GreekChat.com Forums - a reluctant PNM faces the music

GAH! I'm sorry y'all. I really am trying here. I'm running on 4ish hours of sleep a night with everything else I have going on. I'm sticking to one-day-per-day for now and I'll try to give you more if at ALL possible, but life is insane right now!

On with today's installment...

Round 2, Day 1 (Philanthropy)

As the reality of my full schedule started to sink in, I remember glancing around my group trying to gauge the reactions of other girls to their schedules. Some were visibly upset, a few were crying, and a slim minority looked more or less content. Not wanting to make anyone feel worse, I masked my excitement as best as I could and snuck away to a bathroom to call my mom.

She was ecstatic. She actually started crying into the phone. She said she was so happy the houses were seeing me for the great member I would be, and she made me cry a little too. :) But I had a hectic day to prepare for, so I hung up, fixed my makeup, and tried to mentally ready myself.

My schedule really was incredible. Of my favorite 5 houses, I had only lost one (Trombone) and in addition to my four remaining favorites I had 8 other houses to take for another spin. I was relieved beyond description.

Saxophone - I was absolutely thrilled that I had been invited back to this house, and I couldn't wait for their philanthropy party because of my sincere love for their philanthropy. However, I was a little nervous about this round as a whole - believe me when I say that I am HIGHLY lacking in artistic skills, and I hoped the rushers wouldn't judge me based on how cute my crafts were. Anyway, we were led inside, welcomed back, and sat down for a video about the philanthropy. I found myself crying for the second time that day - I had such a strong personal connection with the organization and wanted so badly to keep serving them as I had done in high school. When the video stopped and my rusher retrieved me, she seemed taken aback by my tears saying something along the lines of "we don't normally see that until Pref!" I assured her that I was okay and explained my experience with their philanthropy while I assembled the craft - which, to my relief, required almost no creativity. She was sweet, sympathetic, and seemed to love the organization as much as I did. She was the only person I talked to that day, and I left wanting Saxophone more than ever.

Voice - This house hadn't really made any sort of impression on me in the first round, so I was glad for a second chance to form an opinion. But once again, I didn't really feel much of a connection here. Their video about their philanthropy was touching, but as I assembled the craft I asked my rusher what sorts of things the group did to support their philanthropy, and I was never able to get much of an answer. It disappointed me that their philanthropy seemed to them like an afterthought, not something they really put much effort into. On top of that, their craft involved freehand drawing (NOT my forte), and mine looked absolutely terrible. All in all it was just an awkward party, and I wasn't crazy about this house.

Bassoon - I was honestly surprised I'd been invited back here based on 1) the tent talk I'd been hearing about these girls' pocketbooks, 2) the fact that they were considered a "top" chapter, and 3) my inability to secure a rec. But I liked their philanthropy and the girl I met that day. The craft was impossible and they had pretty much given up on making the rushees actually put it together, so I had the whole party to talk to my rusher. According to my notes, we touched on our summer vacations, football, and Harry Potter. I left feeling so-so about this group.

Double Bass - Since I honestly remembered ZERO about my experience here in Round 1 (it was my very first house), I had no previous opinion going in. We were led in, sat down for a video about the philanthropy, and then retrieved by our rushers to do the craft (I had realized this was the way every party would essentially go.) Their video was cute and it included footage from their big philanthropy event last year, which I thought looked like a BLAST. It was seriously the cutest and funnest-looking philanthropy event I had heard about thus far. But when my rusher greeted me and led me away for the craft, she was BEYOND awkward. Very sweet, but just not able to prevent the awkward silences that kept cropping up. I felt pressured to carry the conversation myself, which being an introvert I was NOT comfortable with. I left this house feeling neutral - I didn't want to judge it based on just one girl. I hoped to be invited back here to give them another chance.

Percussion - This was another house I was thrilled to be invited back to. I got rushed by two girls whereas everyone around me only had one rusher, and I tried to seize the opportunity to connect with both of them. The philanthropy video was high-impact but I fought back my tears since I didn't have any sort of personal connection to the subject to explain my crying. (Another important factor was that I didn't want to have to re-do my makeup AGAIN. :) ) The two girls I talked to here were great and both were involved in the same campus ministry I'd discussed here in Round 1 (looking back, that was probably planned). The craft was a breeze and the conversation flowed smoothly. I was enamored by this house.

Flute - Ah, the pet house. I'm glad this part of the story is intriguing y'all so much! Standing outside this house, I resolved NOT to mention my pet today. I'd hardly gotten to talk about myself here in Round 1 and I wanted to see if I had any sort of connection with these girls rather than just their mascot. But I soon realized that my resolution was in vain - after the video, I was greeted by an overly excited girl who greeted me with a handshake and "I heard you used to have a pet ___!" I mentally banged my head against the wall as she excitedly led me away to do the craft. The more we talked, the more I got the impression that she was the one in charge of adopting this animal and had been assigned to me so she could pump as much care-and-keeping information out of me as possible. I suppressed my frustration as I put together the craft while answering her questions. She didn't ask me one thing about myself, nor did we discuss their philanthropy at all. I left feeling really disappointed in this house - I felt like they weren't interested at all in me, only in my pet. UGG.

Viola - Another house I was excited to be invited back to. Once again I was struck by how gorgeous these girls were, and today they were wearing really cute outfits that matched their philanthropy. The video was cute, but I hadn't even heard of the organization before this party, so I seized the opportunity to ask as many questions as I could. It made for a great conversation with my rusher as she explained the organization to me and described some of the events the girls organized to support it. In addition, the craft was super easy. I liked the girl I talked to and still considered this one of my favorite houses.

Some other notes from this day -

Roommate Kat had six invitations and was really upsest, however she had fallen in love with Oboe that day after their philanthropy video had reduced her to tears, and this cheered her up a bit. I honestly still couldn't believe that a beautiful blonde pageant queen had only gotten half the number of invitations I did.

Neighbor Sara had eight invitations including her favorite, French Horn. She seemed fairly content although I got the impression that she was hanging most if not all of her hopes on that one house.

I had a short break in my parties that day for lunch and after I got my food, I walked around searching for a table, eventually running into Amy from my Pi Chi group. I sat down with her and we talked about how our rushes were going so far. She had gotten seven invitations and we had Saxophone and Percussion in common as favorites. She also told me she was planning on getting involved in the same student ministry as myself. I was so excited! We swapped numbers and I made a mental note to invite her along to hang out with me & my neighbors next time.

I crashed at about 8:00 that night and slept like a baby....