Too late, my time has come.....
COUNTDOWN TILL VALENTINE'S DAY: 2 DAYS!!!!!
Thursday night:
I went to the mall and met up with Fernando when I got there. We went to the Apple store cuz I had an appointment for 4. Fernando had to leave so I just sat around waiting for my name to be called. I finally got called and I showed the guy my piece of shit a.k.a. my iPod. He checked the warranty and of course, it was up. All it's been doing for the past 6 months is sitting in the charger because it doesn't work. He basically told me there was nothing I could do but bring in in my current iPod and my student ID and I can get about 15% off a new iPod. Why the hell would I want a new one?! I invested $400 in the one I have now and it doesn't even work! AGH! So that was a waste of time. Then I went to Charlotte Russe and got my schedule for next week. After that, I went downstairs and visited Danielle at her kiosk. She said it was okay if I leave my school bag with her while I did my errands. That was nice of her. I went to CVS to get batteries and then upstairs to European Pretzel to get some lunch. Got the bacon-pretzel-pizza and orange soda. After I was done eating, I went over to T-Mobile to return "my" cell phone. It was a pretty smooth transaction, I didn't get charged for anything. I was just talking to Bin for a while until I had to go back downstairs to get my stuff. I thanked Danielle for watching my stuff and then I went upstairs to wait for my parents. After a few minutes, their car appeared and I got in. I slept most of the way to Towaco, it wasn't a long drive. When we got there, most of the lights were off and there was only one man who I didn't recognize in the kitchen. I went in and spoke with him and he didn't even know what Happening was. So I called Kai and she told me we were supossed to be there at 9 and not 7. So we went to a Chinese resturant that she had recommended named Huna China and we ate. Then we drove back to the church and took naps in the car. Finally, at about 8:50, we were able to go inside. We brought all my stuff in the church and I waited in the parish hall for more people to arrive. We went into the parishioner's house and got the Happening stuff out of the basement and brought it back to the church. I distributed my caritas into all the bags. (Caritas means "a gift from the heart." Everyone gets 2 bags filled with candy and presents, one for Saturday and one for Sunday. All the team members and adults contribute what's in the bag. It's nice.) I gave everyone kazoos as my general caritas and candy with a personal note as my personal caritas. The team members arrived in small groups. I ended up being the only person on celebration team who was there on Thursday night. (Here’s an explanation of the team members. Cara was the rector. She’s basically the youth who runs the weekend. Mia was the vicar. She assists the rector and once the weekend is over, the vicar becomes the rector for the next Happening. Then there are the angels: Katie, Christina-X$-Tinka, Liz V L, and Jess. They basically help the adults the whole weekend and help control the small groups. Then there are the small group leaders: Nanique, Cecily, Kaitlin, Jenny, & Amanda. They pose as Happeners for the weekend and don’t reveal themselves to the Happeners until the end of the last day. Finally, there is celebration team: Chris, [Dave, Ryan,] Laurie, Grace, Gail, Petra, and me. We are behind the scenes the entire weekend and we don’t reveal ourselves until the last day. [Dave and Ryan worked in the kitchen so they two of them were allowed to be seen.] There are many traditions that go along with this that I will describe later.) I was able to get to a piano for about an hour and finished up till the end of the bridge for my song. I called Justin before I got ready for bed. I set up my sleeping bag and all that but it took me a while to actually fall asleep. I had a lot on my mind. I was depressed and I was being very antisocial in the beginning of the weekend. I find that if I don't socialize, I can't get involved in the drama. Plus, there was certain people there who i'm not on good terms with and I didn't feel like dealing with it. The main thing was that i'm coming to the realization that Valentine's Day is getting closer and closer and yet i'm not closer to finding out if i'm going to Hawaii or not. Until I get that letter, I will be in this depression. I'm really counting on this.
