Sunday, February 28, 2010

Sunday 2/28

(Tim Lin) - 01:22
LESS THAN A WEEK UNTIL UNC GAME!!

"What if our love never went away?"

(Nick Bodnar) - 13:18
i don't know how to feel about this. Lewis left oreos and milk on the little wall beside Kville on friday night when we were visiting/javelining/line-monitoring/fireworking. i just arrived for my 13:00 shift and they're still there. but they still taste good (the oreos, that is. Not the milk. 2 day old milk is not my style).

(Claire McIlvenny) - 16:26
Last night was very interesting in Kville. Jonathan and I arrived in Kville at around 2am for the night shift. After relieving Esther of her tent duty, we decided to go ahead with our plan of watching 'The Blair Witch Project', a film I have always wanted to see. We got nicely nestled in our sleeping bags and then we began to watch the film described "The scariest movie of all time" on imdb.com. Things were looking promising.

Anyway, as Jonathan and I discussed how unbelievably foolish the characters in the film were, and how given the option we would never go camping in the forest like them, at around 3am we were startled by a noise.

A siren.

A tent check.

But this wasn't a regular tent check. Oh no. This was different. We heard a couple of people walking around Kville with megaphones calling "Tent check, tent check, Kville". Like any normal person in Kville we made the assumption that the Line Monitors were outside.

"Oh no", I thought. "Now I'll have to get out of my toasty-warm sleeping bag, put on my shoes, shiver, and walk to the Line Monitors and wait to be checked off."

Then, it dawned on us. The siren was not the Line Monitor siren. It was a different siren. I can't really remember what it was because the experience was too painful that I wanted to block it from my mind, but it most certainly was not the Blitz-like air raid siren that usually wakes us up. As the individuals with the siren walked around Kville yelling 'Tent Check!", Jonathan began to yell back "FAKE CHECK, FAKE CHECK, EVERYONE STAY IN YOUR TENTS".

We heard a lot of commotion outside as the poor tenters dutifully crawled out of their tents and staggered to the place where the Line Monitors usually stand. At this point, Jonathan and I panicked. What if the Line Monitors had a new siren? We had just accused them of lying. That would not bode well for the fortress. What if we MISSED a tent check? Jonathan, ever the gentleman, decided to go out and investigate.

It was then that I began to hear a large group of people accumulating outside, followed by a large list of swearing, profanity etc. that Jonathan and I were fortunate enough to laugh at. I won't repeat it on the blog, but it would probably look something like this:

"What the KHBD*A^&£BIYB*^GFT£YIH£((^$(^)&%*)*)£! Who the *£^*^(&£^&@GUVDGHJ do you think you are? I can't *&(@^%*^BJB£Y BELIEVE IT! "

You get the idea.

Anyway, Jonathan returned after a few minutes; this was good, I was worried the Blair witch had got to him. It turned out that it was, indeed, a FAKE TENT CHECK, and some TOTAL scoundrels/villains/rogues/jerks/every other word on my Thesaurus is probably too rude to post, had decided to go to the EFFORT of BUYING a megaphone and a siren, and GOING around Kville at THREE IN THE MORNING to UPSET people for their own entertainment.

I couldn't believe it. Jonathan said there were a pretty large group of people who had got out of their tents, but by the time they had realized what was happening, the people who did it could be seen running to their car which they had parked in the car park (US translation - parking lot) next to Kville. Apparently one guy ran after the car and gesticulated in an angry manner at the people in the car. That would explain the shouting I heard.

I for one would have liked to have seen a mob of people running towards the car with pitchforks and burning torches, but sadly I can't have my way all the time.

After that drama, Jonathan came back and said if he had got out of the tent earlier and caught one of the perpetrators he would have hit them. That made me laugh.

Anyway, we resumed the Blair Witch Project as the other disgruntled tenters got back into their tents before finally finishing the film around four and going to sleep.

That was a rather verbose account of last night in Kville, but I think everyone can understand why I wrote this account.

It is to inform the good, honest people of Kville to be WARY of the monstrous FAKE TENT CHECK.....

(Robert Francis)-20:36
OK time for a weekend update to the blog. While this does not directly relate to tenting it does heavily involve three residents of the Fortress. So this weekend as we all know was Cameron, Lewis, and Michael's birthdays (Cam and LJ on the 27th, Michael today). The festivities began Friday at approximately 9 PM. I met Maggie and Claire at Ayecock at about 6:30 with ingredients for icing. They finished the cake(yellow with chocolate icing) and we prepared for the evening. A bunch of us headed to Satisfaction for a late dinner. We had a private dining room and the 16 or so of us there had a great time watching speed skating, talking, and eating. Then we headed back to East for the party generously hosted by Cristy and Taylor (Thanks!). We used the roof access in their room to extend the party to almost 30 people. And had a great time eating cake and enjoying music. At midnight we sang happy birthday and Jonathan set off a firework in the main quad. Shortly thereafter we were told to leave by some of the RA's. We weren't supposed to be on the roof (Sorry Cristy and Taylor!). Luckily they didn't get in TOO much trouble. Then the party moved to the Blackwell common room where about 20 of us played fishbowl. For those who've never played, fishbowl is a game where random things are written on pieces of paper. Then two teams must figure out what they are through four rounds (1. Description without using the words, 2. Charades, 3. One word, and 4. A sound). It was tons of fun! We completed the evening by some finger jousting, wrestling and then Show and Tell (cool tricks version) led mostly by Tim and myself. This was an entertaining combination of acrobatics, feats of strength, and hidden talents. We called it a night at 2:45 and went to sleep but had a blast.
Saturday the birthday festivities were continued with a planned game of capture the flag for which we received grace. However, when we gathered on the West quad, it was cold and we decided to move the game to the library. You may be thinking. You can't play capture the flag in the library! IT'S A LIBRARY! I beg to differ. Using glow stick rings as flags we separated into Perkins and Bostock teams and played for two hours. Of course we (hypothetically) couldn't run and talking was kept to a minimum, but it was tons of fun. We had about 14-16 people there. We then headed to the Loop to enjoy some milkshakes. Afterward about 6 of us headed to Maggie's Room to watch MUPPET TREASURE ISLAND! It was also awesome. We sang Michael Happy Birthday at midnight then went to bed.
Sunday the guys headed out to play paintball with the Gay family. (THANK YOU SO MUCH! We had a blast!) about 12 of us headed to Hillsborough and played 10 or so rounds of paintball. One round of particular epicness was held in a course called 'the Village' There was a walled bridge that zig zagged down the middle. And houses on either side with windows and doors leading everywhere. In a particular round, it was getting pretty crazy and lasting a while. I shot Cameron, Steven, and Matt so it was a good round for me. It ended up that Michael and I were the last two players and we were on opposite teams. After several action movie-like runnings and shootings. We were both on the bridge. Shooting and hiding from each other amazingly. Then we round a corner and came face to face. We both called for surrender and found ourselves at a stalemate. We stood up (Guns at each other) and were confused about what to do. Being the awesome future roomies that we are, we shook hands and walked off. Ending an amazing round of paintball. I now have at least 11 welts! Yay war wounds! Everyone played really well and we had a great time. We had to not let anyone else play with us cause they would have destroyed us which was awkward, but a good decision none the less.
It was the super 3 day, non-stop party it was promised to be back in September. And one of the best weekends I've had at Duke. Happy Birthday guys!

