Act One: The Prom
Dressed to the nines, the St. Michael population congregated in the St. Michael’s Auditorium known fondly as Eckert Hall. The Grecian sculptures littered around the room were a somewhat sloppy testament to the theme of the prom, and the empty room that greeted me at 8:30 was testament to the popularity of this event. After mingling around for a few minutes, Binkle and Erin showed up. Shortly following, Andrew and Amy strolled through the door.
We chatted, made small talk, chuckled, and sat down. And for four excruciating hours, I sat there doing nothing. It’s not that I wanted to do nothing. For some reason, my will power could not drive me to stand up and walk over to Dianne Murray and ask her for a dance.
First of all, she didn’t arrive with her friends until 10:03. Afterwards, most of the slow songs saw her dancing with some country macho guy or Travis Ricard (a mutual friend who also likes her). Battling an internal war on the issue, I opted to not ask her to dance, lest the fullness of the situations awkwardness be unveiled. Miserable, I sat at the table for a long while. At one point, Erin asked me to dance. I refused as politely as possible and continued my brooding.
The event, although an all-around disappointment in regards to my personal enjoyment, was a success with others. To see a giddy Erin S. run onto the dance floor dragging behind a stumbling and confused Vincent was quite a sight. Fraser’s authentic Chinese garb was also interesting, as well as Andreas’ mobster ensemble.
There were other moments of particular interest, but basically I am in eternal regret for not going over to Dianne - in her beautiful yellow dress - and asking for a dance.
The depression of the whole event decimated my writer’s block.
Act Two: The Banquet
A few hours ago (at least it was when I began writing this post), I returned from the 46th Annual John “Jack” A. Hamilton Rotary Honours Banquet (quite a mouthful, I know). Essentially, it is event where a great number of things occur so fast you believe you were sodomized by the Flash.
Firstly, the Rotary Club members gather together with the students on the Honour Rolls of my town’s three high schools (Central, Northwestern and St. Mikes). The students feel honoured for being invited to a dinner, and are positively ecstatic over the prospect of a free meal. The Rotary members feel good about themselves because they get to appear as high and mighty role models for the students. There was a guest speaker, a good meal, etc, etc.
Ultimately, there was one supreme virtue and one supreme vice to the whole event.
I’ll begin with the virtue, since I would like the virtue to provide an extra sting as you consider it.
The Virtue: The event was attended by all the academic minds from all three high schools. My elementary school crush, Rachel Kyle, attends Central. Consequently, I haven’t seen her in four years. But she attended this banquet. It felt good to see her. I tried to talk to her when we arrived, but she was surrounded by all of her Central friends. As we were leaving, I tried to catch up with her to get a word in. But, I couldn’t. Some granny got in my path on her way to shake hands with the Rotary President. I didn’t want to go to such extreme lengths as yelling out to her, so I watched as she passed through the Legion doorway and back into the shadows of my past and the crevices of my memories.
The Vice: St. Mikes (my school) was poorly represented. During the banquet, a student from each of the three schools was called upon to present a speech. The Central student had written a terrible speech. It was well presented, and well received, but it was so poorly written. The Northwestern student followed. His speech was written better, and was presented worse. He stuttered a lot, and was soft spoken. Then, there was St. Mikes. The speaker - Jenna T. - was only apprised of her public speaking duties upon her arrival at the event. So, this poor girl goes up there with a scrap of lined paper and talks about anything she can think of, in no particular order. It was embarrassing for our school. After her speech, the Master of Ceremonies asked how many members of each school were present. A huge cheer erupted from Central when asked. Northwestern resonated with a slightly lesser tone. And when St. Mikes was called upon, the room was silent. So, with some school pride and anger towards our administration, I yelled out “Alright!!!”
It was terrible. Absolutely terrible. The free meal was hardly worth it.
Act Three: The Future
What looms over the horizon? It’s difficult to say. The end of the year is fast approaching. Deadlines for assignments are coming with it.
On April 25th, Binks and I will be attending the Arts Banquet and receiving awards for our participation in our school’s radio program. This award is because we are the wittiest people on Warrior Radio, and we make sure to tell everyone of that on a regular basis.
Graduation is coming up. We have yet to learn of our Valedictorian’s true identity. I know that I got at least two votes. Binkle probably received quite a few (since all my friends voted for him). A kid named Brian D. at our school received a lot due to someone stealing ballots and fudging the voting process. Word on the street - a metaphorical street - is that Jaymie Sampa, a girl at our school involved in dancing and other such things, will be our valedictorian. Congratulations to her…but man does that bite for those of us who really wanted it.
I guess that’s it for now. I’ll try to have something more interesting next time.