because that last one is too creepy to keep on top for long (not that the middle of this is much better)

here is one part of my judge's application i can share with you:

1/6/2007

It was midnight, and the captains had gathered at the clearing on the Point where Ida Noyes and Rockefeller Chapel stand. We were waiting for the judges. Suddenly music started blasting out of hidden speakers and the judges, wearing graduation robes, descended from the sky on pulley-and-weight assemblies that allowed them to jump several stories up again once they’d landed. They bounced around in this manner until the song ended, then landed gently. [I remember trying out the rig myself later on. It was so fun.]

While we’d been watching this, someone had set up a small puppet stage a short distance away. It had an English countryside backdrop, a gallows, and an inflatable hangman. Several other captains and I gathered by the stage. A judge went up onto it, pulled a lever, and the inflatable hangman dropped, achieving a massive inflatable hard-on when he hit the end of his rope.

“Is this balloon stupid?” the judge asked gravely.

Assuming this was some sort of contest to see how long the captains could go without admitting that yes, the balloon was insanely stupid, I said no. The judge reeled the hangman back up, pulled the lever again and asked the same question. Again, I lied.

Eventually I noticed that the captains who said “yes” were receiving white boxes and running away. Guessing that the boxes contained the list, I said “yes” the next time. The judge gave me a white box, and I ran away to open it at a picnic table where some other Shoreland scavvies were waiting. I opened the box.

It was full of Sour Patch Kids.

“Damn it,” I said.

My dad, jogging by, stopped to tell me that the real list release was on the other side of the Point, in a giant white tent I’d somehow missed. I ran to the tent. Inside a giant game of “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?” was being filmed, featuring the real Chief. A Shoreland kid [ed. note: the kid was clearly Mr. Stand, which was odd because I didn't know him yet at that point--I remember recognizing him from this at one of our first meetings] had already made it there and was doing us proud.