~*QUOTES OF THE DAY*~

(a series of out-of-context quotes that should by no means be taken at face value)

"I would say ditching someone at the marketplace is pretty much equal to adultery." Jonathan

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Saturday 2/27

(Lewis-Jake Purcell) - 14:29 Day Of My Birth
I just wanted to say that I had an awesome ski trip on Thursday and That yesterday's party was rocking and that today its gonna get better.
I also have a confession to make. I was in the bus this morning and saw a really nice car pull up to west campus and i told the guy next to me, "That car needs to be grenaded or rocket launchered." Then.... Andre and Casey Peters and Steve Johnson and then... Nolan Smith ...

I AM SO SORRY _ I TAKE IT ALL BACK! I just want, I just want it to all be gone, i just want to go back in time and change that - IF THERE WERE ONE THING I COULD CHANGE IN ALL OF HISTORY IT WOULD BE WHAT I JUST SAID!!!

(Tim Lin) - 15:32
Lewis, just because it's your birthday, it doesn't mean you can post random stuff on the wrong day. And how would you not recognize Nolan's car? lol

Yeah, today, I gave Cameron a copy of yesterday's Chronicle. He was very excited. Yeah.

Yesterday/today's party was insane. So much crazy stuff. I made it through the night, too. Yeah. It was a whirlwind of adventure.

In other news, I got my first non-basketball-related Inferno point today.

"You were my greatest failure"

Friday, February 26, 2010

Friday 2/26

(Laura Ezell and Maggie Howell) - 13:17
History is being made. While I accept that Robert and Tim get credit for the first joint blog post, we are setting new precedent: a joint blog post with one Fortress member and one "honorary member." The day is warm, the wind is brisk, and we sit in the Bastion relaxing and gossiping about all that we possibly can.
Today at breakfast, Sara shared a very illuminating you-tube video, one which encompasses all the traits of a typical Duke student, in particular, Michael Gay. Please note in particular the references to granola, lax-bros, Teva straps, jeans rolled up, "cute little library queen...just wait 'til I see her at the printing station," Odwalla, Polo, Nalgene, Northface Denali, Rainbows, Dave Matthews band, Sperry's, Quidditch, Muggles, Hufflepuff... you get the picture. At this point Maggie breaks off to say, "gee, I really wish Robert or Tim were here. They're so clever. Their verbosity is unparalleled. I wish we were clever." Please let it henceforth be known that I'm pretty sure we only wrote a joint blog so that we could try to emulate even a mere portion of the creativity, cleverness, and overall awesomeness that Robert and Tim possess (and to share that video).
On a different note, we'd like to inform everyone that man-hole covers are now called "people-hole covers." Also, it is passé and offensive to use "mankind," rather one should say "humankind" or "peoplekind." Oh, and use of the word teleological will win you an automatic bonus point. All this and more brought to you by Claudia Koonz, of the Duke University History Department.

(Jonathan) - 17:17
OK, this is a props post. First (and least), props to myself for beginning this post at it's posted time (17:17) --- that's just cool on it's own terms, you know? Also, in unrelated news (no, really), there may or may not have been a moderately-sized fire built outside the fortress last night. If there was, Cameron wouldn't know who built it because they were an Unidentified Stranger. Other sources confirm that it was quite cold in K-Ville that night, and reasonable folks might have resorted to unreasonable measures to remain warm. Or maybe people were crazy all along. Anway, back to the props. MAJOR PROPS go to Tim Lin, the master of many things Fortress, for taking, at great cost to himself, an hour of my shift tonight when I was physically incapacitated by a bad case of the Chemistry Seminars. Tim, you do more than your share, and deserve, well, a lot. Thanks. PROPS also go to Lewis, Cameron, and Michael Gay (more or less) for having similar-enough-to-be-same birthdays. Good call on being born when you were, guys; I'd have done the same myself, but I figured I'd like to be home for my birthday first semester freshman year.* PROPS go to Nick Bodnar, for being the human equivalent of a Google Spreadsheet, Bus Company, Cell Phone Tower, Towing Service, Grocery Store and Bank, resulting in his ability to organize a ski trip for 50 plus people. PROPS to everyone in the Fortress for being in the Fortress (duh!). PROPS to Maggie for baking cakes, and PROPS to Robert for being Somewhat-Tim-Like in his blogging abilities. I'm actually a bit *sad* I didn't put you two in the same room, because if I had, I would never have to go looking for RUF girls ever again..... everyone could send mail to "RUF Girl #3, Care of Robert & Tim, A404 Edens", etc. All sorts of wacky benefits. Now, this list is sadly incomplete, and there are about 3 other random topics (including the corresponding explanation attached to the * attached to freshman in this post and the Random Dude In the Fortress story), but unfortunately I am long overdue to run to Whole Foods and buy icing.

(Tim Lin) - 17:38
Tim would like to point out that Laura and Maggie may try, but Robert and Tim are still greater. Because Robert and Tim spoke (typed) in the 3rd person. And speaking in the 3rd person makes Robert and Tim THAT much more cool.

Also, I would like to point out that the teleological argument for the existence of a deity is the argument that got Antony Flew (a renowned atheist) to believe in a higher power.

And manholes/mankind/etc should remain. Because boys > girls. Everybody knows that. As everybody said in 1st grade, boys rule. Girls drool. That is all.

"Ashes to ashes and dust to dust."

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Thursday 2/25

(Tim Lin) - 00:12
I don't know what happened to the schedule. There's a giant convoluted clutter of names between 1700 and 1800. I feel like those people who are supposed to be in the tent at this hour know when they're supposed to be there. But I can't figure out what the schedule means. And that is reflected on the schedule above. Yeah.

Also, the countdown to the Duke v. UNC game is now a 1 digit number. OH SNAP!! The day is near!! Speaking of a failing basketball team, UNC lost again yesterday. Looks like my prediction is wrong. I predicted a 14 loss season. They have 14 now. And they're going to lose to us in 9 days.

"It knocks you down. Just get back up when it knocks you down..."

(Tim Lin) - 10:13
I just watched the American Idol episode from last night. I would like to point out that the show was on Wednesday. And Randy Jackson was wearing argyle. That's all.

ARGYLE WEDNESDAY!!

"We're going down down in an earlier round..."

(Tim Lin) - 12:07
I changed the poll. Because the previous one was extremely controversial. Everybody was cheating. Seriously. Why would you cheat on a poll?

"Where is the love that i used to feel?"

(Robert Francis)- 12:24
I overheard another exchange from the randos in the Fortress. It was along these lines.

Person 1: It's actually surprisingly comfortable in there.
Person 2: Have you slept in there?
Person 1: Yeah, I took a nap.
(gets out of the tent)
Person 1: It's actually surprisingly warm in there, but no ones been in there like all day.

