8 Pax gathered at Camden Yard for an attempt at revival. As you know, Baltimore, where the original Camden Yards is located, is a big urban city with significant decay. And the Orioles’ park at Camden Yard, a few decades ago, was a symbol of a certain bit of revival, though things have deteriorated in the city of late. It’s a truth that we must remain vigilant if we need to keep something going.
That was the same situation that we had at Camden, aka Twin Lakes, where our pax had dwindled, and the Q volunteer list had slowed down.
So it was a challenge. As with so many struggling cities, they think building a casino will help revive it. So at Camden, we tried our own casino, as Papa Smurf had some dice from Dollar Tree, and some old BOAC playing cards, not even a full deck! Those of a certain age will know what that esteemed airline is called now, as it ceased operations in 1974. Sadly, that date frightened Papa Smurf as it is quite another era, generations ago, and he still had the cards. Packrat. Call the hoarder counselor. All I want to say is that the trip over was on a freaking Boeing 707, and the prime minister was Harold Wilson, of the Labour party.
A note on social policy and economic development. While we tried the casino at our Camden, we don’t advise using the casino for reviving struggling cities. There is nothing sadder than a depresssed city where the only nice hotel and restaurants are in a casino!
Weather: I am afraid it was summer Baltimore weather. Hot, no breeze, and humid.
The Thang: We started with a Mozey, or is it Mosey or Mozi? Whatever the spelling, we did a quick turn around the parking lot, with karaoke and nurs. After the warmup, we did a quick set of warmups, all times 12, I think.
- Strawberry Pickers
- Windmills
- Imperial Walkers
- Mountain Climbers
Our main course was a card game. The deck was stacked, or at least a bit diminished. We did exercises by suit. Each person picked a card for a suit, and a card for the number. Face cards were 11/12/13, and an ace, anywhere, was a burpee. The cards were tiny, and from a long ago trip on BOAC. Only respects, or geek planespotters like me, will know what that means.
- Diamond
- Spade: Hello Dollys
- Heart: LBCs
- Club: American Hammers.
We went to the pavilion for some dice play. We did the dice Mexico style, so when you rolled, you did not add up the numbers, but instead did the highest number then the lowest number, so the highest number of exercises would be 66 and the lowest would be 11. We did two rounds. These were the exercises:
- Dips
- Decline Merkins
- Step-Ups
- LBCs
We came back to the starting spot, and did sevens to the Florida Extension Office.
After the exercises, which we finished around 5:50, and then did an extended round of mary.
Prayers were offered for co-workers, ailing parents, and thanks were given for the return of Snapshot.