Not As Bad As I Thought!

OK, so it's the day after the party, and even though there was a lot more food than necessary, and no one used the pool or the hot tub, I think the party went well.  I don't think I made too much of a fool of myself, and I think I was able to carry several conversations without too much difficulty.

One thing I learned.  Back at this event two years ago, when I was thoroughly undermined and ruined for this event from then on, I was doing a speech during the middle of the party when the host interrupted me, undermined me (again), and asked the crowd of incoming students if they had any questions.  To me, at the time, this seemed like an incredibly stupid and self-serving idea.  This is a party, not a Q&A.  No one wants to stand around listening to other people ask and answer questions.  It seemed ridiculous to me.  So, last year, I made a point of not doing that.  The host of the previous year's event was there and she asked if there would be one, and I did my best to artfully put the kibosh on that; I think I said something to the effect of, "If they had questions, they can ask one of us one-on-one."

(She didn't come for this party.  I wonder why.  I actually thought they should have come this year, but since we had such a good turnout ... nahhhhhhh!)

It felt good rejecting her suggestion.  It was my way of asserting myself and wresting control of this event away from her.  After all, I am the president.  But, to keep the peace, I was willing to do a Q&A for this party -- you know, as kind of a sop, an olive branch after what I did last year.  It's kind of manipulative, but who cares, I think it's better to have them on my side than not.

Well, like I said, they didn't come, so I thought that I could shelve that idea and let the partygoers do their thing like last year.  But as the time came to make my speech, the hosts actually said that I should have a Q&A, and in fact I should make all incoming students and alumni announce himself or herself.  I had a feeling other people didn't like the Q&A from two years ago, but apparently I was wrong.  So, yesterday, I stopped everything and opened up the floor for questions ... which there really wasn't any.  So I flipped it around and asked the alumni if they had any advice for the students ... and I and a couple others said a couple things.  And that was it.

I still kind of think a Q&A is a momentum-killer, but if other people think it's a good idea, OK, I'll do it from now on.  I'll file that away.

Now to get the pictures up and thank everyone for coming.  Man, being a social butterfly is exhausting work!