YSDD & Picnic Day (placeholder)
Yep, it’s another episode of Three Days that Feel like a Month! Woohoo!
(if it’s still blank, harass me so that I remember to update!)
Thursday:
Woke up earlyish to vacuum and prep the apartment for the arrival of the You See Davis Days kids. Faryn and I headed to the Buehler Alumni Center (near Mondavi) around 11:30 for the early arrivals, and hung out in the hot hot sun for about three hours. Around 1 I rounded up the ones who were already there and struck out for the MU so that we could grab something cold to drink. Sandy did the “behave or else!” speech, then we traipsed merrily back to the MU (with all 16 delegates this time) before splitting up and heading to class. I then made ANOTHER walking trip back to the Mondavi Center for choir rehearsal with 4 of my delegates. Fawzi (the choir TA) tried to convince the girls to come up and sing with us, but no takers. Alas. Left choir early and walked back up toward campus, this time to the ARC for our pizza dinner.
I took off from there for a Classical Studies Association meeting for parade prep, and caught the Band-uh marching rehearsal on my way back. I caught every rehearsal they had last week, figuring that I’d at least know what I was getting into and get good and tired of watching the pre-parade show. Then we played pool with the delegates at MU Games before heading to the Commons for Ben & Jerry’s and a little free time in the shops there. Brett spoke on the many benefits of Greek life… Alpha Gamma Rho (AGR) is the ag fraternity, and its current president is Bubba. The kids were quite amused. A little confusion in the parking lot trying to track down all the cars and drivers, then divvy up the delegates to each chaperone… woohoo. It didn’t help that Sandy’s car (Cherry, who’s male) was in the shop. At least Kyle had Steven’s Jimmy to take up the slack.
Friday:
Awoke at 7, got all 9 girls (ours, Sara’s, and Faryn’s) on the bus to the Silo at 8:15. Some of the girls were shocked… I don’t think buses are nearly as popular in non-college towns. Sheesh. It’s a way of life for me! Breakfasted at the Tercero DC, then launched the kids on their scavenger hunt. I’m quite proud of my scavenger hunt list — many many items, and a surprising number of them were actually completed in the 2 hours they had. One of the required items was a photo with a Unitrans driver in a double-deck bus, and the one photo that actually filled the requirement was taken with my friend Danny. So we printed off the picture, the kids signed it, and I gave it to him as a thank-you for putting up with our antics. W00t.
After the Scavenger Hunt, they took off for Scrubs (the cafeteria near the Vet School), ate lunch, then came back to the ARC, which was crawling with prospective students and their families. Thursday and Friday were just crazy with people, infesting my whole campus. I had such a strong feeling of possessiveness about my school. Pride, I suppose. Then a brief tour of the baby critters at the Animal Science Teaching Facility, a failed tour of the ARC and a small one of the Craft Center, and we finished up with a tour of the Vet School. More last-minute errands for pre-Picnic Day and I caught a chunk of the Band-uh rehearsal. Again. Woohoo! Then, a barbecue at our complex’s clubhouse by Joe (no mystery meat, though) and it started raining. Noooo! A bunch of girls stayed later at our apartment to watch Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit. I hit the hay early so that I could wake up in time for Picnic Day!
Saturday: PICNIC DAY!
I rode my bike to campus for the parade, then donned my rainbow toga and golden wings with CSA. Even the faculty were dressed up! I have pictures of the prep and the madness… hogod. Anyway, amid much hilarity, Danae did our hair and makeup while we nibbled on lovely garlic-onion bread and sipped… orange juice. The Band-uh was warming up, the Unitrans double-deck got painted, and we observed our fellow parade-marchers. Here’s the funny part: we marched behind the 4-H club. Snicker. Professors Trail and Albu were Zeus and Hera, Jonathan and Danae were Hades and Persephone, Professor Rundin was Poseidon… and Jeffrey was Dionysos, with Professor Fishman as his Maenad. Fishman is the one I complained about in Fall ’05. Jeffrey is an ice skater with no shame. Insert faux debauchery here…
So Jeffrey and I proceeded to embarrass the hell out of Fishman as we brought up the rear of the parade, and he had his enormous snifter of red Welch’s grape juice with which to confuse the spectators. On several corners I saw cops shaking their heads with half-believing smirks, and the cop standing next to Steven as we passed apparently asked “so, what’s this Dionysos the god of, anyway?” … apparently Steven responded “god of wine, I think.” He wasn’t sure so he asked me later. Oh, and our Apollo and Artemis had lots of fun with their little bows, and Eros had fun posing with flirtatious girls all along the route.
Allison has very good friends among Humboldt’s Lumberjacks. They were staying at the apartment while they toured Davis, and so I hung out with the Lumberjack’s axe major at lunch. She had a mohawk and gorgous green prom dress with her Tevas… and a large axe instead of the typical drum major’s baton. 😀
Anyway, I was sore-footed from kiddos and marching, Steven was jet-lagged from his trip to Europe, and we mostly hung out at the Arboretum for the Battle of the Bands from start till about 6 PM. I was there for the massive madness during the jam session known as “Beginnings” — which involved a good 20 minutes or more of all six bands racing around and dancing by section all over the Arboretum and in the audience.
Then, when we finally decided we needed space to sit down and time to relax, we headed over to Steven’s apartment, where we all watched Lost while Alli made her Alliburgers. I quite enjoyed our Lumberjacks, for they had a most excellent black Lab puppy and they were funny. I think Hammy might come to Davis this fall… I hope so. She’s entertaining and Alli-like.
Sunday:
Well, we slept in shamelessly on Sandy’s birthday, then got brunch at Crepeville with her dad and Alli. Then Alli and I got into garb and collected Zorro in our hobbitty outfits, stopped by the 4-H office to scare Steven and his National Conference team, and headed over to Vacaville for the Middle Earth festival. On our way back, we stopped in Borders and perused the scifi/fantasy section (still in garb, of course) and impressed small children. The Safeway checker dude complimented us on our fine fashion choices. Theeeeennn Alli and I returned to her apartment and watched more Lost while she baked Sandy’s birthday cake. Alli is the queen of the kitchen. I worship at her feet. I crave her cooking. She is yumminess. Anyway, the cake was a success and good times were had.
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