So, I went to Steve’s grad party last night, and most of the Fools were there. What a great time. I came to three conclusions:
1) The Fools are pretty darn cool.
2) I will miss these guys.
3) I really really suck at Guitar Hero. When did I stop being good at video games?

So, back in April we met my brother and his wife at my Mom’s place in
Michigan for Easter week-end. One of the things we did as a family was
play Shannon’s game “Don’t Be A Dork.” The game was almost 100% luck,
and you had to keep drawing cards that told you to do really dorky
things. It is some measure of how dorky (or competitive) our family is
that we took this game very very seriously (I at one time had to pull a
nose hair from someone besides me, or go back to near the beginning. I
did.). And yes, Mom played as well. Anyway, we ALL wanted to be the
King/Queen of the Dorks, and we all had a good shot at it, but Jolene
prevailed.

So, we just got back the (non digital) pictures, so here they are for your enjoyment(?),

Top: I have no idea.

Bottom: Jolene giving her best super hero laugh while Mom sits in mortal fear of so mighty a laugh.

Shannon Dork: Top: I have no idea.

Bottom: Shannon seducing the guard rail in an attempt to be sexy.

Mom Dork: Top: Mom resisting Jolene doing something (probably going for the yummy Scoops!).

Bottom: Mom’s children finally get to her and reduce her to begging.

Mu Dork: For much of the game, I had to play with a finger in my ear.

Top and bottom: Mu the body builder showing off his muscles(?!?).

Group Dorks: Top: Shannon and Jolene rocking out to a Queen-esqe tune.

Bottom: Shannon and Jolene back up Mu in a singing group.

As you can see, while Jolene was the Queen of the Dorks, we all were winners (read losers).

Every year, CVCA takes all of the seniors to a camp for 3 days as part
of the celebration of graduation. This year was my first year on the
trip, which was May 16-19th. I had a good time, and I was especially
happy to get to room with the male senior Fools. They really are as
nuts as I had suspected, and it is my sincere hope that I fit right in.

We
got to the camp on Tuesday. I got to drive my own car, and had a good
time driving the hour and a half chatting with the female mriordan and
a visiting Caribbeaner.
This was a good thing, since the rain and busy schedule of activities
kept us from visiting with Caribbeaner much the rest of the trip.

My cabin had 6 guys in it (not counting me). 4 of the guys were Fools,
1 was a former Fool and someone I knew fairly well, and 1 was a friend
of the Fools that I did not know, but was a nice guy. The cabin seemed
to get along really well, and I never saw any problems.

In case you are wondering, we are drinking IBC Rootbeer. We managed to drink 48 bottles in the first 24 hours.

We
ate very well on the trip. The first night, we were treated to burgers
by our master burger chef. The cabin kitchen was small, but the guys
managed to make pizzas, fries, omelets, and more in the 3 days we were
there. We also had soda, 4-5 bags of chips, 6 boxes of Little Debbie
treats, and 6 boxes of cold cereal. And that was just for the meals in
the cabin. We were treated to a breakfast in our sister cabin, a pizza
party in the main lodge, and a really nice sit-down dinner in the
lodge. Needless to say, I gained 5 pounds which continue to be a nice
reminder of senior trip, even 2 weeks later.

The
weather was fickle. It rained a lot, but either lightened to a mist or
stopped raining whenever we had outdoor things scheduled. Here, I have
to give the kids credit. I never heard any of them complain about the
weather, even when they ran all around the camp on a scavenger hunt on
Wednesday morning while it was actually raining on and off. Some of the
boating trips were rained on, but I guess if you want to get wet in the
lake, you did not mind the rain too much. When it stopped raining
(usually for several hours at a time), it could be very pretty.

Being
with a group of teenagers meant that you can have competitions that old
fuddies like me would never do, but can laugh at students doing them.
The best example of this was the first night’s Feats of Strength, which
included eating a can of Spam raw, fishing for olives in a pan of
pudding using only your mouth, and the mighty Drink Gauntlet, which
included drinking nasty things such as kraut juice, lemon juice, oyster
juice, birch beer, and other lovely concoctions. Why would students do
all these things? Because they got divided
into eight teams, and each event had points associated with it. So, you
would eat a whole can of spam because it would score your teams points.
Ain’t competition a wonderful thing?

