Ambassador's Ball - 1 December

I spent the morning working on the end-of-the-voyage report for the library. It is an assessment of everything that worked and everything that didn't work in the library for this semester so it has the potential to become a very long report. Eileen and I are collaborating on it so we need to get together soon and talk about the contents of the report. I foresee a Potato Chip Happy Hour becoming a work-session very soon.

My shift in the library was quiet! It was the last day of classes before finals and it was also the day of the AMBASSADOR'S BALL!!! It's a big, fancy-schmancy affair where everyone dresses up in their best clothes and eats a wonderful meal and then attends a dance afterwards. Everyone has been looking forward to it for the entire semester. But it meant that everyone was consumed by plans for it and traffic in the library was non-existent.

I was attending the ball with Eileen, a professor from UVa and a Life Long Learner who looks like Santa Claus. What a mix! There were two seatings - 5:00 pm and 8:00 pm. We were signed up for the 5:00 seating since we had procrastinated and didn't get the paperwork done until the last possible moment.

Only 22 people did not sign up for the ball so we felt safe in closing the library at 4:30. I rushed downstairs to my cabin and got all gussied up in my clothes and ran back upstairs to the dining hall to join the hordes waiting to be admitted. We were soon led to our table and enjoyed the sunset over the Atlantic as we drank champagne. Life is damn good! Our meal started to arrive and conversation was at a minimum at that point. The piece de resistance was the entree of filet mignon. Oh la la! It was so good and cooked to perfection. The time flew by and we all enjoyed the dinner. I made the circuit around the dining room taking pictures of students and faculty members and have a nice record of the people I've come to know.












The pictures above from left to right: Kelly Devlin-a library student employee; Mike my nephew; Brendan and Joanna-two students that I've really enjoyed getting to know.

I skipped the dancing in favor of spending the rest of the night in the faculty lounge drinking wine and enjoying the company of my colleagues. It was such a nice way to spend the evening. I think we all needed to spend some time relaxing and socializing with each other. Unfortunately, I didn't last much past 10:00 and went to bed. How depressing to know that the lure of my comfy bed is stronger than the lure of socializing. I can live with that though!