Friday:
If any of you have ever slept on the floor of a churchm you know that A. your back & neck will be killing you when you wake up and B. you freak out cuz it's really weird waking up, thinking you're in your bed, and realizing you're on the floor of a church. Haha. We woke up around 9 and I was the first person to get dressed. I also put on my make-up and fixed up my hair before most people even got up. We didn't even have breakfast until 11. We couldn't really do much in the morning because the people of the church needed the church until 3. So around 12:30, we had the pre-Happening worship and then we ate pizza for lunch. I also had some muscles too. Lolz. Then we bagen to set up. We moved our stuff to the back of the church and then we went downstairs to set up the large group room. We moved all the furniture to one side of the room and then we put the banners all over the walls to make it colorful and vibrant. We had humongous pieces of felt that we used for the floor and over the lights. (They were flourescent lights so it wasn't a fire hazard.) After that, we went over all the angels' and small group leaders' talks. Then it was time for dinner. We had awesome mac & cheese with pork in it, which Glenda, (Chris, Cave, Ben, & Chloe's mom), made. It was mad good. After dinner, we had to stay in the church so the Happeners could arrive. Once all the Happeners were downstairs, we set up for the trust walks and were just chillen out in the parish hall. Dave fell off a skateboard and landed flat on his ass! I wish I could have gotten a picture of that! (Here’s how the trust walks work. Basically, all the Happeners line up, secret small group leaders first, and are blindfolded. The small group leaders put on blindfolds too but once all the Happeners are blindfolded, the small group leader takes off their blindfold. Then they lead the way for the others by telling them directions and stuff. Basically, they have to work together as a team, being sight impaired. They have 3 stations to go to. They go through the parish hall and there are yarn strings going across and they hold on to the strings and use that to guide them in the right direction. Then they end up in the church and Marion tells them story by a cross that was made out of tea lights. Finally, they all end up back at the large group room.) It was boring for us though. We staye din the parish hall and when the Happeners would come through in their blindfolds, holding on to the strings, we would poke them and bang on pans to freak them out. It’s hilarious. The best thing was when Charles busted his ass! He was at the end of the trust walk line and as they were about to leave the room, Chris decides to knee him in the ass. He did it so hard! He started walking like he had a monkey up his ass. Dave was about to kick him when he just toppled over right into the piano! It was so funny! Another thing I wish I would have gotten a picture of. After all the Happeners were done with the trust walks and we just hung out for a long time. It was boring. I didn’t like being cooped up in the church all night. I was watching Wild Boys with Dave and Ryan before I finally decided to go to bed. I was lying awake for a while, deeply lost in my thoughts. Eventually, I fell asleep.
Saturday:
We woke up at like 7:30, but surprisingly, I wasn’t that tired. We had to move our stuff to the back of the church. Then we ate our breakfast in the church. Then we ate our breakfast in the sacristy and watched Wild Boys. It is sad how educational it actually was though. HAHA. After breakfast, we were chillen in the parish hall for a long time. I mean, for real, a long time. It was mad boring. We were all just talking. I was helping Debbie with her caritas. Then we all decided to go over to the rectory and begin to work on our banner. We decided it would be cool if we did silhouettes of everyone on celebration team. We finished tracing everyone and then it was time to set up for lunch. We set up all the tables and helped Glenda with the lunch. She made grilled cheese with bacon and tomatoes. It was mad good. We got the leftovers, which weren’t too great. Haha. After lunch, we went back to start working on the banner a little bit more. We were in there for a while. After a bit, Marion came in and told us we needed to go to make the video. At this time, it had just begun to flurry. We decided to go to Walmart. See, every year the celebration goes into a parking lot of a department store or supermarket and hand out daisies while saying “happy caritas” to random people. It can be quite hilarious. We decided to go to the local Walmart and give out daisies. We started out by introducing ourselves, and saying when we “happened.” (I was at #18 and this one was #20.) After we finished all Walmart, we decided to go around the rest of the shopping center. We passed by Quizno’s a few time and these 3 guys were sitting at a table and they kept staring at us. So Kim and I decided to go in there and give them daisies. So Marion was taping and the rest of them were all outside with her. Well, while we were in there, Chris was doing a voiceover. It was so funnie! The guys realized they were on camera and the waved and I just couldn’t