"Bittersweet Memories"
Tuesday, June 23, 2009 | 7:53 PM | 0 comments
Day NineSo here we go, guys. The last full day of NYLC. I was very, incredibly, extremely, fully, insert adjective here sad.
I mean, there have been so many people that I've met and liked. I've met people, seen what sort of people there are, disliked some people, realized I was wrong.
And now, it's the last day. If I think about it, it wasn't so long ago that I was writing that I had no social skills whatsoever.
Anyway.
Enough blubbering.
I will now blog about today.
So anyway, had breakfast today at 8. THankfully. It felt good to be able to wake up late. But I wasn't much looking forward to the Model Congress General Meeting that we had later...I had to be in professional attire. Again. But i was happy, because I got to wear my blouse with a jacket and the black skirt.
And i did not look bad in it. =D An added plus!
Oh, and we got to stop by the White House. There were guards on the top of it, for crying out loud. x) It was hilarious, because during Capitol Hill day, Monty was saying that he saw this security guard woman petting her gun, and so we were wondering if the White House security guards did the same thing.
Anyway, they wouldn't let us go in. They just let us take pictures. That's it. And then we were shepherded back onto the buses.
Where I had to stand next to Logan, this SUPERSUPERSUPER tall girl. I swear she's like 6 foot six. No joke. Like, about as tall as Cameron Stewart. And that's with no heels. THAT DAY, SHE WAS WEARING HEELS. And I had to stand next to her...
I barely came up to her shoulders. No wonder Greg looked like he was about to explode laughing at me, but i think he was too tired to do anything.
AND THEN.
we got to model congress.
The Speaker of the House was amusing even without meaning to be. He messed up a bit, but then got his act together, and his clerk (who I happen to know) was funny, too. So serious. Tsk. Hahahaha.
The Immigration bill passed, no problem.
THEN THE ENERGY BILL HIT.
zomg i never knew talking about energy could be so interesting. Democrats were all for doing something to save the environment, but the Republicans were protesting for the sake of the budget.
I was a Democrat. It was so interesting to see both sides debate the topic. In the end, the Democrats won. By a narrow margin, if I remember correctly. 56 votes or something. x)
Anyway, after the whole shebang was done and everything, Ms. "I Am Fine Thank You and You?" came onto the stage and gave this speech about how they were very proud of us and all the hard work that we put in into the Model Congress. The bottom line was that we were OFFICIALLY done with all the work, and the rest of the time we had was for us. In other words, NO MORE WORK. the working part of the conference was FINISHED.
And that's when it hit me. Holy CANNOLI, we were DONE. A few more hours and we would be on our way HOME!
And i guess I was numb, because I didn't say much till we hit Old Town Alexandria.
SUCH A BEAUTIFUL PLACE. It had all these quaint brick houses that i would kill to stay in. And all these houses were nicely lined in those sort of neighborhoods you see in the movies...in fact, on the way back I saw this woman sitting on the steps belting out this song. So pretty.
I was with Shawna, Dennis, Sonia, and Daniel. poor Daniel. I found out that he was actually sick. He had a sore throat, but he literally looked like he was about to drop dead on the sidewalk. I felt so sorry for him, I spent lunch with him while he tried to catch forty winks, and then I walked back with him to the buses early, because I figured with him being sick, we would have to walk a little bit slower.
'Cept i didn't know that it was only gonna take us ten minutes instead of the fifteen like we thought it would. I also guess that it was because we didn't get lost. =P
The weather was PERFECT. It was sunny, but not too sunny, and there was a breeze too. The clouds were just the right amount, and they obscured the sun just right so that only a couple rays got through, lighting up the leaves that scattered the pavement (i feel like a true writer now =D) like rays of fire touching the dried edges. It was beautiful, a true testament to what seemed like the end of our outings.
Anyway, we got back to the hotel, and instead of the three hours i expected we would have to do our hair and makeup and whatnot, we got an hour and a half. *sighs* With that time, seven girls got ready. Not on time, but close enough. Claire, Ashley, Naomi, Khanh, Katie, Julie and me got ready in Claire's room, and it was hilarious. it was like the movies, where you see multiple girls getting ready and doing each other's hair and makeup. it was so cool. I felt so American. =DDDD
Ashley did my makeup, and I did my hair by curling it. And then I decided to walk around with no glasses.
Stupid decision.
But not the stupidest ever.
Anyway.
WE BARELY GOT TO THE BUS ON TIME. It was hilarious. There I was, racing up the bus steps going, "I'm not late, I'm not late."
And then I had to tell Jo that she looked nice. SHE DID. She ought to elt her hair down more often and wear skirts. She looked so pretty! Too bad she chose to be moody the whole trip. She looked way better than I did, that was for sure...