(WRONG! I am here! Dropping eaves!)
Later playing frisbee

Person 1: Aw, you hit the Fortress.
Person 2: It's the Fortress it'll be OK.
Person 1: Aw, you hit the Quatro
Person 2: That doesn't sound nearly as cool...

(Tim Lin) - 23:57
Yay we won the game today!! But I'm not here to talk about the game. I'm here to talk about (type about) an overheard conversation while lining up for the game:

Person 1: Hey look that tarp says "The Fortress" on it.
Person 2: Yeah. Did you know they have a blog? It's actually pretty funny.
Person 1: Oh really?
Person 2: Yeah, it's actually really well written.

I think Person 2 was Ralph. I don't know what his real name is. Robert probably knows who I'm talking about.

And I would like to share my dream from last night. My subconscious is so confusing...

Miles Plumlee and I and 3 other people were in a car. And we were getting pho to eat (for those of you non-Asian people who don't know what pho is, it's basically Vietnamese noodles. Loaded with oil/MSG. Tastes amazing.). For some reason, Miles was sitting in the middle of the back seat. Even though he's clearly the biggest guy in the car. But yeah. I was sitting to his right. We went on one of those 270 degree turns onto a freeway. And the momentum pushed me onto Miles. For some reason we were driving really fast, and I couldn't get off of him. Because the centripetal force was too much. Then he kinda like threw me off. It was weird. I don't know what happened. Then, we got our food. Went back to Duke (it didn't look like Duke, but we all knew it was Duke. that happens to me in dreams sometimes...). We went into the Aycock common room even though it definitely didn't look like Aycock. And Chris D'Angelo was there to steal food from us. What a jerk. Just kidding. I love you Chris. And yeah. I was about to eat. And I could almost taste it. Then I woke up. Stupid alarm telling me to wake up to go to Math 107 recitation. So I defied it and went back to sleep. Yup.

One more thing. American Idol results show. It was today. Which is Thursday.

Lacey Brown, Aaron Kelly, and Andrew Garcia are wearing horizontal stripes. They are cool.
Randy was only cool yesterday. He didn't wear horizontal stripes.

Lee Dewyze wore stupid argyle. Duh. It's not Wednesday. What a loser. I hope he loses.

EDIT: I AM EXTREMELY APPALLED AT THE RESULTS!!


Oh my goodness Adam Lambert is amazing.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Wednesday 2/24

(Esther Showalter) - 01:44
I had typed up a brilliant and sharp and clever and dry little post that took a genius stab at Carolina's team colors, but then the Internet quit and all my wonderful work was lost forever. Thus passes the work of a generation. I will settle for these facts instead:
"If you shake a can of mixed nuts, the larger nuts will rise to the top" - this came from the top of my 1:08am Snapple bottle.
"Strawberries contain more vitamin c than oranges" - this from the top of my 1:30am Snapple bottle. I was a little disappointed with my 1:30 jar because it was diet and tasted like normal tea instead of liquified sugar. If I wanted to drink real tea, I would not have bought Snapple from a vending machine.

(Jonathan) - 2:55
It's a beautiful Wednesday morning, here in Lilly library. Long live The Fortress, Justin Bieber is banned from the blog; his music video clearly violates the Terms of Service under the categories of Child Safety ("content that exploits children," come, on, really, I mean, the guy's like 8 years old), Hate Speech (seriously, who *doesn't* hate his speech?), Crude Content (did you watch the video or what? It has *him* in it, need I say more?), Violence ("content encouraging your readers to take violent action against another person", e.g., Justin Bieber), Impersonating Others (where to begin...), Spam (well, he's unwanted, unsolicited, and if he ever showed up in my Inbox I'd delete him....), and Malware and Viruses (when I watched that video, my computer exploded). So yeah.

(Tim Lin) - 12:11
First, I would like to say that we are supposed to double up on hours. Because of the ski trip. So that's why the schedule is kinda fat. But not all the hours have been doubled up. But I don't think it's urgent. So yeah. w/e

(Nick Bodnar) - 15:50
oh my goodness!

MaggieTheAbominableSquirrel left me some apples! What a treat! They're so good! by the way, the offer stands that if any freshmen (or anyone with access to apples) gets me a lot, i'll buy you a meal. done.

yet another interview. i was walking toward the tent and i saw two girls videoing the fortress. i asked if they were in fact videoing the fortress, just to be sure, and they said "Yes, do you live there?!" once i told them yes, they proceeded to ask me several questions on camera "for their class". yeah right, i'm pretty sure that thing's going national.

also, the Randos mentioned below are my blockmates, and they're working on getting a tent. i think.

(Esther Showalter) - 14:42
Ah! It survived! Thanks, Tim. Here's the amazing things that happened Tuesday night, then:
"(Esther Showalter) - 01:08
The official name for the moochers living in our tent is now "Randos". I expect everyone to refer to them appropriately now. And to slip pleasant yet barbed jibes into our conversation about their current state of tentlessness, which is like helplessness and hopelessness except with tents. Or without them.
Two interesting conversations happened to me today. Well not really conversations because they were only one-way. Monosations. Monvosations. Monversations. They were done by two different people, whom I will call Gaius and Titus - with a nod to CS Lewis - in two different places. One was at UNC, where Nick, Lewis and I were visiting a student-run worship service that happens on Tuesdays. Afterwards we were walking around Franklin street grimacing at the overabundance of stores with baby blue apparel and Gaius came walking by us in the other direction and called out:
"Hi guys, free vodka at the Rec Club!" or something like that. The name of the establishment may have had the word "end" in it, I can't remember for sure. Clearly, being surrounded by baby-blue clothing (and wearing it probably makes it worse) causes you to believe that alcohol will solve all your problems and is the only means of escaping harsh reality.
At the meeting/service that we had gone to earlier, I had run into a friend I went to high school with who got into The Other School. Although it was good fun to see him again, after the Vodka Gaius incident I was very remorseful and realized that, indeed, Friends Should Not Have Let Friends Go To Carolina. I'm afraid there won't be any hope for him now, though, the baby blue has probably gotten into his soul.

Also, on a side note, Carolina Blue is to Duke Blue what Princess Pink is to Blood Red. I don't think the Tarheels (haha, the word check doesn't recognize "Tarheels") realize that they're practically metaphorically dressing up in 7-year-old-girl colors and expecting everyone to be in awe of their sports teams. Maybe someone should point this out to them and then they would stop it.

The other interesting thing happened to MaggieTheAmbiguousSquirrel and me while we were walking from the Fortress to her tent. Titus and a few of his friends (call them Claudius and Cornelius) were methodically consuming alcohol on the little wall that runs alongside K-Ville (which probably means they're from UNC and are just tenting in order to sabotage the game on March 6th, like in the wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krzyzewskiville - see the Robertson Scholars section). Claudius was coming back to their group and MaggieTheAmbiguousSquirrel and I walked past them during this section of their riveting conversation.

Cornelius: "Claudius, what, are you a sex addict?"
Claudius: "What? No, what?"
Titus: "Hey, girls, Claudius is a sex addict!"

I'm very glad to know that, Titus. I really can't say how happy I am that you felt it necessary to inform us of this important fact. You are indeed a very clever person and very humorful, too. Sorry, humourful. You are probably even friends with Gaius, and secretly think baby blue is and awe-inspiring color.

