Zombie Training

We decided to let Nico join the Boy Scouts. He loves it! Loves it so much that he gets dressed, without being told, two hours ahead of time. This past weekend the troop went to Corona for the Green Zone 11 Apocalypse Training (survivalist training with the word zombie in it to sound cool).

Nico loved it. Mikey liked it. The Mister didn’t have a great time.

I couldn’t go because at the last minute I got a coveted appointment with my hair stylist. I hadn’t been in so long that I touched up my roots at home 3 times. When I got out, I texted the Mister that I could head out that way, but he told me to stay put. The event had such promise. Here were some of the items on the agenda.

**Red Cross Class- First Aid/Emergency Prep/CPR
**Water Purification and Outdoor Survival Skills
**Knots and Paracord (open baggie in your bag and
trade ticket for your paracord)
**Naturalist for You- Native American Skills- Shelter
Building, Foraging for Food, Plants for Medicine
**Zombie Research Center- How a Pandemic Happens
and Zombie Information
**Self Defense/Fitness
**Outdoor Cooking- GS Troop 356- vagabond stoves, box,
dutch and solar ovens and fire starters.
**Duct Tape for Survival at Duct Duct Bloom
(take the eye bolt out of your bag)
**Earthquake Information- Cal State Fullerton
**Survival Gear from Household items
**Food Safety- Cee Duckett
**Alternative sources of power- Solar, Pedal Power
Stage Weapons
Special FX Makeup

I mean, right? So cool. According to the Mister, it had the potential but was unorganized. The event planners held it at the same place Corona used to host The Renaissance Pleasure Faire, which is now the Old World Festival.* There was stuff to buy, but the Mister couldn’t find most of the educational stations.

But the boys got to fight zombies, which is always a plus, and I’d like to try it again if they hold it next year. One, because this was a first-time event and there is only room for improvement and refinement. Second, and I’m going to be honest here, I love my husband very much but he doesn’t do well in unorganized crowds. Amusement parks, festivals, malls during holidays or on the weekends, IKEA…

I think for us to get the most out of an activity like this, I needed to be there to be the cheerleader, to remind him that the odds of the boys being kidnapped are low, and to point out that a hot, crowded, dusty field of apocalypse training only feels like the end of the world.

*I don’t know why The Renaissance Pleasure Faire is now in Irwindale, but I suspect the faire, which I hear is huge, outgrew the venue.