stunt_muppet

New icon. You like? There's another one, but it's not nearly as entertaining.

Yes, I'm fully aware that, in every *single* journal I have yet posted, I have bitched about being sleepy. That's because it's true. All the time.



Like most of my college narrations, this one requires a bit of backstory. My college has fraternities, but no sororities. Instead, we have what we call "eating-houses", which are kind of like sororities except a)they're not Greek or nationally affliated, b)they're much easier to get into and out of - no pledging required, and c)you don't live in any special housing - the "house" itself is just for meals and events.

I decided that I wanted to try joining an eating house this year, in spite of my horror of and aversion to sororities. The eating houses are easier to get out of than sororities; I figured if I really hated it, I could just leave. Plus, it was a ready-made social group and a chance for me to meet new people. So, I tagged along with the rest of my hall on their various tours of and introductions to the four eating houses.

I decided that, if I was going to join any of them, I wanted to join R. The girls there seemed friedly and nice, but most importantly, they didn't seem like huge social butterflies. I had heard that R had a reputation as being the "nice, nerdy girls" hall; that wasn't precisely the impression that I got, but I thought that someone like me, who wasn't necessarily the first one to go out and greet everyone, would fit in better there than in any of the other halls. Plus, they seemed like the least hard-partying of the lot. XD

When I got back from winter break, the time finally came for us to fill out our self-selection forms. Basically, we had to rank the houses in order of preference. We could also mark only one choice, but we were told that that drastically reduced our chances of getting in. By that point, I didn't care - I was cooling off on the idea of joining a house anyway, so I just marked R and left it at that, figuring that I probably wouldn't get in and, if I really wanted to, I could always sign up next year.

Now, when you actually get selected, the girls from the house come around the dorms at about 4 a.m. on Friday morning, knock on your door, shout a lot, congratulate you, and lead you off to the house in your pajamas, where they throw you all a party. Every hall does this, and they all make a lot of noise, so you inevitably get woken up even if you didn't get in. I wasn't crazy about that idea - I had been staying up late doing my homework and I really wanted to just go to bed. I was thankful that I wasn't going to get in, because that meant that I might be left alone for the night. (My roommate was sleeping elsewhere. Oh, and by the way, note to self. Watching SVU and Miami reruns instead of doing homework = BAD IDEA. Don't do it again.)

So, at about 4 a.m. this morning, guess what happens? I hear chanting from the R girls and a loud knocking at my door.

Excited though I once was, I have to admit that my very first thought, upon waking, was "oh SHIT. I got in."

It was shortly followed by "Maybe I'll just pretend I'm not here and they'll go away."

But eventually, I managed to rouse myself from my cozy bed and answer the door, whereupon I was greeted by cheering R girls who handed me an R sweater, congratulated me, and told me to follow them as they woke up the three other girls in my hall who got into R. Eventually, I came to my senses enough to throw on a sweater (incidentally, not the R sweater) and my fluffy boots and march out the door, out into the night, and off to R.

The party was more fun than I thought it would be - there was various loud music, there was orange juice, there were doughnuts and danishes. The girls already in R greeted and welcomed us, people started dancing on tables and laughing, the three or four guys who are sort of attached to the hall started doing routines to old boy band music (always a plus)...it was actually sort of fun. And people liked the nerdy sweater I wore (it was a grey sweater with "Careful, or you'll end up in my novel" written on it).

But, honestly, I think the most encouraging thing about the party was that not everyone was dancing on tables or yelling. There were quite a few girls who, like me, were hanging back in the corners or on the benches, with glasses of orange juice in their hands, looking sleepy or confused. That tells me I was right about this hall, and that it won't be nearly as awkward as I'd feared. :)

R, like the other eating houses, had its first party tonight. I gave it a miss because I had already planned a trip to the movies with my friend and I didn't want to cancel. Plus, this was the "initiation" party, and while there's no real hazing on this campus, said initiations usually mean that the new people get covered in condiments. Generally speaking, I count it as a good day when I don't end up covered in condiments and remain, on the whole, reasonably clean. So...yeah. Movie and dinner lasted until about 11 anyway, so by that point going out to party was pretty much pointless.

We went to see "The Good Shepherd", which is pretty good, by the way. Creepy in a stoic and understated way, but good. Oh, and Angelina Jolie basically rapes Matt Damon, which I thought was a little wierd. And there were a few too many old white guys in tweed suits who never said each other's names. Still a good movie; those are just my minor, after-the-fact quibbles.

I feel a bit bad for skipping out on tonight's festivities, but I don't intend to miss tomorrow's. :D

I really like iTunes. Does it make me terribly dorky that I now have a "Fic-writing" playlist - specifically for writing fanfiction, seperate and distinct from my regular writing playlist?