Allison's Notes:

Today is our second to last day, so I'm feeling kind of sad.  Once we got started with our activities today, I didn't have time to stop and think about the fact that today was our last day.  It was a crazy, whirlwind, exciting and fun day.  We had our individual counseling appointments in the morning, so as soon as breakfast was over, Jen and I headed over to LBJ.  My appointment was at 9:20, while hers was at 8:30.  I went over there with her, because I was going to do some writing while I was waiting for my turn.  The one thing that's really nice about LBJ building is that they have these really comfortable square kind of couches that at least 2 to 3 people can sit on.  I liked having a comfortable place to sit, where I could move the bench around and make myself comfortable.

On my way in, I got to see someone I hadn't seen since I left Phoenix.  My Mom!  I was so happy to see her, and she was happy to see me too!  It was nice running into her because I missed her, and I hadn't talked to her since Saturday morning, when I got here at RIT, when I called her from the EYF office around 10 am.  One other thing that was good about seeing her was that I was able to get some money to go and buy some t-shirts at the bookstore!

Speaking of the bookstore, that is one awesome bookstore.  The student union, while small *compared to Arizona State University*, has a LOT of stuff there.  You can find everything from alarm clocks to toothbrushes to clothes to RIT stuff to textbooks.  That store should be a mini-mall in itself.  Exploring it was fun.  Trying on clothes was fun.  Pretending to be college students was fun.  It was all fun.  I got 3 shirts, one saying  "Learn It, Live It, Love It, Play It... Softball... It's a Girl Thing", a baby tee saying Rochester Institute Of Technology, and a regular T-Shirt saying National Technical Institute for the Deaf.  They were awesome.  Be warned though, the prices seemed kind of high, but maybe that's because I'm not used to New York prices.  Sodas cost anywhere between 75 cents to a dollar.  In Arizona they usually cost us between 45 cents to 60 cents.  So maybe that was actually a good price.  Could someone please tell me if I'm right or wrong about this?

Jen and I came back from Campus Connections where we proceeded to start getting ready for Seabreeze!  I was soooooo excited about going to Seabreeze, because it would be the second amusement park that I had been to.  We have one amusement park in Arizona, but now most people's parents won't let them go there anymore, because it's become a spot for trouble.  The reputation of the place has caused parents to not want their kids to go there anymore, because they don't want them to get involved in what's going on over there.  So it's kind of a shame.

The very first ride I went on was the yellow roller coaster called the Quantum Loop.  It's similar to Desert Storm in AZ, but different in some ways.  The one thing that surprised me was that the roller coaster goes MUCH faster than it appears to.  I was in the very first car, and I got to see Lake Ontario at the top.  It was so beautiful and awesome!  But I didn't have much time to look, because all of a sudden we dropped down on the track and the next thing  I knew we were going through the loops.   Oh man it was so totally awesome!  I had my arms up in the air for most of the ride.  It's hard to keep your arms up in the air when you're going through the loop.

One of my other favorite rides was the "Screamin' Eagle".  This ride is the ride that you would NOT find me, Allison "Alley-OOP!" on.  I got the nerve up to at least go on and try that ride.  To my surprise it wasn't that bad.  In the beginning it was a lot of fun, but when we switched directions, I was SCARED!  So I closed my eyes!  But it didn't last very long.  It was sooooooo cool riding on that one.  That was a pure adrenaline rush.

The Yo-Yo was the next ride of my choice.  That was another fun ride.  I felt like a bird flying, and I even put my arms out in the air to simulate flying.  So I didn't hold on to the chains.  It's a good thing we had safety restraints, because it would be really scary to go flying off into the distance.

Before we left the park, I went on the Screamin' Eagle a few more times.  I heard that someone from EYF had rode the Screamin' Eagle 12 times in a row.  3 times in a row was enough for me.  I was starting to feel dizzy.  I don't know how these people who try to set records in the Guinness Book of World Records manage to do that.  It's just completely mind boggling.

When we left Seabreeze and went back to RIT, we were hot, wet, sticky, sweaty, and smelly.  A lot of people wanted to go to the dorms and take a shower.  So I got to see my mom still dressed in my swimsuit, covered in sunscreen, hot, sticky, smelly, and really happy to see her.

We had to perform our skits for the parents and the EYF group.  Our group had a skit, but we changed our minds at the last minute, to do something different.  We actually pulled it off, and it managed to be good.  A few people said they were amazed by how well Amy did in her role as a hearing person.  It was really good acting on her part.  Maybe we'll see her in Hollywood one day.

As soon as dinner and the show was over, I went back to the dorms with some people and took a nice hot shower and got cleaned up.  Same thing with the other people on my floor.  We missed some stuff downstairs because we were all upstairs getting cleaned up.  Oops, is what I have to say.    Anyways, that night was full of fun because we got to stay up till 1 a.m.  I didn't want to go to bed because I was so keyed up.  I was having a blast.  Angela told me to  "GO TO BED", and I told her I couldn't sleep, because I was wide awake.  She still said "Go to bed".  The funny thing about it, because as soon as I got into my bed, I fell asleep right away.  So she was right.  Dang!

I had a good night talking with a lot of my friends and hanging out with some people in my dorm room.  That's classified information, so I'm not saying any more.

Talk to you guys later!  I'm going to miss you and thanks for a GREAT week!

With Lotsa Love:

-Allison "Alley-OOP!"

What We Did Today:
Thursday, July 22, 1999

7:00 - 8:00 Breakfast
8:30 - 12:00 Individual Counseling
12:00 - 1:15 Lunch
12:00 - 5:00 Seabreeze Amusement Park
5:00 - 8:00 Dinner and Closing Ceremonies
8:00 - 10:00 Community Hour
10:00 - 11:00 Floor Meeting
11:00 - 1:00  Socialization Hour
1:00 - Lights Out

And now what you've been waiting for. . .