A Night with the Masons

In many of these blogs or in speaking to me you may have realized the common and recurring presence of one Neal Robert Wendt in my stories. Despite the fact that, if you had told me two years ago that I would be such good friends with him now I would have never believed you, Neal has become one of my closest friends and I love him to death. Sadly (for me), Neal is about to deploy to Afghanistan for 6 months and so to celebrate his leaving he invited me and several other good friends to a dinner at his Mason Lodge. For those who have no idea who or what the Masons are, here is a little information on the Masons.

Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. While Freemasonry has often been called a "secret society", Freemasons themselves argue that it is more correct to say that it is an esoteric society, in that certain aspects are private. The most common phrasing is that Freemasonry has, in the 21st century, become less a secret society and more of a "society with secrets". The private aspects of modern Freemasonry are the modes of recognition amongst members and particular elements within the ritual. Despite the organisation's great diversity, Freemasonry's central preoccupations remain charitable work within a local or wider community, moral uprightness (in most cases requiring a belief in a supreme being) as well as the development and maintenance of fraternal friendship. Masons conduct their meetings using a ritualised format. There is no single Masonic ritual, and each jurisdiction is free to set (or not set) its own ritual. Freemasons use symbolism to teach moral and ethical lessons of the principles of "Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth;" or as related in France, "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity".

The fraternity is widely involved in charity and community service activities. In contemporary times, money is collected only from the membership, and is to be devoted to charitable purposes. Freemasonry worldwide disburses substantial charitable amounts to non-Masonic charities, locally, nationally and internationally. In earlier centuries, however, charitable funds were collected more on the basis of a Provident or Friendly Society, and there were elaborate regulations to determine a petitioner's eligibility for consideration for charity, according to strictly Masonic criteria.

So now that you know that the Masons are not all about secret rituals and Dan Brown stories and naked handshakes, I will go back to my story. We got dressed up (twice in three days, seriously? By the way this was the Monday after Varsity, hence the frequency of the dressing up) and walked to the lodge which is in Summertown by my house. Our troupe included the man of the hour, Neal, who was all snazzed up in his military Mess Dress uniform, Neal’s roommate Justin, Ian, who was back in Oxford for his viva, Simon, Kim, Bonnie, and myself. Up first was cocktail hour where we got to watch the amazing dual personality of Neal in action. We would be chatting amongst ourselves in the normal vein of our typical conversations: stupid jokes, inappropriate comments, making fun of me, etc. Then, a fellow Mason (who was invariably at a minimum 30 years older than Neal) would come up and say hello and Neal would immediately switch into mature mode and would talk to them like the adult that he claims to be. Once that person was gone, bang, right back to immature Neal. It was pretty amusing for the rest of us to see.

Before dinner Neal took us upstairs to the Chamber (I think that’s what its called??) and had someone tell us a little bit about the Masons and what they do. I didn’t follow most of it but the room was really cool and my favourite part was the fibre-optic stars on the ceiling. It was like when you were younger and you had glow in the dark stars on the ceiling of your room…anyways, back to the dinner.

Before dinner there were several of the Masonic traditions which included “taking drinks” with the “worshipful master.” I really enjoyed seeing the various traditions and listening to the traditional exchanges that took place. Neal was given a chance to give a little speech and it was great to see the respect that everyone had for him and what he is doing and about to do.

After dinner there was a magician who did a show. Both Neal and I got roped into playing a role in the show and while I found it somewhat silly but nonetheless amusing, Bonnie was “not impressed”. After the show and dinner, we just sat in the lodge until it closed, having a few drinks, catching up with Ian and hearing pilot training stories, and enjoying spending time with Neal before he heads off for Afghanistan.

Neal trying to determine what card Ian has picked despite having a bag over his head

Ian trying to send Neal vibes about his card using this telepathic device (that looks surprisingly like an eggbeater...)

Can we please acknowledge the amazingness that is Neal's shirt?

It was a great evening, I really enjoyed getting to see a different side of my friend that I hadn’t seen before, and it was nice to get to spend time with some great friends that I’ve gained since coming here. I’m going to miss Neal like CRAZY when he’s gone but I’m proud of what he’s gonna do in Afghanistan and I’ll look forward to the massive party we’ll have when he gets back!

Oxford 'Till I Die

Last weekend was the biggest weekend of the season for OUWAFC as we traveled to Cambridge to play the 26th Annual Varsity Match between Oxford and Cambridge. While this game doesn't mean anything for the league or cup, it is merely a point of pride between the two Universities and two football clubs. However, the game does hold repercussions in that, if we win this match, members of the first team earn Blues, which is sort of the equivalent of a Varsity letter for Oxford. Furthermore, this is a rivalry that has spanned hundreds of years. The only other real rivalry I've ever had (between AF and Army) is a much newer rivalry and so it's been great to be a part of this old and well established athletic animosity.

Last year I was relegated to the substitute bench for the Varsity match considering I had only come back from my broken ankle the week before the game. It was rough to watch from the sideline, especially when we went down early and wound up losing the game 1-0. So, this year, revenge was in the air as we were looking for just the second double away win in Varsity Match history.

