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MSC Senior Day / Mud Bash
Apr. 17th, 2004 06:02 pmMethinks it's time for a lighter post.
Friday I had requested off from work to attend and help out the Murray State College SGA with the Senior Day event. It's a way to draw local high-school soon-to-be grads to the college, show off the programs available, and enjoy some competitive camaradarie via games, and a tug-of-war over a vast mud pit.
So things didn't get off to a very good start. I'm so moody lately - one morning will wake up fine, another morning, totally unwilling to even try to be civil. I know I'm putting +Kyle through a lot of hell right now, but I really don't mean to. I just need time for awhile.
Anyway, I was pretty much in one of those 'determined not to have a good time right away' moods, despite having looked forward to this for several weeks. Got out there about 10 after 8, and got involved with everyone. The usual gang was there - Joanna, Micah, Mike, Lydia, Allen, Nancy, Rodney, a girl named Stephanie, and of course Susan, and others. We all milled around doing various necessary things until the kids started showing up. I guess it was maybe 9:00 when everything got started?
Anyway, everyone made for the various groups of kids who had congregated in the waiting chairs. Everyone had their own little cliques, of course - 4 or 5 here and there, most likely all friends from the same schools broken up into their groups by school. It was our job to bring everyone together into teams for the games.
There was one kid sitting by himself. He was goth, and either shy or shunned...doesn't really matter which. I remember being that kid sometimes. The first Big G.I.G. I attended comes to mind. Micah and I saw that he was the -only- high school student without either a friend or a team leader to talk to, so we decided to concentrate on him as a start, and maybe bring him into Joanna's group of kids. It didn't hurt that I'd decided to go goth, myself, that day. (Never Knock at Death's Door...) I hoped to be someone to whom he could relate a little, to break the ice.
I sat down to his left, a chair space between us, and Micah sat to my left. The kid's nametag read "Chris is my name." I really don't remember what all smalltalk was made, but it basically started out with the usual exchange of names, a handshake, and a smile. Chris is 18, and must like to write, because he carried a thick notebook and pencil. I'd have liked to ask about it, but it seemed a little personal. I remember when I was a teenager, and wrote a lot, and drew...it was all very private, but I always had a notebook with me. Anyway...somehow, we brought a third party, Invisible Bob, into the picture, and all were amused. We talked to him about the school, and some of the programs, and what the day was about.
At some point, teams began to form, so we used that opportunity to lure, I mean, encourage him to have fun with everyone. He joined a team, but I don't remember whose. Stephanie's, I think. Micah and I went off to help Joanna with her team, and somehow wound up with Allen's team by the end of it.
I wound up talking with another girl, D.J., in our team (Team 3), while the first game was being set up. She's also 18, left-handed, and we wear the same Skechers laceless shoes...down to the color. She likes drag racing, Evanescence and Linkin Park, and a nifty pair of sunglasses that she broke when she fell off a chair at the library. They're taped, as the break isn't bad. They really are cool sunglasses - bluish metallic thick plastic frames with a tribal print along the earpiece. She has a scholarship to MSC already, and is interested in the art program.
The teams played several games - an orange pass game, where you hold an orange under your chin, and pass it to the next person via their chin. Kinda hard to explain, but it's funny to watch. Each team had to pass 4 oranges down their line of 10 people, and if anyone dropped an orange, they had to start at the beginning. Team 3 won that game handily.
The next game was a mud pie 'fear factor' type game. Each pie tin was filled with pudding, and a single sour gummy worm was buried somewhere inside. The first team to find their worm would win. The catch was, you could not use your hands, and one team's pie had no worm in it. :P How cruel! Christy in our group volunteered, but she HATES chocolate pudding! I guess that was incentive, because she won that round for Team 3 as well. Chris was the volunteer for whatever team he was in...his was the pie with no worm. LOL! Poor kid. Everyone who played that round was covered in pudding afterward. Christy had done an amazing job of keeping not only her face fairly clean, but also the table around the pie tin. One girl was actually sucking up the pudding, then spitting it out on the table to find their worm. I think she made second place, but that was pretty gross. :P
After that, we played a Pictionary type game. Whichever budding artist the team chose would pick a topic out of a hat, then paint a picture for their team to decipher...with their nose... Tamara was up for Team 3, and we did pretty well, considering the topic was "A Tale of Two Cities". I don't know who won that game, but the answer was "Eminem", and the clue drawn was easy...a blue circle with an "M" in the middle. LOL!
