November 17, 2009
The Hangover of Monon Week
So, in case you didn’t hear or see, Wabash won the 116th Monon Bell Classic! Needless to say, it was a long weekend for all and very little homework was done. Not only was the game itself intense, but as soon as we returned to campus, there were parties at every house on campus. When the bell itself finally got to campus, the Sphinx Club Rinds started taking all 300lbs of it to each house to let people ring it. For a whole weekend, fraternity rivalries were forgotten and the campus was united by the jovial rings of a bell happy to be where it belongs. In fact, the bell hasn’t stopped ringing yet! Each day the Rinds will take it to a different house and it is that house’s duty to keep it ringing for as long as they have it. It get’s pretty loud and annoying at 5 am, but I’d just as soon punch anyone who makes it stop.
As far as this week goes, I have a paper due Thursday and Friday, a Basic Skills Exam for Calc Thursday, and a Calc test Friday at 3:10 (only a truly heartless being would schedule it that late on the last day before break!!!) Essentially, I’m getting little to no sleep this week and making it all up next week. Have I mentioned we get 10 days off? I’m not sure what I’ll want to do first, but I’m sure it’ll involve catching up with old friends and sharing what we’ve learned in college.
I’m excited to be going back home, but at the same time I’m going to miss this place. The leaves have almost all fallen and the squirrels keep getting fatter and fatter. It’s an odd idea, but there might be snow when we get back! (hopefully) when we do get back, there will be just three weeks until semester break. This semester’s almost over and I didn’t even get to blink.
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November 13, 2009
Monon Festivities!
We have survived the Swine Plague! As of this week, all the previously afflicted members of the house have returned with a clean bill of help, and just in time to attend the festivities of Monon Week here at Wabash. Despite stereotypes, most of these festivities do not include alcohol. For instance, every night this week, the Sphinx Club Rinds are grilling burgers on the mall and collecting money for charity, freshmen are taking shifts guarding the campus with pledgebrothers, and there is an annual Monon Moustache contest. Some other, rather creative members of the TKE class of ’11 have begun a tradition called the Monon Mullet. Paired with the plaid shirts, baseball caps, and ripped jeans, these guys are representing the Redneck Wally that many often overlook—and I’m personally glad to have the reminder.
As far as academics go this week, all classes are still meeting (although one of my professors didn’t show up Tuesday). I think the faculty has acknowledged that our minds are elsewhere. Although I’m still going to class and learning, I have two papers pushed back to next week and a lab write-up due after Thanksgiving break (did I mention that next week ends with the beginning of our 10 day break?).
This semester is going by so fast. I know I’ve said that before, but it keeps becoming more and more apparent. Even more apparent is the realization that we only have four years at this amazing institution. I know that’s not something particularly prevalent to be thinking about, but I remember how fast high school went by and want to make sure that I make these four years count. These are the best years of my life and I’m going to make sure I have something worth looking back upon.
To segue back to the original topic of the week, tomorrow is my first Monon Bell game!!! I’m pretty darn excited (the descriptions of which I feel are inappropriate for public expression) and I can’t wait to see the Danny’s lose and hear the bell ringing on the steps of the chapel where it belongs. I KNOW that the Little Giants will play amazingly and bring home the bell, because…
WABASH ALWAYS FIGHTS!!!!
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November 10, 2009
Seemingly Stupid Traditions
I’d like to begin this blog with an important public safety announcement: When in college, NEVER, under ANY circumstances, should you participate in an eating contest. Thus far this semester, I have competed in two: a White Castle Slider eating contest during pre-semester rush and a candy corn eating contest not four hours ago. Not only is it unhealthy in the long run, but within a few hours there will inevitably be an urge to rapidly, and rather messily, expel most of the material ingested through one (or both) of two orifices. To my credit, I did win the candy corn eating contest. To the credit of my fellow contestants, they were smart enough to stop early. I can just hear my dad looking at me and saying, “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.”
Although this is one Greek tradition you’ll want to avoid, if at all possible, there are many more happening on campus this week that you’ll surely regret missing. As many of you know, Wabash and DePauw have a rivalry spanning over a hundred years which is largely centered on football. Each year, both teams play their final game against each other for the chance to earn the Monon Bell, a bell used on the Monon train which went from Crawfordsville to Greencastle until it was retired.
The Monon Bell represents not only the tradition football plays in the culture of each school, but also several traditions which have arisen since the rivalry began. As far as Wabash traditions go, the most prominent is the Monon Mohawk. Although I don’t know how it started, it has become a ritual to show Wabash spirit by getting a Mohawk at least until the Monon Game. It seems like a silly tradition, but seeing them grow more common around campus instills deep pride in being a Wally.
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November 08, 2009
Advice for Senior Year (high schoolers)
Wow, this week went by too fast. I remember thinking last year that things went by quickly, but the amount of work, both for classes and pledgeship, has become so intense that I have no free time. To those still in high school, enjoy it! To those now in college, don’t you miss it? And to those far beyond school days aren’t you happy it’s all over? I realize that I’m only a freshman and that this is nothing compared to what future semesters hold, but nonetheless, I enjoy complaining.
I remember that this time last year, I was spending most of my time working on school projects and didn’t remember dates for application deadlines and scholarships as much as I should have. My biggest piece of advice: apply for scholarships even if you don’t exactly qualify. Sometimes nobody is entirely eligible and they end up giving it to the most qualified applicant. Next, apply early for everything! Most applications take less than a half hour to fill out, so there really isn’t any point to waiting. With the amount of stress accompanying senior year, worrying about getting an application sent in is something you can avoid. I realize that all these things are probably being yelled at you constantly, but they are important and easily taken care of. If you get all of these things out of the way, you’ll have more time to appreciate the end of the worst years of your life.