Anyway, we arrived at L'Enfant Plaza for the dance, and well, let's just say I got blanked. By someone. I am actually kind of sick of him blanking me, but I tried not to let that get me down too much. I had dinner with Sonia and a bunch of other people whom I didn't really know, but I talked to them, or at least tried. Like there was this one big guy who wasnt the best socialite ever, but he could talk. And then there was Kerry, Jafet and Miguel anyway, so it wasn't like I was completely with strangers. And I found it so funny that Miguel had to get up and look in the mirror to see if he looked okay and if his smile was perfect before actually sitting back down to pose for the camera.
It was funny, that's all i'm saying.
Anyways.
Then after that, each representative from each LGM had to get up and sing the Star Spangled Banner, but I didn't know the words, so my group couldn't force me to sing, even though they badly wanted me to. In Trevor's words:
"WHY DIDN'T YOU SING?! YOU WOULDA BEEN FREAKING AWESOME!"
Sorry, Trev. =(
Then hmm. What happened after that? I think it was dancing. Like, everyone started getting up and mingling, so I guess the Fa=As figured it was time for some entertainment. They gave us a slideshow of pictures, but I couldn't see anything because i was semi-blind as a half-bat (LOL) so I wasn't interested. Then the FAs had a dance off, which again, I couldn't see because I was too short. Yeh, Greg had the time of his life teasing me.
"Wanna sit on my shoulders?"
"I would, Greg, but your shoulders are too incredibly frail."
Hah, that boy amuses me.
ANd then the dancing began! I joined in, but I felt like such an amateur. LOL. It was so packed in there. 355 teenagers packed on the dance floor, and all of them dancing to the music overhead. I got out of there eventually. It was too hot, and frankly, it smelled.
And anyway, I didn't know how to dance, but as Jordan plainly put it, "NEITHER DO WE. I'm just moving to the beat!"
Anyway, so Jo was sitting by herself and I was wondering why she wasn't doing anything. So I walk over to her and ask her what's wrong, and she starts saying stuff like, "I can't believe nobody knows how to waltz! Everyone should know how to waltz!"
Which I don't really get, because though I admit that knowing how to waltz would be nice, when would we actually be required to waltz? Ever? Does slow-dancing even COUNT for waltzing? I don't know, but I was confused. She evidently wanted to be left alone, so I did just that.
I walked aside, and ran into Greg (again). We took a picture together, and the next thing I know is, Miguel and Jafet are demanding to know why Jo is crying. Which I was confused about, because the last I left her, she wasn't crying.
So then Jafet asks if he should talk to her (because he likes her and all) and when THAT fails miserably, I finally demand what's wrong.
She tells me. Apparently, she was crying because she was going to miss all of us, and I started laughing. Yeah. That's me. I laugh at the stupidest of times. I finally told her that everyone hates goodbyes, and that we were all going to have to say goodbye sometime, so why not just forget it and have fun now when it mattered?
Then I told her that it didn't matter, we had Facebook, and there was no point crying. I figured that since it was the last night, I was going o have a great time and make some lasting memories, and she should too.
"I don't want my last memory of one of my close friends to be one of you crying."
Then I told her that he was ignoring me anyway, and I wasn't going to let it get me down, and she shouldn't either. She cheered up considerably afterwards, after I told her that she should go have fun with her friends and let loose.
Later, when I looked back, she was dancing very energetically, so I'm pleased that that worked out. =)
Anyway, that pep talk to her cheered me up too. =) I went back to dancing, with Dennis, Daniel, Jen and Shawna. It was hilarious, watching the four of them dance with each other. Dennis and Jen were 'getting it on', literally. Until Dennis ripped his pants. Then he had to dance with his jacket around his waist. SO FUNNY.
I joined Ashley and the girls later, too. It was so awkward for Naomi. There was one guy (SPEAKEROFTHEHOUSE DD=) who was dancing very um...close..to her, and then took her hadn and led her out of the circle. No idea where they went, but I know she got away from him. Later, there was another guy (creeper) who had his hands around her waist. I have a picture somewhere, but I have no clue where it went, and I'm too lazy to look for it.
I finally gave up. The heels were killing me, man. I mean three straight hours dancing in those. That would kill any girl, I think.
So I gave up and sat next to Shawn, and he finally comes and sits next to me. (No, not Shawn.) Not that it lasted very long. Some girl came and he thought that he was in her seat, so he moved away, and then Dylan came along and steered him away.
Thanks a lot, Dylan. x(
But I didn't care. I didn't need him to make me feel happy, anyway. =)
The rest of the night was basically spent in the same manner. Alternating between going outside for drinks, inside for dancing and hanging around to talk to people. I got a kick out of watching Greg have to stoop down to dance with this girl in a wheelchair, which I thought was nice of him. I don't know, I can't figure him out. He's nice, then he's mean. Then he's nice again. LOL.
But. It was fun. Very fun. At the end, they played Journey's 'Don't Stop Believing' which seemed to be the theme song all conference, and everyone sang along. It was touching. They were even singing it on the way back in the bus, which cracked me up until I somehow fell asleep due to the exhaustion that overtook me.
And then I had to get home and pack.
Got to sleep at past midnight.
*sighs*
