Photos

As we are waiting for the individual recollections of last friday to roll in, I have uploaded the photos to a flickr account which can be seen here. These are just a selection from the 1000 photos taken throughout the month, I may upload more later. Enjoy.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/derekattewell/sets/72157624073481167/

Gentleman's Night

A night of class and elegance, Gentleman's night will go down in the May of Dreams hall of fame as one of the most unexpectedly awesome nights of the month. The night began around sundown with the convening of bros at 50 Arnold all dressed in their Saturday night best. Many were in full suits, some rocked blazers, one dress and one gentleman decided flip flops were all he could muster (said flop flops were later destroyed by the spirit out of playful karma). However, there was one man who stood above the rest. His name; Matt Coles. This gentleman was dressed in not one, but three pieces of tweed. He is a true gentleman and scholar.

Matt

The night began with conversation of stocks, bonds, derivatives and toxic assets. Portfolios were discussed and compared and a general discussion of the current market was had. It was about at this point the flagship drink of the night was poured. A bottle of 12 year old scotch (provided by Matt) was poured and drank by the boys. It was quite remarkable, a soft, yet bold taste that sat on the tongue well and swallowed easily. As this magnificent beverage was being consumed the topic of talk took a more philosophical turn. The boys mused about history, how certain events could have played out differently; people, who were the most important people in history and the dark ages, could we have been on the moon by 1600 if we didn't have four hundred years of backwards growth. During this conversation the Lady Sara retired for the evening and the men took of their jackets in anticipation of a long and intense evening.

The next beverage enjoyed as a select red wine procured by Mike from his parents private collection. Many who were not partial to the taste of red wine remarked on how smooth and tasteful this wine proved to be. It was truly a fine wine worthy of a place at future events. The next event of the evening was chess. The first game played between I believe Matt and Scott (correct me if I'm wrong) proved to be as riveting as expected and was an excellent choice of activity for the evening.

At this point the boys were getting a fair bit tipsy off a variety of drinkings including gin, vermouth (martinis), whiskey, wine and of course scotch. It was decided the genuine Cuban cigars needed to be lit. Now these are no ordinary cigars so we needed a non-ordinary way of lighting them. Derek had the inspired idea of using an American one dollar bill as the medium of fire to light the cigar. It was a sight to behold and truly did the cigar justice. As these cigars were being enjoyed a game of chess between me (Brian) and James Brown began. It was a game of pure tension as each player channeled all his energy through the pieces in an all out battle of wits and intoxicated intelligence.

Mid way through the game we were joined by those girls that live down the street. In the beginning it was sick. The lesbian chick was both hilarious and hot (the perfect combination) and recanted a tale about 50 Arnold's right hand side neighbour and his sick line. As the night progressed however that chick left and so did the other cool ones and were left with fat chick who decided astrology was a valid argument against Matt's philosophy. It was interesting seeing Matt being just to smart to comprehend what was being said to him and trying to understand why it was being said to him.

As the hour approached four we decided to ditch the fat chick and move the party inside. Here we proceeded to talk in the living room while thoroughly covering everything in banana. As the hour approached five it was decided to call it a night and return to our abodes.

At this point however I decided on a whim that I wanted to see the sunrise from the Cootes. It was a long and dangerous journey but I managed to get out to the point and experience the sunset from the water. It was an eye opening experience that I needed to share with people so I decided that, that's what we would do as a group after the kegger the next day. We don't often get to sit and watch the sunrise and I think we should all take time at least once every few months as a group or individually to make the trek and be reminded at how beautiful the our Earth is.

