I'm back, I'm back, I'm back!!! Did you miss me?
MLW (Maryland Leadership Workshops; my program was SHW) was more fun than I can explain. The journal entries I wrote this week are going up in my
uJournal later. Very little of what I'm about to write will make sense unless you read them first, just to let you know. After all, part of the reason why I keep this journal/blog is so I can look back and reflect.
Ate dinner with Nick. He really is a cool guy, even though he's kind of young for me, and I have Greg. After dinner was the End of the Week Synthesis, where we wrapped up everything from the whole week and compared MLW life to "real" life. Nick was in that group, too, and Sarah and Justin facilitated with Lindsey (there are three other than me at camp) and Barrie. [A.N. Thirty-four unread emails. Hoo boy.] After Synthesis was group meeting. We played our final group game, To Tell the Truth (like the tv show), and were all really sad that it was our last night together. The Friday Night Dance wasn't as fun as Tuesday's but it was okay. I can
so do the Booty Call now. Hall meeting was even more switched-up; we met in the group room. I think that's the first time non-related males have ever seen me in my pajamas, without makeup, and with my hair in the twist I do at night. [A.N. I'm still wearing my meal bracelet from the dining hall. I almost don't want to cut it off. It hasn't left my wrist in a week. I'll feel so naked without it, you know?]
Getting up this morning was sad, too. Especially since I set my clock wrong, so if I hadn't rolled over at 6:08 by chance, I'd have overslept. Well, at least until Chelsea woke up. Breakfast was sad because it was our last meal together. On the flip side, it was nice to know that I will most likely never have to eat that food again. Morning Sing was fun and sad. The delegates led this morning instead of the staff. I jumped up on the stairs for Bubblegum (which I screwed up on) and Little Bunny Foo Foo (my favorite, takes me right back to preschool). Next came WIAM, What It All Means. One of the community teams did a PowerPoint presentation of pictures and moments from the week, including a picture of the Ninja Rap at Showcase. Every group got an award. GM won Best Dancers, though personally, I think we should have won Best Cheer and Works Best Together. Even Robin said that if she could choose a group to be in, she'd choose GM. That felt really good.
After WIAM was our very last group meeting. The last activity before we went home. We formed a big circle, and each person stood in the center one at a time while the others shouted compliments and general nice things at them. I broke down crying during my turn. All of the members of Green Machine are truly like family to me. I even have to fight not to cry as I'm writing this. They all said such great things to me. Tiffany liked my bedtime hair twist, Chera thanked me for telling her what loquacious means (talkative), Justin D. (the delegate) gave me props for being a Harry Potter fan.... I just felt so much love coming from my group. I love them, and they love me. After the circle, they pulled out a pizza box (get the significance?) filled with tiny pom-pom turtles. We each took one, walked up to a person and praised them, then switched turtles. By the time everyone finished, we all had red eyes (even the guys), makeup on our clothes, and a fuzzy turtle that had been touched by every member of the group. It was time to go, so we shouted our final goodbyes and left. I found my parents, hugged them, turned in my room key and got a t-shirt (which you'll see me wearing very proudly), and headed home.
We stopped at Burger King in Westminster (which is almost farm country; lots of white people, unlike PG County). Real food!!! Well, sort of. At least those burger don't taste charred. I saw Samie-Jo and her cousin Ashelly there, but they left, so I didn't get to talk to them. Then we got in the car and came home. My parents got me a new cell phone and added me to their plan, which should resolve my service problems. Goodbye, Verizon. It's a Nokia 3560, color, with a funky-looking keypad. I'm not used to such a squarish phone, or one with an internal antenna, but it's still cute, and I'm sure it'll grow on me as much as my Motorola did.
Unpacking is tedious. As is opening a week's worth of mail, and trying to catch your bf online in case he has to work. (Which he does.) And
seeing a computer for the first time in a week, let alone using it, is odd as well. Despite that, I am ecstatic that I went to MLW. I recommend it to
everyone. I saw so many transformations in such a short period of time, I learned so much, I met so many new people. I'm riding on this unbelievable confidence high right now. I went on scholarship money from Delegate Proctor, a semi-distant relative of mine, but it's worth the money. I might not have changed a lot, but that's a good thing. I'm still Lindsay, and I love being me now even more than I did before MLW. For more info on MLW, check out the
website.