Next was a "Dress For Success" game where each team had to create an outfit representing success on their chosen teammate...out of toilet paper. Team 3 chose a wedding dress, and put it on our Chris, a little guy I've seen around before - maybe in one of the senior photos at work? It was pretty pathetic, with a hula-dress-style skirt and a sad veil. He looked like he was wearing a cross between some Japanese warrior outfit and a hula skirt. Sad! Lydia's team made a smart business outfit on one of their girls, and it won.
Last was a sack race with a twist... It's just like a three-legged race, but with three people (4 legs) instead of two. Jason and Charley were the two people of choice, and a little guy named Kyle volunteered to finish out the trio simply for the fact that his height was SO absurd compared to theirs. We joked about having the other two carry him, and *did* get their legs bagged together like that, but he said he ran of his own ability. It looked like it, anyway. Everyone yelled about us cheating, but the team to our left REALLY went too far, by carrying a girl between the two guys on either side. Team 3 won, and the judges ruled it fair.
Last was a 'Pin the Thermometer on the Vet Tech Dog' game. A picture of Odie, with a bullseye on his backside. :P All the teams went around once, but everyone pretty much had lined themselves up (despite blindfolds) and got their thermometers in place too easily, so the judges had them be spun around first, and *then* try again. I forget who won that competition.
Team 3 won the most, and so everyone got an MSC Mud Bash t-shirt. Everyone had a group photo taken. I got a few random shots of some of the events, but ran out of film, and hadn't brought another roll, so that was kindof a bummer. But all in all it was a fun day.
Since things were coming to something of a close, a few of us went up to where some of the local artists were showing off their wares. Most of it was pottery, but there was a fellow with geodes, polished stone jewelry, and arrowheads. There was a guy doing metal sculpture - welding or soldering something right there. There were a couple of other displays, but I think they were all more pottery. Only one table had a functioning wheel.
D.J. found me, and we chatted a bit more. At some point, (goth) Chris walked down the field, as if leaving, but he came back after a minute and sat alone on the curb behind us and to our left. It was obvious he felt like being included, having had a good time with everyone during the games. D.J. is really shy, and said something about me being personable, or something, I'm not sure exactly what. She wanted me to go over there with her and initiate another conversation with him. I just smiled and encouraged her a little bit, saying something to the effect of, "Yeah, I do make friends really easily, but it's your turn now." So she walked over, sat down, gave him a little friendly sideways hug, and they started talking. ^_^ That did my heart good. I don't think it's even anything more than just two people kindof alone in the world finding a way to get along with one other person who was a little like them.
After the games, there was lunch in the ballroom - pizza for all the staff involved, and some of the seniors were there, too. D.J. and Chris sat at a small table together. D.J. asked if I would like to join them, but I smiled at her, thanked them both, and said I was with the staff today. I think I learned a little about showing someone how to dig their way out of their shell without taking it apart for them.
( Lunch snipped for difficulty )
Anyway, everyone was gathering to watch down the balcony. Some guys were outside with a firehose getting the pit filled with water for the final tug-of-war. D.J. and Chris found me, and we chatted for a few minutes. He threatened us both with a muddy hug after the tug of war was over. D.J. lamented the choice of music being played. I lamented the fact that some guy was messing with the sound system and not letting a single song *finish* playing!
( snipped for more talky bits )
At some point, I went and changed into my Mud Bash Staff shirt, because I expected at least to get muddy from someone, be it Chris, or Micah, or Joanna, or whomever, tackling me wetly.
