I liked one of my homework assignments. Yeah, I actually said that. For my collaboration and spontaneity class we had to make a thirty minute presentation. There were five people in our group including me, and at first we thought about doing a Powerpoint. I suggested we make a video instead. The had to be about group influence, so I wrote out a concept for a script about gang violence. There were two writing for film and tv majors in our group, so they each wrote half the script and gave it to me a couple of days later.

That’s when the fun started. I got a bunch of people together and gave them roles. There were about a dozen of us in total, and it was my job to direct the filming and try and get them to do their jobs. Nobody actually read the script, and before long the scenes were completely different than I’d imagined. In a good way. There was a fight scene in the script, and they all ran in at the wrong time and started beating on him. They threw in yo mamma jokes and ridiculous comments throughout the scenes. Somehow the serious scenes still managed to tell the story, and the slapstick comedy actually made the movie better. Our teacher almost fell of his seat laughing when we showed the movie in class. All in all, it was a success.

Someone came up with the idea of going to my friend Jon Casey’s house this weekend. He lives in Cherry Hill, about a half hour drive from here. We decided that the fourteen of us were going to have a bonfire in his backyard. I called up my Dad and asked if we could borrow my fifteen seat van so I could drive everybody, and that’s what we did. When we got there we built up the fire, got the grill heated up, and made burgers and hot dogs. As we sat around the fire, we told story after story. There were a few ghost stories, a few ridiculous stories, true stories. When the night was over we my friends all piled into the van and drove back into the city. I picked up my Dad on the way so he could take the car back, and we got dropped off right outside of Spruce.

Here are some pictures:

Before we left

Getting the fire started

Chillin’ around the fire

Nothing is like getting together with a bunch of friends and tackling the crap out of each other.  I’ve played football with my friends from Spruce three times, and I’ve never gotten home without being covered in dirt and a little blood.  Vince, Rich, John, Colin, Ryan, Nate, Lenny - thanks for being great tackling dummies by the way.