Supercombined, The Final Chapter

supercombined Is the by fAr the Most frequent and beloved event on the may of dreamS calendar. brOs alwayS flock from fAr anD away to partake in the experience that unites us all. wednesday was no exception.

this story is a faMiliAr one. we arrived at universitY lanes, happy to be out OF the intense heat and paid our fair to the nice laDy behind the desk. she loves us. we pRocEeded to pick our bAlls. soMe like heavy, Some lIght, Some pink. i like the blaCk One with the tiny holes; perfect for my fingers.

since it was the final supercoMbINed of may of dreams the oriGinal five (minus jordy) felT it apprOpriAte to use our real, full Names. the other tEam made hilarious Names which I cannot remember, but they were great. dreams of the 1000 mark were high in everyone's minDs but We didn't want the pressure to get to us. karan and a.chan arrived sligHtly lATe. kAran didn't want to miss out of the fun so Played with himsElf. not neaRly as Fun as playing with bros.

as a side note, the stain on my pants that was only visiblE in black light was just soap. i must have put my CloThes in first and then added soap. stoopid!

the 10-pin portion of supercoMbined yielded cOmbined score of 443 we knew much work was to be doNe on 5-pin but felT up to the cHallenge. the 5-pin game started slow but we soon felt the presence of jordy and the spIrit and knew we could do it. i bowLed the best game Of my life... thanks jordy. we ended with a combined score of 1060. wow. a special shout out to new commers brian king (not the prof) and his gf dalia. great bowlers. brian king produced a turkey and a score on 5-pin of 211!!! wow!

on to the phoenix we go. the boys knew they had work to do, possibly 8 pitchers to finish to make their goal. turns out it was less than 8. they did it. i'm so proud. scott, being the bro that he is bought some nachos with his gift certificate he won last week, nice. i think i ate them all. a.chan being the fugitive that he is skipped out on the bill, nice (he later paid me back).

our final stop of the night: may of dreams central. we all sat in a nice circle around the table michael's grandfather crafted with his own two hands, on our beautiful patio, surrounded by the spirit. oVer the month of may the trEe that inbodies the spirit on the patio has grown verY tall, not surprising at all. we enjoyed some mOre tasty brews and learned the art of bottle opening from brian king. In attempt to show derek how its done he knocked over every single beer bottle on the patio, most of which were remnants of the previoUs night's century club. so much skill.

the entertAinment of the night consisted of us reminiscing about cLassic songs of our youth and showing off our memory skiLls by signing all the words. so much fun. we realized songs these days aren't what they used to be, they don't carry the same wholesome messages (i.e. black eyed peas "where's the love"). other songs of the era with equally wholesome messages: B4-4 "get down" with the famous lyric "i'm going to make you come tonight...over to my house". we can't forget shaggy and the bloodhound gang.

we ended the night with some nice relaxing tunes picked by mike, derek and brian. what a nice end to a perfect supercombined. good night boys.

At long last

When the beauty that is may of dreams, was still in its infancy, an idea was had. An idea that would inspire may of dreams to blossom into what it now is and forever will be. This idea came into being when Mike made an observation one day while leisurely scanning the local area in his atlas (googlemaps). He noticed that there was a canal leading from cootes paradise all the way into dundas, where of course a beer store is located. Putting the two together one of the greatest quests of all time was born. After some preliminary scouting Mr. Afanasiev brought this idea before a counsel of bros, upon which May of Dreams was born.

Some may say this quest to canoe to the beerstore is the foundation on which may of dreams was built. At the very least the cornerstone which holds it together. It therefore became concerning when three weeks in we had not accomplished this epic feat. The real challenge was getting the canoe from Sara's house, all the way up the mountain. Yet when the good weather came and Mike was able to obtain a vehicle, the pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place. It was on this fateful day in which we would attempt the long awaited trip.

After obtaining the canoe, and seeing Sara's 13 year old dog do some cool tricks, we all met at arnold and set off on what promised to be an adventure. Upon getting to princess point, the gentlemen decided that Sara would wait while 4 bros went on the first trip. Having soccer myself I was hoping the round trip would take under 45 minutes, as was Sara.

As we set sail from princess point we couldn't help but notice the beauty of cootes paradise. Even with the murky brown water and floating shit, we marveled at the wonder of nature while paddling across open water. We made our way to the canal.

Once at the canal we realized that cootes paradise is very shallow. While pushing the canoe along the bottom we grew wary of the surrounding swans. As the situation worsened, a decision was made to beach and portage over what looked like a promising island. On the other side, the water remained shallow but with determination is every stroke, we found deeper water and continued onwards. At this point we entered the canal and took yet another wrong turn.