Anyway, back to the pit. We watched the tug-of-war games. I think the FFA team won in the end. Allen's team of Gunsmithing (of which he was the only one actually *in* the gunsmithing program!) put up a good fight in the last round, but the other guys won.
After that, it became a free-for-all, and about half the people there dove into the pit, wallowed in the mud, and got sprayed by the fire hose. It was too funny! Someone asked if I was going to go in, and I -almost- said no, but then I remembered this year's resolution, and went for it. It's very not easy to run down a muddy wet hill without sliding, but I managed to do so and made with a slip-and-slide dive into the pit. Got muddy water ALL up my nose, think I swallowed some, and knelt up out of it quickly, just throwing my hair back and laughing. Ohhh, that was so much fun! I came up out of the water, and Allen was there, and hugged me, then Rodney was on my right, so I grabbed his hand in a firm handshake and hugged him, too. Then Micah was somewhere and I did much the same... Let's see, Chris did wind up muddily hugging me. LOL It was too fun. My eyeliner probably ran halfway down my face, but I didn't care. Two girls outside the pit (not muddy, I might add) smiled at me, gave a thumbs-up and said, "Yeah, sexy..." I'm not sure if they were kidding or not. Don't really care. That was too much fun.
But here was the shocker. I turned to start back up the hill, and who was standing there, soaked to the bone, but +Kyle. Stick in the mud (no pun intended), stay in your shell and don't ever come out, don't try new things because you might actually enjoy them, +Kyle. I couldn't believe it, but I was so proud at the same time. I learned later that he had dragged Joanna down there, and was consequently dragged along with her by our other friends, and thrown in, but he let it happen, and actually enjoyed it. Way to go, +Kyle!
I got about halfway up the hill and then realized that all that mud was going to feel *really* good when it started drying and caking in my hair, so I went back down to get hosed off. MAN, that was cold! The high pressure didn't help, but it wasn't that bad. It would have made a great shower head. :P
( more talking and some annoyance )
Friday I had requested off from work to attend and help out the Murray State College SGA with the Senior Day event. It's a way to draw local high-school soon-to-be grads to the college, show off the programs available, and enjoy some competitive camaradarie via games, and a tug-of-war over a vast mud pit.
So things didn't get off to a very good start. I'm so moody lately - one morning will wake up fine, another morning, totally unwilling to even try to be civil. I know I'm putting +Kyle through a lot of hell right now, but I really don't mean to. I just need time for awhile.
Anyway, I was pretty much in one of those 'determined not to have a good time right away' moods, despite having looked forward to this for several weeks. Got out there about 10 after 8, and got involved with everyone. The usual gang was there - Joanna, Micah, Mike, Lydia, Allen, Nancy, Rodney, a girl named Stephanie, and of course Susan, and others. We all milled around doing various necessary things until the kids started showing up. I guess it was maybe 9:00 when everything got started?
Anyway, everyone made for the various groups of kids who had congregated in the waiting chairs. Everyone had their own little cliques, of course - 4 or 5 here and there, most likely all friends from the same schools broken up into their groups by school. It was our job to bring everyone together into teams for the games.
There was one kid sitting by himself. He was goth, and either shy or shunned...doesn't really matter which. I remember being that kid sometimes. The first Big G.I.G. I attended comes to mind. Micah and I saw that he was the -only- high school student without either a friend or a team leader to talk to, so we decided to concentrate on him as a start, and maybe bring him into Joanna's group of kids. It didn't hurt that I'd decided to go goth, myself, that day. (Never Knock at Death's Door...) I hoped to be someone to whom he could relate a little, to break the ice.
