Better Late Than Never

I took a few weeks off from writing because 1. I was very busy and 2. I was getting a little burned out on writing these every week. It will probably take me 2 or 3 posts to get back up to date but I am going to attempt to do that this week.

I will start where I left off which I believe was the Jr. High Olympics. On the first day of the Olympics we had a few work groups create signs for each of the five teams. Each of the interns was assigned to a team and given a work group to watch over. My team was called the Black Bus (team names were assigned). We were instructed to create a banner for our team and to pick a Bible verse that would encourage team work or working together or something along those lines. Given my competitive nature, I suggested that our sign be a black bus running over the other team mascots and our verse be Revelations 6:8 which says, "And I saw a pale horse (pale horse was of course changed to black bus) and the man who sat on it was death, and Hell followed with him". The work group, not knowing any better, took my advice and created the a pretty sweet banner. Next, I took a sharpie and wrote black bus across my knuckles as if it were a tattoo, which immediately made all of my kids want to be on our team. Once the kids were placed on teams, I helped all the black bus kids follow suite with temporary knuckle tattoos. After the kids were on their teams and had their tattoos, we had the kids design a team flag and write a team song.

Our Banner

For the second day of the Olympics, we headed to Camp Grace in north Camden. We had a full day of events in the Basement of their camp and as we were leaving one of the 5th graders from my camp came up to me and said, "Matt, you are the kid best a friend can have". He then tilted his head to the side like a confused dog, realizing that what he had just said was jibberish, and ran to the bus. I have absolutely no idea what he was trying to say but I was touched none the less.

The third day of the Olympics was the day with all of the athletics. I knew that we had an advantage on this day because we had many of the athletic kids. The first event was knockout (for those who don't know, this is a basketball game). They announced that one staff or work group member was aloud to participate in this event. I of course told all of the other staff and work group on my team that they weren't aloud to compete since this was MY event. I won the knockout competition and then my team preceded to win the relay and other athletic games of the day.

The last day was the closing ceremonies. We ate pizza and they announced the winner of the Olympics. The black bus finished second. I don't see any way that another team could possibly have had more points than us. I think we got robbed but pretended that I was happy with second place for the sake of the kids.

Some other interns and I had planned to go on a road trip to Buffalo after the Olympics. Though originally about 10 inters had planned to go, by the time the actual day came around, everyone but me, Chad, Mike and Charlotte had bailed. My camp ended up having our staff night out after the Olympics and so we did not get on the road to Buffalo until about 11 pm. We drove through the night, drinking energy drinks and blasting music to keep ourselves awake, and arrived at Mikes aunts house in Buffalo at about 6am. We got about 4 hours of sleep (I only got about a half hour because of the energy drinks) and headed to Niagara Falls at about 10am.

We ate breakfast at Tim Horton's and arrived at Niagara Falls around 11am. After wondering around a bit, we decided to check out the Canadian side of the Falls. When we got to Canada we were sent to a long line in customs. When we got to the front of the line, the customs women started interrogating me about something I had been arrested for when I was 19. I told her it had been expunged from my record. She did not know what that meant. The customs woman was a bitch and kind of incompetent. When I explained these things too her, she sent us back to United States.

Despite what the sign says, the falls were not in that dumpster

We went through those turnstiles

When we got back to the U.S., we went to a bar for some buffalo wings, then to an ice cream place for desert, and finally to a hot dog place for a night cap. After a full day of eating, we returned to Mike's aunts house and went to sleep. The next day we got up and went to a Greek diner for lunch where I had the most amazing burger I have ever had in my life. We then took a walk on some river walk trail that was in the river between the United States and Canada, threw rocks at a dead fish, and piled back in the car to head home.

The Falls

The next week we had a fairly typical week of camp. Wednesday night we went to the karaoke bar in Philly that we had discovered a couple of months ago. It was possibly even more fun than the first time. On Friday we had our Math Dare competition. Math Dare is a competition where the kids have to compete in math related events that also include gross tasks. There was all kinds of slime and different things that a work group set up for the kids. It was great and camp spirit (my camp) dominated the math portion of the contest. We did not, however, win the title. A lot of the points awarded were dependent on athletic activities and our kids were at a slight disadvantage when it came to this portion of the event.

Pookie outside of the karaoke bar. Not sure what a shaved noodle is.

On Saturday, Chad and I took about 11 kids to the skate park under the overpass in Philadelphia next to FDR park. Pretty soon after we got there, one of our kids sprained his ankle and had to be taken to the emergency room. Chad took him in his car. Realizing that we might be stuck at the skate park for longer that anticipated, I went and bought us all some McDonald's. At some point during the day I fell on my elbow (I fall often and can not remember any one specific fall). I realized this when I took off my sweatshirt and one of my kids pointed out that I was bleeding. I put my sweatshirt back on and skated the rest of the day. When I got home I noticed that the elbow of my sweatshirt was soaked in blood. I took off my sweatshirt and as I was looking at the cut on my elbow in the mirror, my room mate came in and asked what the white was that was bulging out of the cut. As I examined it, I quickly realized that it was the bone. I drove to the store and bought some peroxide to clean it, some butterflies to close it, and some gauze to wrap it. After I bandaged it up, I spent the next couple days being extra careful not to let it split open again. The following Tuesday, I got on a plane to California for an interview with the Contra Costa Probation department and to prepare for our kids to come out for spring break.

