We started the evening playing games on the Wii (as we’ve done before) and then tucked into refreshments. But the evening was not only billed as a Christmas Party – it also incorporated the long awaited Retro Amicus evening. During the early years of Amicus we videoed some of our favourite activities, and so we decided to dig up the old videos and watch them together. It’s a real joy that seven years after Amicus first started, many of our founding members are still with us as regulars. So we watched some of those early videos whilst cringing and laughing in equal measure. We’ll see if we can get the techie cogs working away and get some of the early video clips online for your viewing pleasure.

Simon has worked really hard since we finished filming our latest video project last week (1, 2, 3, 4) and so we were able to view the finished article.  We’d previously seen the out-takes which were great, but not a patch on the final thing.  Here it is in all its glory!

We closed the evening with a Christmas/Advent meditation: words by James Hawes; picture by Vladstudio; music by Ryuichi Sakamoto; and production by Ricky Rew.  Click through the meditation below:

We were also graced by a visit from Mark who came along to share the food and drink, and to present each member with a New Testament to commemorate the 125th Anniversary of The Boys’ Brigade.

Next Week: It’s Christmas!!

We return on 7th January 2009 with the Big Fat Amicus Quiz – this time organised by Nick Jones!

Merry Christmas!

We welcomed Amber along this evening for the first time – she’s been helping out in the Anchor section for some time.  Goodness knows what she made of it all, having missed the first three sessions.  We hope to see her again next week.

For devotions , as a result of her Laryngitis, Nicci blessed us with an amazing mini-sermon on the words of Jesus in Mark 6:31.

We ended the evening with a couple of rounds of french cricket, before trying a few games of dodgeball (ala Dodgeball the movie).  It seemed to go down well – we may try it again, but only with sponge balls, not wrenches…

Next Week: Christmas Party, incorporating Retro-Amicus Videos. It’s being organised by Maddy, Chris & Matt, but you have a part to play too.  As discussed tonight, please bring along either savoury nibbles or sweet treats, or drinks.  We hope to be joined by a multitude of Uni bods too.  It should be an amazing evening including some of the very earliest Amicus videos (back when the video camera had to be carried on your shoulder!), some great food, fantastic fellowship, and lots of Wii.

Also, next Tuesday we’ve been invited to join the BB Christmas party from 7-9:30pm on Tuesday at WECC.  You don’t need to bring anything – except yourselves and bags of energy.  See you there!

[This update was almost entitled "I've come to wipe your nipples" but I feared that might be a little to racy for some.]

This week we continued producing our second Amicus film. We still have at least another weeks work beforeit is completed – but we’ll be having a rest next week. There are no photos to see, and not much more to report on than last week, except that Simon has produced an out-takes video to keep us going until the real thing is ready.

Thanks to Simon for the extra work he put in last night to ensure we had maximum time to spend on filming. Above and beyond…

As the only entry for last week’s Caption Competition, Nick Bosdet won a Snickers bar. If you come up with a funny/creative/off-the-wall caption next time – it could be you!

Well done to Yolanda for leading devotions for the first time. I really can’t remember what it was about because we were all laughing at her so much – is that bad?!

Next Week: Cake People

• Sarah Scissorhands
• Simon’s new Best Friend
• James’ magical translucent shirt
• David and his giant 3D glasses
• Sarah bowling from over her shoulder!

There some pretty good video clips too:

• Tim’s technique which inspired the title of this post
• Sarah skillfully avoiding all the pins in one frame
• Some nudity {appropriately edited for the squeamish}

Simon won the first game and Ricky won the second and the combined scores for the two games were:

• Simon: 275
• Ricky: 267
• Tim: 246 [using own ball]
• David: 235 [not using own ball]
• Sarah: 213 [not using own ball]
• James: 152 [set a new Personal Best of 93]

And finally, congratulations once again on such an outstanding job on the Promise Auction.  I’m still hearing the buzz everywhere I go.  You kept your end of the bargain (raise enough money and you won’t have to pay subs) now I’d better keep mine and get the letters out asking everyone to pay their £10 membership fee.

For your enjoyment, I’ve now uploaded the photos which Simon took during the Promise Auction preparations and which I totally forgot about.

Next Week: Sporting Frenzy at the Church Centre – come dressed for the occasion, wear sensible shoes, bring a bottle of water and a truck-load of energy.

This evening we were having something of a re-run of a previous Amicus activity – World Record evening. Tonight it mostly involved crackers, lemonade and pegs. I’ll try to explain – but fear I won’t be able to do it justice. There were literally tears of laughter & lemonade! [view all pics]

The first exercise was to eat three crackers as quickly as possible. The World Record is apparently about 33 seconds – and I think our closest attempt was 1:33. We tried a few different techniques but the only thing we achieved was making a mess on the floor. The second exercise was to drink a pint of lemonade as quickly as possible without being sick, without it coming out of your nose, etc. Simon had a good attempt but it was soon out-drunk (is that a word?) by James who managed to down his pint in about 5 seconds which has to be seen to be believed. Flic, Tim and Nicci took their time, and broke the monotony with lots of laughter, tears and other bodily substances.

The lemonade challenge soon changed into a burping challenge – naturally – but it quickly took a turn for the worse. Watch the video below for the full story:

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=qT2mb7QFaJ8]
Watch James closely after 45 seconds

The next exercise involved pegs and James’ face, Simon’s tongue and chin, and almost Nicci’s ears! We enjoyed another see-it-to-believe-it moment when James had 50 pegs on his face – the aftermath was something to see too. The final exercise involve “easy” Sudoku – which should’ve taken just over a minute. Some did better than others – but I thought Tim’s 10 minutes was very respectable.

To finish we had a rather sedate time – trying to knock the protective guard off one of the lights (for safety reasons – honest) and then we grabbed the ping-pong balls and a cup and played our own game of ‘Billy’s Balls‘. It was fun but it will be a long time before we get anywhere near the level of the video.

We were very happy to be joined by David Putman (following some serious prodding from Sarah) and we hope to see him back again soon.

Please make sure you return your consent forms – they’re long overdue. If you’ve lost yours, please drop us an email and we’ll send a blank one to you for completion.

We’re always on the look out for ideas for future Amicus activities. How about this one?

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=AMRjaKdmjv8]

If you find any ideas for future activities (on YouTube or elsewhere) add them as a comment below.

Next Week: to be confirmed – check your email over the weekend for details.