Other
competitions included the (rather soggy) scavenger hunt that was
organized by the camp staff. (As an aside, the camp staff was AMAZING
and wonderfully helpful.) There was a team naming/team cheer
competition (which were quite funny), and the above-mentioned Feats of
Strength. Thursday’s competitions included games, suduko competitions,
horseshoes, and other things, but by far my favorite was the
tug-of-war. The kids were fierce in this one, and while size and
strength did matter some, there were still some upsets through the wise
use of technique and sheer refusal to lose (a few teams were helped by
the very slight downhill on one side, but that was luck of the draw and
the teams rotated sides every couple of competitions).

At the end of the day, the competitions resulted in the top three teams
(out of eight) got movie tickets. My cabin’s team came in fourth, which
I was pleased with.

There
were other activities to do over the three days. The lodge had a game
room (the female mriordan schooled me by winning over 10 games of ping
pong), a pool, a big-screen TV for the Cavs fans to watch the playoff
game. There was boating on the lake, and there was a soggy night game
of par-3 golf. There was organized paintball, “real” golf (as opposed
to par-3), and bowling (which included my 3 best games ever in
“big-ball” bowling, topping out with a score of 151. Of course, real
men from Maine prefer Candlepin bowling, but you can’t expect that in Ohio.)

We also could do individual things, like hanging out or playing games.
Mrs. mriordan and I played Cranium with some of our kids, and we won,
but at a cost. We ended up feeling old as we were the only ones to know
about songs by the Beach Boys, about Presidents prior to Clinton, and
other look-at-the-old-folks kinds of questions. Still, a win is a win.

All in all, I had a good time on senior trip. I am very glad the Fools
asked me to go. My cabin was well behaved, and in general the kids
acted great (as far as I saw). Nice job, guys!

I do want to get my impressions up of CVCA’s senior trip, but first things first! Here are my three cats:
Bocca (the big tiger cat), Emma (the white cat – her real name is Enigma), and Macska (the long hair).

So, I was out doing my usual Saturday errands, and I saw that Maize Valley Farm
(of the Halloween Maze fun) was having a Celtic festival today. Being
rather into that sort of thing, I stopped for a little over an hour.
The festival was very small – 4 vendor booths, 2 stages, and one
athletic field where grown men wearing kilts were hurling very heavy
objects. The music was okay (the bagpipes were fun), but mostly I was
enjoying the small-festival nature of the event. These were not
world-class musicians or athletes; they were just people who like all
things Celtic (except, hopefully, haggis). This made me quite happy.

As you can see from the photo, I decided to get a (temporary) tattoo
(largely inspired by Caribbeaner’s pirate tattoo from a few years back,
and my love of the Celtic cross). This raises an interesting question:
can CVCA fire me for getting a visible temporary tattoo of an ancient
Christian symbol?

*whew* The female mriordan was in charge of putting on CVCA’s
Junior-Senior Banquet this year, and it went off well. It was a very
lovely evening. It is fun to see the kids get dressed up – they do it
very well. I’m mad at myself that I did not get any good photos of the
students – they all came out blurry or dark.

Prom also gives me the chance to get dressed up. Luckily, someone else
who has some talent also had a camera, so a decent photo of mriordan
squared exists.

I have to admit that any romantic airs of the evening were canceled by
being part of the official set up and tear down crew. You can only get
so romantic when you drive to prom in separate cars, and I showed up in
shorts and a t-shirt so I could move heavy audio equipment into the
building. Still, it was a very nice evening, even with the inelegant
arrival for us.

It was also much fun to see Julie Claypool again. She and Mr. Myers
were showing off their finery as well, and it added nicely to the
festivities. Meredith and I did not get to see as much of Julie as we
could have hoped for (what with having to run things and all), but it
is good to see Julie when she is in town.

