Homer-athon

Warning: the following post contains very nerdy material presented in an incredibly fun and exciting way. So if you don't want to become a nerd or think that nerdy events are fun, I would caution you against reading this post. It is a hazard to your coolness.


Last weekend I went to the annual THI (Torrey Honors Institute) Homer-athon. And may I say, it was AMAZING!!!! The Homer-athon is an event where all the Torrey students (well, the cool ones who actually go) meet at Dr. Reynolds house and read the Iliad and Odyssey out loud. It took about 19 hours, from 1pm on Sunday afternoon to 8:30 am Monday morning. Needless to say, we were Zombies by the end. So on Sunday, I met up with James (see guy with silly expression in picture) at the library and he walked me over to Dr. Reynolds house (i get lost easily, so he was nice and showed me how to get there). We all sat outside in the 110 degree summer heat (we were told it was so we could experience the heat of battle). So each person signed up to read a book (just fyi, the chapters in the Iliad and Odyssey are called books and there are 24 books in each poem). I read book 16 of the Iliad, it was a war chapter so many people died. It was sad. *sniffle* The best part about reading, was that Dr. Reynolds would randomly start singing some silly song about the wrath of Achilleus or "Glory, Glory, Diomedes" while you are in the middle of your reading. You learn to just keep going and laugh along.

So it eventually got so hot, I was driven to the pool. I thought that it would be a relaxing break, but no. I was drawn into the epic battle between Hektor and Achilleus. As luck would have it I was Hektor. Bryant was Achilleus. We fought over the body of Patroklos (a pool noodle). I died. And then Becky (see picture of girl in pool)built me a funeral pyre out of a raft. Chelsea (see picture) took a lot of pictures and they look really cool. Again, check out her blog to see more of them.

The real battle occurred between Josh (Hektor w/ orange noodle) and Tim (Achilleus w/ green noodle). I actually filmed it so i could put it up here, but somehow i don't have the video anymore. Even so, it was a tragic battle as spear noodles flew through the air. Actually, Hektor was doing very well this year. Some of the older students thought he might win this time. but alas, as always Achilleus won. And Josh died. Like everyone in that book. The Odyssey is so much better in that regard.

At about 2 am, James, Nicole, Brian(see picture of guy passed out by morning), Hannah and I got hungry and decided to go to Wendy's. But as luck would have it, it was closed. (yes, i know, it was 2 am, but it was worth a try). So we decided to run through sprinklers instead and sing songs from musicals. It was amazingly fun. After that, we were still hungry, and since Ben (see picture) informed us over the phone that it was illegal to walk through the drive through at Taco Bell. We walked back to Biola and raided our dorms. Fortunately both Hannah's and my roommates were out of town. So we ate in the basement of Horton and played pool.

After that we went back to Dr. Reynolds house and joined back in the epic tale of Odysseus. I was cast as Nausikaa, the king's ditzy daughter, as well as a seductive sea goddess. But at least I wasn't Paris (Strange Man!). hehe :D

So the reading continued through the night. Many people fell asleep, curled up on the sidewalk. Slowly the sun rose and so did our hopes. We were almost done. YAY!!! At seven in the morning, Mrs. Reynolds brought us donuts! She's the nicest lady. :) And then....Odysseus killed the suitors and we were done! We all read the last line together, woke up the sleepers, and after helping the Reynold's clean up the yard, we went back to the dorms. I slept till 5 that afternoon. Yay for me.

So if you actually read all of this, I'm amazed. Hopefully I didn't bore you all too much.