I started writing my thoughts for this one down on the 4th of July. So although that was while ago, I think the delay emphasizes my eventual point of how little we keep Independence Day and our nation in our minds.
One night not long ago as I was driving home, I felt like listening to talk radio. I don't remember who I tuned in to, but one of the points the callers and the dj were making was that very few people would actually be reflecting on the birth of our country and the United States in general. This made me think that yes, that's true. People will think about how its a holiday and they don't have to work and there are parties and barbecues and fireworks and drunk drivers and all the normal holiday things. But like so many of our holidays, we don't think about the reasons we have the holidays.
This criticism is not new. Every Christmas, Easter, and even holidays like Veteran's and Memorial Day I've heard people make these commentaries. Often for the religious affiliated days, people say well I don't believe in that or we don't want to impose the religious beliefs on people so its secularized. I find that sad because it has resulted in a lessening of the holiday to the people that do believe in it but regardless, what are people's excuses for Independence Day? Aren't we all American? And aren't many of us that aren't American here because we want to someday become American. There is a very small minority of people in the country that don't want to be here because its America. They may not want to be here because they were forced out of their homes or had to come here for economic/work/bigger issues. But generally, the people here like America, at least in concept.
And Independence Day is ABOUT THE CONCEPT! It's about standing up and saying I am a free person who wants the chance to pursue my own dreams. Its about the values of liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and living our lives. It's about standing up with pride saying this is my country, I would fight for it, I am loyal to it, I love it.
I think many people like the idea of America, but have become disillusioned with it, angry at it, caught up in the political this and that and that they associate the country as a bad, horrible place. I think we get so caught up in complaining that we don't appreciate our country. Why don't we ever get so caught supporting our country or lauding it?
What really solidified these thoughts in my head was a conversation I had with the GF on our way home after the 4th of July festivities. She had learned about the escape stories her Armenian grandparents went through during the Armenian genocide by the Turks. I listened as she told me about how some fled sensing the impending disaster that staying would result in. And how some were forced to stay. One of her grandparents got a job with a Turkish family as a kind of nanny and English tutor. She was accepted there by everyone but after the genocide really went underway, the mother of the household came to her and told her to leave before the head of the household came home. So her grandmother had to leave her whole life behind or her boss would have turned her in. Listening to the GF tell these stories was like hearing a movie script. Hiding away, sneaking out in the middle of the night, betrayal and the goodwill of strangers helping others escape to Greece. I felt so humbled that our country does not have the infuriating history that overlooked Armenia has had.
So this 4th and beyond, I'm trying to appreciate all the good things about the country that I am proud to be a part of. That's not saying I won't look at the actions of its people with a critical eye. I just want to do my part and proudly strive to make my country just as awesome as it was in 1776.
As summer continues to creep in and weather steadily gets better, I am not actually working in Summercamp right now. That picks up next month. For now I am happily part-time employed and enjoying the extra time I have for sleeping and video games.
But as I have mentioned that I would talk about Traps, I look back on the waning days at Summercamp and a particular program that I supervised. One of the events was a Pie Your Supervisor. Well, my student teams talked JD into getting pied but since I was overseeing the program, I was exempt. Also, I think the thought of pieing JD was way more enticing to all of us. Still, as the moment arrived, I noticed most of my staff as actually afraid of pieing him. Naturally, this meant I had to set the example. He'd been pied maybe six times and suddenly noone else had the nerve. But they all had the nerve to encourage me.
I filled my paper plate with whip cream and stepped to the line. The object was to toss the paper plate about 6 feet and hope it hit the right supervisor (there were two of them going at the same time). Hope to hit? Yea right. I admit I had every intention of charging JD and rubbing the plate across his face. Having been pied before, I knew that you had to do this gently so you wouldn't poke their eyes or give them a bloody nose. As I stood there with the pie, letting the suspense build and planning a route that wouldn't leaving me slipping on the melted whip cream on the floor, JD sprung his first trap. He charged at me and over that short distance I literally had one second to raise my hand out in front of me to stop him. My hand that held the pie of course. JD ran square into my outstretch arm, slamming his face into the plate and tackling me, covering my new sweatshirt in the whip cream that already covered his body. Naturally everyone cheered because they got to see one supervisor tackle his assistant AND they got to see their other supervisor essentially punch his boss right in the face with a pie.
