The Fellowship of The Nerds

The aroma of body-paint fills the air as people walk around admiring nerd culture. There are many exhibits in the room, such as: Star Wars, Ghost Busters, Hot Wheels, a few famous cars, and multiple vendors.

There are a group of friends, who seem highly interested in the different exhibits, including, Deadpool, Batman, and Superman. Deadpool is skinny and around five and a half feet tall, he has bushy hair and glasses. Batman is a Caucasian man who is also around five and a half feet tall, he has long hair and broad shoulders. Superman is a chubby dark skinned fellow who is around six feet tall, he has short hair and a goatee. The three friends are taking pictures in front of the Batmobile, they then walk north and take pictures with the De Lorean and then with the Ninja Turtles Van.

Next, they meet up with Spiderman, Night Wing, and Green Lantern. Spiderman is around six feet tall with lanky limbs and a very slim build. Night Wing is chubby and around five and a half feet tall with long blonde hair and short legs. Green Lantern is around six feet tall and has short brown hair with long lanky limbs.

They go as a group to the game room and play a game of Pathfinder. Spiderman wins the game and laughs at his friends for losing. They head back into the main room where the exhibits are. They join in a photo with storm troopers and then with the ghost busters. As they head to buy some comics from one of the vendors Spiderman asks Batman "How did your date go last night". Batman answer with "It was sweet dude, I took her to the mall and we watched Let's Be Cops, that movie is hilarious man".

They search through bins, labeled in alphabetical order, looking for comics they would enjoy. As they are leaving the room Green Lantern says that he is hungry and then Night Wing suggests McDonalds.

Volleyball Game

The main event of Lobo Middle School on Saturday is the final day of the season’s first volleyball tournament. Today the eighth grade girls are playing for a chance at third place. Entering the air conditioned gym the dominate sound is that of volleyballs hitting the glossed wooden floor as the girls of both team practice.  There is no price of admissions which seems odd for during last basketball season in the winter of 2013 there was, I wonder if the school has adopted a new policy of not charging the family members and supporters of the athletes. Approaching the bleachers to take a seat I notice there is not a great deal of homemade posters to cheer on the girls, only two including mine to cheer on my athlete and a mother who we'll call Mrs. Spirit. Looking around the bleachers, the majority of the spectators appear to be adults of Hispanic ethnicity, there is a lack of supporters of middle school age cheering on their peers, I wonder if its due to the fact that it is nine in the morning on a Saturday or if it’s because it is one of the first games of the season.  There is not much discussion going on amongst the supporters and the little that I can hear is done so in small groups with the people either speaking Spanish or a mix of Spanish and English.

The game is beginning, against Lobo Team and Orange Uniform Team. Those girls not playing on the court  are not sitting together as team but rather in small clusters on two or three – have they yet to bond as a team or is this the socially practice of adolescent girls in keeping with cliques.  Mrs. Spirit and my party of my parents and myself appear to be cheering the loudest and most frequent whether it be to encourage the girl or applaud them on a good play. Of the other audience members though not as loud and frequent as Mrs. Poster and I, it appears that parents of the Lobo team are cheering more than Orange Uniform Team parents even though Orange won the first game.  As the games goes on I see Mangers from both team are on their phones. The Coaches of both teams are acting in different manners – Orange Team’s coach is middle aged woman who is scolding her girls on mistakes (she can be heard from where I sit across the court) while Lobo Team’s coach is a young adult and she appears to be correcting the girls (she is demonstrating proper bump technique, I can barely hear her from across the court), I’m curious if this is because she is closer to the player's age.

Team Lobo wins the second game. Game three, the deciding match, commences. Now both team’s spectators are reacting more vocally to the mistakes and points being made of each team.  Team Lobo wins, 15 to 8.  Orange Team shakes Team Lobo hand and then go off to what I assume is to discuss the game and find their parents on the bleachers. Team Lobo is jolly, presented with the trophy they are exclaiming loudly amongst themselves and all are smiling, all girls seem to be interacting with one another. They are taking pictures as team. The main method of taking photos are phones, with another parent and me using digital cameras.  I notice as I am around the girls waiting for my athlete to get her gym bag that the girls are forming little groups again and are speaking mainly English. My athlete with her stuff collected ask if she can go on the bus with the team rather than ride home with us. Maybe she wants to rejoice with the team.

The Game opener

As I walked into the soccer complex to watch a soccer game, people were already filling in the stands.  It was about 15 minutes before kickoff for an early morning game.  Most of the people that occupied the stands this early were adults above the age of 35.  Most of the adults were engaged in simple small talk, about what plans they have for the weekend or about the game they are currently going watch. I suspect mass majority of these adults were parents of the players or had relations with the players in some way, because I overheard several adults say "what number is your daughter wearing or how is your daughter enjoying in school".  Most of the adults were wearing crimson or Aggie attire.  In general the mood seem very positive and supportive.

About 5 minutes after I sat down a large group of college kids entered the complex dressed in either Aggie attire or wearing Fraternity or Sorority T shirts.  Most of them look rather tired, which makes sense, since it was early in the morning.  These college student shuffled into the stands as a cohesive group.  As it came closer to game time most of the college student were situated within the stands just talking amongst themselves.

On the field, the female players were warming up for there big game. Right before kickoff,  there was an introduction for the players.  One by one, each player who was going to start was called by name.  Once there name was called the crowd erupts with applause and cheers.  The first couple of players got loud cheering and applause but as the process went along the cheering got fainter and quieter.

After the introduction the game begins.  At first the crowd was loud and supportive to the players on field giving them positive encouragement and praise.  I noticed that the adults were cheering more for the individual players, rather for the team as a whole.  However, the college students were rather cheering for the team as a whole rather than for individual players. Additionally the college students would break out in a chant to support the players.  The chants and encouragement continues even when they for scored on for the first time.  However, when the Aggies got scored on for the second time a the crowd got quieter.  At this point the college student were not cheering at all, but the adults were still being supported.  By the end of the game, the end score was 0-3.  The Aggies lost.  Majority of the college students went home shaking there heads, while some of the parents stayed around to talk to the players.  At this moment I took my leave from the complex.