In other news, Odwalla's Chocolate Protein Monster drink tastes a very small bit like chocolate and a very large bit like something healthy pureed up and pretending to not be puree of something healthy, like wheat."

(Nick Bodnar) - 16:04
In the tent beside us a girl just said "aw, the tent's all wet!!" in like a whiny baby voice. In a survey asking how strongly i relate to this feeling, i'd have to check N/A because i've never experienced water in the fortress. It's that good.

(Claire McIlvenny) - 19:41
Jonathan, Michael and I were in Kville about to sign in for our tent check, when suddenly we realized everyone around us was eating. Why was this? Because they gave out free doughnuts to all the tenters in Kville just now. NICE. Mmmm...yum.

In other news, I could write about the 10 page paper I have due tomorrow and haven't done, or the torrential rain that invaded the Bastion this morning whilst I was trying to write said paper.
Or, I could just comment on the Justin Bieber video (sorry Jonathan, I don't want your computer to explode again).

For those of you unfortunate enough to have not seen this video, the link again can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kffacxfA7G4

Here are some general comments:
00.18 - Why is he yelling? He's inside.
00.39 - He pulls the girls jacket. Umm...if Justin Bieber pulled me up to him by my jacket, I would punch him in the face.
01.14 - I like the guy with the afro/mohawk, but he's wearing sunglasses INSIDE.
01.16 - He pumps his chest out and makes a heart sign. Enough said.
01.24 - I agree with Tim, Bieber clearly took the shoulder pinch from Michael Gay. What a jerk.
01.34 - When he barrel rolls across the table, look closely. He accidentally kicks the girl when he does this. Way to go Justin Bieber, I've always thought kicking a girl in the ovary was a great way to flirt with someone.
02.34 - Ludacris talks about the playground. I mean, I don't know about you, but I've always been suspicious of adults who hang around in playgrounds....

Finally, I can't find it in the video this time, but the best part is when Ludacris has Bieber in a headlock.

Hahaha. Sorry that was random, just this video makes my day.


(Robert Francis)-22:25
GRACE! Ah, how I've missed you! Yes it is grace once more. I know what you're thinking, "What now? Grace during white tenting? This hardly seems necessary." And yes it's true only Brandon (B-Semel) and myself will receive this lovely gift. But Coach K apparently called grace at his talk and there was much joy throughout the land! I'm pumped. This isn't a normal grace...It's Coach K certified which makes it the most legitimate grace ever given! I also loose two hours during the day tomorrow! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Tuesday 2/23

(Robert Francis) - 11:02
So I arrived early for my 1 hour shift at about 10:45, (perhaps because I missed most of it last week) and Zach and a female line monitor specimen were sitting in the front of K-Ville dividing tents among themselves. Zach then explained how to use the megaphone and the female walked the perimeter of K-Ville with sirens blaring. I then waited to show my Duke Card to Zach, who had all the blue tents. I was delighted to learn that we had grace until 12:15. This is particularly lovely since my shift ends at 12, this means that my entire shift was annihilated in a single blow. Yay for this great fortune! Though it is my first tent check during my shift since black tenting. I do not know what the average amount of tent checks people have gotten are...I for one have had three including this one. Perhaps it was my time. Anyway, I noticed the Bastion is still standing. Why is this so? Is this OK? hmmm...

Anyway for all the people who had tent stuff yesterday, but failed to blog (shame on you). White tenting has officially begun. I would like to take this opportunity to point out that now that we only have 2 people in the tent per night, there is going to be a lot more pressure to individually blog about happenings. If you need to go back in time to make up for stuff you left out this is also OK. Anyway the secret spot location was posted in a little clip in which Nolan Smith starred. He kindly introduced himself and did a big set up, "This year's secret spot is..." and left us hanging ".............." Which was very dramatic and filled with a palpable tenseness. The whole campus collectively held its breath and just when we though surely we'd pass out...he revealed it. The Camel...wait...that's the obscure secret spot? That statue on science drive? Yep. It sure is. Like out secret spot (Cameron, for those newer followers) it was not very hard to find. I imagine the rush to have been really quite spectacular, but who can truly know not having been there? Ah well. I leave you now.

(Tim Lin) - 13:09
I saw Mason Plumlee while leaving the Marketplace today. Nick Bodnar walked right by. And didn't even see him. I find that amusing.

I think the Camel was a relatively good secret spot (definitely not as cool as the Phytotron building though). I feel like most freshman/liberal arts majors will have no idea where that is. But then again, most upperclassmen and people who go to Science Drive will know exactly where that is. So it wasn't too secretive but not blatantly obvious either. Cameron totally called that spot.

I would like to take this time to 1-Up Robert and say that I have been in a total of 1 daytime tent check. That is all.

(Tim Lin) - 14:46
I'm in the tent now. I would like to point out that my computer's Internet connection is very frustrating. I was TOTALLY planning to finish a whole bunch of work while in the tent. But I have wasted...47 minutes. Trying to get my computer to connect to the Internet. Where my work is. Windows Automatic Updater also decided to automatically update my computer. Even though I turned that thing off a while ago. It decided to turn itself back on. And install IMPORTANT updates. I think they can wait. But Windows apparently doesn't. Then it proceeded to automatically restart my computer. Stupid. Then I got BSOD'd. If you know what that means. Yeah. Stupid.

There's a new poll. I think the correct answer should be obvious. But I think I'm going to lose the poll. UNLESS A CERTAIN BRANDON SEMEL DECIDES TO GET ON THE BLOG AND VOTE!! Which he obviously should do.

Robert's sneak attack posting is starting to be too much for me. I keep thinking that I'm up to date on the latest Fortress happenings. But then I scroll down and BAM!! There's a post by Robert Francis that he sneaked into the older posts. Pretending like he was there all along. What a tricky little fool (with his pants on the ground). HE CAN'T FOOL ME ANY LONGER!!

Ok I think I'm going insane. Homework really must be done now...Peace out.


(Tim Lin) - 16:58
There are people from Nick's block (I think they're from Nick's block...) who started white tenting. But they don't have tent yet. So they are temporarily living in the Fortress. Two of these people came to the Fortress to check it out just now. I was in the Bastion, and they didn't notice me dropping eaves on their conversation. It went something like this:

Person 1: Here it is.
Person 2: Dude, I'm not sleeping in there.
Person 1: This actually looks pretty comfortable.
Person 2: I am definitely not gonna spend a night in there. When are we getting our tent?
Person 1: This is actually an ingenious design.
Person 2: But it's so low to the ground.
Person 1: Yeah, but that means it traps more air, and it's warmer. You can get a tent that's higher and easier to get into, but it'll be so much colder.
Person 2: Ok fine...when are we getting our tent?
Person 1: I don't know. But we can leech off of this until we get it.

So yeah. Another person is converted to Fortressism. The belief that the Fortress is the greatest structure in K-ville. I have to agree.

This next bit is completely unrelated to tenting.

