shirenomad: (memorable)
shirenomad ([personal profile] shirenomad) wrote2005-03-09 03:59 pm
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Just realized I still haven't commented on the retreat.

But it's National Procrastination Week, so I'm par for the course.

We arrived late and helped the girls move into their cabin first. It had some shelves, areas to hang clothes, two sinks, toilet, and shower. Then us guys moved into our cabin... know what we had? None of the above. The men got community restroom/showers. In a separate building. Through the snow. Ain't that always the way...

Along with paintballing (in which I'm not sure I actually hit a single person, although I did learn the fine art of crawling under fire), there was something called the Screamer. Which is basically strapping yourself into a harness and stepping off a 40-foot platform. Best way to do this is to close your eyes before jumping and not open them again until you feel the rope go taunt; at least, that's what I did. Anyway, Jerry had his camera handy to record me doing my swan dive, and Daniel recorded Danijela's method, which was to take a step forward on the "plank", scream, repeat steps 1 and 2 until you reach the edge, then scream LOUD as you step off completely.

Broomball tournament! Jerry was quick to sign the guys up as soon as he could: "Santa Clara" was the first team on the list. But if he had been a little slower on the draw, he might have noticed that no one else was actually using their church for their team names; competitors included groups like "Sis Broom Bah", "Hotcakes", and "Old Lady Diaper Rash". We could have easily used "Impact" or "Edge" (the names of our church's college group and evening worship service, respectively) if we had known. As it turned out, another team took "Impact" themselves... and then faced off against us in the first round. So we destroyed them, earning back the title. >:D Too bad we got spanked in the second round. ("Diaper Rash" won the tourney.)

Good praise music at the worship sessions, including one I hadn't heard before: "Undignified", which is a good song for those who forget praise shouldn't be so formal as some make it out to be.

Saw Jeremy (former roommate of my brother, JW), who works at the facility. I pointed him out to everyone who knows my bro; not sure if anyone pumped him for juicy gossip or not.

And the food was surprisingly edible!