:: Oh, Look, A Tumbleweed ::

:: Friday, December 05, 2003 ::

Okay, I'll give the full update on the Civil War, plus the answer to that question all the Union people must be dying to know since 13 of them got it wrong and Jason Green and Rachel Callender will killed by it.

Okay...The Civil War. The anticipation was great because this is the big event for the school. However, once you're in it...it gets frustrating very fast. Your life is consumed by it. The only homework I did this week was the English assignment in the Bedford Reader.

When you have classes in the other groups territory, it gets stressful. You have to get out and fast. Today in Physics, we could see the Union people lining up outside the door and Heidi, Liz and I all had to go through them.

The stress factor is huge, especially when things aren't going the way they're supposed to. We wasted our ambush times, plain and simple. Today we used them because the Union people aren't simply going to waltz into your territory. That hurt us. Today we had to go out into neutral territory. It was the only way. You may not get any rations, but they'll be there.

The Civil War is a GREAT experience. I have never crammed so much information into my head. But...it's also an experience you're so happy to have end. I've gotten 12 hours of sleep total in the past 4 days. I'm shocked I haven't collapsed out of exhaustion and overall stress. Getting to school and standing in that frigid weather wasn't fun...and neither was the constant nervousness.

The lengths people go to in this game are insane, and I don't discount myself. Mr. Tam was talking to Sean Walder and I had to interupt to see if we could leave since he was done teaching and 12:15 was only seconds away and then Theo and Simon could have attacked. He said yes and Heidi, Liz and I sprinted down the D Hall. I seriously felt like someone in one of those movies where the villain says "I'll give you a 20 second head start...then I'm coming after you to kill." I ran as if my life depended on it...and so did Liz and Heidi. And then in the library today, as soon as Andrew made Theo engaged him I had to get out of there because...okay, if the Union did not make me their number one target, I'll be shocked because if I could be engaged, I was engaged. If it was me and Heidi in a room, Theo would engage ME. Same with Simon. So to make it through this thing alive...I'm quite lucky because I was getting hammered constantly the past two days by the Union. And also, today when I was walking up to Physics, Jessica Richards stopped me and said there was a Union ambush, so I turned back down to the second floor told her to hide me, grabbed her bookbag, pulled it right up to my chest and she walked in front of me all the way to the Physics room....while I pushed her a little for fear a Union person would see me.

But the positives: The South worked SO well together. We were all so cooperative and supportive. We had communication, we worked out our plans, we made sure everybody had enough rations. We would run to each other's classes to try to help. We had meetings after school each day. We even went to Starbucks today just to celebrate. And what's more, I think I've gained friends from this experience. I've always considered Darcey and Robin acquaintances, but through this experience, I think I can now truly call them my friends. Same with Lydia and Page and Brittany McNamara and Allison and...everybody, really. I think as a class, we came together unbelievably well and played a fair game. Nobody cheated as far as we know and we all put up a great defense. It started out 21 to 57, the most the South has ever been outnumbered by. Yet, we were able to kill 14 of them and they were only able to kill 6 of us and they had the good territories much longer than we did. I think that's great. No South in the history of this game has killed 8 people on the first day before. We were an unbelievable team. The mass e-mailing...the walking in groups...guys, regardless of whether we win or lose this war, I've never worked with a team as great as you guys, and I'll miss that. We know for a fact the Union DID NOT have that.

So...The Civil War is by the far the most stressful thing I've ever taken part in...but it's worth the experience. Do it.

Oh...he he he...

So...Ross, Theo, Simon, Jason, Rachel Callender, Nick, Madalyn, Rob, Aaron, Richard, Rachel Cunningham, Graeson, Rachel B....recognize this question?

What was the first southern state to acknowledge Lincoln's birthday as a national holiday?

The answer? Tennessee. And none of you got it. 13 engagements with that question...and I won each one. I will hold on to that. I don't think anybody else in the South had that record.

:: Nick Friday, December 05, 2003 [+] ::