(Why is Jesus in the subject field?  To get by my uncle's spam filter.)

IN WHICH We Travel To The Basketball Game, I Am Repeatedly Annoyed, I Raise My Voice A Number Of Times, Cruising Ensues AND We Finally Get To Our Great Seats.

In the van with Mike and I were three boys and two girls.  I'm now looking at the picture we took at the end of the journey, but I don't remember some of their names, and all of their ages are estimates.  I know that the three boys were in the back - one overweight black 14-year-old (JeRay?), one quiet black 12-year-old (I don't remember which one was there this time) and one incredibly obnoxious white 14-year-old (???).  I remembered their names three weeks ago!  In the middle were the two girls, both about 9 or 10.  I don't remember their names now either.

As we pulled out of Pedricktown, the white guy in the back whose name I really should remember started to pick fights with one of the little girls in front of him.  This made her scream and whine and carry on, and the guys in the back with him got into it too, and the other girl alternated between defending her friend and calling her names.  And all of them wanted a different radio station, none of which were any good.  Meanwhile, Mike is trying to drive on the expressway, and I am turned around in my seat, using my intimidating presence to keep the hands from the back off the heads in the middle.

It was honestly one of the most annoying rides I've ever had, serving as further proof that when you give young teenage boys the opportunity to do something fun, they will respond by acting like complete buffoons.  The girls took turns sitting up in the front between Mike and I - I would have gone to the middle, but I had to assist Mike.  I don't remember what it was I said that finally got them to sort of behave, but I know that it pretty much worked.

Then we got to the First Union Center, home of Philadelphia 76er basketball.  We didn't know where our ticket packet was, so we just cruised around looking for a parking spot.  The game had just started.

We continued to cruise around, and as we cruised, we reached the other side of the building.

Our cruising continued unabated, and we found ourselves in the place we had started.  We did not stop cruising at this point, however.  We kept on.

Cruising still, our passengers began to get quite restless.  "THE GAME ALREADY STARTED!  WHY CAN'T WE JUST PARK THE VAN????"  Well, there were no parking spots.  We cruised.

Suddenly, we spotted a woman waving cars into a row with empty spots!  We had seen it too late, but Jason behind us got in.  We went into the next row, hoping to get it from the other side.  It went on forever.  We were back to the same point again, and on the other side, it was roped off.

Time to cruise again.

All of a sudden, on our fourth trip by the same spot, a group of spaces uncloaked in front of us.  We finally parked the van, about fifteen minutes after the start of the game, and we went to go in.  But where was the other car?  We waited inside.  And waited.  And waited.

Finally, Mike volunteered to go find them, leaving me inside with all eight of the kids - "I WANT TO GO TO THE BATHROOM!  CAN I STAND OVER HERE?  STOP TOUCHING MY HAIR!  YOU'RE A POOPHEAD!"

Miraculously, Mike found Jason, Mike found the tickets, and Mike went to get some other stuff while I escorted four kids to the bathrooms.  I didn't go in, to make sure they all came back out.  We then all looked at our tickets, went in the gate, and looked up.  Then we climbed up.  And kept climbing.  Until we couldn't climb anymore, because we were in Row 15.

The top row in the whole building.

TO BE CONTINUED

Part Eight

NHS Speech

"My View" Editorial

The October Surprise
|  Round 1 |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |
|   6  |  7  |  8  |  9  |  10  |
|  11  |  12  |  Final Bell  |

Journey to Jersey II
|  Intro  |  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |
|   6  |  7  |  8  |  9  |  10  |  11  |
|  12  |  13  |  14  |  15  |

Journey to Jersey I
|  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |   6  |  7  |  8  |
|  9  |  10  |  11  |  12  |  13  |  14  |
|  15  |  16  |  17  |  18  |  19  |  20  |

An Epic Saga
|  Act  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |
|   6  |  7  |  8  |  9  |  10  |  11  |
|  12  |  13  |  14  |  15  |  16  |

Christian Rock Email

Freshman Room Draw
|  Part One  |  Two  |
|  Three  |  Four  |  Five  |