contain myself anymore. I bused out laughing. I got so red and I was laughing so hard, I couldn’t even breathe. It was hilarious. We were going to go to an ambulance but the batteries died. I was really disappointed to cuz I SERIOUSLY wanted to go to McDonalds drive-thru and give them a daisy. I think that would have been the funniest thing ever! So after we finished the video, we went back to the sacristy and got our 1st caritas. I got some cool things but I was puzzled cuz my parents gave me trail mix in it. I was like “WTF?!” Lolz. After this, we went to go take showers. Gail and I went to Witty’s house. It felt so good to actually shower. I dried my hair and stuff back at the church. Then we went to work on the banner. We pretty much finished it, (even though Chris messed me up,) and all we had to do was wait for the paint to dry. It was SO HILARIOUS. We did the silhouettes SO GOOD. We did Chris’s with the cowboy hat on and he painted in his hair. The funniest thing was Dave’s though. Those of you who have seen Dave, knows he has a pretty large nose. Well, they drew his nose like a Charlie Brown nose! It was huge! To make matters worse, Marilon wasn’t painted in because we were making fun of her for having no shadow and she had a claw at Dave’s face but the way it was, it looked like she was going to honk Dave’s nose! It was SOOOOOOOOO FUNNIE. After we were done with the banner, we went to set up dinner. We set up the dining hall all prettyful. We put the tables in the shape of a cross. Then we put tablecloths on each table, with confetti and centerpieces. We put balloons and streamers up on the wall too, it looked really nice when we were done with. We just chilled out in the church while they were eating and waited for them to bring food back for us. I had chicken parm and ziti with oil and broccoli. It was mad good. After they were done with dinner, we we had to set up for the stations of the cross and the foot washing in the church. While they were in the healing service, we set up for the dance. The dance was a luau theme; it was cute. I think Justin would have cringed though. LMAO. While they were dancing, we just chilled out in the church and the sacristy. Once we had finished cleaning up, we just chilled out talking for a while and then got ready for bed. Ryan and I kinda made a stupid decision to have like 3 or 4 pixie sticks before we went to bed. Needless to say, we were up till like 3 or 4 in the morning talking. I basically told him my life story. I started with my second boyfriend all the way up to Justin and then I went back to my first boyfriend. It was funnie. Eventually, I did end up getting tired and we both went to sleep.
Sunday:
It was weird because Ryan and I ended up waking at the exact same time. Lolz. We had to wake up early because they were supposed to have a service in the church in the morning. However, when we looked outside and saw like a foot of snow, we figured no one would be coming for service. We packed up our stuff anyways and got ready. We were supposed to go to “Heaven” and stay there. However, Grace, Gail and I went a little too late and we ended up having to hide in a dark room under a table for like 20 minutes before we could go upstairs back into the sacristy. The rest of the celebration team was coming from “Heaven” back to the sacristy. We were able to get breakfast before the Happeners. I ate like 3 boxes of corn pops. Haha. Those little boxes, mind you. We just chilled out in there for a while. After the Happeners were done with breakfast, we were all chilling in the parish hall for a while. We grabbed 2 sheets so we could carry the caritas downstairs for the Happeners. It was finally that time. The Happeners were going to watch our video and then we would reveal ourselves. We were excited to finally show ourselves. The video came out really funnie. Once it was over, we came in the room and showed ourselves to everyone, along with our banner that we had all made together. It was a great moment. After we presented the banner and explained that we had been around the whole weekend, we passed around the Caritas. I was excited to see Ben B., Ben DW, Laura, RJ, etc. It was crazy. I was happy with my second Caritas too. My parents gave me one of those Russell Stover’s valentine’s hearts. It was so cute. I was happy to finally not have to sneak around anymore but at the same time, it was weird being able to walk around wherever I wanted to now too. Lolz. After the caritas, we all went upstairs to write on everyone’s affirmation sheets. It great, I wrote on the sheets of everyone I knew. There were a lot of new Happeners this year. After we finished this, we did the yarn affirmations. Basically, we start with the rector. She wraps yarn around her wrist. Then she picks someone and says something nice about them and throws the yarn to them. Then that person picks someone else and throws it them and so on. By the time you’re done with it, it becomes a web. It’s really cool. Ryan threw it to me and I threw it to Glenda. It ends when everyone has it around their wrist and it goes back to the rector. Then you cut all of them apart and you have the yarn as a reminder about how all of us are connected at