When Other People Drink

(Me and "Iceman", the classmate who knew exactly how to comfort me.)
Last night was... interesting.

One of the directing students threw a gathering/party that tons of people from all three classes were able to attend. I stuck to water all night long, but mostly everyone was pretty hammered. Here's a summary of important events:

- One of my male drunken classmates told a female classmate that he wants to sleep with her. (NOTE: He has a serious girlfriend.)

- One of my female drunken classmates was ALL OVER a male drunken classmate. (NOTE: He has a serious girlfriend.)

- One of my drunken classmates made me cry.

- One of my drunken classmates comforted me from crying with tremendous skill, and I felt far better once it was all over than I had felt even before I was crying. He told me how grateful he is that I'm in his class, and that he appreciates how I bring something to classes that no one else does. He said he thinks it's important that I come into everything with a spirit of honesty, and that he knows I'm talented. It was the best cheer up speech I've heard in a long, long time.

- I started seriously considering getting a drastically short haircut.
Thoughts?

- The classmate who reacted badly to my hug last week? I haven't touched him since, for fear of doing something wrong. When he was leaving, I went for a handshake. He grabbed my hand with both of his hands warmly. I sat back down in my chair and faced away from him. He put his hands on my shoulders with care and began telling everyone I was near how great he thinks I am. So I reached behind me to give him a sort of backwards hug around the legs, saying, "Awww, thanks." He pushed my hands away, was clearly upset, and walked away. (NOTE: I was sitting in a chair with a back on it, so the reach was awkward, I barely touched his clothed legs, and there was a chair between us. It was not in any way, shape, or form a sexual advance or a flirtatious move. And HE TOUCHED ME FIRST!)

- One of my classmates drunkenly insisted on starting a conversation on the strangest places we'd had sex, which led to me breaking rule #33 in an awkward and uncomfortable manner. (33. Don’t tell classmates about my (lack of a) sexual history. Remember that it is none of their business.) Now everyone knows. And I wish they didn't.

- I think a guy was flirting with me. He's not in the program, so part of me thinks that he isn't really out of bounds according to my self-imposed stipulations (no one in the program, ESPECIALLY not in my class). But he's the roommate of one of my classmates, and he works for the theatre, so it wouldn't come without complications. Don't know him very well yet, so I guess I shouldn't think too much about it. It's incredibly possible that nothing will ever happen, so why should I stress?

- I went out to breakfast with the braver, more awake people from the group. I didn't get home until about 6:15am. It's been a very long time since I've seen 6:15am from that end of the day.



There's one more resolution I've broken, by the way...

5. Do not gossip behind people’s backs.

I can't help it. It's human nature. I'm sorry, but there's just no way I'm going to be able to make it through this without venting.

My method of limiting the damage is to only discuss things with people from other classes. And by people, I mean my two roommates (a 3rd year and a 2nd year), and our neighbor girls (a 3rd year and a 2nd year). The four of us get together and say what we need to say about our respective classes with the knowledge that it will not go beyond us. And that's a beautiful thing.


May you refrain from using alcohol as an excuse.

~A~