I thought about how to setup the Youth Quake report and finally decided that
I would set it up by the different events and stories Burt and I went through on this awesome, fun-filled but very tiring
weekend. So the following little menu will allow you to skip to different parts of the writeup that you might find of
interest to you if you happen to not want to read the entire thing. I tried to put it in a rough order of when the events
all occurred at. I hope you enjoy!!
Drive down and Arrival at Youth Quake
Burt and I left the city at about 2:00 pm on Friday, February 21st. We had to make a quick stop off for some
film and food before we started the 3 hr journey down to Caronport. We'll after our quick stop we were off. We didn't
have a CD hookup for the jeep so we had to suffer listening to the radio. They never play the good songs!! lol After
a little while I got out my homework that I had brought along to finish. I gave up doing that after I finished the
first question. YEA! Think about it, me doing homework on a 'vacation'. NOT LIKELY!!!
So we just suffered the radio until we got to Caronport. We finally pulled into Briercrest Bible College at 5 pm.
Once we arrived at Youth Quake we went in and registered.
They just us a program for the weekends events and gave us our name tags. The tags were either blue or green (read meals section to
find out why) and had our names and on the back where we were staying. After registering we went back out to the jeep
and went and parked in the parking lot and took our stuff to our room. We were in room 215 of Whittaker Hall. (more info in the Dorm section)
The Big Kickoff
After registering Burt and I quickly grabbed some food from the tent and went and ate in the dorm. At about 5:50 we headed
to the Chapel Foyer for the kickoff event that started at 6. The kickoff was just a really sweet 45 min play. It had some pyrotechnic
displays and was centered around a movie motif. There were many parts to the play but this is roughly how it went. There were three
main characters. One from Quebec, one from Montana, and one from BC. They were all travelling to YQ but had to make stops at truck
stop washrooms. The washrooms were like portals and the three ended up together but didn't know where they were. They spend
the next like 30 minutes talking to different movie and tv characters trying to figure out how to get back to their reality. There were many
characters including: Spiderman, a Hobbit, Romeo and Juliet (death scene), Julius Caesar, 4 different Barbies, Avril, and the Veggie
Tales. In the scene with Romeo and Juliet, the one guy started to try and ask Juliet out. It was gold. When the 4 Barbies came
out the same guy who tried to pick up Juliet tried to pick up the Barbies as well. In the end of the scene the 4 Barbies realized
that they were all dating the same guy and that he was in real big trouble. In the
scene with the Veggie Tales, Bob the tomato was looking for Larry the Cucumber. But the best part was Spiderman coming down from the rafters.
He gave his Spiderman speel and then left. After that the next best part was the Hobbit running into the stage lol. GOOD TIMES. Anyways,it the
end the people couldn't figure out exactly where they were and they didn't get back lol. But they were suspecting that they were in a
YQ skit. The kickoff ended with Bob Cates and his laser gate show (Go to the Bob Cates section to read about this) and everyone was
free to go at around 7 pm.
Main Speaker/Seminars - John McAuley
Throughout the weekend there were 4 main sessions. The first was 8:30-10:00 on Friday evening, the second 10:30-noon on Saturday, the
third was at 6:30-8:00 on Saturday evening and the final session was on Sunday morning from 10:00 am to noon. The speaker was John McAuley.
John was raised in Northern Ireland where he worked as a police officier. During these 4 main sessions John talked about many different aspects of
christian life. His messages were very powerful and very funny as well.
Eating
There were two different colours of tags: blue and green. The colour of your tag determined where you ate at breakfast, lunch, and supper. There was a tent outside,
a cafeteria, and a little food spot inside the building where you could eat. There was also of course 'the well'. This was the sort of arcade place on
campus and they had some pretty good pizza.
Living in the Dorms
This was my second time living in a dorm but unlike last time we actually lived with the people instead of just an empty dorm room. Burt and I said in Whittaker Hall, Room
215. There was us, Dominic (the guy's room) and Dominic's youth pastor. There were supposed to be two more people in the room with us but they 'transferred' to other rooms
that first night. So things worked out great. It wasn't packed in our room so it didn't get too hot. Across the hall though was the 'dorm store'. The guy sold chocolate bars and
pop from his room so it was pretty much town central across the hall. That meant late nights, unless you don't call 2 or 3 am late, lol.
Here are two pictures from Dom's room:
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Dom's Room
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Burt
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Lazer Tag
We couldn't get enough of this game. After almost every seminar Burt and I went and stood in line for another go at lazer tag. We probably went at least 6 or 7 times perhaps more.
This was my first time playing lazer tag so it took some getting use to. Some games were good but some were bad when there were too many people in the room at one time. You sometimes would go
for a while without being able to take a single shot. For those who don't know, when you get shot your lazer shuts off for about 10 seconds and then turns back on. But with so many people there
were times were people would be just waiting for your lazer to turn back on. That got to be no fun. I don't remember what Burt's high score was but I think I got around 2400 points for my high score.