Happening. They do it at all the retreats; it’s become a tradition. After this, the Happeners went down to the large group room and watched a movie. We were all sitting and talking in the parish hall. Idk what happened but all of a sudden, I must had a sugar crash. In a matter of seconds, I just got extremely tired. I grabbed my pillow and ended up napping in one of the pews, which was extremely uncomfortable. I was out for like a good half hour too. Lolz. Once I woke up, we were talking for a while and then we had to set up for the closing Eucharist. I ended up “acolyting.” I didn’t really do much. Chris did most of it. I robed up and we all entered the church. All the parents were there already and the Happeners filed into the first few rows. It was a nice service. I was basically the song leader, which was cool. It was really sad when Cara gave her speech and when she gave Mia the rector’s cross. She was so upset it was her last Happening. See, something that someone who’s never been to Happening would not understand is that the bonds that you make are extremely strong and last forever. That’s what’s so great. You meet so many people too. People you normally wouldn’t hang out with. It brings everyone together. After the service, some of the Happeners already started leaving. That’s when it hit me how fast the weekend whizzed by. I helped clean up for a got some last pictures and stuff with people before I finally left. It was hard to leave, seeing as it may be my last Happening, depending on whether I go to Hawaii or not. I promised them that if I don’t go, I will be at Happening #21, no doubt. I think the person that was hardest to say goodbye to was Ryan. I’ve been to a lot of retreats with him but for some reason we never really talked. Once Dave left, (he left around Saturday afternoon,) we really “bonded.” (Not in that way, don’t get any ideas! I’m taken!) It was cool to finally get to know him. He definitely knows me, I told him my whole damn life story till 4 in the morning! Haha. The ride home didn’t seem like it was that long. I was absorbed in my thoughts and telling my parents all about the weekend. It’s weird being home but it’s gunna feel so good sleeping in my bed tonight after sleeping on the floor for 3 nights in a row! My mom made ziti for dinner. Mmmm. I added everyone from Happening on my myspace and have been writing this blog since I got home, like 3 or 4 hours ago. Haha. I was on the phone with Justin for like a half an hour and now I’m going to bed. Nite all.
::Monday::
Class 11-4:30.
::Tuesday::
Class 9:30-11/1:40-3.
::Wednesday::
Class 11-4:30.
CR Orientation & first shift 5-10:30.
::Thursday::
Class 9:30-11/1:40-3/
::Friday::
Class 11:25-2:35.
Working 4-10:30.
::Saturday::
Working 1-6.
::Sunday::
Church (and Kyle BETTER be there. Haha.)
Thursday night:
I went to the mall and met up with Fernando when I got there. We went to the Apple store cuz I had an appointment for 4. Fernando had to leave so I just sat around waiting for my name to be called. I finally got called and I showed the guy my piece of shit a.k.a. my iPod. He checked the warranty and of course, it was up. All it's been doing for the past 6 months is sitting in the charger because it doesn't work. He basically told me there was nothing I could do but bring in in my current iPod and my student ID and I can get about 15% off a new iPod. Why the hell would I want a new one?! I invested $400 in the one I have now and it doesn't even work! AGH! So that was a waste of time. Then I went to Charlotte Russe and got my schedule for next week. After that, I went downstairs and visited Danielle at her kiosk. She said it was okay if I leave my school bag with her while I did my errands. That was nice of her. I went to CVS to get batteries and then upstairs to European Pretzel to get some lunch. Got the bacon-pretzel-pizza and orange soda. After I was done eating, I went over to T-Mobile to return "my" cell phone. It was a pretty smooth transaction, I didn't get charged for anything. I was just talking to Bin for a while until I had to go back downstairs to get my stuff. I thanked Danielle for watching my stuff and then I went upstairs to wait for my parents. After a few minutes, their car appeared and I got in. I slept most of the way to Towaco, it wasn't a long drive. When we got there, most of the lights were off and there was only one man who I didn't recognize in the kitchen. I went in and spoke with him and he didn't even know what Happening was. So I called Kai and she told me we were supossed to be there at 9 and not 7. So we went to a Chinese resturant that she had recommended named Huna China and we ate. Then we drove back to the church and took naps in the car. Finally, at about 8:50, we were able to go inside. We brought all my stuff in the church and I waited in the parish hall for more people to arrive. We went into the parishioner's house and got the Happening stuff out of the basement and brought it back to the church. I distributed my caritas into all the bags. (Caritas means "a gift from the heart." Everyone gets 2 bags filled with candy and presents, one for Saturday and one for Sunday. All the team members and adults contribute what's in the