Every September, the Congressional Black Congress hosts their Annual Legislative Conference.  For the people that are geeked about all of the receptions with free food and open bar, they refer to it as “CBC”.  The number one question you may hear from your homeboy/girl for the preceding week is, “What are you going to do for CBC?”  These 6-7 days are full of Black people converging around the city hosting various seminars and workshops about how to improve the status of African-Americans.  But once the work is done, they party…in large numbers.

If you know me personally, you know I hate crowds.  (Which is why I was too through when I went to the H Street Festival two weekends ago.) That, along with the fact I’ve either had a part time job or no idea where to go, I’ve never attended any CBC week events.  But I did receive an invitation to attend a reception hosted by Uptown Magazine on Thursday night.  I was happy when I walked up and saw a fellow FAMUan.  So we talked, drank, ate, chatted, and were merry.  I was even more ecstatic when I saw more people that I knew, including from work and school.  Turned out coming to kick wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

Once that reception died down, I travelled with my fellow FAMUans to a party hosted on New York Ave, also complete with free food, open bar, and more FAMUans.  Needless to say, I had a blast, but was sad because I knew I had to get up and go to work the next day.

Friday, after trying to recover my late night out, saw me going out to Ozio to hang out with my girls, some I hadn’t seen in forever.  A great time was had by all, despite the fact the waitress jipped me for my calamari and I GROSSLY overpaid.  But whatever, I had fun and didn’t leave until 3 in the morning.

All in all, I wondered why I had never gone out for CBC before; I’ve been missing out.  But I did realize that I can’t make a habit of going out and kicking it til the wee hours of the morning.  I’m not 22 anymore.  That’s why I was home on Saturday night, knocked out at 6:30.

I’m sure CBC will see me next year.  Maybe one of these days, I’ll be able to attend something during the day.  But if I continue to work 30 miles outside of the city, that’s not too likely to happen.  Until next time, I’m just a Southern girl…in the city!