Beached again we were defenceless against the hordes of oncoming mutant fish. Fish the size of cows were fast approaching and at times attacking the canoe. Some may say Bram peed his pants. We were forced to get out in ankle deep mud and portage across a sandbar.

Once on the other side it was smooth sailing. Through a winding canal we canoed, enjoying the beauty of cootes. We observed many swans, ducks, among other fowl, and at point we saw what was thought to be an alligator. Unfortunately it was not, yet not to disappoint we realized it was some sort of rodent such as an otter or muskrat swimming alongside the canoe. This was clearly the spirit coming to say hello.

After much paddling we arrived in dundas where we got out, portaged the canoe across a field, and then parked it nicely at the beerstore. In the midst of much celebration and jubilation, some knuckle head almost drove over our canoe, but don't tell Sara. In stark contrast, another customer getting out of his car exclaimed "HAHAHAHA, THAT COULD BE A COMMERCIAL!". Cool. At the beerstore the boys each grabbed some tasty cold ones and borrowed the phone to call Sara.

At this point it will suffice to say Sara was not pleased because in contrast to the expect half hour trip, she had been sitting alone for the past 2 hours. James and Scott had chosen to chill at home for a while knowing it would take a while, leaving Sara shoeless and alone. A sad situation indeed remedied only by the fact spirit was clearly taking care of her. Needless to say she was a little less than happy when talking to the victorious bros, yet a plan was made anyways for Joms, Scott and Sara to drive to dundas and trade off, canoeing back.

Once arriving Sara heard of all the mud and chose to simply drive back with the boys. At this point Mike, Scott and Joms had a lovely paddle back at dusk, witnessing a turtle larger than thought possible, and a very frightened and flustered beaver.



The other boys took a stop at Brian's where he made amends with Sara by cooking her a steak.

Afterwards the boys chose to shower and reconvened at 50 Arnold to commence another ambitious task: Century Club. With the voice of James Brown guiding us, we began to drink a shot of beer every minute. Everything was going well until approximately the 30th shot when our friend Scott had to vomit. Following suit Joms was not feeling well and had to miss a couple shots. With great music playing and the beer flowing everyone was feeling great.

NOTE: at this point we discovered the key to century club: burping.

It was looking like Brian, Mike and Myself were going all the way until Mike retired to the backyard and came back to tell us he threw up. So close to the end, Brian too fell and vomited a surprisingly large amount into the predetermined plastic bags. Nonetheless the boys caught up and even continued doing shots after the 100 minute mark to prove their prowess. I myself finished without vomiting for the first time, and will be recognized by the Government of Canada, being given the Royal Medal of Honour in June.

At this point all the gentlemen were quite drunk, and enjoyed some lovely music as well as a song Mike wrote recently for May of Dreams. With such comradeship, before retiring to bed, the boys told each other how much they mean to one another. There is no doubt in my mind the spirit was more potent this night than perhaps ever before.

FTB.

Fireworks

I think we can all agree that fireworks are sick.

Pretty much exactly what our fireworks looked like.

There's nothing better than lighting a little piece of fuse on fire and then having something explode in a shower of sparks and colour; which is exactly what we did on Monday night.

Fireworks night started off with a bunch of bros chillin, waiting around for it to get dark, I believe a test firework was let off to make sure that fireworks were still awesome.

Once it was dark the bros decided to move out to our launch area. We had some debate over the legality of what we were doing but it was decided in a consensus that no one really cared. We started off with one of those works that shot off one lone little green light which once it reached a nice height exploded with a night shattering bang. It was decided they were sick. We made efficient work of all the fireworks in the big box Mike got taking turns lighting them off. Quality photos were made of bros standing under the shower of exploding light which need to be uploaded immediately by Derek. Shout out to James at this point for having no fear, as everyone shouts for him to get out of the way he just keeps bathing in the light. After we finished most of the showering ones we decided to start launching two at a time. It was awesome.

Eventually we came to near the end of the box and decided we needed to do something special. So, as we stood in the field singing the national anthem, Mike let off the last big firework which exploded in a brilliant red explosion.

It was a completely laid back end to the long weekend and it was the definition of a solid may of dreams night.

