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| | Another tangential list as a follow-up to the last one. Favorite college memories. There were a bunch of us, at one point collectively dubbed 'Da Family' by bp, who hung out together. We never took any interest in the abhorrent typical college social scene and instead went to great lengths to amuse ourselves in other, non-traditional, manners. Here s a sampling of some favorites:
Bloody Apple The Bloody Apple Incident. To this day I may have never laughed so hard. grm hollowed out a cafeteria apple and filled it with fake blood (using Penn & Teller s recipe) and then threw it at the dorm room door of the aforementioned Silly Dork Boy (needless to say, none of us really liked him). The effect was amazing. The splatter pattern of the glistening blood and the small white hunks of apple created a very convincing gunshot-to-the-head-suicide scene. Hysterical.
Trip to PSU This was a fun trip. A Society of Physics Students trip to go hang out with other physics geeks. We had a blast. Highlighted by a daring Ball rescue, insulting of Indian icons (as in India, not injuns), and Chad getting a parking ticket that he has yet to pay to this day.
Liquid Nitrogen Talk about physics phun! Liquid nitrogen dissipates quickly so once a semester s super-conductor labs were finished the physics geeks had free reign on what was left. We did all kinds of crazy crap. We d freeze and shatter anything we could get our hands on. We made liquid nitrogen bombs. We made liquid nitrogen cannons. We made liquid nitrogen depth charges for in the fountain outside Masters Hall (the physics building). Even after a bomb went off in my hand (very painful) we still didn t let up on the liquid nitrogen games!
How not to get laid This story really just serves as a testement to our profound geekness. One dull Friday night for lack of anything better to do, we all ended up outside Masters Hall, writing physics equations in the snow using plastic telescoping light sabers (yes, this was our idea of a good time). So, all of this was happening when a couple of the ubiquitous really really hot gburg chicks walked by. At this point I made my now infamous statement, "And that s how not to get laid".
Immanuel Kant Not only did we not mind be labeled as freakish outcasts, we often reveled in it. It was not uncommon for us to boisterously sing Monty Python songs as we traipsed across campus, the Bruce s Philosophy Song (aka Immanuel Kant) was a favorite.
Doom There s a reason Doom rated as my all time favorite video game. We played it obsessively. My entire sophomore year was devoted to the game. When we weren t playing we were watching some one else play. Sad but true. Playing multiplayer was the be all and end all of existence. We d play with our phones tied to our heads so we could communicate with teammates... it was bliss.
Rio The Rio was a giant mall thing in nearby MD with a huge mother of all arcades. grm had a friend who worked there and she would hook us up with free tokens. That rocked. The Rio was also the site of the MotorError incident, where I punched a Super Blast Machine so hard it stopped functioning and displayed only MOTOR ERROR on its screen (for those not familiar with the game, it s an arcade game where you actually punch a pressure sensitive paddle... don t want people to thing I was just randomly assaulting video games).
Slurpees 'SLURPEE!' was our battle cry! We made countless walks to the 7-11 on the edge of campus for a late night Slurpee fix. Truly though the Slurpee runs were really just an excuse to get everybody to stop what they were doing and hang out.
Ball and clock faces Chad and I both carried rubber field hockey/lacrosse practice balls that could often be found lying around campus (we typically named them Ball, Ball II, Ball III etc). We just absent mindedly bounce them off of whatever was nearby as we traversed the campus. One night we took turns throwing our balls at the clock face atop Glatfelter Hall (a true campus icon), a daunting task to say the least, but with some practice we were both able score multiple hits.
D&D There were many prolonged Dungeons and Dragons sessions as grm ran his meticulously constructed campaign over the course of a couple years. When we weren t able to reserve meeting rooms or conference rooms we cramped 7 or 8 of us into limited dorm space. Twas glorious. I won t soon forget the exploits of Trisis Thuul.
Gettysburgian grm and I were able to procure cartooning jobs with the Gettysburgian school newspaper. They were supposed to be paid jobs, but we never saw a dime from it. Not that we minded. We were able to mock the general college populace on numerous occasions, and that was reward enough for us.
Taco Bell We made constant road trips. We d drive just about anywhere. Especially if there was a Taco Bell nearby... Hanover, Camp Hill, Hagerstown... the location wasn t nearly as important as the experience getting there and the sweet sweet grade D meat that greeted us when we arrived.
Ice Field During my college years central PA was beset by a couple of monumental blizzards. One of which transformed a giant field behind our dorm into a snow glazed sheet of ice. We would make near nightly treks across the ice field to play in the snow mounds in the adjoining strip mall parking lot. That rocked!
The Search for LDS The aforementioned strip mall contained a West Coast Video which served as an excuse for many walks to the mall (and across the ice field). Each trip culminated with a visit to the '18 and over' section to seek out and rent Long Dan Silver, which was rented every single time we visited. The term Long Dan Silver (or LDS) eventually became part of our shared vernacular and even became a unit of measure (incidentally, 1 LDS = roughly 18 inches).
Moving that scumbag s car There was a group a pseudo-goth, pseudo-punk, scumbags who lived in our dorm. One day they moved our buddy s motorcycle to the front of a parking space so they could park their boat in the space as well. We took great offense to that and proceeded to pick up the car by the rear fender and awkwardly wheel it into the handicap zone. Now mind you this was a whale of a car, Ford LTD or similar. It took a concerted effort by 4 or 5 of us to accomplish this feat, but it was definitely worth it.