I liked Greystone hall as a venue. The setup was elegant, and the
staircase added much to the effect. The steel drum band that played for
2 hours was WONDERFUL, and as happens with all cool music, it  made me wish I had and
could play the instrument (in this case a steel drum). The music made the evening light and fun.

The food was great. I had chicken, and the company at the chaperone
table was much fun. Being someone who gets very excited over desert, I
was a little sad to see desert was small bars of various cookies and
brownies, but they were still tasty.

Mr. Myers’ senior video was again well received, and although he
downplays the importance of the video, it is a real (reel?) highlight
of the evening.

On the whole, the evening was a great success. The music and atmosphere
were fun, the kids looked great, and everyone behaved well.

I’m just glad that Meredith will not have to be in charge again!

For those who have asked (that would be Julie), here is my pizza
recipe. Note that I am an organic cook (not in the natural food sense)
who deals in measurements that start with “about.”

Warm up 2 – 2 1/2 cups of water in the microwave, to a very warm bath temp (about 80 seconds on my microwave).

In a large bowl, add 3 tablespoons of sugar.
Add water and mix well. Add some honey if you like. Mix.
Add 1 tablespoon of yeast (I buy it by the jar to save money).
Add 1 cup of King Arthur (employee-owned!) wheat flour.
Add about 2 cups of King Arthur unbleached white flout.
Add about 1/2 container of oregano to the mixture.
Add about 1/4 cup of olive oil (I just guess and pour some in).
Mix well. Add more white flour as needed to get the dough to stick
together. NOTE: The more flour you add, the more it will be like a
traditional pizza (aka, one you can hold to eat). I have found the more
flour you add, the more flavor you lose. I add just enough flour to
make the dough hold together. You can always add more later.

If possible, let dough rise 1 hour.

Get out two cookie sheets and lightly coat them in olive oil.
Split dough into two equal lumps (add more flour if it is too sticky).
Put one half on each pan and roll out (add a dusting of flour if the
rolling pin sticks).
Lightly coat each pizza shell with olive oil.
Lightly dust each pizza with ground red pepper.
Add pizza sauce (14-16 oz. should do).
Add cheese (I use finely shredded mozzarella, 2 8-oz. packages – you may need a third depending on the pizza size).
If possible, let pizzas rise for about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to about 425 degrees. Bake pizzas for about 10 minutes. Check pizzas often after 10 minutes. Allow cheese to brown.

These pizzas will probably need to violate pizza etiquette and be eaten with a fork. Enjoy!

This should wrap up my postings about Diakonos. I wanted to briefly post what I learned from the trip.

1. The students are pretty cool. This will cause much chagrin amongst
the students, who most assuredly do not want to be judged cool by a 35
year old computer nerd. But there you have it. They kids acted great
and there were almost no tensions that I saw. These kids amazed me for
serving others on their spring break. I do not think I would have done
so when I was 17 or 18. By contrast, I was 34, had been at CVCA 4
years, and had been a Christian for 10 years before I went on a
missions trip. It took 5 years at CVCA and being a Christian for 11
years before I put my money where my mouth is and went and served the
poor in this country. Many many kudos for the students for doing this.

2. Much to my surprise, God taught me that I needed to value people
over things. I did not think I had a problem with this – I am fairly
generous with things, but God had more in mind. On the first day on the
job, I went to a site where I did not need the new tools I had bought.
I was forced to give them to others who could use them, and I had not
labeled them yet. I had a momentary panic over that, but God let me
know I needed to value people over these tools, and so I had to let
them go (and I did get all but 2 small things back – God can be trusted
with these things). Over the entire trip, my car got more and more
dirty on the inside. I am not a neat freak, and I am not a car nut, but
again, this bothered me some for awhile. God again had to let me know
that the people I was serving were more important than my things (in
this case, my car). All week, I had to keep telling myself to value
people over things. This lesson still surprises me – on the list of
things I need to learn in order to become more like Jesus, this was not
at the top of my list. God does not ask for my list – he just teaches
me what he wants me to learn. I just hope I remember this one for
awhile.

