my friend's dad (who is like a second father to me), dipping the ends of our Cuban cigars in brandy, and discussing religion while puffing away. It was a good time. But, unfortunately it had to come to an end. However, thoughts of leaving on Road Trip Part II the next day kept my spirits high.
Road Trip Part II: What do you get when you cram Chris MacDowell, Quinton White, Russell Hainline, Adam Pearthree, and Craig Wickless into a medium-sized SUV for hours on end? One hell of a good time! From the rolling hills of Kentucky to the urban center of Cleveland to the quaint and tranquil streets of Windsor, Ontario we managed to drag our foul mouths and our even fouler minds across the southeastern half of the U.S. There were far too many memorable moments to mention here, but to quickly point out the highlights: My older sister and Co. are incredibly kind, I rock at mini-golf, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is still one of the greatest places on earth, umm...I also rock at bowling, Jody is one of the coolest girls that I have ever met...in Ohio, Cuban cigars taste better on this side of Canada, and driving late at night is not fun. Well, that about sums up the trip. One more thing, Mac, Q, Russell, Adam, you guys are some of the best friends a guy could hope for thanks for helping to make my summer so awesome.
Post Road Trip: Well, we made it back to Jacksonville just in time to get ready for hurricane Charley. I was so excited about the storm hitting Jacksonville because I love big violent storms, and by the time it got to us it wouldn't be strong enough to cause a lot of severe damage. A lot of my friends from Orlando were already back on campus so they were prepping for the storm too. Well, after waiting up with Sean, we were dismayed to see that the storm missed us altogether. I think it lightly rained at his house for a couple of minutes. Orlando, on the other hand got the shit kicked out of it. But I wouldn't see that damage for a couple of days. In the meantime, SuperTrivia kept me busy. After an abysmal first half the team managed to pull it together to finish in third place and scoring a $50 gift certificate. The next day was delicious food at Adam's. The food was good, the movie selection follwing dinner (High Fidelity) was great, and the company couldn't be beat. It was a good way to spend my last full day in Jacksonville.
Moving In: Monday rolled around and due to the postponement of training at Rollins, I had the pleasure of halping Adam move into his apartment. We (Adam, Q, Matt Flagler, and I) got everything loaded with relatively little difficulty. We were soon on our way to UF, but when we got to Adam's pad we found out that, due to some mistake and the lack of compassion from the lady in the office, Adam couldn't move in. By the time we had the mistake sorted out, the office was closed. So we all spent the night at Camille's where we had lots of fun watching Die Hard and playing Trvial Persuit. The next day, we got Adam all moved in. His place is awesome, and I can't wait to visit. Then we hot-footed it back to Jacksonville. I packed up and threw my stuff in the car and left for Rollins. It was about 8:00 when I arrived to find that my dorm was one of two dorms that still didn't have power. So my dad and I moved everything in the dark and laft all of my stuff splayed about the room. I ended up spending the night in a random empty room in the on-campus apartments that was being used by people from my dorm to shower in.
Training: Peer Mentor training was long and boring. To make matters worse, I didn't end up getting power until yesterday. Oh well, it could have been a lot worse. I actually just finished my last session of training. All of the new first-year students arrive tomorrow morning. So my day will be split between helping with the move-in process and going to Mandy's birthday party which I REFUSE to miss. All in all I think that this semester is going to be pretty damn good, but it'll be a lot better when things settle down a bit.