It seems like just yesterday that Justin Bieber was singing about "One Less Lonely Girl." He was the center of every freshman girl's attention. But I guess he only told his girlfriend that he loved her "One Time." Which wasn't enough for her apparently. Because now they've broken up. He's also become somewhat of a desperate little boy trying to get his girlfriend back. It's so funny. Watch this video. He also needs to stop telling his girlfriend that he'll buy her whatever she wants. Because that's just kinda stupid and childish. His dance moves are also kinda cheesy. And he sings with a funny accent at the beginning. Also, at 1:24, he does the infamous Michael Gay shoulder pinch. And at 1:35, he barrel rolls over a pool table. Ludacris also made me lol. This is rapidly climbing my list of my favorite YouTube videos of all time.

"Thought you'd always be mine..."

(Laura Ezell) - 21:51
Maggie Howell says I should blog more, so to appease this request I thought I'd chit-chat a little about Kville. There's not too much to report. It's starting to rain, which I realized first by the small droplets on my computer screen, and then I began to feel it. So I'll be moving in the Fortress soon. I really like sitting on the benches to do work though. The light is bright, and you can see what's going on and who's here. Casey Peters walked by, and we made awkward eye contact. He looked at me right as I looked up to see who it was. And, on the topic of basketball players, my sorority Big messaged both Miles and Mason Plumlee to see if they'd be my blind date this weekend, but they both have girlfriends :( According to Lewis, however, there must always be a Fortress girl dating a basketball player in the future. Please ask him and Jonathon about their Biblical scheme, and thoughts on whether Scheyer is an "Old Testament kinda guy" or a "typical Duke boy." Anyway, I need to get work done now, because I've been too distracted during the day watching the YouTube videos Tim Lin posts on the blog. Adios!

(Laura Ezell) - 22:25
I just defended the fortress's honor. Here's how it happened:
I was sitting in the Bastion, writing my English paper. I, like Tim earlier, overheard Nick's block people discussing their tent schedule. Then:
Guy 2: Are you going to sleep in there? (the Fortress)
Guy 1: Yeah, but I don't know, man, the Fortress is s***y. (edited, for the pleasure of our readers.)
Me, from inside the Bastion: Excuse me? The Fortress is NOT s***y.
Guy 2: Oh, you just got owned.
Guy 1: (trying to defend himself) But you've just got this tarp thing, and it's dark and so low to the ground.
Me: Being low to the ground makes it warmer. And you're sleeping, so you don't need to sit up.
Guy 1: But, uh...
Me: If it wasn't for the Fortress, where would you be sleeping?
Guy 2: Dude, just give it up. Thanks for letting us sleep here!
My business here is done.


~*QUOTES OF THE DAY*~

(a series of out-of-context quotes that should by no means be taken at face value)


"I miss spooning with you Robert!" ~Hannah


"Ok, so I know people think that my obsession with Tim is weird, but I what I think is even weirder is Tim's obsession with Justin Bieber. I mean, I'm obsessed with Tim because he's really funny and kind of doesn't like me, but he likes Justin Bieber because...WIERD!" ~ Maggie Howell


"I'm the commander-in-chief of the pimp ship." ~ Gavin McAlister


Monday, February 22, 2010

Monday 2/22

(Robert Francis)-08:08
Last night was a fairly enjoyable one in K-Ville. Firstly some slightly (though not really) off topic information. The freshman guys of the Fortress officially have roommates for next year! Yaaaaaaay! At about 10 pm we met (or at least most of us met) in Wilson to have a block meeting. Maggie's Block as we have come to be known is now official. The roommate pairs are as follows...drum roll please...Brandon Semel (aka B-Semel) and Tim Lin, Cameron Oswalt and Lewis (Jake) Purcell, Gavin (not currently a member of The Fortress, but an ally none-the-less) McAlister and Jonathan Τhielmаn, and of course Michael Gay and Robert Francis(the awesome ones). We then determined our block captain by the simple yet useful "Who wants to be captain?" method. Michael Gay has stepped forward for the duty. Which makes me first mate of our block, and Lewis and Cameron the cabin boys of the block. Everyone else is just a block deckhand. Michael will have those "sorry sea-dogs" swabbing the deck of our block in no time!

After meeting (and making Lewis walk the plank), Michael, Gavin and I headed over to McDonalds to get a "large cup of free water". We met up with Annelise and got our Mc-y D's. Then Michael and I headed back to K-Ville for the evening. We chatted for a while with the Fortress + Maggie, Sara and Karen. Then I was lowered into some sort of grate from where I grabbed people's feet. After a bit more taking we headed to bed. Yay. We only had one tent check at like 12:45 before I was asleep. And that was the last night of blue tenting. We also decided that Fortress T-shirts must be made.

(Tim Lin) - 11:36
I forgot to say this yesterday. So here it is:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY LITTLE BROTHER!!

He is 9 years old. Yup.

Speaking of prepubescent children, last night, I had a strange dream involving Justin Bieber. Somehow, at the end of it, we became best friends. And he gave me his cell phone number. However, since waking up, I have unfortunately forgotten the aforementioned cell phone number. I have been confused all day...

"She makes me happy. I know where I'll be. Right by her side cuz she is the one for me!!"

(Tim Lin) - 14:23
During my shift, I saw Andre Dawkins, Miles Plumlee, Steve Johnson, Seth Curry, and Brian Zoubek enter Cameron. In that order. Except for Steve. He left Cameron. I just wanted to put him in the same sentence. Yeah. I actually wasn't sure if it was Seth or not. Because he had his hood on. But his Golden State Warriors sweats gave it away. Yeah.

They enter through this secret door that's not one of the main doors. It's pretty secretive. Not as secretive as our exclusive super duper outrageous cool awesome mysterious unknown super secret, but still pretty secretive. Yeah. I wonder if my DukeCard will open that door...

~*QUOTES OF THE DAY*~

(a series of out-of-context quotes that should by no means be taken at face value)


"Next year, I think we'll be the Gay Block...wait...that didn't come out right."~Michael Gay



Sunday, February 21, 2010

Sunday 2/21

(Claire McIlvenny) - 17:02

So, I'm back in the tent after the super fun crazy antics of the SKI TRIP. If you didn't go - you missed out. If you did go - you had an AMAZING time. Thanks must obviously go to Nick Bodnar for organizing 'The Bodsquad' and generally making the trip a success despite THREE flat tyres on the way there. A special shout out must go to Esther, Jonathan and Lewis who got down Black Diamonds on their first day of skiing. Oh yes.

There was a little red line under 'tyre' telling me it wasn't spelt correctly so I typed it into my dictionary on my computer which said it is the British spelling of 'tire'. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT? I did not know we spelt tyre and tire differently... I should go and consult the US-UK dictionary.

K-Ville has been very sunny today which would have been pleasant but I was here post four hour car ride in warm clothes so was suffocating in the Keep/Bastion/actual tent. It was very very loud earlier and it was actually quite annoying. I think it was mainly families who left the womens game earlier but they would not LEAVE and I heard this woman who had this horrific cackle. She must not realize she cackles when she laughs otherwise she wouldn't do it; it was VERY unladylike.
Let's just say, if we were in 17th century Salem Massachusetts, at the height of the witch trials, I would have accused her of being a witch.

