"I don't cause commotions, I am one."

just poured my heart out. and the page refreshed. i guess it wasn’t meant to be seen. 

Another year older… another year wiser?

So, I’m turning 17 tomorrow. It feels kind of surreal… I can’t believe how quickly time goes by. Can’t we just turn back the clocks? 

How might one go about posting notes? And responding to notes on one’s own tumblr?

Don’t judge, I’m new at this :P 

I think I’ve finally caught the congress bug…

So, I first heard about congress in middle school from my sister’s friend who was in the club. She was a fashion freak and is currently studying at FIT; I thought model congress was a design club where you debate fashion. No joke. 

I soon learned that model congress had nothing to do with models, but was simply a model congress. Don’t judge. I’m quite gullible. 

Freshman year, an acquaintance of mine tried to get me to go to a model congress meeting with him. I walked in, saw who was on board, and left. That marked the biggest regret of my high school career. 

As sophomore year came, many people told me to join congress; those who knew me, and my love for a good debate, said I was crazy for not being in the club. As sophomore year went, I simply said it was too late at the point to join. 

During the final weeks of my sophomore year, a friend one year older than me was filling out junior forms, and on extracurricular activities, model congress had its own, pre-assigned slot. I was shocked. Model Congress looks good for college? Well, now I have to join. 

Junior year: I joined congress, just like I said I would. I would be lying if I said I joined for the right reasons. I joined to put it on my resume; for a while, that’s all I viewed congress as, a nice thing on my resume. That eventually changed.

OMC: Long Beach won Best-D, which was great, but that’s not why I began to love congress. I was in Junior Stacked, something that slightly intimidated since it was my first two day congress. I thought I spoke well, and expected some type of recognition. I did not even receive a shout out… the person who won best speaker came up to me and said, “this should be yours.” That really meant a lot to me, peer recognition. But, that was it, now I was hooked. I was determined to continue sharing my opinions, and ultimately be recognized at closing ceremonies for what I said. 

New Ro and Herricks: Thought I spoke well, guess I should have thought again. As I started to make friends (something I’m not that good at) I realized congress was opening me up in many ways. But, I still wanted an award. Cocky. I know.

Hewlett: The last congress. I was in EGOTS (Emmys-Grammys-Oscars-Tony(s)-Sags). I was determined to debate well, and debate hard. As determined as I was, I found myself being more attracted to the social aspect of congress, something that shocked me, in a very good way.

Me, the person who blocked out “friends” simply because I have so few, all of a sudden was laughing with people at lunch. I mean, I don’t even take lunch at school, the real reason being I have no one to sit with. How could a club, filled with these freaks, be so special? I felt like I was watching someone else have all this fun. 

Closing ceremonies, I did win an award. I won Honorable Mention. At that point, I felt guilty that all this time I was trying so hard at congress for these selfish reasons. As great as it was, it was not the award that was so good, it was people running up to hug me for it. These people who I didn’t even know cared about me. The boy who won best speaker from OMC (who I mentioned earlier) ran to me on stage to hug me. He’s someone whom I greatly respect as a speaker, and that, was the most rewarding part. 

Sorry to use an overused cliché, but congress truly was a roller coaster ride. It took a long way to get there, and was filled with loops, but the end was smooth. I can’t help but to regret that I voluntarily missed two years of congress. But, I’ll cherish this year.

I would like to thank my board, my fellow delegates, and the friends I’ve made. I can’t wait for next year!

I’ve finally found a place where I belong.