Ah, the memories!
I was at my parrent's home searching for some stuff from my days as the Communications Committee Chairman of Allogagan Lodge ('tis a Boy Scout thing, for those who don't know) that I thought might be some aid to me in the present. Spicifically, I thought that the Lodge Bylaws may be a useful aid in my upcoming efforts in helping to draft a similar document.
But... In doing so, I did come across some other things which brings up some memories of my past, spicifically the summers of 1996 and 1997. So I shall reprint here two articles from various issues of the lodge's newsletter, The Servant, that were written by yours truely and relate the misadventures of these two summers.
NOAC '96 -- The Real Story
by Matthew Atanian
(From The Servant, Volume 5 Issue 4)
8 August, 1996. That date will go down in infamy for the thirteen hapless souls who departed Chicopee late that evening. It was the date that they first entered that van. When you first hear the term "fifteen passenger van" and there are only thirteen people in your group, you think, "Great, room to spare!" However, it quickly becomes aparent that whoever decided to call it a "fifteen passenger van" must have been a dwarf. Nevertheless the group was ready and eager to get to Indiana, so they piled in and were ready to roll.
Five minutes down the road, members of the group already had to go to the bathroom. Mr. Jack Greaves, the van's driver, promised that they would stop "soon." Six hours later, the van finely made a stop in Syracuse, Ney York and most of its occupants exploded out of the van making a mad dash for the restrooms. Dain Binder led the way. After refreshing themselves, the intrepid adventurers who would test the limits of human endurance during the vouage piled back into the van. Next stop: Niagara Falls.
The group arrived in Niagara at about 5:00 a.m., after spending what seemed like an eternity trying to find their way across the border. The group was happy that Jeff Dean, who had attended NOACs in the past, was not attending this one as he had been known to scream, "Help, they're kidnapping us!" at border crossings.
Once they managed to cross the border, the group split up. The youths went off in search of breakfast and a card shop. The only breakfast the group found was at a Denny's, where they each spent and avarage of $8.00 - $10.00 at a restaurant that serves a $2.99 Grand Slam Breakfast. After quizzing the waiter about Canadian Driver's Licences, the group left the waiter a $30 tip. (No kidding.)
The group took a short cut back to where the van (and the Adults) were waiting, with all but Dain and Jay Greaves (who were still eating breakfast) taking a mud-sliding adventure down one very steep hill. While waiting for Dain and Jay (who chickened out and took the long way back), Julio Rivera began hunting seagulls and while doing so dived right into mass quantities of mud.
Once everyone was back together, the Adults went off in search of their own breakfast. Unlike the youth, they lucked upon an "All You Can Eat -- $5" joint. While the Adults were chowing down, the youth did some more exploring and were disapointed in two aspects. First, all of the women in town were asleep (it was only a little after seven in the morning), and second, they still couldn't find a card shop for Matthew Atanian, who for some reason wanted to find some Magic: The Gathering cards that were printed in French. This was despite the fact that he didn't understand French.
After following Jay down an alley and being chased by a monster garbage truck, the youth returned to the van. While waiting for the adults to return, they read Chris Champagne's copy of Rolling Stone magazine that featured Carmen Diaz on the cover. Well, perhaps they weren't reading it as much as they were looking at the pictures...
Soon after this the adults returned, and the group was on the road again. Shortly after recrossing the border, Jay was utterly disheartened when the group wouldn't stop at the Niagara Hard Rock Cafe.
Their next stop was in the Greater Cleveland, Ohio area, where they checked into a hotel and slept well into the next afternoon. Upon awakening, some of the youth took it upon themselves to find lunch. Dain, Jay, and Chris returned singing their newly created "Taco Supreme" song. (Ask them, and I'm sure they'll sing it for you.) Matt never found lunch, but he did buy a copy of Sci-Fi Universe magazine at a local drugstore. "After all," he said, "you have to have priorities."
Later that day, the gallant Allogogan youth discovered, after a long and relentless search, "where the action in Cleveland is." It wasn't much. The group did take in a movie (some of them two), and Matt purchased the second of many books he would buy on the trip, all of them books he could have bought at home.