Inflatables
These were a lot of fun. There were 4 different inflatable events: the basketball game, jousting, obstacle course, and sumo wrestling. Burt and I tried them all more than once. We did the obstacle course twice
with of course me winning both times. It helped to be smaller because I was able to get through the cracks and bounced easier. We then tried the basketball game. In this game, both people were attached to each other
by a bungee cord and each was given a basketball. When the people said go you ran and tried to score on your basketball net. Let's just say I lost badly in this one lol. Burt had a little too much weight on me and I
could barely move him at all. The first game he won 3-1. But the second time we played I used a different tactic. I knew I wouldn't be able to match power with Burt so I decided to just shoot the basketball instead. I
believe I did win that game 8-6, but verification is not available at this time lol. We then tried the jousting game. I think that is what it is called. Each person stood on a pedestall and was given a giant Q-tip lol.
Then it was bashing time! Lol I think only one fall was a legitimate fall (Burt hit Me off). All the rest were caused by imbalance. We played that twice with the first being a draw and the second Burt winning 1-0. The final inflatable event
that Burt and I tried was the sumo wrestling and I would have to say that this was the best one. We were given each a large sumo suit and then after performing the sumo rituals the war of the fat men was on. I think Burt underestimated my
power. After many years as a fat man I have learned to control my power and unleash it in a large sum. It was a pretty even match between Burt and I. Only one big hit was thrown and that was by Burt. It was hilarious. I remember
running towards Burt, and the next thing I notice I am sitting on top of 3 girls in the crowd lol. I guarantee that they were not suspecting that lol. I was completely dazed. But it was good times lol. Oh as a side note, it may look like I
have the same suit as Burt but I don't. I am just wearing a 2 lbs suit instead of Burt 100 lbs suit. Since I already weighed the necessary 300 lbs they didn't want to give me too much weight lol.
Here are some pictures from the Inflatable events:
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A picture of part of the obstacle course
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The basketball game
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The jousting game
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Burt (red) and I (blue) during Sumo
THE BIG SPLASH!!
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Burt (red) and I (blue) during Sumo
Sizing each other up
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Burt (red) and I (blue) during Sumo
Going for the pin
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Indoor Rock Climbing
I then tried the indoor rock climbing. I tried the hardest one. About 15 ft up it has a 90° corner. I underestimated my amount of tiredness and my short height lol. I got to the corner and had to jump to grab the rock. I ended up swinging a few times and
then using all my energy I pulled my legs back up and tried to continue but was unable to because I couldn't reach the next rock and it would have been a very difficult and awkward jump so I had to discontinue.
They had an outdoor ice climbing but it was too cold and it would have taken too long to get a chance to try it, so Burt and I didn't bother.
Here are some pictures of me rock climbing:
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Starting my ascend up the wall
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Trying to pass the 90° corner
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Gearing up for the attempt
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Looking at the wall after my attempt
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The descent down the wall
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Bob Cates - Comedy in Motion
This was a pretty impressive show. We didn't have very good seats so we couldn't get a great view. During the Kickoff Bob Cates showed
his lazer light show which was sweet. The next day Burt and I went to watch his juggling show. It was good which was sweet juggling and comedy.
Click below to see a picture of Bob Cates on his unicycle. It wasn't a great picture.
Bob Cates - Unicycle
Fireworks
On the final night at around 10:30 pm they had a fireworks display to end the event. Burt and I didn't actually go outside to watch them because we were waiting in line to get good seats for the Switchfoot concert. But we were able to see the fireworks
outside the window and they were pretty impressive. Many different colors and type of pyrotechnics. Twas a good show. It probably last 15 minutes or so and then there was an influx of people into the Chapel foyer which made it interesting since we had a
bunch of people in there already waiting to get into the chapel for the concert.
The Switchfoot Concert
This was the highlight of the weekend's event for me at least. We left the dorm at 10:25 pm and got to the chapel at 10:30 pm and waited in line hoping to get good seats.
They didn't let us in until 10:55!! Right when the doors opened it became a mad house. We were getting pushed in and right when we got in Burt and I noticed that we
were at the wrong door. We wanted to be at the next door. It was still good though. We got about 5 or 6 rows from the stage but we were right in front of the speakers
which made it really loud. The concert started with Caronport's band Even playing. They were a pretty good band. After about 20 minutes of playing it was time for the
main attraction.....SWITCHFOOT!!!! It was so sweet. The place just erupted when they came onstage. They didn't do a lot of songs that I knew but it was still good music
nonetheless. They did sing Only Hope which is what I was hoping for the entire weekend. The concert last till about 1:30 am or so. We all headed back to the dorms and got
to sleep at around 2:30 am. It was a tiring night.
Most of the pictures taken this weekend were of this concert. So click here to go to the pictures.
Leaving Youth Quake/Drive Home
The day started off with the fourth and final seminar in the chapel. I went around to get my video and tried to get a banner but was unable to. Burt had gone to get some lunch.
I met Burt back at the dorm and then I went and grabbed some lunch and then came back to the dorm. We sat and talked with Dom as we packed up our stuff. We were in no big hurry to
leave because it was such an awesome weekend. We got onto the road at around 1:30 or so on Sunday afternoon and headed home. We stopped in Moose Jaw to get some food and supplies and
then it was onto Toon Town. We arrived back into the city at around 5:00 pm on Sunday which finally concluded this fabulous weekend at Youth Quake!!!
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