Want to know about the Senior Retreat? Sure you do.

It consisted of a godawful number of Form Meetings, with niftyness interspersed. We voted on the graduation speaker (I’m not allowed to say who, but it’s not Dave Barry or Ira Glass. Sadness. But Dave came in 3rd, so if the first two are unavailable, squeeage will ensue), class motto (“2003 — Let it Be”, much to the joy of the Beatles fans), class t-shirt design (“Daised and Confused — I just got my 03rd wind, let’s hit the road”. As I’ve never seen Dazed and Confused, I’m rather dazed and confused myself), yearbook dedication (again, can’t say), and some class officers. We also had a 3-hour campfire thing, full of tears and hugs and such. I didn’t think I’d even come close to crying, but when I spoke near the end, I couldn’t help myself from getting all choked up and teary. Sniff.

The niftyness consisted of canoes, kayaks, waterslides, the Blob, and a zipline. Squee. As soon as we were let loose, Chungy and I raced for the 2-person kayak, where I got the double-bladed paddle and Chungy got an oar for steering. We rained watery doom upon all the canoers, as we were about 3-times faster, what with my double bladed paddle and our lightweight, streamlined shell. We declared ourselves scurvy pirates of the briny depths, I the captain with my trusty first-mate Chungbeard. We zoomed around the lake, attacking canoes and splashing them with as much fervor as we could muster. We shouted “Arrr!” at them and traded pirate insults. Too much fun. As we sped away, we took turns shouting:

Me: What’s a pirate’s favourite letter of the alphabet?

Me and Chungy: Arrr!

Me: What’s was the pirate movie rated?

Both: Arrr!

Me: What’s a pirate’s favourite part of opera?

Both: Arrrrria!

Me: What’s a pirate’s favourite Star Wars character?

Both: Arrrrtoo-Deetoo!

Too much fun. Hugs go out to Renata, my inspiration and the queen of Bad Pirate Jokes. When we were sufficiently exhausted, we went watersliding, which was too much fun by half. After going on all three waterslides twice, we went to the zipline. We helped two women get into their harnesses, thanks to my years of Ropes Course experience, then went up ourselves. We got to ride at the same time as Mariam (there are four lines total), who asked if we were allowed to go upside down. He said that he was supposed to tell us “no”, but that they couldn’t do anything if we did anyway. And so I did. Funness squared. I think Chungy got pictures; we’ll have to see what develops. Anyway, after the zipline, we went to “Adventure Land”, where we went on the water trapeze and the Blob. The Blob is a huge balloony thing that you land on after jumping off a platform. It’s very difficult to stay on. If you manage to stay on, you crawl to the opposite end (which is difficult enough, I assure you), and try to stay on when another person jumps on. I became the Blob Queen when I managed to stay on for two seperate turns — I landed and stayed. Chloe jumped, and I stayed. Mariam jumped, and I stayed. Chungy started griping at me that we had to leave and get ready, so when Chloe jumped again, I sat in a place that would propell me as far up as possible, and I fell off deliberately. Still, it was awesome. Yo.

In our time in the cabin, lots of time was spent playing card games such as Egyptian Ratscrew and Capitalism. After the campfire, I spent some quality time with Rachel, initially to thank her for all the effort she puts into the Sci-Fi Club and for being my friend again after our nast breakup in 8th grade. Then we started talking about Star Wars, which as great fun. I want to work for ILM.

And that’s basically the end. Hurrah.