Early the next morning, after a hearty (and signifigantly lower priced then in Canada) breakfast, the group once again took to the road. Two hours later, they stopped and returned to Cleveland for their trailer, which had become disconnected as they were pulling out of the restaurant's parking lot and miraculously was still in one place, sitting in the middle of the road. They reconnected it and were on their way again.
Sometime around lunchtime, they arrived in Bloomington, Indiana, sight of the 1996 National Order of the Arrow Conference. They pulled into an Arby's for lunch, and Matt was ecstatic to discover a Barnes & Noble bookstore. He went in and came out much later baring not one but three books, and made his mother, Bonnie Atanian, promise not to let him near another bookstore for the duration of the trip. As soon as they reached the University of Indiana, the sight of the 1996 conference, she made sure and let him know where the University Bookstore was.
The next six days at the conference were an experience to remember. Each member of the group had their own distinctive experiences that would take up too much room here, so ask them about it sometime and prepare for a great story. NOAC was full of patch trading, nightly shows, Indian events, ceremonial events, an O.A. museum, camp promotions, and many other features. In patch trading, our patch, Allogagan's first ever NOAC flap, was a much saught after item. It was quickly and affectionately (although much to the patch designer's aggravation) dubbed "the Green Snot patch." The lovely Mrs. Michelle Greves (whitewater queen and wife of the crumudgeony Jack) received a much welcome first taste of the pacth trading biz. Jason Chartier seemed particulatly thrilled to meet Miss Teenage America. Andrew and Tony, the Dufault Twins, never seemed far from the dining common. (Andy, it should be noted, carried our large metal lodge flap during the opening show. Usually the flap gets lost amongst the five hundred other flaps being paraded around the stage, but this year Andy made sure everyone saw it!) Matt was on more then one occasion seen leaving the University computer lab with a large stack of papers, having printed a treasure trove of information about the anime series, Sailor Moon.
Other members of the lodge were hard at work in the computer labs, too. One day, when Mr. Heidi Atanian was making a visit to the room of Jay and Dain (which featured a construction of pizza boxes that became affectionately known as "the leaning tower of pizza"), Mr. Atanian spied a group of pictures pinned up in Jay's closet that Jay and Dain swore were for their anatomy classes the next morning. "Strange," Mr. Atanian commented, "I didn't see that class listed on the syllabus."
Wednesday was Founder's Day at NOAC. Founder's Day is basically a big fair put on by many of the attending lodges. During Founder's Day, many competitie sporting events were held. Two of our more hardy Arrowmen chose to enter the 5K Run/Walk. Jay "Which Way Did He Go?" Greaves and Dain "Help, I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up!" Binder put Allogogan Lodge on the map with their fine display of athleticisim.
Thurday was the last day of the conference, and all in Allogogan's contingent felt that the end had come too soon. Did they wish the conference was longer and that they weren't given ample time to enjoy themselves? Partially, but mostly they didn't want to get back in that van. The Lodge's plan called for a long drive non-stop from Indiana to Hershey Park in Pensylvania. The drive began around noon, and by sometime between 2:00 and 3:00 a.m., something had started to smell.
Some of the youth had begun to see who could fart the longest, the loudest, and the smelliest. The other youths and the adults were grateful when the oxygen masks dropped down from the overhead compartment. Not long after that, Dain coind the popularly infamous phrase to describe the conditions within the van: "It smells like a**!!"
Around 5:00 in the morning they arrived at a hotel, and after a few hours of much desired sleep they were off to the park. Other lodges were also there, and they wanted to trade patches. Matt got a good chunk of his third book read. After a full day at the amusement park, it was off to the Hershey Chocolate Factory. Durring the tour, Julio fell into a chocolate river and was sucked up a big tube, Chris ate a piece of gum and turned into a giant blueberry, and Jason was adopted by the Oompa Loompas. After the factory tour, the group made their way to a giant candy store, where Scott Pelletier was pretending to be a big ladies man, secure in the knowledge that soon they'd be on the road again and he wouldn't have to prove anything he had bragged about.