Right now K-Ville is a bit mad because it's before the Virginia Tech game. I won't be able to go to the game, I have to go to the library. This is how stupid tenting can be, it's completely drained my ability to attend Duke basketball games even though I spend a disproportionately large amount of time in K-Ville. The infamous 'Hamburgers For Haiti' sale is going on right now, outside of the Fortress. The people selling them are really funny. Like the main guy, who said: 'Is that the Fortress? That still exists?'

ERRRR.... IS THE POPE CATHOLIC?
OBVIOUSLY THE FORTRESS STILL EXISTS AND WILL CONTINUE TO EXIST UNTIL THE END OF TIME.

Not really, but come on!

He also came out with the one-liner 'Virginia Tech fans, do NOT buy hamburgers for Haiti. Duke fans.... do.'

Main Guy: 'Hamburgers for Haiti. You can also buy a cheeseburger. But no hogies for hogies (?).'
Co-Worker: 'Ignore the creepy guy on the megaphone and buy a burger'.
Main Guy: 'If you don't want the hamburger, thats ok. You can just donate foodpoints too.'

To be honest, I don't know why I find all of this so funny. It just is. You probably had to be there.

Bye fortress, I'll be back in...oh.... some....six hours until I take my night shift tonight. LAST NIGHT OF BLUE TENTING :(

(Tim Lin) - 23:26
Yay!! People are back!! It was very lonely without them.

So our 2 days of grace finally ended at 1 PM today. I think. Today is the last night of blue tenting. White Tenting starts tomorrow. Yeah. White Tenting is kinda a joke. 2 people per night and 1 person during the day. How losery.

We won the game today!! It was a pretty close game. And the refs didn't call fouls (or should I say FOWLS!! and that's funny because we played Virginia Tech whose mascot is a Hokie. And a Hokie is apparently a turkey. So that's funny. Yeah.) Yeah, we pulled away in the end and won by 12 points. 67-55. Yeah.

Kyle Singler just walked by me. He looked at me while I looked up to see who was walking. He was on the phone. He looked really tired.

Yeah.

"You're not alone. There is more to this, I know. You can make it out. You will live to tell..."

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Saturday 2/20

(Robert Francis)-17:47
It's gonna be hard to blog since we haven't been in the tent today, but I feel it must be documented. Last night (aka this morning) they had three tent checks at 2:30, 4:00 and 7:00. It sounds like it was a VERY good night to be out of the tent. Hope the skiers are havin' a blast!

(Tim Lin) - 20:56
ASDFJKL; ROBERT DIDN'T GO SKIING?! I THOUGHT HE DID!! YAY ROBERT!! <3

"I don't wanna close my eyes..."

(Tim Lin) - 21:44
I went back through the old posts, reading the comments. I would like to give a shout out to Mrs. Semel and let her know that Brandon did not share the cookies. He ate them all. By himself. In front of everybody. While gloating. Because he had cookies and we didn't. We were all heartbroken. Brandon then proceeded to take all of our stuff and THREW IT ON THE GROUND!! Mrs. Semel, if your son does not come home this summer, then we have no idea what happened to him. Just saying.

Just kidding. The cookies were delicious. Thank you very much!!

And I just realized that we still have not officially named the actual tent. I think it is a toss-up between "The Keep" and "The Bastion." To settle this issue, I hereby declare that...actually, I don't know what I declare. I guess whichever name sticks will be its official name. I believe more time is necessary before we figure this out.




Friday, February 19, 2010

Friday 2/19

(Tim Lin) - 02:23
I hate how every time I log into the blog, my gmail automatically logs out and into the nolansnest2010@gmail.com account. Stupid.

So...thanks to some great people in Team Fortress, we have grace tonight. Tonight, 6 people at Shooter's brings us grace. I don't know why. But that's how it was. Since Cameron, Brandon, Lewis, and I decided that we cannot exist in the proximity of Shooter's, I was very surprised that we accomplished this. I was actually about to go to the tent at 11 PM to take Brandon's night shift when Cameron calls me and tells me about Team Fortress's accomplishment.

Thanks to...whoever went to Shooter's. I don't know who you are.

In other news unrelated to tenting, I am very disappointed with the Top 24 of American Idol this year.

"I dare you to move like today never happened."

(Nick Bodnar) - 12:25
I want to thank all the mothers, Big's, friends, etc. who have sent goodies to our tent! Mrs. Ezell, those zebra cakes were amazing! I love zebra cakes! these are always welcome surprises.

as blue tenting comes to a close - this is almost the Fortress' last day, on account of the SKI TRIP - we have time to reflect on all the joy, grace, and pain it brought us. and there was a lot of each. it's unlikely that anyone but Lemur-man made it to bed before 2am, and he only did that once, on accident. We had grace for wind, and then we didn't have it for miserable 25 (feels like -40) degree weather. Tim died once. there were grappling hooks, birthdays, news reporters, and let's not forget walk-up lines, which really lay down the hammer of exhaustion.

oh man, it's been a blast. i am just today in a mental state fit for blogging, as i was able to sleep in my bed for the first time in who knows how long.

I love this tent! (and the physical structure we have is cool too)

(Laura Ezell) - 14:35
It is an absolutely GORGEOUS day in Kville today! After a lovely Maggie/Laura chat where we did some awesome planning for future activities, the Fortress had some very exciting special guests: Will, Liam, and Elliott Spokes! The boys explored the Fortress and the tent, and were both amazed and somewhat critical. Elliott: "This is amazing. It's beautiful." High praise I tell you. Liam thought it was pretty cool, but then he described how he would make a tent if he were here. So for the future, if we're to keep up with Liam, we need an underground tent that we've tunneled out, complete with cooking equipment, a place on top where we live and a sentry to constantly stand guard. Apparently, we have some work to do. Overall, however, the boys were pretty impressed, so I think that means the Fortress is a success!!

(Tim Lin) - 17:09
I finally got around to uploading some pictures.



Yeah. I didn't take these on Saturday. So I cheated. But whatever.

Yeah, so as of now, we have grace. Because our entire tent is going skiing on some RUF ski trip. I'm not going. So I just have a break from tenting. I think Michael Gay is in the same boat as me. Yeah. We'll be back in the tent at 1 PM Sunday, I think. At least that's what Michael Gay tells me.

"It's like I've been living my whole life for this one night..."

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Thursday 2/18

(Robert Francis)- 00:17
We just had a tent check and we totally kicked its butt! I mean that tent check doesn't know which way is up. Just as Tim, Hannah and I settled in to watch Idol, the sirens blared and we hopped out to do the check. Hannah had to return to find her Duke Card and Lewis had to come back from the bathroom, but by the time the line monitor got to us we were prepared. When he said tent 6, six arms extended simultaneously to reveal our Duke Cards (in alphabetical order!). But yeah, that tent check won't be walkin' straight for days and it'll definitely feel THAT in the morning.


OK, I have a math midterm so farewell!

