He thinks he can dance...and don't tell him otherwise

This weekend was amazing! I left on Thursday, alone, and headed for my grandma's house. This weekend could've been better if V would've came with me, but oh well. It was awesome nonetheless. I drove and drove and drove and finally made it into McKinney. I spent the night and the next morning hit up some thrift stores. I had planned on bringing all my dirty clothes to wash at my grandma's but I forgot them. I luckily brought a few extra sets of clothes to wear. I didn't bring any undies or socks though. I hit up some thrift stores and finally got everything I needed. My front tires were a little bald, so I got some new tires too. I ate some Arby's with my grandma and then headed off to Plano.
I picked up Amy in Plano. I planned a nice route on some turnpikes through Dallas. Earlier, on thursday, I paid 3.50 in a check to Oklahoma for the turnpike. Well we made great time, but it cost us over $2 to get there. When I showed up it was crazy! Everyone was dancing, the music was loud and the vibe was great. I was nervous. I hadn't really been this energetic in a long time and honestly hadn't hung out with anyone of a different race for more than a few minutes since high school; this weekend was going to be an awakening. I mixed and mingled and met this crazy short girl named Domonique. I laughed with her and Tori and Carol until I cried and then we ran off to McD's. I won't go through the rest of the trip, but let's just say I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.
Saturday morning came early. I grabbed breakfast, with one of my room mates and headed to registration. I only thought Friday was wild; Saturday morning was off the hook! We were yelling and dancing and I was not looking forward to the weekend. I shrugged it off and yelled along with them. That's when it started; I began to lose all inhibition. The rest of the day was a blur. I met a ton of amazing people, and thought about all I'd been missing out on in life. I spoke up when asked and followed with needed. We came up with chants "We represent" "HP, HP" "Nortel" "HP, HP" "Nortel". It was great. I learned about resumes and interviews and even more I learned about myself. I met a guy named Jonah, who was crazy loud and exciting. I met Charles, who was from Pine Bluff and a true leader through and through. I met PArker, who was nerd all the way and very proud of it. I met Gilberto, who really could relate to others. I met Alamzeb, who I never really got his name but made me laugh for his nutting speeches about dancing...er not dancing. I don't remember much of the day, but I do remember the Target party. It was WILD! Red lights everywhere and punch and food and crazy awesome dancing. At this point I had been wanting to bust my stuff, so I found a group of girls and jumped in the middle. It was awesome. Charles, I think, ran up to me and was "work it, Blair" or "there you go". I felt awesome at that point and danced until the lights came up. At one point some DLP guys drug me into a circle, mainly because I was stopped for a second to relax. That was cool. But yeah, Alamzeb wouldn't dance, but I did get Gabrielle to dance and even this cool guy from HP, Daniel. It was fun and I was so sweaty and hot afterwards.
Sunday I woke up with a killer sinus headache and a sadness inside. I knew it was the last day, of only two days, and I had just started meeting these awesome new people. We learned about diversity and did the coolest activity I've ever done. It involved beads and a clear box and the beads represented races. I found it sad that my box had 20 or so white beads and three other colors. THREE!!! I've been half way across the world and I had three off white beads. The questions were mostly out of my control, but still...I really felt sad. I learned that although most people tend to float toward one personality trait, I'm really right in the middle. Well we chanted and practiced more chants and then turned out to not get to use them. I danced some more and then....get this...I wont some money for being myself all weekend. I got $500 from HP and the HP people in our group picked me. It was me and Jonah and Charles and this other real outspoken girl, Randesha. I got up there, dancing and got Daniel to dance too. It was soooooo cool. I couldn't believe it. I was shaking and stuff. I listened to an awesome speech about getting my kindergarten confidence back and an even more amazing poem about living my life to the fullest from the coolest emcee, Trey. Then it was over. I packed up, hugged everyone and left. On the way out I ran into alam and Charles. We got a few more pictures together and left. Slightly before that, Alam told me he'd pick up one of those awesome Longhorn magnets to put on my car (he goes to UT). That made my afternoon. So yeah I'm pumped that I went, some for money, but mainly because of all the awesome people I met. I can't get over the leadership I witnessed this weekend. It was life changing in all ways and I can't wait to see where everyone else takes their lives.
I made it back to Gege's, after having a nice conversation with Amy and not hitting any tolls. The drive home was long and thoughtful. I jammed to every rap song I had on my iPod and danced and thought about all the good times I had.
Then it ended. On the way to work today my car overheated and stopped running. I had it towed into Joplin. It's going to cost most of the money I have left that I made this summer. All things end in time, I hope the same isn't true of my friendships with the people I met this weekend.