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November 04, 2009
In Case of Zombie Attack:
My pledgebrothers are dying. A deadly epidemic has swept the campus at an alarming rate and we are unable to fight back. Before, I’d questioned whether the reports were true or just a means of the government trying to control with fear. Every case had been in some relatively far-off city and I was certain that around the nation, people were getting similar reports but nobody actually knew anyone who had it. Even if I’d heard someone talk about someone who had it, it was always a friend of a roommate’s cousin who played varsity soccer and was healthy as a mule, or something vague of the like. It’s highly contagious and I’m pretty sure it’s spread through bites and scratches. Although I’m concerned about my classes and love my pledgebrothers, I’m ready to board up in a room somewhere with canned beans and Twinkies and wait till it all dies out. I never thought I’d have to apply lessons I learned from Resident Evil and Dawn of the Dead…
In one such case, as I’ve heard it told, my pledgebrother actually became infected from the vaccine. He went to receive the live vaccine (vaccines can be made using either dead or weakened strains of a virus in order to initiate an immune response). He immediately became drowsy and weakened, but the most unusual of his symptoms were the fever induced delusions he experienced Saturday night. I was not there, but have heard from multiple accounts that he began ranting about the most random things (many of which are not appropriate for young readers). He and several others in the house have been sent home until they recover or are no longer contagious.
As it now stands, about 1/4 of my house has become ill and 8 have been confirmed to have H1N1. To my knowledge, nobody is so concerned as to actually board up in a room, but having so many indisposed hinders not only our ability to do pledge activities, but also means that we have to make adjustments to how things are done around the house. We have been forced to take on multiple house jobs, limit the number and severity of group hugs, and now we have to shower EVERY day…I don’t know if I can take it much longer. Furthermore, I have just learned that we are quarantining the sick in a single room and unlocking the door only to give them meals. Things have finally escalated to a pseudo-state of emergency and some are almost really frightened for their social lives!
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November 02, 2009
Trick or TEKE
Halloween here at Wabash really emphasizes how great the holiday is overall. Obviously, there are the parties, which Wabash does extremely well. But there are also many traditions I didn’t expect to see this year: costumes, trick or treating, and gathering around unhealthy food to watch movies. Seeing as we were putting on a Halloween party, the pledges had to find costumes, but what surprised me was the number of people who showed up to class in costume. In the classes I had Friday, I participated in a philosophical discussion with Bumble-Bee from Transformers, took a Basic Skills Exam in Calculus with a pimp, and later, I had dinner with Mario. Ahh, the variety of people you meet at Wabash.
Continuing with the holiday festivities, there were a couple trick or treating events for younger children around campus. Thursday, the College Mentors brought their groups of kindergarteners to the campus for their weekly visit in costumes and took them around to the different fraternities and buildings to get candy. Their smiling faces and good humor brightened up the campus and made me nostalgic for the days in which it was socially acceptable for me to beg strangers for candy. Nowadays, those requests are met with scorn and disgust, but 100lbs, 2 ft, and 10 years ago, they were met with compliments on how cute I looked or feigned fright at my “scary” costume…growing older sucks!
Obviously there was candy, but the sheer volume was overwhelming. Had I been 6 again, it would have filled 4 pillow cases and I would have finished it all in one night…but metabolisms get slower and times change. We decided to have a campout in the courtyard last night involving fire, hot dogs and smores, warm cider, and movies. At this time, we decimated the remaining candy and we were set to have a candy corn eating contest. I don’t know how it was universally, but when I went trick or treating, candy corn was always the thing I wanted to trade for warheads or suckers. The idea of a contest to see who could eat an entire, 5 lb bag the fastest made me sick just to think about. Eventually, I went to sleep before the festivities finished…wonder how it went?
Bottom line: growing up sucks, but Halloween at Wabash shows that you don’t have to do it all at once.
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October 30, 2009
Procrastination: it's a way of life
Have you ever had one of those moments/days/weeks where you just don’t feel like doing anything? That would be how this week has been. I know that we’re here to work hard and learn so that we become better people, are able to contribute more to society, or reach some level of knowledge which prepares us for some career after college, but at times that’s just not enough. Lethargic apathy is spreading worse than the Swine Flu but without the benefit of a vaccine. It’s like the plague that everyone knows they’re going to get and is just waiting to die. Things have gotten so bad, the administration has been forced to import the bright, cheerful personalities only found in tiny children…or maybe that’s just for Halloween. Either way, I think it’s a highly unorthodox course of action, but it might just be crazy enough to work.
Speaking of Halloween, the party is tomorrow…sorry, tonight, and we have yet to actually decorate. I’m not sure if it’s just me, my pledgebrothers, everyone I went to high school with, or everyone I’ve ever worked on a project with, but people seem to inherently enjoy procrastinating! Having said this, I’m not implying that any of those listed are lazy (except myself), but there seems to be something entertaining about waiting till the last minute. No worries though, although I’ve observed this as a widely occurring trend, I’ve also found that my generation has become quite skilled at working last minute pressure.
I’ll end this blog by introducing a concept which I feel blogs should be able to incorporate somehow: live blogging. Writing this blog has taken me little more than a half hour and in that time, I’ve been listening to Blink 182 and watching their music videos, talking with my pledge-daddy, scanning over the guidelines for a philosophy synopsis I need to write for tomorrow, and thinking about my costume for tonight. On average, I rarely write these blogs anywhere other than my bed, around midnight, and in my pajamas. Although this live feed would mean I’d have to wear more cloths and clean up the place a bit, it would give a much more accurate view of how I spend this aspect of my life here on campus and allow you, the reader, to gain a better understanding of how I feel about things that are going on.
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