Finally-hoedown stuffs

Here I recount the event of PHC's hoedown. It has been a long time since it happened, but I'm hoping to remember a few things worth mentioning. The trip began at 11:30 PM on Thursday night with a call to Bek, asking about dress codes at her school. Hearing a gravelly voice, I remembered the time. Ahhh! Who in their right mind calls that late on a week night? Silly, insomniac me. Bek is gracious, however, and forgave me!

Perhaps it was because my packing was so frantic, but I brought more on that trip for 3 days than almost any other trip I've taken. Even when I went to Europe for 3 weeks, I packed everything into a backpack and a soft-side cooler, both of which were carry-on items. For this trip, I had a backpack full of clothes (note to self...bring more than 1 t-shirt), a laptop bag with lappy, cords, and notebooks, my pillow in its bag, and a sizable CD case. Wow.

My father drove me to Starbucks to meet with Dave T, Bek's brother. After a bit of waiting and some good conversation, Dave showed up in his mother's cute green convertible. My stuff was stuffed into the tiny trunk and we took off. Though that car has a poor sound system, the seats were very comfortable and perfect for a 5 hour drive. Dave and I traded 1-liners for a few hours, and left each other in stitches. We stopped for lunch at Quizno's, which was soup in a breadbowl. A quick stop at several gas stations later, and we were almost at Bek's. I decided to go old-school and popped Carman into the CD player (I'd been DJ'ing the whole trip). After discovering that Dave had similar childhood memories connected to his music that I did, we both sang lyrics loudly and headbanged for most of the CD's duration. Unfortunately, this caused us to miss a few vital turns. Bek received several frantic phone calls as we tried to find her school.

Upon arrival at PHC (amid confusion, laughter, and wrong turns), Dave tricked Bek into coming out of her dorm while not seeing us. He, dressed in his leather trench coat and wide-brimmed hat, ran to meet her. She saw and ran toward him, and was swept up in a bear hug that lasted for a minute. Both were smiling widely, and it was contagious. I couldn't help but smile with them. After unloading the car we wandered around campus a bit. Her school is drastically different than mine. Our mottoes... mine: Veritas et Virtus. Hers: Pro Christo et Libertate. My school has 28,559 students, and hers has 308. I had 300 students in my Intro Bio class! My school is urban, hers is suburban. Girls and guys are not allowed into each other's dorms (save the foyer), but at my school there are absolutely no rules concerning that-thankfully, I don't stay in the dorms! However, both schools have the same colors of blue and gold. Huzzah!

We partook of dinner in the cafeteria. It was pizza night, but thankfully I had choices. I ate a turkey sandwich, salad, orange, and chocolate pudding. Everything was good as cafes go, but something strange happened there. I woke up around 3:30 AM the next morning with severe stomach pain and cramps, but Metamucil took care of that the next day.

At dinner we met a fellow by the name of Joshua (I think) who chatted with us a bit. After dinner Dave and I played a bit of air hockey and foosball, but found out that some dudes (including Joshua) were playing Halo in the hall. I didn't play, but I'd never seen Halo before. Interesting...it's definitely a guy game, though I could enjoy it occasionally. After that, Dave, Joshua, and I decided to watch Return of the King, and went to recruit people to watch with us. After getting entangled in several conversations in the hallway (Is infinity a natural number? Can infinity be multiplied?) and meeting a girl named Samantha, we found out that 13 Going On 30 had started in the room we planned to watch our movie in. Since none of us wanted to watch that, we wandered until we found people watching The Incredibles in another dorm hall. We watched that for a while, then dispatched to our places of repose.

Bek came back from work around midnight with a bag full of Starbucks goodies. We ate them the next morning in the cafe, where I brought the lappy and a notebook. I got a few hours of reading done, and it was time for lunch. The waffles were excellent, and I kept meeting people. In a school that size, it's hard not to notice strangers :-) I made mental notes of guys I'd like to dance with that evening, and girls I'd like to hang out with during lag time.

That evening I took a long nap because I'd been up with stomach pain for some time. Bek woke me when she returned from work (with more goodies) and we prepared for the hoedown. I wore jeans (duh), a plaid shirt, corduroy jacket, and the infamous John Deere hat with braids. Bek looked gorgeous, of course, in jeans and a blue, pink-flowered shirt and braids. Jake showed up and took us and Dave to a restaurant called "Red Hot and Blue" for dinner. Dinner was good and greasy (I totally forget what I got...something with a spicy dip). Our conversation seemed light but intelligent and very enjoyable.

The hoedown itself was well worth the trip. We danced in sand, which wore me out very quickly, and there were a LOT of people there dancing. One fellow danced so much that, since the air was cold, his body was steaming! I was glad that I dressed in layers, and shed my jacket quickly.

[3/21/07...I seem to have half-finished accounts of wonderful trips spread throughout my blog. Apologies. Some random memories from the rest of this trip:

Being spun by Dave...faster than I ever thought possible.
Getting dragged through the sand by Derek during a line dance.
Gasping for breath during and after dances.
Wishing guys weren't intimidated by my height.
Laughing at guys climbing the barn structure.
Meeting a random girl and being friends for a night.
A keg of root beer.
Beautiful stars after the dance.
Dave nodding to sleep at church on Sunday.
CJ Mahaney preaching.
Wasabi on tuna sushi at lunch on Sunday.
Looooooong conversation about Spiritual giftings with Dave on the way home.
Conversations about other deep things with Dave on the way home.
Trying to snuggle into the sheepskin seat covering on the way home.
Asking, "What's for food?" when Dave and I finally get home.
Playing Risk and getting slaughtered by Dave the next morning.

The weekend was wonderful. Many thanks to Bek for hosting!]