The spirit rally was yesterday at 10 am. What time did I wake up for it? 9 am, but it didn't help that I slept after 5. We finally left around 10 waiting for people to get together. Reg managed to miss the right freeway onramp, even though I was driving right behind her. We grabbed some subway for our lunch and finally arrived, only 2 hours late. Not bad, huh? The rally was an awesome experience, if kinda wild at times... we were the only college based group out of the hundreds of high schoolers there. A couple of incidents happened to me:
- the priest that did my confession pretty much kicked me out after I said just one sentence because he was in a hurry, even though I told him I had more to say
- I get back only to find all the chicken for dinner was gone (because I was standing in line for confession)
- I was supposed to be in a family feud thing onstage, and I was to represent for LOG, but they started without me and chose someone else
I guess you can't have it all sometimes. At least it didn't take away from my experience. I did notice again however my feeling of always having this space about me, that I'm never quite with the crowd, though never on the edge either. It reminded me of how I used to walk home freshman year to my aparment. It was about a 15 minute walk, maybe a mile or so. Almost every time, there would be at least one streetlight that would shut off right while I was directly under it or within 10 feet of it, and that's no exaggeration. Once in a while, it would happen three times on the same walk home. It even happened the following year when I started biking to my other apartment. I'm not sure if that happens to anyone else. It could be my own phenomenon.
After the rally we went to go eat at Banana Bay. I wasn't expecting much, but it was really fun, despite getting stuck on the far end of the table. I even got to order boba for my drink. How cool is that? I had a shrimp and spaghetti stir fry dish, but the menu said nothing about it being spicy. I couldn't even eat all the shrimp because there were peppers all over them. I traded with Fran for her duck (or was it chicken?) and watched as Sonny sampled all the hot food, including some extra spicy salsa stuff. I think he started tearing... The band there was awesome, maybe nothing special compared to other bands, but they really fit the mood of the evening. They played good songs... I was going to request Let's Stay Together and right then they started playing it. It's like going clubbing and hearing all the songs you want to hear but don't get a chance to request. I beat everyone home by a slim margin (Mom was there to use her passenger side brake pedal) and I crashed at 25A Parkwatts, waking up to Sonny tormenting Nimz. I enjoyed the entertainment for a little while, then made my way home, exhausted, but feeling less depressed than I ususally do after those big spiritual highs you get from rallys and retreats. I think that's one of the bigger challenges after you get that high... to keep yourself from feeling powerless and weak so that you can apply that new energy and knowledge in your life. It probably helped too that I didn't go straight home after eating with everyone. It's kind of sad coming home to my apartment and knowing that the next morning, I'm going to wake up and I'll be back in the same situations that I wanted to get a break from. I need to keep that balance. I believe that this time might be different.
- the priest that did my confession pretty much kicked me out after I said just one sentence because he was in a hurry, even though I told him I had more to say
- I get back only to find all the chicken for dinner was gone (because I was standing in line for confession)
- I was supposed to be in a family feud thing onstage, and I was to represent for LOG, but they started without me and chose someone else
I guess you can't have it all sometimes. At least it didn't take away from my experience. I did notice again however my feeling of always having this space about me, that I'm never quite with the crowd, though never on the edge either. It reminded me of how I used to walk home freshman year to my aparment. It was about a 15 minute walk, maybe a mile or so. Almost every time, there would be at least one streetlight that would shut off right while I was directly under it or within 10 feet of it, and that's no exaggeration. Once in a while, it would happen three times on the same walk home. It even happened the following year when I started biking to my other apartment. I'm not sure if that happens to anyone else. It could be my own phenomenon.
After the rally we went to go eat at Banana Bay. I wasn't expecting much, but it was really fun, despite getting stuck on the far end of the table. I even got to order boba for my drink. How cool is that? I had a shrimp and spaghetti stir fry dish, but the menu said nothing about it being spicy. I couldn't even eat all the shrimp because there were peppers all over them. I traded with Fran for her duck (or was it chicken?) and watched as Sonny sampled all the hot food, including some extra spicy salsa stuff. I think he started tearing... The band there was awesome, maybe nothing special compared to other bands, but they really fit the mood of the evening. They played good songs... I was going to request Let's Stay Together and right then they started playing it. It's like going clubbing and hearing all the songs you want to hear but don't get a chance to request. I beat everyone home by a slim margin (Mom was there to use her passenger side brake pedal) and I crashed at 25A Parkwatts, waking up to Sonny tormenting Nimz. I enjoyed the entertainment for a little while, then made my way home, exhausted, but feeling less depressed than I ususally do after those big spiritual highs you get from rallys and retreats. I think that's one of the bigger challenges after you get that high... to keep yourself from feeling powerless and weak so that you can apply that new energy and knowledge in your life. It probably helped too that I didn't go straight home after eating with everyone. It's kind of sad coming home to my apartment and knowing that the next morning, I'm going to wake up and I'll be back in the same situations that I wanted to get a break from. I need to keep that balance. I believe that this time might be different.
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