They got back in the dreaded van and departed Hershey Park. Finely, at long last, they arrived in Chicopee and spilled out of the a** smelling van, eager for a breath of fresh air. Many of the group said that they were looking forward to NOAC '98 in Iowa. They also agreed that they wouldn't go in another "fifteen passanger" van.
Oh, by the way, there were some instructional sessions presented each morning at NOAC, too.
O. A. SERVICE CORPS:
Cheerful Service at the National Jamboree
by Matthew Atanian
(From The Servant, Volume 6 Issue 4)
Hi, Everybody!
Some of you may have noticed my absence from the Trading Post this last summer. I’m sure there were many celebrations, and I’ve heard second hand of more than one person who thanked God that there wasn’t any Star Wars music in there. (For those few of you who actually missed me, thank you.)
As many of you may already know, the reason for my absence was that I had been accepted on staff at the 1997 National Jamboree. Not just any Staff position either… The O.A. Service Corps!
The Service Corps provides service to the Jamboree wherever it may be needed. You need a monkey bridge set up at TOAP? We’ll send a crew on over. You need people to stamp activity books? We’ll send a few on over. You need people to do anything from cleaning grime off of something unmentionable to working in the Chief Scout Executive’s office for the day? Look no further than the Brothers in the O.A. Service Corps.
The Service Corps consisted of a group of slightly more than one hundred Arrowmen and was divided into five Chapters. The Chapter I was in was known as the Yoda Chapter. (I swear that I in no way influenced the group into choosing this name. If anything, the Chapter “borrowed” its name from Marin Council’s JSP.) The Yoda Chapter was a close knit group under the tutelage of our wise and all knowing Jedi Master, R. D. Duncan.
Over the course of the Jamboree, I was assigned many fun jobs giving me an opportunity to serve scouts from all over the country. No matter how grueling a job was, such as helping set up TOAP, I still had fun. And some jobs, such as lending a hand in Action Center C, provided ample opportunity for patch trading on the side!
Of course, there was one job that every member of the Service Corps detested… ushering for the shows. Between dealing with crotchety Scoutmasters and Holier-Than-Thou Arena Security Staff, I’m more than surprised that no one on the Service Corps flipped and went on a homicidal rampage. (Actually, one or two people almost did.)
One day I was assigned to work in the Exploring Booth, where I got to meet the National Exploring President, Ms. Shana McElroy. I was shocked when I heard her opinion of what she called the “Order of the Arrogant.” Despite her apparent feelings, she has invited herself to the 1998 NOAC. I invite all members of Allogagan Lodge who are planning on attending NOAC to, should you meet her, show her how the O.A. really is. (Or, you could be nice to her instead in an attempt to prove her wrong.)
The food could have been a bit better, but I gather that the Jamboree Staff did eat better than the Jamboree Participants. (Ha, ha!) And luckally for me (natorious as one of the Lodge’s most picky eaters), the Service Corps was housed in the barracks at Wilcox, which was just a hop skip and a jump away from the Post Exchange building which contained a rather nice little pizza place.
Nighttime at the Jamboree was an interesting time. Sleep, of course, was on the agenda. I also played more than one game of Magic: The Gathering with other scouts from around the country. (I also played Magic with Allogagan’s own Jay Greaves, who, while not with the Service Corps, was also housed at Wilcox.) I examined my latest patch acquisitions with glee. (Patch trading was no problem when everybody wanted a Cat in the Hat!) I did some light reading or listened to some music. And of course, there was the nightly Chapter meeting.
The Chapter meetings I find difficult to put into words. These meetings were a time to relax and unwind after a hard day. It was a time to reflect deep within yourself. It was a time to review the past day’s events. It was a time to get to know your fellow Chapter members. It was a time to share your feelings about each other with each other. And, of course, it was a time to get the next day’s job assignments. (Oh, bother.) Over all, the Chapter meetings are probably for me one of the most memorable parts of the Jamboree Experience, as it was these meetings that brought the Yoda Chapter together as tightly as it was. Should any of you ever get the opportunity to serve on the Service Corps, I hope you get R. D. as your Chapter Advisor so you can find out for yourself exactly what the Chapter Meetings he had were like. It is difficult to express in words what these meetings were like, especially the one on the night before departing Fort A. P. Hill when we were saying our good-byes to each other.