Battlefield Excursions Our beloved bp was keen on leading us on frolicking adventures through various parts of the Gettysburg landscape... drainage ditches, sewer lines, railways, and of course the battlefields! Dodging park rangers all the while, we slept out on the battlefields a couple times (each time swearing it was the stupidest thing we d ever done only to return the following semester).
Warhammer My Games Workshop obsession was born innocently enough one summer at college. In those early days we mark the playing area on the floor with duct tape, use books and soda cans as terrain... we were the kings of improvisation, but we had a blast doing it... well, except for the time Limey squirted super glue onto his cornea... that kinda sucked.
WBZT Throughout our time at gburg we managed to do a number of radio shows for our college radio station. Chad and I even had our own weekly Sunday Sports Talk show, which featured such memorable moments as: me endorsing the assassination of JFK, denouncing of gays and lesbians in sports, and a surprise interview with The Undertaker. Good stuff. That and we managed to play Monty Python s Penis Song sans censorship.
Scavenger Hunt Once semester we split into two teams and had Chad devise a scavenger hunt list, that included an assorted array of items: Boo Berry Cereal, Street Signs, a police officer s signature and badge number on a Dunkin Donuts napkin, a magnetic mono-pole and scores of other completely random flotsam.
Well, that s the stuff that really comes to mind. There was lots more that I could mention ("We re going on a trip") but won t. Looking back introspectively, I can honestly say we were some really strange people.
I m OK with that, though.
-bampf |
| 4/3/2003 7:25:05 AM Strewth! | Damn. I'm beloved. I feel honored.
Excellent list, brings back a lot of memories. Oddly enough, they're all good ones too. I still find myself whistling the Philosopher's Song on the rare occasions I'm walking down Lincoln Ave. past Servo.
You did forget the Dr. Good camping trip. But, maybe that was only a physics thing. I had entirely forgotten about the PSU trip.
You know, those sewer tours are infecting the minds of a new generation. I get requests regularly from my drunken reenactor pals to go on the quest. Lemme tell you, the trip under the Middle School (roughly 1/2 mile in absolute pitch black) is freaking cool!
-bp | | 4/3/2003 7:32:57 AM Good times, good times | Good call on the Dr Good camping trip. That definitely should have made the list. That was a blast.
Glad to hear the sewer trips live on! Didn t realize we created such a legacy!
-b
| | 4/3/2003 12:34:32 PM Strange People | You B, I think when you say "we were strange people" you are leaving out a large group of time... namely, the present.
-The Huy | | 4/3/2003 2:33:28 PM Good point | OK, we were and continue to be very strange people.
Tis a consumation devoutly to be wished...
-b | | 4/5/2003 8:21:59 AM Encapsulation | Bampf,
That's an excellent summary of our most memorable exploits. Here are a few more (for posterity):
Dead Birds at Hood College:
During the early winter months in '93 we visited Hood College and noticed that hundreds of bird carcasses littered the campus. I learned from my friend Geri (the wiccan chick) that birds migrating from the North stop-over at Hood but don't move further south; and they die from exposure while perched in the trees. The college deployed a zamboni-looking vehicle with a siren to drive the birds away. It solved nothing, and served merely to annoy the populace. Silly winged creatures.
Family Restaurant in Thurmont, MD:
This is the place (right off Rte. 15) where "free refills" translates to: We give you soda in a small juice glass and as many refills as you want, provided you only want one refill. Bastards! The importance of the Family Restaurant is that it's where Chad taught us how to best consume an all-you-can-eat buffet style meal. Basically, it involves properly layering food in your stomach so as to cram in as much as possible. I won't bore you with the details, but this is the primary directive: don't start with the mac & cheese because if you do, you're done.
Badger's Pledge Pin:
Ah, Servo. Many a good time was had at the campus cafeteria. One of the more memorable events was when Bampf tossed Badger's pledge pin into a tub of jelly (I think it was grape). Our hazing of poor Badger was brought on by our disdain of greek life. That and we weren't keen to see our friend join the unwashed masses.
Fun with Cafeteria Trays:
Chucko discovered that if one smudges the bottom of a glass with peanut butter, one can fuse the glass to a cafeteria tray and create an incredibly tight bond. We bonded several glasses to a tray, placed the tray on the conveyer belt to the kitchen, and watched in utter glee as an unsuspecting cafeteria worker picked up the glass and showered the floor with utensils and food scraps.
Left for Dead in Camden:
[ See Bampf Blog entry 1/3/2003 10:57:27 AM ]
Yeah, we were strange. Strange and oftentimes cruel (but in a carefree and good humored manner, mostly).
grm | | 4/7/2003 7:27:46 AM Oh Yeah | Man, I had forgotten about the trays... that was awesome. I was going to add Servo in general to the list of memories, but it seemed too vague. Kudos to grm for pointing out a couple of highlights.
I also forgot to point out the Chad and Jeremy curse. Seemingly every time just the two of would travel somewhere we would end up broken down and stranded. This weighed heavily on us, as we made a lot of roadtrips and always had to creative allocate seating to ensure we d make it back safe.
-b | | 11/3/2003 10:18:21 AM To be fair | | It wasn't exactly Camden, it was Somerdale. Although, still not a nice place to be. I still will not understand why you walked away from the theater. I drove to the WaWa two blocks down, bought some Reese's Pieces, and came back to find you not there... |
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