Odyssey of the Mind

Good luck to them Esox
 
Best of luck to Jr. Lancer and her crew! I can't wait to hear how they do.
 
congrats and best of luck JL!
 
I'm sitting in my icy cool Residence Inn room decompressing from driving four 12/13 year old girls around Chicago, across part of IN, and up to East Lansing, MI. Man, is Michigan hot. Mrs. Esox and her co-coach get to stay in a stuffy dorm room, while I'm chillin' here with a Grape Crush and a couple of Kit Kats. Five plus hours listening to these girls jabber, text, and talk on their cell phones was pretty intense, but I made it, and showed great patience if I say so myself.

Tonight was the opening ceremony. It was quite the event. Between the competing teams and their entourages, the Michigan State Breslin Center, 15,000 capacity, was close to full. Had to be more than 12,000 people there. 813 teams. There are teams from most of the states of the union, and the world was represented by teams from Canada, Germany, Poland, Russia, Mexico, Germany, South Korea, Hong Kong, China, and Singapore. Singpore is represented by 28 teams! I wonder who's footing the bill for that. Not only the travel costs, but the shipping costs for all their elaborate sets. It's wild.

The opening ceremonies are run like the Olympics. Each team from each state or country is represented by one team member, and the remaining teams from each locale are seated together and they cheer and scream as their state/country is introduced. They all wear custom designed tee shirts, and many have funny hats to represent their homes. WI teams have dairy cow hats,some NY teams wore pizza box hats, and there were many others. The kids have all kinds of lighted devices they wave. There were several speakers extolling the virtues of Odyssey of the Mind, including the older gentleman that founded it 31 years ago.

This is quite the event. What an experience for the kids. Our girls are scheduled to perform tomorrow at 3:00ish. As of an hour ago, their set had not arrived. One of the Dads is bringing their set and another team's set by trailer after taking care of some business. While I'm sure they will arrive, Mrs. Esox and her co-coach are a bit tense.

I would be too if I was staying in a dorm room. I don't remember them that small. Porbably because I was so much smaller as a college student. I also don't remember them so hot, or the common bathrooms so unappealling.

I'm liking this Residence Inn, though. And the Kit Kats and Grape Crush.

Kevin
 
love the stories Esox you always put is in the moment! and +1000 on grape crush!
 
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