We left Oxford on Friday afternoon and arrived in Cambridge that evening. We had a team dinner at Zizzi's and then headed back to the hotel. Everyone came to my room and we made posters for the Furies match the next morning. The highlight of the evening, however, was undoubtedly the debut of Juice and Liz's amazing song. There are no words, you have to watch the video:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=568495024503

Because of the BIG day the next day, we got an early night and slept in before getting up for breakfast in the hotel. We then went to watch and cheer on the Furies in their match against the Cambridge Eagles. Cambridge’s second team is in our league and so Furies had already played them once this season, winning that contest 6-1. So, they were fairly confident in their chances in the match, but very few people would have predicted the absolute drubbing they gave the Eagles. It didn’t take long for the Furies to settle in to the game and they were quickly out to a lead, taking a 4-0 into halftime. They kept right on scoring in the second half and it actually got a bit boring to watch them run circles around the other team, finishing the game with an easy 7-0 victory for the largest win in Varsity Match history.

Following the Furies game (and some confusion from the Cambridge Blues about whether or not we’d actually be allowed to use the pitch we were meant to play on) we headed over to the Fenners Cricket Gound where our match would be played. It took us forever to get into our changing rooms but eventually we managed to change into our new kit and get out to warm up. Everyone was buzzing with great energy in the warmup and we were all really excited to get the game under way.

It took both teams some time to settle in and find a rhythm in the match, but we gained the upper hand early, keeping the ball in the Cambridge half and earning several early corners. On the second corner kick, I launched an in-swinging corner into the Cambridge area which curled into the goal at the back post. The Cambridge keeper reached back to clear the ball but it had already crossed the goal-line. After some confusion in the box that included a Cambridge player handling the ball on the line and the referee originally calling for a penalty kick, discussions between the referee and linesman led to the awarding of a goal and a 1-0 lead for us. We kept pressing in the half but despite several close shots and great chances, we failed to score another in the first half.

About 15 minutes into the second half Cambridge equalized with a freak goal. A Cambridge defender, deep inside her own half, cleared an attempt at a through ball, Her clearance bounced just outside the 18 yard box, caught the Oxford goalkeeper off-guard, and floated just over the keepers head and into the back of the net. Despite the Cambridge equalizer, we continued to push forward, eventually getting the go-ahead goal after some great play down the right wing from Juice and Rouse, resulting in Rouse putting the ball in the back of the net with a great finish.

The final whistle sent us, and our great crowd of supporters including Kristen, Neal, Sim, Adam Comer, and all the Furies players among others, into cheers and celebrations. It felt so amazing to get the win, get a goal, and play a genuinely competitive match unlike most of our games this season. We had the medal ceremony and trophy presentation which, as captain, was even better than I imagined. As I had promised Kirsty I would do if we won, I downed beer out of the cup, which, I must say, was absolutely disgusting!!

We then returned to the hotel (absolutely giddy and buzzing from the win) and got showered and changed for dinner. One of my favourite parts of the Varsity weekend is the dinner on Saturday night because everyone dresses up. I usually see my teammates in football clothing or in fancy dress (costumes) so its great to get to see them in dresses, hair done, makeup, etc. Its also fun to dress up every once in a while so I relish the chance.

We took taxis to Wolfson College and had a really nice dinner that sort of descended into anarchy…typical. Last year was far worse, with the Furies and Cambridge Blues (the winning teams) shouting and chanting abuse at the teams they had beaten. This year, considering both Oxford teams had won, we didn’t really feel the need to rub it into Cambridge’s faces and so we kept it pretty civilized until Cambridge started with the “fines”. Basically, someone stands up and says “I fine anyone who (fill in the blank)” and whoever that applies to has to stand up and drink. These fines ranged from tame ones like “fine anyone who scored today” to more questionable ones like “hooked up with their coach.” We traded fines back and forth between the two teams throughout the meal and then, when the meal was over, it was time for the Man of the Match presentations and speeches. It was at this point that the Cambridge captain decided to make a drunken fool of herself as she slurred her way through her speech, starting and stopping three or four different times before finally relinquishing the chair on which we were standing to be seen by the whole room. Since it was my turn, I got up on the chair and started to talk but the Cambridge captain decided she wasn’t quite done yet and attempted to get back on the chair. She was so drunk that she was literally swaying back and forth and I had to grab onto both her shoulders to keep her from falling off the chair as she rambled on some more. Finally, we got through all the speeches and it was time to move on to the club.

Apparently there is really only one club in Cambridge, Cindies (which isn’t even called Cindie’s, that’s just what everyone calls it) and so it was really crowded with tons of Cambridge and Oxford athletes celebrating Varsity. I had a great time chilling and dancing with my teammates and Neal and Simon who joined us at the club, although the downside of the night was when Soupy hit her head getting what was probably a pretty significant concussion… But overall, great night, great group of girls, great weekend.

The next morning was absolutely brutal. There was not a single person who wasn’t hungover and exhausted. Despite getting to sleep around 3 or 4, I still couldn’t sleep in and was up around 7:30 for some unknown reason. Eventually everyone rolled out of bed and got themselves out the door for the worst Minibus ride ever. It is a miracle that nobody was sick on the journey and I couldn’t have been happier to get back home to Oxford. Why I thought it’d be a good idea to go to a pub and watch the Arsenal-Birmingham Carling Cup final, have a few pints, and then go play 5-a-side with the guys is beyond me, but I did it anyways…. Oi.

All in all, it was an AMAZING weekend. I’m so happy we won, I’m so happy to have gotten the chance to play and become friends with these INCREDIBLE girls, I’m so blessed to have friends who come watch me play (I love you Neal and Kristen), and so happy to have gotten to have this amazing experience in my time here at Oxford. Oh and now I get a cool Blue Blazer (that I will never be able to wear once I go back to the states and am stuck in a Flight School most of the time).