On jet lag, monument climbing, and kick-ass ex-muppets.

[shirenomad]

As I've mentioned, my family and I flew out to Annapolis for the Naval Academy Commissioning Week, in which my brother Andrew finished his first year and achieved the status of Plebe No More. We ate out a lot (probably gained five pounds this weekend), we saw Andrew carry the Marine flag in the opening parade (well, we saw the flag, which was covering his face completely as he passed, much to my shutterbug mom's annoyance), and we watched some movies (more on that later).

But first, the entertainment highlight of the weekend: Herndon. The sight I just linked to gives a general idea of what this rite of passage is about, but it doesn't really sum up the excitement of watching the show. It also fails to mention that the dixie cup at the top of the monument is both duct-taped in place and buried under a layer of lard. (They started with the duct tape after that record time, in which someone with extremely good aim actually knocked the cover off with a shoe and then gracefully tossed a upperclass cover in its place) Also, the sophomores utilized their sense of humor by scribbling messages in the lard before the fun began ("Your tax dollars at work," "Help sir!" and at the bottom, "We remember our fallen.") Not to be outdone, many of the plebes went in with more encouraging messages scribbled on their shirt backs. And then there was this guy, who was the first person to actually dig the cover out from under the lard, grabbed on tight, and hung on even when his support collapsed twice in as many minutes. Then he ripped the tape off, snagged an upperclass cover someone tossed him, and plopped it on. And the Plebes No More went wild (along with the audience)... and then went back to the dorms to shower. Andrew wound up working as one of the lower supports for most of the event, so he never really got close to the top, but he was as worn out as the rest.

As for the movies, we saw Spider-Man and Episode II. Spider-Man was nicely done and pretty faithful to the storyline (even included hints about later events; Spider-Man 2, anyone?) Episode II is still weak on the dialogue (and, as one review noted, had way too many references to modern Earth culture), but the action scenes were awesome. Worth watching once on the big screen.

And on that note, I'm wiped from a busy weekend, and I'm still jet lagged. Chris out.