Jedi Reunion

Jedi Reunion

Just in case you were under the misguided impression that I’m not a complete dork, this coming weekend is Jedi Reunion. What is Jedi Reunion you ask? Well first off, it in absolutely no way involves dressing up as storm troopers or any other assorted Star Wars character. I’m not that much of a dork.

It all started after high school. I had three real close friends who all went our separate ways after we graduated. I spent four years at U of I in Urbana-Champaign, but other than that I stayed in Chicago or the nearby suburbs. The other three have bounced around to all sorts of places, Indiana, Arkansas, Austin, Atlanta, Raleigh, and Richmond. Once a year over Memorial Day weekend we meet somewhere and have a reunion of sorts. Being dorks we would occasionally refer to ourselves as Jedi, thus making our reunion a Jedi Reunion.

Usually Jedi Reunion involves a whole bunch of drinking and making asses out of ourselves. We also tend to alternate between an extended weekend at one of our houses and a more elaborate weeklong get together at some exotic location. My wife and I never have get to host because everyone’s family is still in Chicago, so if every one else came back here they would have to spend half the time visiting with family, and not drinking, which is lame.

The official reunion doesn’t start until Friday, but my wife and I are heading out tomorrow. She prefers vacations where you get to take in some of the local culture/attractions, as opposed to just hanging out and repeating the same drunken stories every year. Sometimes I just don’t understand women. So, in an effort to keep her from strangling me, we’re going to go early and do some touristy things for a few days. That should make it possible for her to tolerate my friends and our shenanigans.

Now, the best part about this year’s reunion is that we’ve decided to have a Jedi Olympics. This is not to be confused with the Special Olympics even though they will probably look similar to the casual spectator. So far, events include…

• Poker. I should win this one. If I don’t then I was either drunk, or suffered a horrific bad beat, or both.



• Disc Golf. Not my specialty. I’m ok at it, but apparently I throw like a retard because about once every other time I go disc golfing I mess up my shoulder. I don’t know what my problem is. I’m really not that uncoordinated. Seriously. I’m not. Shut Up.



• Bocce Ball. This one could be anyone’s game. I think I’ll do ok, but I wouldn’t put myself as the favorite.



• Settlers of Catan. I told you we’re dorks. Seriously though. This game is pretty fun. You should check it out if you ever have the chance. Tough to predict a winner, but I’ll predict myself unless the others form an alliance against me due to my huge lead in overall Olympic points, which is a likely scenario.



• Mini Golf. The trash talking has already begun on this one. I think I can pull of a win.

Some other likely events that have not yet been confirmed:

• Bowling. I will win this. I have mad bowling skills. And drinking only makes me better.



• Darts. Probably not something I’m going to do too well in, unless none of them have played since last year. Then I might stand a chance.



• Five Crowns. Similar to Gin except there are five suits and you have a different number of cards in your hand each round. Fun game.

I don’t know what the prize is for winning. I’ll let you know when I get it.

So yeah. I’m out of town until Wednesday. Hopefully I’ll have some funny stories to tell when I get back or at least a recap of our poker tournament.