I arrived on campus at around 11am on Friday. It was an absolutely beautiful day, feeling a lot more like early September than mid October. I had two bags, only because my host at the Black House told me they didn’t have any spare blankets or pillows. Understandable, since they are college students – I don’t think I had spare anything either back in those days.

I went first to the Alpha Phi Omega office in the Leavey Center. It was early yet, so there were no Brothers or pledges there. I visited Konjit in Student Programs to say hi to her and Martha, but Martha was in a meeting. I have a feeling that Konjit doesn’t remember my name. It’s okay, because it took me forever to remember Konjit’s.

Then, I went to the bookstore to purchase some Georgetown stuff. I got myself an Alumni t-shirt and a hoodie that was on sale. It’s white with blue and gray chenille letters. I am feeling the color white nowadays for some reason.

Went back to the APO office and hung out with my Great-Little, Laura. Her line name is xXx (pronounced Triple X). There was also another pledge there. Soon, there were more pledges and Brothers there that I could name. It was weird being the most senior Brother in the room, always getting greeted first. It seems like only yesterday that I was consistently being greeted last. It’s a nice feeling to be treated with deference – especially when it isn’t forced, just expected.

Except for this one shrew of a pledge – her body language was all messed up, making it seem like she didn’t really want to be there. I could tell that the other pledge was sort of embarrassed by her. If she sticks with the process, I’m sure she’ll lose the attitude – it’s only week one.

A visited my mentor in the multicultural office, but he was with students. I ran into a bunch of undergrads, most of whom knew me, but I couldn’t tell you their names. I embarrassed myself because I didn’t know this one girl who was on the GU Step Team – I hosted their show last year and should have remembered her. But you know how it is when you see somebody out of context. It’s hard to process an old face in a new place.

I was going to go on a tour of the Carroll Parlor, this museum type thing on campus, but I wanted to go shopping instead. And how did I ever shop. I went down to some stores on Wisconsin Avenue and easily dropped some loot. I am not used to spending a lot of money on anything, but I knew I needed some more clothes for going out and stuff. And surprisingly, I bought no music or books. Cuz you know a brother can drop a c-note in Borders with the quickness.

Came back on campus and left my things in the Black House, where my girl Erin was hosting me. She also was in charge of the Coffee House (poetry reading) that night, so she was getting the programs together. We went back to the multicultural office, where I finally got to chat with my mentor. He’s doing well and has some big plans of his own. I hope everything works out positively for him, writer to writer.

I was thrown mad shade by one of the undergrads both times I was in the multicultural office. I mean, you don’t have to kiss my butt because I’m an alum, that’s not what I expect or need. But I mean, don’t ignore me…that’s rude. I have had conversations with this dude before, so it’s not like he doesn’t know me.

Interesting…maybe he was only being nice last year because I was cool with Amerie, who was there. Or, could be something with the fact that I know one of his best friends. I don’t know…this interaction was weird and unpleasant.

I went back to the APO office, found a pledge, and had a meal/visit with her. Basically, we hung out, got beverages, and got to know each other. She is this real cool, down to earth Asian chick from Portland.

After that, I helped set up the Coffee House. It was a little sad that nobody really was helping my girl out. The Coffee House is a homecoming tradition – you’d think mad people would want to ensure its success. Well, it was successful anyway, thank God. Even though there weren’t a lot of alums there, I was happy to see a few tables full of recent grads.

I read two poems, “Black Light Fandango” and “Stab.” I think people found both poems interesting, but the subject matter of “Black Light Fandango” was a little too much for some to handle. I will post the poem in its entirety at a later time. “Stab” went over better…but I don’t know, it’s hard to know ahead of time what an audience wants to hear.

Also…maybe it’s possible I am underestimating my poetry. I got the impression that maybe, just maybe, the crowd found the poem to be “heavy” and therefore was too caught up in thinking about it to really stand up and cheer for it. I don’t know. I’ll have to ask my girl and the MC.

[deleted]

Went to the Black House after running into my boy Patrice and some other folks. I like Patrice. I wrote an entry about him under DJ Parler, in the “Friends” section of this diary.

Me and Erin ended up going back to Leavey to get some food so we could eat before the party. We were sooooo freaking hungry. I ended up getting sushi for the second time that day.

Oh yeah, the Sorors were in full effect. Two AKA’s live at the Black House, and though it wasn’t like hanging out with other AKA friends I have, they were all very cordial and nice. In fact, the DJ for the party was neo frat from Beta chapter.

The party itself was surprisingly good. The Friday night homecoming party is always hit or miss, usually miss from the alumni perspective. But this one was different.

Even though I enjoyed the party, I was still in a pissy mood. [deleted]

I went to sleep at something crazy, like 3:45, only to wake up at 7am Saturday morning. I had another meal/visit scheduled with one of the pledges at Starbucks on campus. She was a really cool chick. I liked her a lot.

On my way to a used book sale at the library, I saw that this homecoming 5k run would be terminating at the front gates, so I stayed around and took some pictures. I ran into a few cool alums who I like being around and we chatted for a bit.

I made my way over to a sale at the library. WACK. Wiggedy so. These middle aged guys had taken like half the books off the carts and had them piled up on the ground, going through them! Like that’s so freaking rude! I had gone to the book sale at exactly 9:30am, the start time of the sale, and these books were already taken. I asked the Library Associates what was going on, and they said they opened the sale early since all the books were ready. So I walked away without supporting the sale. That’s really unprofessional. You have this half-assed book sale that you let people, obviously book dealers, come and take all these books and leave the alumni to have nothing. Or, maybe they were alumni, but it just wasn’t fair to let people buy books before the allotted time.

After the book sale, I went back to the bookstore and spent MORE money. I know, right? Crazy.

I was a few minutes late to this alumni career chat. It wasn’t especially well attended, but I really enjoyed myself! One of the panelists was this dude I knew from when he was an undergrad. It was good to see that he was doing well. I also chatted with a woman who works at my old job. Some things stay the same, apparently.

After the career thing, I had a lot of free hours. I am not a big drinker, so I didn’t go tailgating. And I really don’t like football all that much, plus I was alone and extremely tired, so I didn’t go to the game. (Later, I found out that they were charging for the game!)

So I went to the APO office and checked email for a while, and in general, didn’t dos hit but walk around to different places on campus, resting, eating a snack or two, and thinking a lot.

I guess that makes me a solitary kind of person…at least sometimes.

My girl Shari came to campus, and we hung out for a bit before the reception at the Black House. It was nice seeing old friends there, but on the whole, the event was kinda dry. Lots of people showed up and rolled back out after like 20-30 minutes. That was a little sad. But, a quick glance at old friends is better than nothing at all, so I was thankful that the Black House was keeping the tradition alive.

Shari and my friend Nadia helped me to pack. I had sooooo much stuff, it was crazy! And I had only been on campus for like 30 hours, lol. Somehow we made it work. I thanks Erin and the rest of the House for their hospitality, and I was off.

After a debacle with a cabbie who kicked me out of his cab and picked up four white passengers, I waited with Nadia for our friend Deidre. She said she’d take me home, God bless her! It was nice spending even that little bit of time with her.

And finally, I was home. I watched Saturday Night Live for as long as I could, then I was knocked the fuck out.

Homecoming 2004 is now over! See you in ’05!