Green and Gold Ball

Well, I did it. I went to the Green and Gold Ball. Or rather, the Gold and Green Ball. That's what they called it out here, but I seem to remember it being called the Green and Gold Ball. Whatever.

Anyway, I debated with myself all week about whether or not to go. I knew that I would probably end up spending much of the time sitting by myself, feeling a little foolish and wishing desperately that I had a mate to hang out with. (That's 'mate' in the British sense of 'friend' - I don't mean a spouse!)

I was right.

But I also knew that I if I didn't go, I'd end up sitting home by myself, being geeky and doing some kind of homework (most likely), and wishing that I had a mate to hang out with. If I did go, though, I knew I was likely to at least meet a few new people and get to know some others better.

I was right.

First off, I didn't realize that this was a formal affair. I've never been to a Green and Gold Ball before (although I suppose the word 'ball' ought to have tipped me off), so I just thought, dance. And for me, dance means dress however you want. So I ended up just wearing jeans and a jumper (that's sweater to you folks). Felt a little foolish most of the night, but no one said anything (at least not until the very end, and it was OK by then). So that was all right.

I spent most of the first part of the dance talking to some of the people from Lancaster Ward who were there. That was nice, and I learned some names I didn't know before. And then I talked to Toni, the YSA leader in our ward, who is 22 and very nice. But that didn't last very long, as a few other people interrupted our conversation. A little later some of her other YSA friends from the stake came over to talk to her, and although she introduced me and they tried hard to include me, they had a lot of things to talk about that I knew nothing about (you know -- "What's Steven doing these days?"). I had a great time listening to the live band, though, who during the first part of the dance played some good old songs from the Golden Age of Radio -- Pennies from Heaven, The Lady is a Tramp, Fly Me to the Moon, Tiptoe Through the Tulips, just to name a few.

Well, after an hour or two of this, I decided to take a little walk outside. It was getting stuffy, and I wanted to figure just where the Distribution Centre was anyway. I walked around by the MTC, Distribution Centre, and guest hostel for a little over half an hour, and then went back inside.

By this time, the band was playing some more recent stuff. And by recent, I mean 30 years. Maybe 20. Probably not. I found the Lancaster people again, and took a seat by them. There was another girl there by this time whom I didn't recognize, and I ended up sitting by her. We got talking, and realized that we'd been in Institute together last week. She was very chatty, so we had a good time talking about church dances and institute, and boyfriends (I get asked about that a lot out here ...), and girls who take their shoes off at dances. Before too long, the band ended and we had a closing prayer (naturally), and I got up to try and find Matthew, whose Dad had given me a ride down.

On my way out to look for Matthew, I ran into Rachel, another girl from my Institute, who had given me a lift to the train station the first week. We talked for a minute, and she complimented me on my outfit ("Nice of you to dress up"). :) I laughed and explained, and she said she felt silly enough being dressed up, and that I probably didn't feel any more foolish in my jeans and sweater.

I suppose I'm glad I went. I had been hoping to find someone from Kendal there, so that I could ask about what to do and see when I'm there, but no one showed up that I knew, and one of the Lancaster members said she hadn't seen any of them there either.

I have been thinking that I would try to go to Kendal this weekend, but it's been very rainy, and I'm not sure I want to try walking around an unfamiliar town if it's going to be like this the whole day. If not, I think I'll still go into Lancaster and get an umbrella, if nothing else.