3. I learned I am easily distracted from worship. I has suspected this
for some time, but it was brought to the fore by my having nightly
worship and having a couple of headaches that distracted me from that
worship. I’ll need to try to focus more on God when I worship, and less
on my whining to myself about things not being perfect.

4. I learned that part of serving is keeping your mouth shut and going
where you are needed. I was on a different job site almost everyday. I
think this was God’s gentle way of reminding me that he was running the
show and that I needed to go where He was going.

So, that’s it. I really liked this trip, and it was a privilege to
serve with Craig and the rest of the Diakonos crew. Lord willing (in
the fullest sense), I hope to serve again next year. Thanks to everyone
who helped me on this trip, and many thanks to God who never
gives up on me and never stops trying to make me more like his
son.

It was not just all work on the trip. We did have entertainment each night as well.

Sunday-Tuesday
This
does not really qualify as entertainment., but from Sunday through
Tuesday night, I was in charge of supervising the lunch-making for the
next work day. While the kids had the right attitude of service and had
fun making the sandwiches, I was more stressed than two pieces of bread
warrant. I just *knew* that the morale of the kids for the entire trip
hinged on getting the correct, well-made sandwich. You never know what
might happen if a smooth peanut butter
person…..MIGHT…..GET….CRUNCHY. Needless to say, I needed to
chill. Fortunately, lunches were taken care of for Thursday and Friday,
so I was let off the hook.

Sunday:
We
were given free time on Sunday to do what we liked. Since I was working
on a decent headache, I decided to stay in the room and read Hamlet. I
like to read what Meredith is teaching so we can talk about it, but I
also wanted to be able to talk intelligently about Hamlet if the
occasion arose on the trip (surprisingly, it did not). I did make it to
worship, and enjoyed that very much.

Food on Sunday was chicken patties and mac n’ cheese.

Monday:
Supper
was great – it was Italian night, so the dining area was lit by candle
light and Italian opera was playing softly (which is the best way to
hear opera for me). We had the introduction of the first of three days
of sausage making an appearance in the sausage lasagne. There was also
bruschetta and salad, all served by the food crew. I do have to say we
ate VERY well all week. Kudos to the cooks!

Monday was game
night in the common room. I am not the world’s most social person, so
my first taught was to flee. But, I forced myself to stay, and I had
great games of foosball, airhockey, and pool with a student. It was
fun. Then I fled…

Tuesday:
Supper was Mediterranean night with gyros (with beef and chicken, not lamb).

I
read some more of Hamlet, before heading down to the church gym to
teach ceili dancing (Irish social dancing). I was not sure how the kids
would react, but I was delighted. They really loved it (they are still
randomly dancing in the halls at CVCA, a week later). I taught two
dances – The Walls of Limerick, and The Four-Hand Reel. Not only did
the kids really seem to like it, but they were really GOOD at it too. I
was really amazed at how quickly they picked it up. We danced for over
an hour. What a great time.

Wednesday:
Wednesday,
we got to go to Cici’s pizza (a pizza buffet). I ate WAY too much (I
have this problem at buffets). The pizza was okay, but the bread sticks
were really good. Yum.
In a nod to my early years, I played a video
game in the arcade, and did well enough that everyone else was leaving
by the time I finished. That would have been a lame excuse for missing
going to Pittsburgh.

After
supper, we took the 40 minute trip to Pittsburgh. I drove my car, and
as one would expect, I got slightly lost. I could see the Incline train
(the place we were going), but it took me awhile to get there. I was on
my way there when Craig reached me by cell phone. The new-fangled
devices! Who would have thought you could get a call in your car?
Anyway, I did meet up with the group at Station Square (a nice shopping
area), which is within walking distance of the Incline. Craig gave us
about 40 minutes to shop at Station Square. Craig had gotten
instructions from Meredith to keep an eye on me and not let me spend
too much. He did give it a game try, but he had no chance when I saw
Station Square had an Irish Import store. I did quite well. Instead of
buying the four CD’s I wanted to get, I got Meredith a replica of the Tara Brooch.
Then, I saw Station Square had a chocolate and fudge shop, so I had to
get to good sized chocolates (remember, I had already eaten too much at
Cici’s). Craig took advantage of Station Square by getting cold sesame
noodles at his favorite Chinese restaurant.

