dinnerdance.

Dressed up. Nervous as hell.
But proud and content.

Just in case you don't know; I was recently informed that i was the winner of the annual scholarship awarded by my dad's company. It's given to four children of employees from anywhere in North America each year. There are more than 1000 applicants yearly.

I was invited to the annual dinner dance that my dad's work holds each year, so that i could receive the scholarship and give an acceptance speech. When i was told this, it seemed harmless enough.

But i found out later, that unlike i'd initially thought, there were to be not only 4 or 5 hundred people, and i was not to sit with just anyone...

There were 1650 people in attendance that night at the Westin. Also, because of my "scholar status", me, both my parents, and Sally who agreed to accompany me that night, were placed on a table comprised of important-retired-people. Not to mention, the founder of the company was sitting at the table just next to us, with all of his high-roller friends.

You can imagine that it was all a bit nerve-wracking.

As soon as we arrived at the Westin, even just waiting in the lobby, my nerves were starting to take hold of me. Just seeing everyone all dressed up with heels, pearls, ties, bowties... It suddenly made the whole event real for me. And when we entered the banquet hall, i realized just how large an event this actually was.

1650 people in my mind is nothing like 1650 people in real life. When i think of the number 1650, i think... that's less than the number of people in my school, and there's already not that many people in my school. But seeing 1650 people under dim lights in a banquet hall gives the feeling of something similar to a wave of crippling fear about to engulf me at any moment. Nevermind, it was that exact feeling.

Only a couple of minutes after we were in, the introductions began. I met just about every person i could imagine. The CEO, the founder, the MC, the organizer, my dad's old friends, and even a ton of people my dad had never even heard of before.

I can't lie. It was extremely flattering to have a horde of impressive people praising me, telling me that they're impressed by me. But that didn't make it any less awkward. I was constantly at a loss of words. I had no idea what to say to a person after they complimented me. Now, after thinking back, i still have no clue what i should have said. I didn't want to agree with them, because that seems narcissistic, i didn't want to disagree with them, because that would be unconfident, and i didn't want to say nothing, because that would just be rude.

My vocabulary of the night consisted mainly of the following words:

• Thank
• You
• Very
• Much
• It
• Was
• Nice
• Meeting
• [You]

Even later on, i started just belting out the same words even when i couldn't hear the people talking to me over the loud music.

Regardless of how much my ego had been stroked, sitting at the table and just waiting for the time when i'd have to deliver my speech with the rest of the winners, was nothing short of difficult. It's a good thing that Sally was there to distract me. "You're gonna turn so red :D" , "You're gonna stutter so much :D". Surprisingly though, even with the truth in her comments, it was relaxing to have someone to chat with, and get out some of the nerves.

Finally the time came when Mr. John James called up the winners so that we could be introduced. "Our first winner, Justin Hugh..." he trailed off into a list of my extracurriculars, and interests, while i held back the nerves. As soon as he finished his intro, and motioned for me to take the podium, I swallowed hard and then made my way to the podium. "Thanks for the intro, JJ" and then i continued on with my speech.

I got exactly the response that i was hoping for. Some sincere laughs, and no background murmur, meaning that i actually had everyone's attention. When i finished my speech, i took my plaque, took the picture, and fell into the background.

The rest of the night continued on, and i actually got to enjoy my dinner, now that i'd gotten over the hump. And it was quite nice to recieve even more compliments from people about my speech. Although, i feel a bit guilty that i've left the poor MC with a new nickname he probably doesn't like (i saw him multiple times that night talking to people, i didn't hear a single one call him anything else other than JJ, hehehefun.).

It was a good night. Even with many of the awkward introductions, I came out of it actually feeling really good about myself. I mean, really good about myself. And although i wasn't able to mention it in my speech, i wanna thank all of you guys for being so supportive of me. I really do appreciate it.

And i'd especially like to thank Sally for putting up with the same number of awkward instances to support me.

Oh i forgot to mention the old couple i saw dancing. They danced to almost every single song, and they were like, 75. I hope one day my wife and I, at 75 will be dancing happily to Billy Jean at the company's annual dinner-dance.

Cheers.

Song: Tongue Tied - October Falls