Passion of the Christ

The Story It was Costume Day for me--the last day of classes before Halloween; Karol and I had been keeping a low profile on it in order to get the maximum impact from... dressing up as Jesus of Nazareth (complete with a 7ft cross) for the Thursday before Halloween! I got to UD early because I had to assemble my cross in the Bob Carpenter Center's parking lot. That sucker was huge. It barely fit in my car in pieces, and there was no way that it was going to fit in if it was assembled! So, I spent a while putting the cross together, and then I had a mile hike to my first class. Oh, the looks that I got! In case you didn't know, dressing up as Jesus apparently is a sign for drivers to honk their horns at you. I took driver's ed. one time, and I don't remember them mentioning that rule, but it's there, believe me. I made it to my first class a bit early, so I took a detour down a few roads, trying to find the largest groups of people to get the maximum amount of result from my costume. Some people commented (behind my back) that the cross looked heavy--and it was--but no one offered to help carry it. So... first class was Parallel Programming. Before I even got to class, word was out on the street--I wonder how...? When I walked in the building, Dave said, 'I knew it!'; someone had told people that there was a guy dressed as Jesus with a big cross... and for some reason, he just figured that it'd be me ^_^ In class, we got extra credit for wearing a costume, and mine was the best! It was so great. I was sitting down, and my cross was 10 feet away, standing up. It was fun to watch the facial expressions as people walked in, saw me, and then looked around, and then... BOOM! They found the cross! Cue the jaw-drop. After that, I had a bunch of free time because my philosophy class was canceled--that was the only class that I actually wanted to go to; acting like Jesus would have been so fun in there! Anyway, I toured campus for an hour or so. Sadly, the preachers weren't out, so I couldn't play with them. I went up to Main Street; Ryan was supposed to drive by at 12:15, but he couldn't make it. On the way, I met up with Geoff and Karol, so we talked for a while. Some people wanted their pictures taken with me, yadda yadda yadda. Phone conversations were fun to listen to; I heard something that went like this when I was touring the Mall after my first class: 'Blah blah bla-And there's a guy in a Jesus outfit, here on campus, carrying a huge cross... blah blah blah' Also, with the new magic of all-in-one cell phones, I had their camera-features tracking me all day. I'd be walking along the street, and there! across the street, would be a few people tracking me with the phones, trying to get pictures before some cars would block their path. In general, reactions were varied; I saw a lot of giggles, some 'look over there's, a lot of self-denials, and more. Some people had the courage to ask me what I was doing. When I told them, they loved it. A lot of people thought that I was a Christian--the nerve of some people--and they thought that I was just doing some crazy zealot thing. When I said 'Happy Halloween', they totally figured out what I was doing, and most people loved it. Then on to Math! My professor asked if he would be saved. Hahaha! He wishes! ...Only if he will save my grade will I spare his soul. Then to Biology, where my professor said, 'I should have known'... which leads to believe that by that time, the whole campus knew about the costume. After that, I made my way to Willard Hall, but on the way I stopped in Trabant for another tour--I had made one previously while looking for Karol. The first group of people that I met loved me. They thought that it was the coolest thing for me to dress up as Jesus for Halloween, and that it was even cooler that I didn't care if I offended anyone--foreshadowing!. Fun guys. However, I walked 40 feet deeper into Trabant, and I met another group. Here's how the conversation went: Them: 'What are you doing that for? [I am better than you]' Me: 'Halloween! Do you like my costume?' Them: 'Blah blah blah [condescending tone] blah blah...' Then, all of the sudden: Guy: '<Something harsh>' And then: SMACK! That guy threw a bottle of soda at me... and hit me right in the face with it! He had pretty good aim; I mean, he hit me directly in the nose from 10 feet away. I don't think that I could do that. So, I smiled, laughed, and then said 'Thank you' as I walked on toward Linguistics. I probably should have reached down and picked up the soda so I could return it, but it was probably too shaken up for his liking. Finally, Linguistics! We propped the cross up behind my chair, and then took pictures of people's faces as they walked in. They weren't as good as first-period's, but when Legate and Hiroshima walked in... it was beautiful. The smile on his face and the... look on hers. Then we had a dinner party in my floor's hallway. Megan, Karol, Mukta, and Lydia were all there! ...At least I consider it dinner. Apparently cereal doesn't count as 'real food' to some people... who also don't count blue sour patch kids as real food, either. People... After that... it was a bear to carry that cross back to my car. Then, it took half an hour to get it apart (since one of the screws was broken). But it all worked out, and that's what matters. In conclusion, my collar bones were totally ruined--bruised so badly that I couldn't even wear my MP3 necklace without pain. My feet were nicely cut up from my sandals (I'm a shoe person, personally).