We
then walked over to ride the incline up to the top of a VERY steep hill
that overlooks the downtown. The Incline train was great – I love
things like that. However, once we got outside of the station, I ran
headlong into my well-developed fear of heights. I had to walk on the
road-side of the sidewalk, as far away from that nasty drop as I could
without getting run over. Craig’s destination was this stupidly small
concrete island that JUTTED OUT OVER THE KILLER DROP. Fortunately, it
was closed for repair. There were others, however, so we trooped on,
passing two more of these monuments to folly that were also closed. So,
finally, Criag settled on some benches that overlooked the city, and
that is where we had worship that night.
Here,
I have to admit, I did not do so well. Several of my personality quirks
came to the surface here, so that I did not focus on worship as I would
have liked to.
1) The aforementioned fear of heights was not
lessened, even though I was sitting 20 feet from the railing (that some
fearless students WERE SITTING AGAINST).
2) I could not hear well
for the singing or for Craig’s talk. This made me slightly cranky. I
could have moved, but that would have required going near the edge
again.
3) I have an ENORMOUS aversion for inconveniencing people.
Our group was so large, we took up all the sidewalk space except for
one narrow lane. I felt bad for the people who had to walk through that
lane. It is not an easy thing to walk through a group of 20+ people
that are all singing. This anxiousness distracted me.
4) Even after
11 years of being a Christian, I do not do so well at public displays
of faith. To be fair, I don’t do well at public displays of almost
anything (that goes with being a good stoic Mainer). However, I do have
to face up that it is hard for me to be so public about my faith, even
after all that God has done for me. Sad.
5) I was anxious over
having the students “out in public.” This was not so much for the
students, all of whom were acting great, but for what nasty Pittsburgh
might do to them. Needless to say, Pittsburgh was great, and it was a
wonderful experience. It is hard for a control freak to relax when
things are out of his control.

So, these 5 things made worship
hard for me this night. I still loved going to Cici’s and Pittsburgh,
and will go again if I get to go back. I’ll probably just be worried
and scared again is all.

Thursday:
Supper was Mexican night
with hard and soft tacos. It was also Craig’s birthday! To celebrate,
Craig got to whack a pinata, which he managed to hit with such great
force that it broke loose and hit a student. (It is worth noting that
Craig was blind-folded at the time, so it was an accident). No serious
harm was done (except to the pinata).

We had free time again
this night, so I read more of Hamlet. Most of the kids stayed in the
common room and had a fashion night where they did each other’s hair.
The results (that I saw from pictures) we, um, interesting.

I
also got to sing some worship songs from my college days with a student.
That was a very nice time for me, and the student did not seem to mind
my playing or singing.

After worship, I got to call Meredith and
make sure she was okay (she was). Nate decided to go out and get a
barbeque and have a “guys night” where they cooked burgers and brots.
Since this all was taking place after 12:00, I went to bed.

Friday:

Friday was chili night in the common room.

Some of the kids used the extra down-time to try to catch up on school reading, which resulted in getting caught up on sleep.

The big event of the evening was the “talent” (oops – I mean talent) show. We had students whistling, skits
imitating
what had gone on during the week, some free-form song creation, some
poetry readings, and a dramatic skit from a student group acting out
the clean parts of a romance novel. I was able to be in a couple of
improv skits myself, which went pretty well. It was a really fun
evening.

In worship time, we had a time of sharing about what people had
learned on the trip. That was very nice. The only slight problems I had
was that I was working on the start of a headache, I was tired from the
week’s work, and I was really hot (it was about 85 degrees in the
room). This meant that by the time we got to the worship songs, I was
having trouble staying focused. It was request night, so the songs went
on for about an hour. I did have to get up and leave for awhile in
order to splash some water on my face. Craig’s talk was good, but I was
still having trouble focusing. Funny how many things can distract me
from worship.

Anyway, that is the entertainment of the week. I’ll probably post one more post on the trip to summarize what I learned.