Blind Prophecy

Friday night, we had a meeting for all the parents and chaperones of the kids going on this school trip to Chicago this weekend. I was surprised and none-too-pleased to discover that I’m chaperoning 8 high school boys now. When I signed on to this field trip, I was going to chaperone my brother Jordan, just Jordan, because of his special needs. Well, I guess they decided that they didn’t have enough chaperones for me to do that. So now, I have 7 other (quote: well-behaved :unquote) boys in my charge. There are almost 200 students (choir, orchestra, band) going on this trip. Also, I appear to be the only non-Mormon chaperone (translation – among 200 people, I’ll be the only one jonesing for a cigarette)

We have to be at the airport at 4:45 on Thursday morning. That means we’ll leave the house around 4 a.m., which means I’ll have to up at 3 a.m. Then, we only have about 2 hours of “free time” until after Wicked, which puts us back in the hotel around 11 p.m.

On Friday, we’ve got too much free time, in my opinion. Six hours spent at the Navy Pier (most of the afternoon) before we go on a dinner cruise. I question the sanity of the person who decided to give 200 high school students from Utah a 6 hour block of free time in Chicago.

Saturday is going to be the worst, though. Breakfast is at 6 a.m., the we’lll spend 12 hours at a local high school watching each of the school’s performing groups compete in the competition that is the purpose of the trip. After that’s over, we’re having dinner at Medieval Times, then going to an awards ceremony for the competition (which, I’m told, is traditionally followed by a dance). We might not expect to get to bed until well after midnight. But of course, as chaperones, we’re expected to patrol the halls for a while after curfew.

Then, it’s up early on Sunday for the final concert and then the exodus home. I’ll be back in SLC sometime around 10 p.m.

Suffice it to say, I’m a lot less excited about this trip than I was a week ago. I just hope my laptop arrived in the next day or two, because if I have to spend 12 hours watching students perform “Ode to Joy,” I may commit suicide. I hated these things when I was a student in the orchestra, I doubt they’re going to improve with age.

And, I keep remembering that Saturday will be April Fool’s Day. So… anyone with chaperoning experience who has some words of wisdom that might prepare me for the potential hell I’m walking into?

In other news, L was in town over the weekend for his grandfather’s birthday, but I didn’t get a chance to see him. His family monopolized his time and I’m not upset, just a little disappointed that we weren’t able to hang out, even for a short time. I don’t mean to short-change any of my other friends online or in real life, but I’ve been terribly lonely since he left. I haven’t heard much from my Vegas friends lately (well, since I turned down the job in Vegas – I think they might be upset I’m not “coming home”), and I’ve only got a few of those amazingly close friends who I can talk about anything with.

So, I spent the weekend watching Battlestar Gallactica, miniseries + season 1. I finally broke down and bought the DVD set rather than trying to catch up on everything through reruns. I also finished reading More Tales of the City and started Further Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin. All thoroughly enjoyable.

Filed under: livejournal by Jere Keys