April 26, 2002
At Carnival I saw a bunch of people I hadn't seen in at least a year. And I didn't get to spend a whole lot of time talking to them. Not because I didn't have the chance to, just because I didn't have much to say. I felt like a broken record having to tell everyone I'd gotten fired (although one person very generously agreed to help me look for work in the DC area) so I just stopped talking to people. At dinner I sat with a handful of locals and actives and once I got back to the fraternity house for the party, I wound up throwing the frisbee around (poorly) with another alum who I instant-message with every couple of weeks.
I know it would've been better if I'd kept in touch with everyone, but I run into the same problem -- if I told you what was going on in my life 12 months ago, you know what's going on now, with the exception of losing my job. It was like fraternity rush all over again, only this time I was making idle chit-chat with people I've known for seven years.
The general atmosphere left a bit to be desired too. I was already tired of fraternity parties when I graduated, I'm still not too fond of them now. I've never been a club type, I'm more like a "sit around in a bar and shoot the breeze" type. There's just no real appeal left for me in blaring, bad music that leaves me unable to hear myself think -- I wound up sitting outside talking with more locals.
So in a nutshell, I was both glad to see everyone who came in and glad to see them all leave when I realized how lame I was.
