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A Taste of Renn Fayre?
Feb. 10th, 2001 01:28 amOh, my freaking god, what a night! Holy shit. It was fuckin' great. The most fun I've had in a while, certainly the most partying I've done since arriving at Reed. But before I get into that, I'll go all the way back to Thursday to talk about things that happened before tonight.
So yesterday after Logic lecture, I realized that I could probably just do the reading outside of class, do the excercises in the book to make sure I can do things, keep up with what's going on with the course website, and go to class just to turn in homework and take the midterms. That way, I'll still learn the stuff and not have to put up with Robin being stupid. And others, too. I don't know if I'll actually do this, though. It would mean that I'll most likely be going to one class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, as I usually skip Bio lecture on account of sleeping, and I always go to String Quartet because it's freakin' awesome, and if I didn't go I actually would miss a lot. And then there's Logic. But anyway.
Thursday ended and Friday began with the Bio lab report that was due today. (Technically it may be Saturday, but I still consider it Friday because I haven't gone to bed yet. I hate Bio lab reports. I hate Intro Bio. Give me upper-division classes! Now! Some people in Intro Bio are such putzes in lab. Grr. (Not you Meg, you're cool.) Today I saw one girl drawing with her pencil on one of the pieces of equipment! It was an independent light source for a dissecting microscope, but still! And there was another girl who was incorrectly disposing of her toxic waste solutions. But anyway. The lab report. I was working on it somewhat late, and it was driving me crazy. So I went for a walk at about midnight. When I came back, I still couldn't work and still felt like crap, so I went to sleep. Sleep makes everything better. I got up at about eight thirty and skipped both Hum lecture and Hum conference in favor of finishing my lab report, which I did. And, I wrote the introduction entirely without having to look anything up. Then there was Bio lab, which was actually short but seemed long, and Meg kept wanting to get out of there. (That's how I feel about Bio lab most of the time.) But we left about an hour early. Then the good part of the day began. I was lazy for a while, then I had a Quest meeting. It was pretty interesting, though not entirely businesslike. But that's probably part of what was good about it. Then I came back to my dorm and was going to make Ramen, but I didn't have a chance to even take my coat and such off before Kristina came out intending to go to dinner. So, we went and ate in Commons, collecting a group of people there after we ate. It was nice though, because after dinner, most of us went to go have some alcohol. We finished off Nathaniel's bottle of vodka. Not that there was that much left to begin with. I once again how disturbingly high my alcohol tolerance seems to me for someone who doesn't drink that often. Kristina and I had about the same amount of vodka and Kylie had a little less. Kylie pretty quickly got a warm and fuzzy feeling, while Kristina got toasted off of what she drank. And I barely felt anything at all. It took me a while, but I started to feel a little warm and very slightly fuzzy for a few minutes. But otherwise, pretty much nothing. I was also pretty exuberant at the campus party, but I've been that way pretty much all week. It's weird, though, because I've been exuberant and excited for the most part this week, but underneath it all is this feeling that things still suck. A lot. Like all this excitement is over absolutely nothing. I don't mean that I get excited over little things that make life beautiful, but actually over nothing, because when I think about it, I can't really think of little things that make life beautiful. But that's probably because when I try to think about that, I think about classes and how most of them suck to some degree, and I think about what makes them suck instead of what makes them cool. Now that I articulate that thought, I can think of two little things that make life beautiful: getting a normally serious person to laugh, and good looking boys who can actually dance.
So anyway. After the alcohol, we went to the celebration for the Campaign for Reed College. We've apparently raised over $100 million dollars for the school's endowment. That's a shitload of money. So the board of trustees threw this big party tonight. There were three different rooms in the Gray center that had party things, and there was a dance as well. There was also a dinner sometime, but that was something you had to sign up for and I didn't do that. But at eight thirty, they had dessert set up in Commons, the conference rooms, and the SU. It was weird, though, because each room had a completely different feel. Commons was set up like a carnival and there was a pregnant mime walking around, and a fire-eater, and other performers. And the music was like something from Cirque du Soleil. It was so much like a Terry Gilliam movie that we kept waiting for a mechanical dragon to come through spouting multicolored flames. In the conference rooms, there was a coffeehouse, which had the atmosphere of an early film student Woody Allen movie. Or something like that. The SU was set up like a nightclub, but I wasn't there very long because it was to close soon after we went in there to check it out. We came back to my dorm for a while so that Kristina could change into something that was a little dressy. Nice looking, at least. On the way to the dorm and the way back to the party, we made a bit of an alteration on one of the "Event" signs pointing the way to the festivities. The arrows are not painted on to the signs but are instead separate pieces attached by Velcro. Doesn't that just scream, "Fuck with me, please!?"