I would encourage any of you hoping to get a Staff position at the next National Jamboree to consider the O. A. Service Corps. It was an experience I will never forget.
But... In doing so, I did come across some other things which brings up some memories of my past, spicifically the summers of 1996 and 1997. So I shall reprint here two articles from various issues of the lodge's newsletter, The Servant, that were written by yours truely and relate the misadventures of these two summers.
NOAC '96 -- The Real Story
by Matthew Atanian
(From The Servant, Volume 5 Issue 4)
8 August, 1996. That date will go down in infamy for the thirteen hapless souls who departed Chicopee late that evening. It was the date that they first entered that van. When you first hear the term "fifteen passenger van" and there are only thirteen people in your group, you think, "Great, room to spare!" However, it quickly becomes aparent that whoever decided to call it a "fifteen passenger van" must have been a dwarf. Nevertheless the group was ready and eager to get to Indiana, so they piled in and were ready to roll.
Five minutes down the road, members of the group already had to go to the bathroom. Mr. Jack Greaves, the van's driver, promised that they would stop "soon." Six hours later, the van finely made a stop in Syracuse, Ney York and most of its occupants exploded out of the van making a mad dash for the restrooms. Dain Binder led the way. After refreshing themselves, the intrepid adventurers who would test the limits of human endurance during the vouage piled back into the van. Next stop: Niagara Falls.
The group arrived in Niagara at about 5:00 a.m., after spending what seemed like an eternity trying to find their way across the border. The group was happy that Jeff Dean, who had attended NOACs in the past, was not attending this one as he had been known to scream, "Help, they're kidnapping us!" at border crossings.
Once they managed to cross the border, the group split up. The youths went off in search of breakfast and a card shop. The only breakfast the group found was at a Denny's, where they each spent and avarage of $8.00 - $10.00 at a restaurant that serves a $2.99 Grand Slam Breakfast. After quizzing the waiter about Canadian Driver's Licences, the group left the waiter a $30 tip. (No kidding.)
The group took a short cut back to where the van (and the Adults) were waiting, with all but Dain and Jay Greaves (who were still eating breakfast) taking a mud-sliding adventure down one very steep hill. While waiting for Dain and Jay (who chickened out and took the long way back), Julio Rivera began hunting seagulls and while doing so dived right into mass quantities of mud.
Once everyone was back together, the Adults went off in search of their own breakfast. Unlike the youth, they lucked upon an "All You Can Eat -- $5" joint. While the Adults were chowing down, the youth did some more exploring and were disapointed in two aspects. First, all of the women in town were asleep (it was only a little after seven in the morning), and second, they still couldn't find a card shop for Matthew Atanian, who for some reason wanted to find some Magic: The Gathering cards that were printed in French. This was despite the fact that he didn't understand French.
After following Jay down an alley and being chased by a monster garbage truck, the youth returned to the van. While waiting for the adults to return, they read Chris Champagne's copy of Rolling Stone magazine that featured Carmen Diaz on the cover. Well, perhaps they weren't reading it as much as they were looking at the pictures...
Soon after this the adults returned, and the group was on the road again. Shortly after recrossing the border, Jay was utterly disheartened when the group wouldn't stop at the Niagara Hard Rock Cafe.
Their next stop was in the Greater Cleveland, Ohio area, where they checked into a hotel and slept well into the next afternoon. Upon awakening, some of the youth took it upon themselves to find lunch. Dain, Jay, and Chris returned singing their newly created "Taco Supreme" song. (Ask them, and I'm sure they'll sing it for you.) Matt never found lunch, but he did buy a copy of Sci-Fi Universe magazine at a local drugstore. "After all," he said, "you have to have priorities."
Later that day, the gallant Allogogan youth discovered, after a long and relentless search, "where the action in Cleveland is." It wasn't much. The group did take in a movie (some of them two), and Matt purchased the second of many books he would buy on the trip, all of them books he could have bought at home.
Early the next morning, after a hearty (and signifigantly lower priced then in Canada) breakfast, the group once again took to the road. Two hours later, they stopped and returned to Cleveland for their trailer, which had become disconnected as they were pulling out of the restaurant's parking lot and miraculously was still in one place, sitting in the middle of the road. They reconnected it and were on their way again.