I sat down to his left, a chair space between us, and Micah sat to my left. The kid's nametag read "Chris is my name." I really don't remember what all smalltalk was made, but it basically started out with the usual exchange of names, a handshake, and a smile. Chris is 18, and must like to write, because he carried a thick notebook and pencil. I'd have liked to ask about it, but it seemed a little personal. I remember when I was a teenager, and wrote a lot, and drew...it was all very private, but I always had a notebook with me. Anyway...somehow, we brought a third party, Invisible Bob, into the picture, and all were amused. We talked to him about the school, and some of the programs, and what the day was about.
At some point, teams began to form, so we used that opportunity to lure, I mean, encourage him to have fun with everyone. He joined a team, but I don't remember whose. Stephanie's, I think. Micah and I went off to help Joanna with her team, and somehow wound up with Allen's team by the end of it.
I wound up talking with another girl, D.J., in our team (Team 3), while the first game was being set up. She's also 18, left-handed, and we wear the same Skechers laceless shoes...down to the color. She likes drag racing, Evanescence and Linkin Park, and a nifty pair of sunglasses that she broke when she fell off a chair at the library. They're taped, as the break isn't bad. They really are cool sunglasses - bluish metallic thick plastic frames with a tribal print along the earpiece. She has a scholarship to MSC already, and is interested in the art program.
The teams played several games - an orange pass game, where you hold an orange under your chin, and pass it to the next person via their chin. Kinda hard to explain, but it's funny to watch. Each team had to pass 4 oranges down their line of 10 people, and if anyone dropped an orange, they had to start at the beginning. Team 3 won that game handily.
The next game was a mud pie 'fear factor' type game. Each pie tin was filled with pudding, and a single sour gummy worm was buried somewhere inside. The first team to find their worm would win. The catch was, you could not use your hands, and one team's pie had no worm in it. :P How cruel! Christy in our group volunteered, but she HATES chocolate pudding! I guess that was incentive, because she won that round for Team 3 as well. Chris was the volunteer for whatever team he was in...his was the pie with no worm. LOL! Poor kid. Everyone who played that round was covered in pudding afterward. Christy had done an amazing job of keeping not only her face fairly clean, but also the table around the pie tin. One girl was actually sucking up the pudding, then spitting it out on the table to find their worm. I think she made second place, but that was pretty gross. :P
After that, we played a Pictionary type game. Whichever budding artist the team chose would pick a topic out of a hat, then paint a picture for their team to decipher...with their nose... Tamara was up for Team 3, and we did pretty well, considering the topic was "A Tale of Two Cities". I don't know who won that game, but the answer was "Eminem", and the clue drawn was easy...a blue circle with an "M" in the middle. LOL!
Next was a "Dress For Success" game where each team had to create an outfit representing success on their chosen teammate...out of toilet paper. Team 3 chose a wedding dress, and put it on our Chris, a little guy I've seen around before - maybe in one of the senior photos at work? It was pretty pathetic, with a hula-dress-style skirt and a sad veil. He looked like he was wearing a cross between some Japanese warrior outfit and a hula skirt. Sad! Lydia's team made a smart business outfit on one of their girls, and it won.
Last was a sack race with a twist... It's just like a three-legged race, but with three people (4 legs) instead of two. Jason and Charley were the two people of choice, and a little guy named Kyle volunteered to finish out the trio simply for the fact that his height was SO absurd compared to theirs. We joked about having the other two carry him, and *did* get their legs bagged together like that, but he said he ran of his own ability. It looked like it, anyway. Everyone yelled about us cheating, but the team to our left REALLY went too far, by carrying a girl between the two guys on either side. Team 3 won, and the judges ruled it fair.
Last was a 'Pin the Thermometer on the Vet Tech Dog' game. A picture of Odie, with a bullseye on his backside. :P All the teams went around once, but everyone pretty much had lined themselves up (despite blindfolds) and got their thermometers in place too easily, so the judges had them be spun around first, and *then* try again. I forget who won that competition.
Team 3 won the most, and so everyone got an MSC Mud Bash t-shirt. Everyone had a group photo taken. I got a few random shots of some of the events, but ran out of film, and hadn't brought another roll, so that was kindof a bummer. But all in all it was a fun day.