Then there came the best part of the evening: the dance. The music was mostly decent, but that was far from the highlight. First, there was a toast by Stevie K. Then he came back to the microphone to announce a visitor. There was a sudden ruckus on the other side of the room, where a curtain was hung over one of the windows. Then some people ran to get outside. The packed auditorium was suddenly much emptier as commotion gathered outside. What is this mysterious visitor? What could possibly incite such collective desire and rowdiness? What could induce a bunch of Reedies to near riot? The Doyle Owl, of course. Put "Doyle Owl" or maybe even "Renn Fayre" into Google.com and I bet you'll turn up a bunch of stuff, including a picture of the Doyle Owl at Stanford University. Apparently, to see the Owl is to desire the Owl. Sightings of the Owl are momentous occasions, causing much excitement. In between sightings, no one but a select few knows where the Owl is. It usually makes some kind of appearance at Renn Fayre, but the Owl made its first appearance of the year at the celebration for the Campaign for Reed College. And this was my first Doyle Owl experience. And the first time I've witnessed mass psychosis. There were a lot of people outside the auditorium trying to get the Owl into one of several cars. I think the basketball team finally ended up with it.
About the actual dance. I have to say I was rather impressed. One of my friends got her boyfriend to dance, which was amazing because he doesn't do things like that. But the most impressive thing, I have to say, was that I discovered that there's this guy here, whom I've met before because he's the HA on the other side of the floor, who can dance. I mean really dance. Like, amazingly well. So well that it induces me to use the word "like" as a filled pause that is just oh-so-cliche. He's good looking, nice, and can dance. Damn. Excuse me while I snap out of my daze. He apparently has a girlfriend, though. Ah well. No harm in admiring. You know, I never used to be able to understand how a person could have a crush on more than one person at a time. But now I understande completely.
Another thing I discovered tonight was that at Reed, boys can dance together. Never ever before have I seen boys dance together, aside from the kind of together that comes of dancing individually in a group of people that happens to include other guys. But here, they dance together in pairs. And not all of them are gay! But, come to think of it, I never saw very many instances of gay guys dancing together at a school dance. I think it's terrible that people have to be really careful about that sort of thing for fear of being beat up or something, or worse. And I thought it strange how women are much more comfortable dancing in pairs with each other than I had ever seen evidence of in guys. But here at Reed, boys can dance together, because nobody really gives a fuck whether you're gay or not. If only that could be the prevailing attitude everywhere.
Well, that was my awesome night. Now to bed, to attempt to sleep, and perhaps to dream of a man who can really dance and the Doyle Owl.
So yesterday after Logic lecture, I realized that I could probably just do the reading outside of class, do the excercises in the book to make sure I can do things, keep up with what's going on with the course website, and go to class just to turn in homework and take the midterms. That way, I'll still learn the stuff and not have to put up with Robin being stupid. And others, too. I don't know if I'll actually do this, though. It would mean that I'll most likely be going to one class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, as I usually skip Bio lecture on account of sleeping, and I always go to String Quartet because it's freakin' awesome, and if I didn't go I actually would miss a lot. And then there's Logic. But anyway.
Thursday ended and Friday began with the Bio lab report that was due today. (Technically it may be Saturday, but I still consider it Friday because I haven't gone to bed yet. I hate Bio lab reports. I hate Intro Bio. Give me upper-division classes! Now! Some people in Intro Bio are such putzes in lab. Grr. (Not you Meg, you're cool.) Today I saw one girl drawing with her pencil on one of the pieces of equipment! It was an independent light source for a dissecting microscope, but still! And there was another girl who was incorrectly disposing of her toxic waste solutions. But anyway. The lab report. I was working on it somewhat late, and it was driving me crazy. So I went for a walk at about midnight. When I came back, I still couldn't work and still felt like crap, so I went to sleep. Sleep makes everything better. I got up at about eight thirty and skipped both Hum lecture and Hum conference in favor of finishing my lab report, which I did. And, I wrote the introduction entirely without having to look anything up. Then there was Bio lab, which was actually short but seemed long, and Meg kept wanting to get out of there. (That's how I feel about Bio lab most of the time.) But we left about an hour early. Then the good part of the day began. I was lazy for a while, then I had a Quest meeting. It was pretty interesting, though not entirely businesslike. But that's probably part of what was good about it. Then I came back to my dorm and was going to make Ramen, but I didn't have a chance to even take my coat and such off before Kristina came out intending to go to dinner. So, we went and ate in Commons, collecting a group of people there after we ate. It was nice though, because after dinner, most of us went to go have some alcohol. We finished off Nathaniel's bottle of vodka. Not that there was that much left to begin with. I once again how disturbingly high my alcohol tolerance seems to me for someone who doesn't drink that often. Kristina and I had about the same amount of vodka and Kylie had a little less. Kylie pretty quickly got a warm and fuzzy feeling, while Kristina got toasted off of what she drank. And I barely felt anything at all. It took me a while, but I started to feel a little warm and very slightly fuzzy for a few minutes. But otherwise, pretty much nothing. I was also pretty exuberant at the campus party, but I've been that way pretty much all week. It's weird, though, because I've been exuberant and excited for the most part this week, but underneath it all is this feeling that things still suck. A lot. Like all this excitement is over absolutely nothing. I don't mean that I get excited over little things that make life beautiful, but actually over nothing, because when I think about it, I can't really think of little things that make life beautiful. But that's probably because when I try to think about that, I think about classes and how most of them suck to some degree, and I think about what makes them suck instead of what makes them cool. Now that I articulate that thought, I can think of two little things that make life beautiful: getting a normally serious person to laugh, and good looking boys who can actually dance.
