Graduation day. I get up and spend a while being anxious and getting ready. I get into my dress and heels. With the help of a local (and we already know what the neighbourhood is like where we're staying) we get to the bus stop that takes us over to the waterfront where the ceremony is being held. It's 12:30 and there's a mandatory rehearsal for me.
I'm a little late so I get into the hall and struggle to find my name on the seats. It's alphabetical by first name and I find it in the end next to JJ Pastor, who I shared a few classes with, I think class 5 Pre-Production and 6 Short Film Production. We joke around for a while cause we're both up for student choice awards. I convince him that he's going to win his category because he got a mail requesting photos and I hadn't. He becomes nervous and we have a bit of fun with that.
The ceremony is brilliant. Shawn, Carlos and Bobby all top one another with their entrances. It's great to see them in person even if I had a chance to chat with Bobby yesterday. They're on form and in their element. They're really the same as you always see them in the lectures or in the video news. It's great.
The speeches are all touching. I tear up a little bit. There's alot of talk about dreams coming true and community and supporting one another. It's refeshing cause since ending class 5 and maybe Annecy I haven't really felt like part of something. Like a something. And everyone talking made me remember that I really am. On top of the AM someting, there's the bigger something of being part of my own goals and dreams. It's a concept I haven't quite got set in concrete yet, verbally, but it sure makes sense to me.
JJ doesn't win most supportive student, and I don't win most improved student, but ironically JJ does win the mentor's choice award so his relief was short lived and he had to make a speech anyhow. He he he.
Saw some of the guys from Annecy on the big screen saying they were sorry to not make it to grad. It was cool to think about the European crew back home... and on that I also got to meet the Italian boys from the course. Tommasso never made it though... hmmm.
The reception was really cool. I had the opportunity to chat with Shawn and Bobby, I finally met Dana Boadway and her hubby, and generally networked and socialised for 4 hours. I didn't eat much but it was too exciting going around and finally meeting everyone face to face that I'donly previously seen online. Everyone was so nice and chill and cool and full of great energy!
The after party was at an Irish pub and didn't start till 9 so Fabri and I went to the neighborhood it was in and looked for restaurants nearby. We settled on an italian place (Maccaroni, the name of the short film I almost made) and talk Italian with the waiters and host and so get preferential treatment. The food is really really good... and it's the first time in a month I've eaten pasta that hasn't been overcooked. We spill a glass of wine and the waiter brings us a new one. Tthat's a nice thing about being in NA.
After dinner we still have a bit of time so we wander around a bit. On the other corner is the Church of Scientology so we go in and get recruited... no no, just kidding. Outside there are a bunch of guys in creepy V for vendetta masks and we take some photos. They're protesting scientology and calling it a cult. Then we go over and I spend a few minutes talking to one of them, asking what they're doing and why they're in masks and stuff. He tells me that if their faces were uncovered they'd be in danger of retribution from the members inside. I ask if I'm okay for not having a mask and he says 'you should be'. I still don't understand exactly why they're there every Saturday night but I believe they believe that there's a reason to be there.
Inside the pub I spot some AM t-shirts and head over to chat with them. Alessandro is already in the pub as well having dinner with his friend. I talk to everyone for a while and then we head downstairs to where the official party is going on. More AM people are down there and I get introduced to Kenny and Keith, 2 mentors at AM I never had. There's a mutual embarrassing moment when Kenny and I decide to sit on the sofa and are simultaneously SWALLOWED by the worn out piece of furniture.
I spend the rest of the night talking junk. I tell a bunch of people the long version of why I moved to europe (yes, the one with the pinball machine), but mostly stick to the short version. I dance alot and am enthralled by Doug from class 12 who's a brilliant dancer and makes the night so fun for the rest of us. There's a moment when I'm talking with Alex, Ben and Leslie during a Michael Jackson song and I freak out and all my feelings on the whole MJ issue come out turret-syndrome like in a string of repetitive profanity. Luckily the Billie-Jean-Thriller-ABC medley is up loud enough to drown it out besides my immediate neighbours. Ben lables me officially insane.
Half the crowd disappears and is replaced by a younger more cheerleadery and gangsta group, as well as batchlorette partys and Irish twins. It's time to go soI head back to the hotel at 1am, and all my stress about not being able to find a taxi was completely ill-founded. I could have relaxed and enjoyed alot more, but still it was a great great time.
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