Most quarter breaks I sleep till noon, watch TV and try to become proficient on Playstation 2, but this last time I actually did something constructive and more rewarding.

This was only the second church trip I had been on and the first in a service capacity.

This was not the typical mission trip I had heard about people going on.

Most of the time, you hear about the fun stuff they did and not the actual mission part. But on this trip the mission part and the fun part were one in the same.

Cleaning toys may not sound like fun (I never cleaned my own), but you don't allow three guys to have their run of a playground when it has a basketball goal, water hose and fully-functional water pump.

But we did manage to stay somewhat dry for the most part.

Not to mention cleaning baseboards with turpentine that not only produced seemingly toxic fumes but had the power to erode even the most unerodable paint marks.

And I tried using chopsticks for the first time and was able to pick up a piece of beef and hold it aloft in triumph, afraid to eat it for fear it would be the last piece I ever picked up. I'm just glad forks were provided as a crutch.

But the best part of the trip was spending time with people from different cultures and backgrounds.

At an after-school daycare I discovered that I can still successfully complete grade school long division, this after being shunned by an 8-year-old because he said "I want a woman." But geography was never my thing anyway.

So I had to find somewhere I would be welcome, and I found this through Bingo at Sheltering Arms, a memory loss clinic, and by far the most fun, and heart-breaking, stop on the whole trip.

One lady at my table would look at her card one minute and not be able to find the "B" and the next minute find her number quicker than I could.

And I would like to apologize to them for promising Bingo victory and delivering defeat. I need to work on that over-confident streak of mine.

Although I think I made up for it when I joined my group in rousing renditions of "You Are My Sunshine" and "Father Abraham." Crossroads Church has video proof of this.

But to top off my self-imposed humiliation I was called out by a lively woman of 70+ to ballroom dance, and I, of course, answered.

I let her lead.

I think.

It's on tape, too, so you can watch and tell me who was leading.

But I discovered what a tragic disease Alzheimer's is when I was asked where I was from three times in five minutes by the same lady.

I just hope that somehow they remember our visit because I know I always will.

Brian Tynes is a senior journalism major from Brandon, MS, and serves as a news editor for The Tech Talk. E-mail comments to bnt004@latech.edu.