So anyway. After the alcohol, we went to the celebration for the Campaign for Reed College. We've apparently raised over $100 million dollars for the school's endowment. That's a shitload of money. So the board of trustees threw this big party tonight. There were three different rooms in the Gray center that had party things, and there was a dance as well. There was also a dinner sometime, but that was something you had to sign up for and I didn't do that. But at eight thirty, they had dessert set up in Commons, the conference rooms, and the SU. It was weird, though, because each room had a completely different feel. Commons was set up like a carnival and there was a pregnant mime walking around, and a fire-eater, and other performers. And the music was like something from Cirque du Soleil. It was so much like a Terry Gilliam movie that we kept waiting for a mechanical dragon to come through spouting multicolored flames. In the conference rooms, there was a coffeehouse, which had the atmosphere of an early film student Woody Allen movie. Or something like that. The SU was set up like a nightclub, but I wasn't there very long because it was to close soon after we went in there to check it out. We came back to my dorm for a while so that Kristina could change into something that was a little dressy. Nice looking, at least. On the way to the dorm and the way back to the party, we made a bit of an alteration on one of the "Event" signs pointing the way to the festivities. The arrows are not painted on to the signs but are instead separate pieces attached by Velcro. Doesn't that just scream, "Fuck with me, please!?"
Then there came the best part of the evening: the dance. The music was mostly decent, but that was far from the highlight. First, there was a toast by Stevie K. Then he came back to the microphone to announce a visitor. There was a sudden ruckus on the other side of the room, where a curtain was hung over one of the windows. Then some people ran to get outside. The packed auditorium was suddenly much emptier as commotion gathered outside. What is this mysterious visitor? What could possibly incite such collective desire and rowdiness? What could induce a bunch of Reedies to near riot? The Doyle Owl, of course. Put "Doyle Owl" or maybe even "Renn Fayre" into Google.com and I bet you'll turn up a bunch of stuff, including a picture of the Doyle Owl at Stanford University. Apparently, to see the Owl is to desire the Owl. Sightings of the Owl are momentous occasions, causing much excitement. In between sightings, no one but a select few knows where the Owl is. It usually makes some kind of appearance at Renn Fayre, but the Owl made its first appearance of the year at the celebration for the Campaign for Reed College. And this was my first Doyle Owl experience. And the first time I've witnessed mass psychosis. There were a lot of people outside the auditorium trying to get the Owl into one of several cars. I think the basketball team finally ended up with it.
About the actual dance. I have to say I was rather impressed. One of my friends got her boyfriend to dance, which was amazing because he doesn't do things like that. But the most impressive thing, I have to say, was that I discovered that there's this guy here, whom I've met before because he's the HA on the other side of the floor, who can dance. I mean really dance. Like, amazingly well. So well that it induces me to use the word "like" as a filled pause that is just oh-so-cliche. He's good looking, nice, and can dance. Damn. Excuse me while I snap out of my daze. He apparently has a girlfriend, though. Ah well. No harm in admiring. You know, I never used to be able to understand how a person could have a crush on more than one person at a time. But now I understande completely.
Another thing I discovered tonight was that at Reed, boys can dance together. Never ever before have I seen boys dance together, aside from the kind of together that comes of dancing individually in a group of people that happens to include other guys. But here, they dance together in pairs. And not all of them are gay! But, come to think of it, I never saw very many instances of gay guys dancing together at a school dance. I think it's terrible that people have to be really careful about that sort of thing for fear of being beat up or something, or worse. And I thought it strange how women are much more comfortable dancing in pairs with each other than I had ever seen evidence of in guys. But here at Reed, boys can dance together, because nobody really gives a fuck whether you're gay or not. If only that could be the prevailing attitude everywhere.
Well, that was my awesome night. Now to bed, to attempt to sleep, and perhaps to dream of a man who can really dance and the Doyle Owl.