bag. It's nice.) I gave everyone kazoos as my general caritas and candy with a personal note as my personal caritas. The team members arrived in small groups. I ended up being the only person on celebration team who was there on Thursday night. (Here’s an explanation of the team members. Cara was the rector. She’s basically the youth who runs the weekend. Mia was the vicar. She assists the rector and once the weekend is over, the vicar becomes the rector for the next Happening. Then there are the angels: Katie, Christina-X$-Tinka, Liz V L, and Jess. They basically help the adults the whole weekend and help control the small groups. Then there are the small group leaders: Nanique, Cecily, Kaitlin, Jenny, & Amanda. They pose as Happeners for the weekend and don’t reveal themselves to the Happeners until the end of the last day. Finally, there is celebration team: Chris, [Dave, Ryan,] Laurie, Grace, Gail, Petra, and me. We are behind the scenes the entire weekend and we don’t reveal ourselves until the last day. [Dave and Ryan worked in the kitchen so they two of them were allowed to be seen.] There are many traditions that go along with this that I will describe later.) I was able to get to a piano for about an hour and finished up till the end of the bridge for my song. I called Justin before I got ready for bed. I set up my sleeping bag and all that but it took me a while to actually fall asleep. I had a lot on my mind. I was depressed and I was being very antisocial in the beginning of the weekend. I find that if I don't socialize, I can't get involved in the drama. Plus, there was certain people there who i'm not on good terms with and I didn't feel like dealing with it. The main thing was that i'm coming to the realization that Valentine's Day is getting closer and closer and yet i'm not closer to finding out if i'm going to Hawaii or not. Until I get that letter, I will be in this depression. I'm really counting on this.
Friday:
If any of you have ever slept on the floor of a churchm you know that A. your back & neck will be killing you when you wake up and B. you freak out cuz it's really weird waking up, thinking you're in your bed, and realizing you're on the floor of a church. Haha. We woke up around 9 and I was the first person to get dressed. I also put on my make-up and fixed up my hair before most people even got up. We didn't even have breakfast until 11. We couldn't really do much in the morning because the people of the church needed the church until 3. So around 12:30, we had the pre-Happening worship and then we ate pizza for lunch. I also had some muscles too. Lolz. Then we bagen to set up. We moved our stuff to the back of the church and then we went downstairs to set up the large group room. We moved all the furniture to one side of the room and then we put the banners all over the walls to make it colorful and vibrant. We had humongous pieces of felt that we used for the floor and over the lights. (They were flourescent lights so it wasn't a fire hazard.) After that, we went over all the angels' and small group leaders' talks. Then it was time for dinner. We had awesome mac & cheese with pork in it, which Glenda, (Chris, Cave, Ben, & Chloe's mom), made. It was mad good. After dinner, we had to stay in the church so the Happeners could arrive. Once all the Happeners were downstairs, we set up for the trust walks and were just chillen out in the parish hall. Dave fell off a skateboard and landed flat on his ass! I wish I could have gotten a picture of that! (Here’s how the trust walks work. Basically, all the Happeners line up, secret small group leaders first, and are blindfolded. The small group leaders put on blindfolds too but once all the Happeners are blindfolded, the small group leader takes off their blindfold. Then they lead the way for the others by telling them directions and stuff. Basically, they have to work together as a team, being sight impaired. They have 3 stations to go to. They go through the parish hall and there are yarn strings going across and they hold on to the strings and use that to guide them in the right direction. Then they end up in the church and Marion tells them story by a cross that was made out of tea lights. Finally, they all end up back at the large group room.) It was boring for us though. We staye din the parish hall and when the Happeners would come through in their blindfolds, holding on to the strings, we would poke them and bang on pans to freak them out. It’s hilarious. The best thing was when Charles busted his ass! He was at the end of the trust walk line and as they were about to leave the room, Chris decides to knee him in the ass. He did it so hard! He started walking like he had a monkey up his ass. Dave was about to kick him when he just toppled over right into the piano! It was so funny! Another thing I wish I would have gotten a picture of. After all the Happeners were done with the trust walks and we just hung out for a long time. It was boring. I didn’t like being cooped up in the church all night. I was watching Wild Boys with Dave and Ryan before I finally decided to go to bed. I was lying awake for a while, deeply lost in my thoughts. Eventually, I fell asleep.