Sometime around lunchtime, they arrived in Bloomington, Indiana, sight of the 1996 National Order of the Arrow Conference. They pulled into an Arby's for lunch, and Matt was ecstatic to discover a Barnes & Noble bookstore. He went in and came out much later baring not one but three books, and made his mother, Bonnie Atanian, promise not to let him near another bookstore for the duration of the trip. As soon as they reached the University of Indiana, the sight of the 1996 conference, she made sure and let him know where the University Bookstore was.
The next six days at the conference were an experience to remember. Each member of the group had their own distinctive experiences that would take up too much room here, so ask them about it sometime and prepare for a great story. NOAC was full of patch trading, nightly shows, Indian events, ceremonial events, an O.A. museum, camp promotions, and many other features. In patch trading, our patch, Allogagan's first ever NOAC flap, was a much saught after item. It was quickly and affectionately (although much to the patch designer's aggravation) dubbed "the Green Snot patch." The lovely Mrs. Michelle Greves (whitewater queen and wife of the crumudgeony Jack) received a much welcome first taste of the pacth trading biz. Jason Chartier seemed particulatly thrilled to meet Miss Teenage America. Andrew and Tony, the Dufault Twins, never seemed far from the dining common. (Andy, it should be noted, carried our large metal lodge flap during the opening show. Usually the flap gets lost amongst the five hundred other flaps being paraded around the stage, but this year Andy made sure everyone saw it!) Matt was on more then one occasion seen leaving the University computer lab with a large stack of papers, having printed a treasure trove of information about the anime series, Sailor Moon.
Other members of the lodge were hard at work in the computer labs, too. One day, when Mr. Heidi Atanian was making a visit to the room of Jay and Dain (which featured a construction of pizza boxes that became affectionately known as "the leaning tower of pizza"), Mr. Atanian spied a group of pictures pinned up in Jay's closet that Jay and Dain swore were for their anatomy classes the next morning. "Strange," Mr. Atanian commented, "I didn't see that class listed on the syllabus."
Wednesday was Founder's Day at NOAC. Founder's Day is basically a big fair put on by many of the attending lodges. During Founder's Day, many competitie sporting events were held. Two of our more hardy Arrowmen chose to enter the 5K Run/Walk. Jay "Which Way Did He Go?" Greaves and Dain "Help, I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up!" Binder put Allogogan Lodge on the map with their fine display of athleticisim.
Thurday was the last day of the conference, and all in Allogogan's contingent felt that the end had come too soon. Did they wish the conference was longer and that they weren't given ample time to enjoy themselves? Partially, but mostly they didn't want to get back in that van. The Lodge's plan called for a long drive non-stop from Indiana to Hershey Park in Pensylvania. The drive began around noon, and by sometime between 2:00 and 3:00 a.m., something had started to smell.
Some of the youth had begun to see who could fart the longest, the loudest, and the smelliest. The other youths and the adults were grateful when the oxygen masks dropped down from the overhead compartment. Not long after that, Dain coind the popularly infamous phrase to describe the conditions within the van: "It smells like a**!!"
Around 5:00 in the morning they arrived at a hotel, and after a few hours of much desired sleep they were off to the park. Other lodges were also there, and they wanted to trade patches. Matt got a good chunk of his third book read. After a full day at the amusement park, it was off to the Hershey Chocolate Factory. Durring the tour, Julio fell into a chocolate river and was sucked up a big tube, Chris ate a piece of gum and turned into a giant blueberry, and Jason was adopted by the Oompa Loompas. After the factory tour, the group made their way to a giant candy store, where Scott Pelletier was pretending to be a big ladies man, secure in the knowledge that soon they'd be on the road again and he wouldn't have to prove anything he had bragged about.
They got back in the dreaded van and departed Hershey Park. Finely, at long last, they arrived in Chicopee and spilled out of the a** smelling van, eager for a breath of fresh air. Many of the group said that they were looking forward to NOAC '98 in Iowa. They also agreed that they wouldn't go in another "fifteen passanger" van.