My bone sticking out before I knew it was sticking out.

I thought Jeffery had this.

And then this happened.

Spring Break Post Coming Soon.

F@*# Virginia! Johnson City TN is ok though.

Last Wednesday I had to appear in court in Marion, Virginia for a speeding ticket I got in January. I had asked my Samantha (ex girlfriend) if I could stay at her house in Johnson City TN. She had told me that I could stay but that she was going to be in Texas visiting family that week. Seeing as how we hadn't talked in about a month, I sent several text messages the week before reminding her that I would be staying at her house for a night while she was gone. I left early in the morning and arrived in Johnson City around 6pm on Tuesday night. As I walked into Samantha's house I heard a voice say "hello?". As it turned out she had just gotten home from Texas and was not expecting me at all. She said that I could still stay but was clearly unhappy with my presence, so I decided to just get a hotel room instead.


I decided to get dinner before finding a hotel and while I was eating at the bar of a place called Jack's, I met some incredibly nice people including a man who recommended the Best Western down the road. When I checked in at the Best Western, I noticed that the hotel bar was pretty lively. Since my room came with a coupon for a free draft beer, I put my stuff in my room and headed to the bar. While watching the Ohio State, Illinois basketball game, I met quite a few more incredibly nice people. Between the two bars, I talked to several people who said that they do not, under any circumstances, drive in Virginia for fear of getting pulled over. This seemed strange. After a few hours at the bar, I went back to my room, watched sports center, and went to sleep.


The next morning I got up and drove to Marion, Virginia to appear in court and pay for my speeding tickets. When I appeared in front of the Judge, he informed me that because I was going more than 30mph over the speed limit, it was a class 1 misdemeanor and I could potentially face up to 12 months in jail and a 2,500 dollar fine for EACH offence (there were two because the first officer was traveling the opposite direction on the highway and called the second officer to pull me over a few miles down the road where they arrested me and each gave me a separate ticket). I asked for a public defender and when I was appointed one he told me that because I was going over 30mph over the speed limit, there was likely no keeping me out of jail. At first I thought he was joking. He was not. He told me to tell the judge what I was doing here in Camden, admit guilt, and ask for mercy. I did this and then the Judge sentenced me to 4 days in jail and a 2,000 dollar fine. I was taken to a holding cell where I was to wait for a van to pick me up and take me to county jail. Shortly after, another man from the court room was brought to the same cell. He was going to jail for 6 days for a speeding ticket, despite having had a lawyer and having never been pulled over before in his life before this offence. He was a small Indian man and as they loaded us into the van to take us to jail, I noticed that he looked terrified. I looked at him and said "who would have thought you would be going to jail for speeding huh?" and then laughed. I saw some of the terror leave his face and I talked to him most of the way to the jail. I couldn't help but think that maybe I had to go jail so that the poor little Indian man wouldn't poop himself out of fear.


When we arrived at the jail and the officers were booking me in, they informed me that in Virginia, you only have to serve half the time that you are sentenced. Because my paperwork said that I was only sentenced to two days, they thought that I would only be there one day and left me in a holding cell (essentially solitary confinement) instead of booking me into population. This was a mistake in the paperwork and I did, in fact, have to serve a full two days. Had I been booked into population this would not have been so bad, but since I was in a tiny cell made of 266 cinderblocks (I counted many times) by myself, I nearly lost my mind. Even if I had to fight every second of the time I was there (which is generally not going to happen to someone that looks like me in county (especially in a place where they send people to jail for speeding)) it would have been far better than losing my mind in that tiny cell.


I was finally released on Friday morning. I was taken back to the court house and the officer driving the van told me that he would not even drive through Virginia if he didn't live there. He said he would drive around it unless he had somewhere to be that was actually in Virginia. When I got back to the court house, I paid my fine (which was slightly more than every penny I had. My parents sent me the difference so that I wouldn't have to return to jail) and got in my car to get the hell out of Virginia as fast as possible (without speeding of course).



Just when I was ready to start a petition to make Virginia secede from the United States, I stopped to get gas by James Madison University. As I got out of my car, I noticed that 5 of the 8 people pumping gas were attractive young women, all of whom smiled at me. When I went into the mini mart to pay for my gas, I noticed a basket full of ping pong balls next to the register (for those late night emergencies when someone steps on the last ping pong ball while playing beer pong). I said to the clerk, "This must be a college town" and then a voice from behind me said, "What gave it away? The ping pong balls?". I turned around to find yet another attractive young woman wearing a James Madison sweatshirt. I pumped my gas and continued on my way, but from the small sample size at the gas station, I determined that 60% of the people who go to James Madison University are pretty girls (all of whom will either smile at you or strike up a conversation with you, making you feel good about yourself). I am now strongly considering attending grad school at James Madison University.