Saturday:
We woke up at like 7:30, but surprisingly, I wasn’t that tired. We had to move our stuff to the back of the church. Then we ate our breakfast in the church. Then we ate our breakfast in the sacristy and watched Wild Boys. It is sad how educational it actually was though. HAHA. After breakfast, we were chillen in the parish hall for a long time. I mean, for real, a long time. It was mad boring. We were all just talking. I was helping Debbie with her caritas. Then we all decided to go over to the rectory and begin to work on our banner. We decided it would be cool if we did silhouettes of everyone on celebration team. We finished tracing everyone and then it was time to set up for lunch. We set up all the tables and helped Glenda with the lunch. She made grilled cheese with bacon and tomatoes. It was mad good. We got the leftovers, which weren’t too great. Haha. After lunch, we went back to start working on the banner a little bit more. We were in there for a while. After a bit, Marion came in and told us we needed to go to make the video. At this time, it had just begun to flurry. We decided to go to Walmart. See, every year the celebration goes into a parking lot of a department store or supermarket and hand out daisies while saying “happy caritas” to random people. It can be quite hilarious. We decided to go to the local Walmart and give out daisies. We started out by introducing ourselves, and saying when we “happened.” (I was at #18 and this one was #20.) After we finished all Walmart, we decided to go around the rest of the shopping center. We passed by Quizno’s a few time and these 3 guys were sitting at a table and they kept staring at us. So Kim and I decided to go in there and give them daisies. So Marion was taping and the rest of them were all outside with her. Well, while we were in there, Chris was doing a voiceover. It was so funnie! The guys realized they were on camera and the waved and I just couldn’t contain myself anymore. I bused out laughing. I got so red and I was laughing so hard, I couldn’t even breathe. It was hilarious. We were going to go to an ambulance but the batteries died. I was really disappointed to cuz I SERIOUSLY wanted to go to McDonalds drive-thru and give them a daisy. I think that would have been the funniest thing ever! So after we finished the video, we went back to the sacristy and got our 1st caritas. I got some cool things but I was puzzled cuz my parents gave me trail mix in it. I was like “WTF?!” Lolz. After this, we went to go take showers. Gail and I went to Witty’s house. It felt so good to actually shower. I dried my hair and stuff back at the church. Then we went to work on the banner. We pretty much finished it, (even though Chris messed me up,) and all we had to do was wait for the paint to dry. It was SO HILARIOUS. We did the silhouettes SO GOOD. We did Chris’s with the cowboy hat on and he painted in his hair. The funniest thing was Dave’s though. Those of you who have seen Dave, knows he has a pretty large nose. Well, they drew his nose like a Charlie Brown nose! It was huge! To make matters worse, Marilon wasn’t painted in because we were making fun of her for having no shadow and she had a claw at Dave’s face but the way it was, it looked like she was going to honk Dave’s nose! It was SOOOOOOOOO FUNNIE. After we were done with the banner, we went to set up dinner. We set up the dining hall all prettyful. We put the tables in the shape of a cross. Then we put tablecloths on each table, with confetti and centerpieces. We put balloons and streamers up on the wall too, it looked really nice when we were done with. We just chilled out in the church while they were eating and waited for them to bring food back for us. I had chicken parm and ziti with oil and broccoli. It was mad good. After they were done with dinner, we we had to set up for the stations of the cross and the foot washing in the church. While they were in the healing service, we set up for the dance. The dance was a luau theme; it was cute. I think Justin would have cringed though. LMAO. While they were dancing, we just chilled out in the church and the sacristy. Once we had finished cleaning up, we just chilled out talking for a while and then got ready for bed. Ryan and I kinda made a stupid decision to have like 3 or 4 pixie sticks before we went to bed. Needless to say, we were up till like 3 or 4 in the morning talking. I basically told him my life story. I started with my second boyfriend all the way up to Justin and then I went back to my first boyfriend. It was funnie. Eventually, I did end up getting tired and we both went to sleep.