Oh, by the way, there were some instructional sessions presented each morning at NOAC, too.
O. A. SERVICE CORPS:
Cheerful Service at the National Jamboree
by Matthew Atanian
(From The Servant, Volume 6 Issue 4)
Hi, Everybody!
Some of you may have noticed my absence from the Trading Post this last summer. I’m sure there were many celebrations, and I’ve heard second hand of more than one person who thanked God that there wasn’t any Star Wars music in there. (For those few of you who actually missed me, thank you.)
As many of you may already know, the reason for my absence was that I had been accepted on staff at the 1997 National Jamboree. Not just any Staff position either… The O.A. Service Corps!
The Service Corps provides service to the Jamboree wherever it may be needed. You need a monkey bridge set up at TOAP? We’ll send a crew on over. You need people to stamp activity books? We’ll send a few on over. You need people to do anything from cleaning grime off of something unmentionable to working in the Chief Scout Executive’s office for the day? Look no further than the Brothers in the O.A. Service Corps.
The Service Corps consisted of a group of slightly more than one hundred Arrowmen and was divided into five Chapters. The Chapter I was in was known as the Yoda Chapter. (I swear that I in no way influenced the group into choosing this name. If anything, the Chapter “borrowed” its name from Marin Council’s JSP.) The Yoda Chapter was a close knit group under the tutelage of our wise and all knowing Jedi Master, R. D. Duncan.
Over the course of the Jamboree, I was assigned many fun jobs giving me an opportunity to serve scouts from all over the country. No matter how grueling a job was, such as helping set up TOAP, I still had fun. And some jobs, such as lending a hand in Action Center C, provided ample opportunity for patch trading on the side!
Of course, there was one job that every member of the Service Corps detested… ushering for the shows. Between dealing with crotchety Scoutmasters and Holier-Than-Thou Arena Security Staff, I’m more than surprised that no one on the Service Corps flipped and went on a homicidal rampage. (Actually, one or two people almost did.)
One day I was assigned to work in the Exploring Booth, where I got to meet the National Exploring President, Ms. Shana McElroy. I was shocked when I heard her opinion of what she called the “Order of the Arrogant.” Despite her apparent feelings, she has invited herself to the 1998 NOAC. I invite all members of Allogagan Lodge who are planning on attending NOAC to, should you meet her, show her how the O.A. really is. (Or, you could be nice to her instead in an attempt to prove her wrong.)
The food could have been a bit better, but I gather that the Jamboree Staff did eat better than the Jamboree Participants. (Ha, ha!) And luckally for me (natorious as one of the Lodge’s most picky eaters), the Service Corps was housed in the barracks at Wilcox, which was just a hop skip and a jump away from the Post Exchange building which contained a rather nice little pizza place.
Nighttime at the Jamboree was an interesting time. Sleep, of course, was on the agenda. I also played more than one game of Magic: The Gathering with other scouts from around the country. (I also played Magic with Allogagan’s own Jay Greaves, who, while not with the Service Corps, was also housed at Wilcox.) I examined my latest patch acquisitions with glee. (Patch trading was no problem when everybody wanted a Cat in the Hat!) I did some light reading or listened to some music. And of course, there was the nightly Chapter meeting.
The Chapter meetings I find difficult to put into words. These meetings were a time to relax and unwind after a hard day. It was a time to reflect deep within yourself. It was a time to review the past day’s events. It was a time to get to know your fellow Chapter members. It was a time to share your feelings about each other with each other. And, of course, it was a time to get the next day’s job assignments. (Oh, bother.) Over all, the Chapter meetings are probably for me one of the most memorable parts of the Jamboree Experience, as it was these meetings that brought the Yoda Chapter together as tightly as it was. Should any of you ever get the opportunity to serve on the Service Corps, I hope you get R. D. as your Chapter Advisor so you can find out for yourself exactly what the Chapter Meetings he had were like. It is difficult to express in words what these meetings were like, especially the one on the night before departing Fort A. P. Hill when we were saying our good-byes to each other.
I would encourage any of you hoping to get a Staff position at the next National Jamboree to consider the O. A. Service Corps. It was an experience I will never forget.