Oktoberfest in NoMi!

Guest post by the Hawthorne Hawkman. Video of Hawkman hooping by "Ranty."

This last weekend, a few friends got together at the house of a Watson band member to celebrate "Oktoberfest." There were some elements of German culture at the party, but to me it was more of a fancy way to say, "Hey, let's all drink beer."

Inspired by hoopmaster Connie Nompelis, I have started to learn a few things myself. The video shows some very basic hooping, and also the inherent dangers involved when you combine drinking and hooping. Let that be a lesson to you, kiddies!

Also, you know how alcohol tends to lower inhibitions, so that people do crazier things as the night goes on? Well this video happened after only one beer. Once I'd had a few more...

At the third beer, I was incessantly quoting Bob Dylan. By my fifth beer, I was avidly discussing mortgage-backed securities as retirement investment vehicles and why a foreclosure moratorium would never work.

Once we got on that topic, we came up with a way to solve the foreclosure crisis by going to the Office of the Comptroller of Currency and plastering the building with toilet paper and Barbasol shaving cream. When we googled the info, though, it turns out the nearest district office is in Chicago. The party (or my recollection of it) kind of fizzled after that. But beer, hooping, and extraordinarily complex mortgage discussions made for a great evening in NoMi.