Well at least I didn't break his nose. We kinda laughed it off and he went back to being pied. Just as the program was ending it occurred to me that I should disappear before he was free to hug/tackle me again. I literally turned to go and suddenly this man had leapt onto my back and I literally caught and carried him, all the while getting whip cream wiped into my hair and all over my sweatshirt again. Trap 2.
"OK OK we're even" I said. I went to wash up and judging by all the whip cream on me you can guess it took like 10 minutes in the public 1person bathroom. Finally free of the cool whip and holding my lost cause sweatshirt, I open the door. Before I can even register what happened, a WAVE of water slammed into my face. Trap 3 courtesy of JD who had been waiting outside the bathroom the whole time. Now I smell like whip cream, have no sweatshirt and and wearing a drenched t-shirt as the cool evening air kicked in. Revenge must be had!
As our programmers cleaned up, I noticed a shovel and pail in the sandpit. Grabbing the pail, I returned to the bathroom to arm myself. I then followed JD around the entire building sneaking slowly closer, closer, closer until I lept out from behind the corner and tossed the water onto JD. But the suckers fast and managed to punch at the pail, resulting in an explosion of water that fortunately pretty much completely land on JD anyway. The pail had a whole clear through it and at least we were even. Amusing, I not only got the last laugh but an encore when about 30 minutes later JD, dry and changed, walked out of his office and heard a bush move. He jumped, scream STOP WITH THE WATER and turned to see one of the many squirrels staring at him innocently. I wasn't even on campus haha!
I promised to mention the story of Sassy Gay Friend meeting Alejandro. There's not much to tell other that they both can take alcohol like beasts and it was an eerie moment where both my worlds collided. It would be drinking club that brings these things about. I dunno if SGF and Alejandro will ever meet again but I do enjoy having someone who knows me outside the dept hanging out, relaxed with my work buddies, so perhaps this summer we all go drinking again.
On to Brock's Block. This episode features a few very Brock moments in which I just shake my head and go Oh Brock. One came when we were having our Star Wars movie marathon. It came to our attention that two of our good friends, Nemesis and Bridges, had never seen any Star Wars movie (BLASPHEMY!). We hosted a viewing at our apt with its giant TV and had like 10 people over for the party. Brock decided to chill in his room until well after the first two movies emerging only for food. This gives me the opportunity to point out the other sides of Brock that I don't normally address in this blog. For one thing, he can disappear in his bed. Whole days can pass by with Brock spending half of them sleeping and the other half far away in cyberspace.
Another side of him came out when he emerged for pizza. At dinner, while many of us were engaged in explaining the nuances and brilliant details of Star Wars to the new and less nerdy, Brock struck up a conversation about the importance of investing in the stock market and various ways in which such investments can bring fortunes. Which brings up both the intellectual side of Brock and his money mindedness. Always looking for a good deal or a way to turn a profit from a sale, its no wonder he didn't go into Business. I'm not surprised in the least that he buys stuff so much from Amazon.com but he also resells much of that to pay for his dinner.
All this boils down to a deep financial discussion in the midst of the epic Original Triology viewing of Star War-epic proportions. Oh Brock.
Another moment came a week earlier. My brother, Jules and his girlfriend, Kirbs, came over to visit me for a little on Sunday. Alejandro and Brock where there after a night of drunken debauchery that involved a lot of things that I'll leave your mind to fill in. Needless to say, the result was Brock decided to create a hand written graph of all the people he had sex with and how they were connected to each other. The thing took up a full page and was like a spider web of different names intertwining, getting really interesting when people that were straight turned out to be gay and other people were just into experimenting. I learned a little more than I wanted to about Brock and a fair number of other people. My brother learned WAY more than he had intended to that day and poor Kirbs has only met Brock when he was totally gone at the Lady Gaga party we had and on this day, I can't imagine what impression she has of him. That said, Brock, I do know its a positive one. An amused one, but a positive one. And of course, a conversation about people's sex lives also leads to interesting opinions and discussions about what counts as sex. Brock has never been one to be discreet. More like graphic. But yea, I just shook my head and said, Oh Brock.
So finally, after two weeks hacking away at this long blog, I can publish it. Sorry for the typos, I am just trying to get it out. No quotes from Brock today because my book is not hear but I have a full new page of them so I'll be sure to treat you next time. And that next time won't be long away. Promise.
Reading: The Magician's Nephew (only one more Narnia book after this!)
Playing: Alien Swarm, Left 4 Dead 2, and Super Mario Galaxy 2 (but that's just the last 24 hours)
Listening to: "Duel of the Fates" John Williams if you don't know what this is, then you can come over for the movie viewing part 2
