Afterglow 2008 - Day 4 Tuesday

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The obstacle course was finished, so we no longer felt the need to stick around Afterglow during this dreary afternoon. We had hoped to brighten up the day by making some money at the casino, and in the car all of us (except for Timmy) were all smiles in anticipation of padding our pockets with Indian money. We spent some time (somewhere between 1-3 hours, but I'm not really sure how long) in the casino, but my memory recalls that we all emerged as losers. In money, not in life. We got even by taking some soda and coffee and flipping off the casino on the way out. All in all, it wasn't a bad way to spend an otherwise crappy afternoon, but I would've preferred to at least break even. It was something to do, but we needed to hightail it back to Afterglow if we were to enjoy what was the rest of the day. But first things first...

The people of Watersmeet (or those affiliated with the High School) pride themselves on being Nimrods. I always thought that this was a dumb thing to do, because I always associated the word nimrod as describing a stupid, silly, foolish or slow witted person. That is the slanderous definition of the word, and the one that is most commonly used by playground bullies. The actual definition of nimrod is a great and mighty hunter. Nimrod was the great grandson of Noah (yes, the bible Noah) and the Biblical founder of the ancient city of Babylon. Even though I now realize that being a nimrod is a good thing, I still wouldn't want to be one. First off, you have to live way up North in Watersmeet, Michigan. Secondly, you would have to hunt for your food. I prefer to take my dollars to the grocery store. I'm too lazy to hunt.

Knowing that nimrod means great and mighty hunter makes the picture on the left make sense now. I just thought that the old bearded dude was a nimrod because kids made fun of him for wearing that coonskin hat. Doesn't he know that Davey Crockett is the only one that could successfully rock a coonskin hat? We got back to Afterglow and took advantage of the small amount of light and decent weather left in the day and took one more dip in the big pool. Kevin, Brian and I were lovin' it.

That night we decided to play cousin poker, and we gathered everyone for a rowdy game. We usually do a $5 or $10 dollar buy in, so the stakes aren't very high. Winning is nice because you get a nice chunk of change, but I play to hang out with my cousins and because it is something to do up here at night. I'm usually one of the first ones out, so I just sit back, relax, and take another drink.

James always has best and brightest ideas, which is why I look up to my big brother. While the rest of us were clowning around, James was chilling with a cold beverage on the edge of the pier. From that vantage point, he could see the entire lake. Anyone who has ever sat out there knows why it is one of the greatest places to sit and collect your thoughts. Or to just sit and think about nothing at all.