Posted by Brian

London Tap House (May 21)

The planning for this evening was not as smooth sailing as everyone had hoped. Jenna emailed London Tap House on Monday regarding a party limo and did not receive a response until Wednesday. The initial time given was 10:00pm which was quite early. But since the may of dreams members had already become accustomed to drinking a tasty beverage in the direct hours after work, we decided to jump on the opportunity. However, there was another "Mix Up" and our time got pushed back to 9:30pm. Also, we had planned on enough space for 16 people but they informed us it would only be 12. We just had to hope for a no show (or thats what we thought... more on that later). The early time we took in stride and decided it would be no big deal. It will just make the night longer and we will just have to hit it hard when we arrive at "May of Dreams Central". And hit it hard we did.

I (Joms) arrived quite "late" at 8:15pm and realized that there were quite a few people who had already hit the beverages quite fervently. Of course, these people took the time to dress themselves first being the generally smart people we are. There were a few young ladies who had decided that a little going-out prep session would be in order, as they were held to the same high standards of attire as the rest of us. With little time to spare, all members were ready to go by the time the limo arrived. But then our worst dreams came true, the limo driver informed us that only 10 people could be in the limo. Even with the cancellations or Karan and Scott's Friend, we still had 11 who had their heart set on the limo. But without any further suspense, I would like to present the soon to be newly knighted member of the May of Dreams crew.

Scott Geraedts

In a ceremony that will (most likely) occur later this week, Scott will become either

Sir Scott Geraedts

or

Lord Scott Geraedts

For his unselfish act of giving up his spot in the party limo for the betterment of the may of dreams society.

Of course, (on June 8), he will be given the title of Governor but you can never have too many titles in front of your name.

Anyway, after we all arrived at London Tap House, we were quickly ushered upstairs for some tasty champaign bottle service. But as we expected, the place would not be rocking for a little while as it was before 10:00pm so more drinks were in order. As I said, a few of the ladies decided to spend the precious time before this event preparing their attire instead of their mind (through alcohol...). So some catching up was in order for two of these ladies who are related. And catch up did they ever, by the end of the night, they were leading the way!

After a bit of time on the middle floor, it was decided that the rooftop patio would be a much better place to be as the weather was quite excellent and there seemed to be more occurring up there. The may of dreams crew was definitely owning the dance floor and everyone partook in said activities, even one unnamed person who said that she would not dance. Although she may say that she did not dance and really just got "gang grinded" (Is that politically correct?) by some combination of Sara, Derek, or myself, they was obvious enjoyment in her eyes. All this dancing took a fair bit of energy so thus, around midnight, there were a few departures and some breaks to sit and chat on various pieces of furniture under rather odd umbrellas. But even the breaks could not keep us going much past 1:00pm so we all decided to hit up Montfort for a tasty dish of mediterranean cuisine.

There was no phantom Iced Tea ordered this time which means that the spirit must have been less forceful this evening but all enjoyed their respective dishes. One of the more memorable conversations that took place was between one Derek Attewell and Sara Cormier which I believed summed up the evening quite well.

Derek: "Do you remember that I had to carry you out of London Tap House?"

Sara: "No, I don't remember that..."

Now, one of these two did not remember what happened just thirty minutes prior. I would like to think that both were in such a state to not remember but If I had to pick who remembered, I would have to go with Derek.

After all bills were paid, we all started to head back to "May of Dreams Central" but on the way there, Molly learned of an urgent need to perform a bodily function and frantically searched for a private place to perform such. Following after her big sister I suppose. One of the places that she examined for a private place was around MacNeill Baptist Church which happened to be the church I have attended for the past 4 years... She did not find a spot but all was well when we arrived back at 50 Arnold.

We then parted to our respective humble abodes for a nice evening of sleep and the long weekend of relaxation to prepare for the final week.

Since I could not think of any image to include in this post and a grooveshark account of the songs for this tremendous month, I will now post two images of Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson. The first will get your hopes up, the second will crush your dreams...

And now to crush your dreams...

This blog update was written by Joms (not Jamesy) Brown on behalf of the 14 attendees for this event.

May of Dreams Playlist

I made an account for May of Dreams on Grooveshark. If everyone adds a few songs we could have a sick playlist for events

Username and password are the same as the gmail account.