Sunday:
It was weird because Ryan and I ended up waking at the exact same time. Lolz. We had to wake up early because they were supposed to have a service in the church in the morning. However, when we looked outside and saw like a foot of snow, we figured no one would be coming for service. We packed up our stuff anyways and got ready. We were supposed to go to “Heaven” and stay there. However, Grace, Gail and I went a little too late and we ended up having to hide in a dark room under a table for like 20 minutes before we could go upstairs back into the sacristy. The rest of the celebration team was coming from “Heaven” back to the sacristy. We were able to get breakfast before the Happeners. I ate like 3 boxes of corn pops. Haha. Those little boxes, mind you. We just chilled out in there for a while. After the Happeners were done with breakfast, we were all chilling in the parish hall for a while. We grabbed 2 sheets so we could carry the caritas downstairs for the Happeners. It was finally that time. The Happeners were going to watch our video and then we would reveal ourselves. We were excited to finally show ourselves. The video came out really funnie. Once it was over, we came in the room and showed ourselves to everyone, along with our banner that we had all made together. It was a great moment. After we presented the banner and explained that we had been around the whole weekend, we passed around the Caritas. I was excited to see Ben B., Ben DW, Laura, RJ, etc. It was crazy. I was happy with my second Caritas too. My parents gave me one of those Russell Stover’s valentine’s hearts. It was so cute. I was happy to finally not have to sneak around anymore but at the same time, it was weird being able to walk around wherever I wanted to now too. Lolz. After the caritas, we all went upstairs to write on everyone’s affirmation sheets. It great, I wrote on the sheets of everyone I knew. There were a lot of new Happeners this year. After we finished this, we did the yarn affirmations. Basically, we start with the rector. She wraps yarn around her wrist. Then she picks someone and says something nice about them and throws the yarn to them. Then that person picks someone else and throws it them and so on. By the time you’re done with it, it becomes a web. It’s really cool. Ryan threw it to me and I threw it to Glenda. It ends when everyone has it around their wrist and it goes back to the rector. Then you cut all of them apart and you have the yarn as a reminder about how all of us are connected at Happening. They do it at all the retreats; it’s become a tradition. After this, the Happeners went down to the large group room and watched a movie. We were all sitting and talking in the parish hall. Idk what happened but all of a sudden, I must had a sugar crash. In a matter of seconds, I just got extremely tired. I grabbed my pillow and ended up napping in one of the pews, which was extremely uncomfortable. I was out for like a good half hour too. Lolz. Once I woke up, we were talking for a while and then we had to set up for the closing Eucharist. I ended up “acolyting.” I didn’t really do much. Chris did most of it. I robed up and we all entered the church. All the parents were there already and the Happeners filed into the first few rows. It was a nice service. I was basically the song leader, which was cool. It was really sad when Cara gave her speech and when she gave Mia the rector’s cross. She was so upset it was her last Happening. See, something that someone who’s never been to Happening would not understand is that the bonds that you make are extremely strong and last forever. That’s what’s so great. You meet so many people too. People you normally wouldn’t hang out with. It brings everyone together. After the service, some of the Happeners already started leaving. That’s when it hit me how fast the weekend whizzed by. I helped clean up for a got some last pictures and stuff with people before I finally left. It was hard to leave, seeing as it may be my last Happening, depending on whether I go to Hawaii or not. I promised them that if I don’t go, I will be at Happening #21, no doubt. I think the person that was hardest to say goodbye to was Ryan. I’ve been to a lot of retreats with him but for some reason we never really talked. Once Dave left, (he left around Saturday afternoon,) we really “bonded.” (Not in that way, don’t get any ideas! I’m taken!) It was cool to finally get to know him. He definitely knows me, I told him my whole damn life story till 4 in the morning! Haha. The ride home didn’t seem like it was that long. I was absorbed in my thoughts and telling my parents all about the weekend. It’s weird being home but it’s gunna feel so good sleeping in my bed tonight after sleeping on the floor for 3 nights in a row! My mom made ziti for dinner. Mmmm. I added everyone from Happening on my myspace and have been writing this blog since I got home, like 3 or 4 hours ago. Haha. I was on the phone with Justin for like a half an hour and now I’m going to bed. Nite all.
::Monday::
Class 11-4:30.
::Tuesday::
Class 9:30-11/1:40-3.
::Wednesday::
Class 11-4:30.
CR Orientation & first shift 5-10:30.
::Thursday::
Class 9:30-11/1:40-3/
::Friday::
Class 11:25-2:35.
Working 4-10:30.
::Saturday::
Working 1-6.
::Sunday::
Church (and Kyle BETTER be there. Haha.)