When I hit Washington DC, it was about 3:30pm. This meant that I would be sitting in rush our traffic in both DC and Baltimore. I got back to Camden at about 8 o'clock, just in time to catch the end of the 3 on 3 basketball tournament we had for our Jr. High Kids. I would have loved to have been a part the basketball tournament but I was just glad to be home.


When I got back to Camden, Albert (my after school program director) told me that he went to my class the first day I was gone and his exact word to them were this: "I'm not gunna lie to ya'll, that nigga's in jail". This made me laugh and it was nice to be back with people. My kids prayed for me while I was in Jail and they told Albert that he should take the money from the change drive we are doing, to raise money to build a basketball court for a church in Kenya, and use it to bail me out of jail.



On Saturday I went with Mike and Charlotte (other interns) to Philadelphia and went to a couple of used bookstores. After Philadelphia, 8 other people and I went to dinner at Denny's and then hung out at the other intern house till about 2am.



On Sunday I went to church in the morning and then watched Michigan get killed by Michigan State, which would have been depressing if I hadn't already given up on Michigan's season. I then shaved my head into a mohawk and got all dressed up for our intern Oscar party, and I gotta tell you, I looked pretty damn good. The Oscar party was fun and when we got home at about 1am, my roommate Chad asked me to cut his hair. We shaved the top of his head so that his beard connected to what looked like another beard on the back of his head. Chad is crazy and it looked ridiculous. Video of the process can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/video/video.php?v=558251981881&ref=mf





Back beard





Chad named him Frank





Yesterday we did not have camp because we had to set up for the Jr. High Olympics that we are having this week. Last night we had another camp fire in our backyard. This time about 15 people showed up. It was a lot of fun. Today we started the Jr. High Olympics but I will save that for next weeks blog.



We got some great news this weekend. There is a former intern that Albert has remained friends with who is now a famous photographer and he is going to have a fundraiser for us at a club in New York. This is something that we have known for a while. The big news is how big the event is becoming. ESPN has gotten involved and is supposedly going to provide us with Disneyland tickets for the whole group. Also the legendary rap group Naughty by Nature is going to host the event and several other celebrities are expected to attend. There is also now the potential for some media coverage of the event. This event is going to be on April 1st and I am really looking forward to it.

Martin Luther King snowboarding and shot in the leg

Last week we only had one day of camp. Monday we had a typical day of camp. My basketball class is starting to run a little more smoothly. Tuesday we had the Martin Luther King Speech Contest. This is where a number of kids from all of the Urban Promise after school programs here in Camden write speeches about a civil rights leader and then present them in front of parents, Urban Promise staff, and a panel of judges. A number of the speeches were very touching. I helped one of my 8th grade girls with her speech and thought about pulling a Kanye when she didn't win by running on stage, taking the mic and ranting about how Alishia deserved to win but decided against it when one of our 7th graders won instead.


On Wednesday all of the interns went to Washington DC to learn about a program down there called Little Friends for Peace (I know what you're thinking but no it is not a program for midgets). Little Friends for Peace is a program at a school in Washington D.C. that is run by a totally awesome older hippy woman named MJ. The program revolves around teaching kids an attitude of peace and non-violence. The presentation was a little corny for me and for that reason I don't know that a lot of it would work with our Jr. High kids but the idea's behind everything were great. I may even use a few things (presented slightly differently) with my kids for a cell group (Bible lesson) on Thursday.


After the peace workshop we got to walk around the city for the rest of the day. I had been to D.C. a few times before but it was still cool to see some of the monuments and there was even a new one that I hadn't yet seen. We then all met at some some crazy chicken joint (no not El Pollo Loco) for dinner and I ate an entire chicken before returning to Camden.

On Thursday it snowed enough for them to cancel school and so we also canceled camp. Garret, Chad, Kelly (girl who also works for Urban Promise), and I decided to head up to Kelly's house in the Pocono's Thursday night so that we could snowboard at Camelback in PA on Friday. It snowed all night on Thursday and snowed lightly most of the day on Friday. We got up bright an early and got out on the mountain Friday morning and we were practically the only ones there. We had some amazing powder runs and had the snowboard park virtually to ourselves for most of the morning. It the afternoon it got a bit more crowded but overall it was one of the best days of riding I've had in years. We got some video but not a ton because we were having way to much fun to stop and do many video sessions.

Friday night we barbecued at Kelly's house and went in the hot tub and just hung out. It was a lot of fun. We slept in on Saturday, cleaned the house and then got breakfast at a diner before heading back to Camden. We considered riding again on Saturday but decided it wasn't worth the money and it couldn't live up to the riding we did on Friday anyway.

On Sunday I just relaxed and watched the U.S.A. hockey team lose to Canada in a heartbreaking overtime thriller with a bunch of the other interns. Today we had camp again as usual. My basketball class went really well. I also found out that one of our 7th graders was shot in the leg yesterday. It wasn't even a stray bullet like you might expect. Someone just ran up to him at the bus stop randomly, shot him twice, and ran away. He is going to be alright, but he is still in the hospital so please keep him in your prayers.


I am leaving in the morning to drive back down to Virginia to take care of my court stuff. I have court at 1:30pm on Wednesday so please pray for me, that I can get all of this taken care of and that it doesn't completely bankrupt me.