Jackknife, Disco Lights, Drunken Kickball, Fire, Cops, and a Moped Ride

That sounds like a pretty good description of the weekend.

I guess it all started on Friday. Erik and Demian towed the camper to go get a new hitch for it, something about better weight distribution and sway control, whatever. Around 8 that night, I get a phone call from Erik, and it turns out that after they put the new hitch on in the parking lot, they got on the highway and when they got to about 45mph, the camper started to sway and bounce all over the road, and eventually jackknifed. Fortunately, they didn't hit any other cars, and no one was hurt. After the camper jackknifed, it swung the jeep and camper around in a 180, and crossed three lanes of traffic. Surprisingly, nothing broke, and they're still set to go. Although they've switched their departure to Wednesday morning.

Had the party on Saturday. After our location for the party backed out, we ended up having it at our house. My parents went to my grandma's for the night and gave us free reign, as long as nothing broke, and the cops didn't show up. 1/2 isn't bad. Before the party, Erik and I went around to some of the neighbors' houses to let them know what was happening, and to call us if it got too loud, before calling the cops.

Around 5 in the afternoon Erik, Demian, BuBu, Rocky and I started grilling some food, and getting everything set up. They got 2 kegs of beer so we set those up in the back yard under the deck. Over the next 3 hours people slowly started to show up, and it ended up being a good turn out. Probably around 100 people over the course of the night.

I had set up my band's PA system in the basement for music, and had the windows open so you could hear it outside. It was pretty loud inside, but pretty good outside. As night fell, we started a bonfire and all the black lights came to life in the camper, as well as that stereo. So we had two different sources of loud music.

There ended up being three mini parties within the one. One out back with the fire, one inside, and one out front with the camper. Since I was the only sober one, I was running between them all night, trying to keep things under control. Around 1 AM, I walked from the front to the back, and was presented with a well organised, yet impossible to play, game of kickball. The only light was from the house and the fire. But they even had team names and rules. People were pretty drunk, and first base was right next to the fire pit, so it was a little interesting, but no one got hurt.

Around 2, Erik wanted me to give his friend Jessica a ride home, since she had to go feed her baby. So just as I'm walking from the back yard out to the car, I hear the smoke alarm go off. Great. I run inside as fast as I could, and see that a bag of homemade rice krispy treats that was on the stove had caught fire. Apparently, the burner knob had gotten turned and the bag caught instantly. So I walked into the kitchen seeing 8 inch flames on the stove and some drunk people freaking out. So I grabbed some water and got it out. The people around me said they'ed let it cool for a bit, and then clean it up. So I nervously left to take Jess home, after finding Erik, and rather forcefully telling him to keep things under control until I got back. It was the most tense 20 minutes I'd had in a while.

When I got home, things were still under control, and someone had cleaned up the mess on the stove, which made me happy. Around 3 or so, we decided to close the house windows, to try and cut back on some of the noise. But the drunk people were loud, and the camper was blasting music, so I knew it wouldn't help much. By about 4, I figured we were pushing our luck, but there wasn't much I could do. Finally, about 4:30, I see a cop car drive around the corner. So I run into the camper and kill the music, and tell people the cops are here. Erik came out with me to talk to the officer, and he just told us the music was too loud, and to shut up and go inside. Simple enough. Most of the people went in without a problem, but a couple people drug their feet. By this time, only about 20 people were there.

Over the next hour, people started to leave as their cabs showed up, and it was starting to die down. I was getting excited that I might actually get some sleep. Erik, Demain, Nate and I went out to the back yard, and found there was just a small amount of beer left in the second keg. So what started as them drinking it, quickly turned into them having a water fight, with beer. Throwing full cups at each other, spraying people with the nozzle, stuff like that. Well, the kegs were gone pretty quickly after that. Erik went and got some rope, and decided to hang the empty kegs from the tree. He left them hanging about 15 feet in the air.

Nate was starting to pass out in the yard, and Erik and D thought it would be a good idea to pour the garbage can full of ice water from the keg on him. So they grabbed it and tried to sneak up on him, but he saw them. Instead of trying to run away, he just accepted it and threw his backpack away to keep it dry. Then he tried to tackle them for the next couple of minutes. It was hilarious, and not a bad way to finish off the night, at 7 AM.

I borrowed Nate's moped to go to the gas station and get some cigarettes for people shortly after. I was about a block away, and the thing ran out of gas, so I had to push it the rest of the way. Kind of sucked, but it's light so it wasn't bad. More annoying than anything. Got gas and smokes, and headed back home thinking I could finally get some sleep. But no. The 10 or so people left had gotten a second wind, and the party was picking up again, along with the music volume. I guess they figured it was after 8, so they could get away with it. I went down and turned it down and told Erik I was going to bed. He was sad, but accepted. I made it up the stairs and almost to my bedroom door when the music turned 'itself' back up. I said screw it and just went to bed anyways. The music was so loud, it was shaking the walls and all I could hear was it and the drunk people outside on the deck, right outside my window. I was in limbo between sleep and awake for a long time, and finally around 1 PM, I think when my parents came home, the music stopped and I finally got to sleep. I woke up at 4, and only my parents were home. They said Erik and everyone went to the beach to sleep. Seemed weird, but whatever. Hung around at home and told my parents (most) of what happened at the party. They weren't concerned about any of it, even the fire, and were proud at how well I'd handled it. I just told them it was from years of practice. Erik finally came home around 10 PM, having not slept at the beach, and crashed.

It was a pretty early night for me on Sunday too, since I hadn't gotten much sleep either. My parents thought the kegs in the tree was pretty funny, and they were there until I woke up today.

So that's the weekend in a nutshell. Saw some good people, had a good time, and some awesome memories. Now we'll just have to see if they leave on Wednesday. I'm sure they will.

Well, that's about it for now. My body still hasn't caught up on sleep, so I should probably get to bed.

Hope you guys are well!

143

_Kevin

Erik and D raising the trophies (and yes, Erik is wearing plaid pants, a leather jacket with tassels, and a cowboy hat. Don't ask.)



The 'stealth' attack