Kenneth Cheung's Alpha Phi Omega Universe
Reverent Family Dinner
Report
Christmas Theme
December 18, 2003
I could not attend the Reverent Family Dinner because it occured after my
Greyhound bus was supposed to drive me back to Los Angeles. I reserved the
ticket two weeks in advance, so I never knew if there was ever going to be
another dinner (is there quota for dinners or something? There seem to be a lot
this semester. Yes, for me, 3 is a lot). Barney and this FBI squad wanted to go
to HOOters on the 17th of December, but he failed to give a good reason to the
rest of the family to go (I asked him three times, too.). Other people were
thinking of Julie's house, but she was very busy that night (we were thinking of
Julie's place earlier, but it was decided that it was best not to disturb the
house mates who were studying for finals). I called Long Huynh during the event
and gathered all the information from his account.
The dinner began at Barney's apartment sometime after 6:30 (Punctuality is not
our family's strong point. The dinner was supposed to start at 5pm). These are
the people who I heard came; Jeff Carillo, Stephanie, Yman, Richwood, Vashti,
Anna, Theo, Mike Huen, Mel, Barney (it's obvious), Long, Phi, Angelique, Curtis,
Andrea Paquia, and Cheryl. Jeff and Andrea only stopped by to drop their gifts:
Drea had to go to the airport to transport a relative. Julie was out of town, as
was I.
There were only about 10 fraternity members with gifts. Long took my place and
brought my gift. My gift was in a shoebox in a paper bag filled with over $7
worth in snacks (because Richwood stated that $5 was the minimum), which I
called "a feast fit for a college student." I wrote on a Post-it Note on the
package, "To somebody who did not bring a gift." I did this because since I knew
I was not going to attend, there would be an extra gift. I felt sorry for those
people who did not bring a gift and thus would not participate in the pink
elephant gift exchange. From what I have heard, a pink elephant gift exchange is
a type of gift distribution where a random person gets a gift, opens it, and if
someone else wants the gift once it is opened, they can take it, then someone
else can do the same thing and take the same gift. Once a gift passes three
people, the third person must keep it and cannot take any more gifts. The rules
may vary based on who is making them. Nevertheless, it was a new concept for me.
(I normally do not give gifts to anybody, so if I do, it has a very specific
purpose.) Cheryl eventually got my gift. At first she thought it was shoes,
which was funny.
After the exchange, there was dinner. Unfortunately, there was problem: there
was one or two main dishes, 5 pies, and the rest were snacks. Theo and Mike were
the ones who brought the chicken. Apparently, the dinner was not very
appettizing, so Cheryl went to the market to buy food (it sounds sad because it
is. This is why we need to coordinate our dinners beforehand. I should have
started another webpage to list everything out. Next time I will initiate the
list as I did with the Thanksgiving Theme to avoid this embarassment.).
While everyone was waiting for more food, some people began watching a movie on
TV, other people were playing the original Nintendo Entertainment System (I
cannot believe I missed that!), and another group was resting (that is what Long
told me, so ask him for details).
A second party was scheduled at 8pm, so after 8:30, more people came. They were;
Andrea Abedanio, Mike Lynch, and Jeffry-Scott. If I was there, I would probably
say that it was fun.
Until next time, may you plan ahead.
07.27.2004