Since things were coming to something of a close, a few of us went up to where some of the local artists were showing off their wares. Most of it was pottery, but there was a fellow with geodes, polished stone jewelry, and arrowheads. There was a guy doing metal sculpture - welding or soldering something right there. There were a couple of other displays, but I think they were all more pottery. Only one table had a functioning wheel.
D.J. found me, and we chatted a bit more. At some point, (goth) Chris walked down the field, as if leaving, but he came back after a minute and sat alone on the curb behind us and to our left. It was obvious he felt like being included, having had a good time with everyone during the games. D.J. is really shy, and said something about me being personable, or something, I'm not sure exactly what. She wanted me to go over there with her and initiate another conversation with him. I just smiled and encouraged her a little bit, saying something to the effect of, "Yeah, I do make friends really easily, but it's your turn now." So she walked over, sat down, gave him a little friendly sideways hug, and they started talking. ^_^ That did my heart good. I don't think it's even anything more than just two people kindof alone in the world finding a way to get along with one other person who was a little like them.
After the games, there was lunch in the ballroom - pizza for all the staff involved, and some of the seniors were there, too. D.J. and Chris sat at a small table together. D.J. asked if I would like to join them, but I smiled at her, thanked them both, and said I was with the staff today. I think I learned a little about showing someone how to dig their way out of their shell without taking it apart for them.
( Lunch snipped for difficulty )
Anyway, everyone was gathering to watch down the balcony. Some guys were outside with a firehose getting the pit filled with water for the final tug-of-war. D.J. and Chris found me, and we chatted for a few minutes. He threatened us both with a muddy hug after the tug of war was over. D.J. lamented the choice of music being played. I lamented the fact that some guy was messing with the sound system and not letting a single song *finish* playing!
( snipped for more talky bits )
At some point, I went and changed into my Mud Bash Staff shirt, because I expected at least to get muddy from someone, be it Chris, or Micah, or Joanna, or whomever, tackling me wetly.
Anyway, back to the pit. We watched the tug-of-war games. I think the FFA team won in the end. Allen's team of Gunsmithing (of which he was the only one actually *in* the gunsmithing program!) put up a good fight in the last round, but the other guys won.
After that, it became a free-for-all, and about half the people there dove into the pit, wallowed in the mud, and got sprayed by the fire hose. It was too funny! Someone asked if I was going to go in, and I -almost- said no, but then I remembered this year's resolution, and went for it. It's very not easy to run down a muddy wet hill without sliding, but I managed to do so and made with a slip-and-slide dive into the pit. Got muddy water ALL up my nose, think I swallowed some, and knelt up out of it quickly, just throwing my hair back and laughing. Ohhh, that was so much fun! I came up out of the water, and Allen was there, and hugged me, then Rodney was on my right, so I grabbed his hand in a firm handshake and hugged him, too. Then Micah was somewhere and I did much the same... Let's see, Chris did wind up muddily hugging me. LOL It was too fun. My eyeliner probably ran halfway down my face, but I didn't care. Two girls outside the pit (not muddy, I might add) smiled at me, gave a thumbs-up and said, "Yeah, sexy..." I'm not sure if they were kidding or not. Don't really care. That was too much fun.
But here was the shocker. I turned to start back up the hill, and who was standing there, soaked to the bone, but +Kyle. Stick in the mud (no pun intended), stay in your shell and don't ever come out, don't try new things because you might actually enjoy them, +Kyle. I couldn't believe it, but I was so proud at the same time. I learned later that he had dragged Joanna down there, and was consequently dragged along with her by our other friends, and thrown in, but he let it happen, and actually enjoyed it. Way to go, +Kyle!
I got about halfway up the hill and then realized that all that mud was going to feel *really* good when it started drying and caking in my hair, so I went back down to get hosed off. MAN, that was cold! The high pressure didn't help, but it wasn't that bad. It would have made a great shower head. :P
( more talking and some annoyance )