(Lewis Purcell) -09:20
Last night was epic sleep - when I laid down after going to meals with jenny when we got grace I didn't wake up till 7 - it was ultimate. Just to let everyone know - Zoubek had a very good game last night - 10 points and was declared the MVP of the game. Haters of the world = DIE!

(Robert Francis)-10:38
It is a beautiful day in K-Ville today! So sunny and -dare I say it- warm! I had to remove a couple layers. Last night was nice. Only one tent check at 12 and Hannah and I slept next to each other on the same air mattress as black tenting! How nostalgic! I woke up at approximately 8:38 and was like Where is everybody? I slept quite well. After making a Valentine's cookie in the tent, (picture to come) I finished out my shift with Maggie visiting the Fortress. Brandon came at 10 and we saw mason heading into Cameron. Then Maggie and I went to get breakfast at the Great Hall where we saw Mason again! When we got our food and threw it away. AND THEN Maggie sat next to him on the bus going to East! It's safe to say that we're being followed. We've been expecting something like this ever since...yeah. Nevermind. Anyhow, I returned and relieved Brandon half an hour early. Now I am enjoying the lovely weather. Last night and today are also my last few hours of blue tenting. I have enjoyed it immensely even though I have only slept in the tent 3 nights during blue. That makes in 4 black, 3 blue, and 2(scheduled) white tenting nights. 9 overall. Gotta love it.

(Tim Lin) - 10:57
Speaking of being followed by a Plumlee, Miles Plumlee is most definitely following me. I went into the Great Hall to eat breakfast after my Math recitation (which is one of the stupidest ideas ever. the recitation. not the breakfast.). I walked through Alpine, and I see none other than Miles Plumlee. He was sitting with 2 unmemorable, nondescript girls. Because I don't remember what they look like except that one of them was blond. Miles had his white Apple Macbook out. There was a Word Document open with what looked like 5 short lines typed. He seemed stuck and trying to figure out what to write.

I found Jonathan and ate with him in the Great Hall. I still can't believe his hair.

Then, as I was about to go onto a bus back to East, I turned my head to the left. And I see a tall person. Miles Plumlee. Again. I decide to go into the middle door of the bus instead of the front. Because that's where he was. I need to give him a taste of his own medicine. Seriously. Stalking people isn't good. So I "stalked" him onto the bus. I sat across from him and watched him eat his bagel. It looked like there were 2 sausage patties, some egg, and some cheese in his bagel. The bagel was one of those speckled bagels. I don't know what that's called. He was eating that bagel with authority. That bagel didn't know what hit it. Just like that tent check. About 6 bites later, his bagel vanished. I didn't actually count. But judging by the size of the bagel and the size of his mouth, I'd estimate about 6 bites.

Then, after we got onto East, he quickly went into Carr. I assume that's when he figured out that I figured out that he was stalking me. So he stopped. Yeah.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Wednesday 2/17

(Esther Showalter) - 19:05
So about 20 minutes after I was scoffing at how not cold it was last night, cold happened. It felt like within two minutes, the temperature dropped 10 degrees. Even the weather reads our blog - and is out to get us.

Also, line monitors are apparently lurking outside the IM gym and calling tent checks in order to catch cheaters in K-Ville. Good thing the Fortress is full of such upstanding people that they never get caught cheating. Because they never do. Yeah.

Also, I think I accidentally cheated on the Maryland game. I got in and realized everyone had pink wristbands, but I'd never gotten one because I'd come from my dorm to the line just a few minutes before they let people in. I didn't realize you were supposed to be there for a while before the game started. Let that be a lesson: if you cut corners with Tenting and Walk-up Lining, then you lose out on the cool wristbands.

It was cold today! Good luck to everyone in the tent tonight!

(Tim Lin AND Robert Francis) - 23:23
LIKE OH SNAP ITS HAPPENING AGAIN!!1!11ONE!!!!1 - That's right folks, ANOTHER double blog! Can you believe it I sure can't!- The people in the tent right next to us are talking about gaining 400 pounds. What a fatty. He apparently "packed away so much food at the Marketplace tonight" (Person from next Tent). I even cited her with MLA format!! - I'm going to flip into the third person so that we may keep our identities secret. As soon as Robert arrived (Esther had covered Robert's shift for Robert as Robert was late), Robert saw Tim, the only remaining member of the Fortress playing Knock-Out. It became obvious quite quickly that Tim was going to win - Duh! - so Robert convinced Tim to intentionally miss a shot in order to deceive the opponent - Tim missed a shot intentionally in order to deceive the opponent. - Now, they can't accuse Tim of cheating or being more than human. - Robert and Tim then decided to get water. While Robert and Tim were getting water, someone asked Robert and Tim if Robert and Tim wanted hot chocolate. Hannah thinks that Robert and Tim are stealing her thunder. - (See above post). Anyways, Robert and Tim got to the water fountain, but it turned out to be WARM! - That is such an ABOMINABLE ABOMINATION OF ABOMINABLE ABOMINABILITY!! - And then the water got hot. Robert was holding Robert's hand under it, and it was too hot to leave Robert's hand there. - Hannah is being impatiently impatient and without patience impatiently and wanting to watch American Idol. So Robert and Tim are going to watch that now. - Bye. I love you!!

(Hannah Smith)- 23:58
This is my first post ever!! Tonight Cameron was sick so Tim decided to take his place. Stupid food poisoning. Matt Gay and Maggie Howell came to visit us and we took lots of pictures. You should ask Maggie about one of the... it's fantastic. We played knock out, but we decided to concede because the Fortress is obviously the best and we don't want everyone to hate us and to trash our tent. Robert and Tim were offered hot chocolate, but they were stupid and refused. The tent is cold, did they forget that fact? Anyway, that's all from me!

~*QUOTES OF THE DAY*~

(a series of out-of-context quotes that should by no means be taken at face value)


"My clothes make me look like a hobo." ~Maggie
"Please, look at my color scheme. I look like a toasted marshmallow!" ~Hannah

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Tuesday 2/16

(Robert Francis)-12:33
Yay!!! Happy Mardi Gras!!!

I don't know what's happening in the tent because no one will update and I am not in the tent! Come on people! Remember when we used to blog about every time we sneezed? Those were the golden days.

Anyway. I missed 40 minutes of my tent shift today because my not-to-be trusted memory failed to remind me of my shift. Luckily Brandon stayed there for like an extra 40 minutes before sending a reminding text. So, no harm done, but a FAIL, none-the-less. Umm... I need to fill space in the blog (since no one else will). So everyone how was last night? Descibe your experience in detail. You can even exaggerate or flat out lie! I don't care, but I need to hear about it. We must remain vigilant. The Fortress cannot be boring!!! I've noticed our 'The Fortress' label on the side of the tent could use some touch ups. So...we could do that... I recently found out that Thursday people can get grace by going to Shooters! Yay? This whole grace non-sense it getting crazy. Yeah...so go you people on Thursday! SHOOTERS!!!!! Whoo! Um I bought some Duke sweatpants today! They're grey and say 'DUKE'. I am also pondering on whether it would be worthwhile to invest in a basketball jersey. They aren't that much and I could use it at all the games...We'll see.

