farewell, del rey north
I cut my heart in half for you to hold. It was a bittersweet ecstasy.
Last night was, officially, the last night for the Orientation Team of '06. It's over, it's sad and I'm trying to get over it. No more Pass the Pigs, 6AM-2AM days, BVB's, stealing of the signs, learning that a team member is actually a real-live PRINCESS, cage dancing, bubble dancing, skit performing, Mau, pumping up the Freshman class or Greenhouse Tuesdays after a 54 hour work week.
Loyola recruits 40 people from all branches of the campus, service organizations, greek life, sports teams, entertainment, etc. Basically, the end result is a group of 40 students who influence the school in some noticeable way, dubbed "the faces of LMU." But due to the nature of the selection process, we all have little to no social connection with one another. So they cram us into a dormitory, force us to become friends, rely on and trust the other. Then they put us through training for two weeks. And for the next three weeks we're thrown out onto the battlefield meeting every entering Freshman, dealing with every problem, psycological obstacle, financial issue, etc there is to be faced. It quickly becomes a way of life. You grow dependent on it. Suddenly, it's over. You're free to go. "See you in the fall!" we scream, some crying, "We'll hang out! We have to!" And it makes sense, we grew so close. Too close to just separate. But if it weren't for this program we'd have no reason to be together like this. And the sad truth is, now that it's over, it's done. Sure, we'll occassionaly bump into one another, but we'll never be together again. And I speak from experience. I played the same game last year, fought with everything I had. And here I am.
Well, truth be told, I'm not sad at all. Otherwise I wouldn't have auditioned again this year. It just feels like we owe each other a greater commitment than any of us are prepared, or are able to give. And I guess I'll leave it at that.
But the good news is, we did get real fat pay checks for just five weeks of work. It's awesome. But now I'm poor again because I live like a king. Rumor has it, I come from a long line of Pharaos.
-lex
(i love you)