Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Wow! Was I That Loud?

On Saturday we attended Mark's fraternity's 25th Anniversary Ball. Mark was so excited to go, and there was a great turn out of guys from over the years. I really thought I would be bored out of my mind, and was glad we had booked a room at the hotel so I could sneak off if I wanted to. Luckily, I was placed at a table with a group of my fraternity sisters so the night was a lot more fun then I thought it would be. It was great catching up with Joelle and meeting two new sisters.

What blew my mind was the undergrads. It was like the motto for the night was don't stop until you have to have your stomach pumped. When we did the 10th anniversary it was held in the Crystal Ballroom at the Palliser Hotel, so maybe the fact that we were in one of the POSHESTS rooms in Calgary constrained our behavior to only slightly rowdy (picture in this post is of all the AGD's that attended that ball). This anniversary ball was held at the Arts Hotel in Calgary. This is one of those old hotels that someone has slapped a bunch of paint on, tacked some weird art on the walls, and added an overpriced restaurant so that it can now be labeled as trendy. There is absolutely no parking anywhere near it so you have to use valet parking which will run you $14 dollars. Our room ran the heat all night without stopping, the blackout blinds did not close all the way, drinks at the party were $8 for a glass of wine that was maybe a quarter full. On top of it there was a snow storm and many people couldn't find a way home since they didn't bring a car as there was no parking. All in all I thought the venue was a poor choice. Someplace close to the C-Train would have made much more sense. Give people an option for getting there and leaving that isn't going to cost an arm and a leg. Besides if I am going to pay the kind of money it cost to attend this thing, I expected something a little more dazzling.

But that aside, the company was good. I saw people I haven't seen in years, which was wonderful. Everyone looked pretty good, a little more grey, but all in all it seemed everyone was doing well in the world and happy in their personal lives. There were some people I was hoping to see who did not come, some because they thought it was just too expensive, others because they live another country. What struck me is, I won't go to my high school reunion, but I will go to Mark's or my fraternity's anniversary. I guess that just tells you where the strong bonds and relationships in my life were ultimately formed.

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