And about our ski trip this weekend, what are we doing to make up for the hours/nights we miss? Have we re-checked all of this with Zach since blue tenting has started to make sure he remembers? If not, we should. Well...that's all I got. Happy Fat Tuesday! Eat lots o' unhealthy food!


(Jonathan) - 13:05
Some crazy fool cut off all my hair! You just never can tell who you can trust these days. Also, my hat is missing! Where did it go? Who knows. Actually, let me rephrase that: who knows? It's small and looks a lot like a black North Face hat with grey stripes, mainly because it really is a small, black North Face hat with grey stripes. And, yes, I do spell "grey" correctly, glad you appreciate good English. We'll have none of this ugly "gray" rubbish around here (and by " around here," I mean around the Fortress Blog, which, yes, does rule out anyone who's reading the blog from being near some instance of the linguistic catastrophe that is "gray"). Now, hopefully that sentence made a small bit of sense, since I am really about to use my two cents to use a couple of homophonic, and in the upcoming instance, homographic, terms in every sense I could possibly imagine, rendering this present sentence into what I am very afraid must seem a lot of nonsense. And why did I waste all of spring semester writing that sentence? Who knows.Anyway, find my hat, and what the heck tent 52? Are you seriously getting a shout out from Zach White when the Fortress is not? What? Guys, this is a problem that needs fixing.

(Laura Ezell) - 13:19
Other tents may get shout outs, but it's our blog that the head line monitor's mother reads to stay updated on what's going on in Kville. And let's face it, that's way cooler than one shout-out.

(Lewis Purcell) -14:32
We should blog more. And Claire's mom agrees. Anyways, last night was epic.
I came to K-ville cuz I heard fox would be there, but they weren't. Cam, Nick and I were grappling for fun on the side of some stairs cuz we were waiting for the tent check that would never come. And then fox came around the corner; I was like "Hey, did you guys see the sign up there for Coach K's birthday" and thus our story begins. Essentially they interviewed us and filmed us grappling and they even went into the fortress to interview us. It was epic.

(Tim Lin) - 18:55
Ok...I haven't been here in a while. I will start with Sunday night.

Zach White called a talent show. Winner was supposed to get grace. Among all the displays of talent, I feel as if Robert/Laura and me had the best talents. Duh. They're double cartwheel that they learned in 30 seconds was pretty epic. And my foot-jumping ability is unmatched. Actually not really. Apparently, it's a legit dance move. Watch that whole thing. It's crazy. Quest Crew is so cool.

Unfortunately, the talent show gave everybody grace because Zach White couldn't decide just one tent to give grace to. I didn't even have to tap into my hidden talents (In case you're wondering, I can do the wave with my thumbs and say the alphabet backwards. Yeah, I know you're jealous.). If I were to give second place to someone, I would give it to the guy who could name the start and end city of every interstate highway in the United States. That must have taken some dedication to memorize...

Last night was interesting. I was planning to sleep early. Which I did. I was woken up at 12:15ish. Because Hannah told me there was a tent check. It turns out the Fortress was being filmed by a guy from Fox. That was cool. He got into the Fortress and asked us questions there. I'm pretty sure my response to one of his questions made no sense at all. I feel like Sarah Palin.

AND I participated in my first daytime tent check today. It wasn't as invigorating as I thought it would be.

"Run Baby Run. Don't ever look back..."

(Esther Showalter) - 23:26
So Claire came down with the flu (and Cameron, too, I hear) so I'm in the tent tonight. And, yet again, Linear Algebra is haunting my tenting nights. I'm not sure if Linear Algebra is making Tenting more exciting and interesting or if Tenting is making Linear Algebra more fun to work through. They're becoming very closely associated, though.
It's actually kind of warmer tonight, which means my fingers haven't frozen yet from typing this post. I'm also becoming very attached to the nook next to the power outlet outside of Wilson. The muffled voices of gruntled and disgruntled tenters drift out to you over the sidewalk and occasional non-initiates walk by and scoff at/ooh and aah at everyone in the tents and air mattress inflators come up from time to time to plug in their pumps. It's so mellow, in fact, that I can't think of even one snarky thing to say. Sorry for the disappointment, dear readers!

Monday, February 15, 2010

Monday 2/15

(Robert Francis)- 0:45
It's Ok everyone! The world has been set right again. We did in fact, get grace this evening. I met Laura at the tent at approximately 10 and we watched 'The Bachelor' while enjoying a heart-shaped brownie made by Laura's Mom!!!!! Tim joined and we finished the episode (the ending was filled with much romantic drama and strife!) It was a fitting end to Valentine's Day. A bit later Zach announced over the megaphone that there would be a talent competition and winner would get grace(Perché?). Laura and I rushed beside Cameron to practice. I gave her a 30 second run down of what a double cartwheel was and we attempted it. It was a success and we went and performed amongst jugglers, dancers, martial artists and more! Tim can hold one foot while jumping over the other! (How he discovered this, I am still unsure of.) It was a regular circus! Anyhow, we all received grace (mostly thanks to the Fortress' double cartwheels and foot-hopping). And all was right in the world. Except I seem to have broken my camera. This is sad new. Let us hope it can be repaired.

(Claire McIlvenny) - 14:35
Yesterday I didn't update the blog during my tent shift which was sad. It is even more sad because I was in the tent for 2 and a half hours without my computer. And without my books. And without my IPOD (well, it broke last semester but still). On one of the loneliest Valentine's Days, my only solace was to watch Youtube videos on my I-phone until the battery ran out. I didn't even get to watch 'Pants on the Ground'. What a sad day indeed.

In other news, I saw Ryan Kelly on the bus stop on West yesterday when I came back from my shift. It was the SWEETEST thing ever because he was carrying a backpack and on it was a balloon that said something like 'My Sweet Valentine'. It was floating on a little pink ribbon. His girlfriend probably did it, not realizing that most guys would find the balloon embarrassing. But no, not Ryan Kelly. Ahhhh, so cute.

Finally, I have a Michael Gay update. It's fairly well known around here that the Fortress' main activities include eating Michael Gay. Let's face it, there is not much else to do. Anyway, my friend Annabelle from home enjoys reading our blog, so it was to much amusement that I received this post on my facebook wall:

"...just caught up on your blog...i feel sorry for that Michael guy....you guys always want to sacrifice/eat him..."

I think Annabelle has summarized quite succinctly what the Fortress is all about.

(Lewis Purcell) - 18:29
=Haters of the world=
READ! From ESPN!
Brian Zoubek, Sr., C, Duke: Hard to ignore the Z-man after his performance Saturday against Maryland. Zoubek had been one of the better defenders all season for the Blue Devils. But he awoke his offensive game against the Terps with 16 points and 17 boards to go with two blocks in the rout of Maryland. He wasn't a major factor against North Carolina, but didn't need to be in that game.

~*QUOTES OF THE DAY*~

(a series of out-of-context quotes that should by no means be taken at face value)


"For example, I once dreamed I lectured without trousers."~ Professor Jakob Norberg

"So how was your Valentine's Day?" ~Will Spokes
"I watched 'The Bachelor' with Robert Francis and Tim Lin" ~Laura
"That is HOT!" ~Will Spokes