The Macalester Adventure
January 30th, 2005
Location - Francesca’s Room, Macalester
Hearing - The Shins
Time - 1:32pm
As I’m writing this I am as Macalester visiting Francesca. I got here yesterday (Saturday) evening around- Wait. (I’m writing this as a stream of consciences so it may be a little broken) I’ll start at the beginning, generally a good place to start.
Saturday started out like any day, I woke up at noonish, wandered around my apartment for awhile, changed my away message to say that I was doing so… Eventually I decided that I needed to do my laundry which had become a rather large pile in my closet in my bedroom. As soon as I decided to take on the daunting task, I began to procrastinate immediately and called Katie. Katie was going to Macalester later that day and I had wanted to join her because I really wanted to visit Francesca and see what Macalester (a “real” party campus) was like. We decided that we would leave after I had finished my laundry and would get to the campus around five or six in the evening.
Back to laundry. Seeing as how I had no quarters I had to ask around for ‘em. Long story short, Jamie owes me a few bucks and has a crap load of quarters. So I threw in a load of laundry and hauled my ass (40 feet) over to Jamie’s apartment. I brought my laptop with the idea that I would do my homework and the two of us could hang out for awhile. HA! I don’t know if I legitimately thought that I was going to do homework or not, but deep down inside I’m sure I wasn’t expecting to do any homework at all. I had my laptop open and ready to go for all of ten minute maximum.
I picked up one of Jamie’s sketch books. I’m so jealous of her drawing ability! Looking through her sketch books there are so many cool drawings of her and all of her friends. There are also made up characters and some from video games, but in any case they are extremely cool. Until I came to MCAD I’ve never had any friends who could draw like that. I kinda want to know what I would look like as a cartoon character, but I know how much bother it is when someone says:
THEM: Whoa, you make cool websites, is it easy?
ME: Yeah, it’s not bad. I just like to do it for fun.
THEM: Great ’cause I’ve got this great idea for a site, could you make it for me?!
No, I’d rather not. I like making sites for myself, I like using my ideas. If they’re gonna give me a bunch of pictures and layouts they can hire me to do it. The fun part is actually designing it- I had a point… POINT: I don’t ask people to draw me because I would like them to draw me of their own accord, which of course is sometimes a bit of a let down because then I never get drawn/get to see them… But in any case, I don’t ask for that reason.
Where was I……. (reads back in entry)
Oh, Jamie found out that I had never played or seen Kingdom Hearts for PS2. For lack of a better word/phrase, it kicked ass. But as fun it was to play, the whole time I was thinking, “wow.” I’ve never had a girlfriend who plays video games and likes to watch other play them. Honestly the only other girl I knew like that before MCAD was Zora (I miss you Zora!!). But it’s really weird and new for me and I really like it a lot. I won’t gush too much here because I know everyone doesn’t want to read about that stuff (EW EW EW!!!).
Before I knew it, it was time for me to leave (tear). I gathered a few of my things and met Katie in her room. As we walked to the bus stop I had many thoughts of turning back. Part of me wanted to go back and hang out with Jamie or Ben and Bill back at MCAD. I was afraid that we were going to go to some parties and everyone would be super drunk and the evening would suck. But of course, I forced myself to go onward. I told myself that no matter what happened, it would be a good experience. It would Build Character.
Quick Montag: Shot of bus stop. Shot of us getting on the bus. Bus ride in fast motion. Bus stops. Close up of sign that reads: Welcome to Macalester.
I met Francesca and some of her friends: Ross (boyfriend), Anna (bestfriend), Grace, and Paul. All six of us set out to downtown St. Paul to see the ice show. It very nice and the ice sculptures were really beautiful. This evening Joel Gillman will be playing the part of the stereotypical Wisconsinite in another state. I had “Fried Cheese Curds” for dinner, no one else had ever had them before.
Eventually we made our way back to Macalester. Here comes the drinking part:
When we got back to Ross’s room and he broke out the Rum. Shots were poured. Shots where… well, shot. Personally, I don’t like the taste of rum, or any alcohol for that matter, so I didn’t have any. Plus I think that getting smash face drunk is just stupid. It has never made anything more fun for me, it costs money, and the next day it’s just not pretty. So I don’t do it. I’m okay with other people getting drunk around me, I think it’s pretty funny. So they drank some, but they didn’t get too drunk.
We went to some parties, it was more or less what I expected, except not cool. Some fucking base ball jocks swore at us and boasted about how cool they were. The looked at us with loathing glares. I don’t think I’ve ever felt more unwanted by people who were shit-heads in my life. After their pitcher of beer ran out one of the stockier jocks yelled, “Hey, lets get one of the frosh fuckers to do it for us. They owe us big time!” I didn’t know anyone at the party much less owe any of them anything. He stared at me, holding the pitcher in his hand. I stared at him wondering if he was going to beat the fuck out of me or just let it slide. After a few moments, I broke his stare and looked over at their television and stereo. They had a few game consoles and some SNES games lying around. I contemplated looking though them and taking the ones that I liked. I would say that it was pretty safe that no one would have seen me much less figured out what I was doing, but my morals took the better of me and we left.
The other parties were not much different.
As we walked back to Macalester me and Anna had an unexpected conversation about the President, his administration, and the economy. Frankly, I was a little surprised because she was supposed to be drunk too. But it was none the less one of the higher moments of the evening.
That’s more or less the end. Although, I might add that the whole evening I kept thinking back to MCAD. Wondering what people were doing there. What was I missing? What was Jamie up to? Are Ben and Bill still playing Resident Evil 4? Will I get to see Jamie tomorrow? I thought about Gareth too. I thought about if I would get to see him next weekend. Hoped that he was okay and feeling decent about himself and life in general.
I know for sure that Kaite, Jamie and Gareth read this on a regular basis and I thank you guys for that. Hopefully next weekend Gareth will come over and I can finally introduce Jamie to Gareth and vice versa. I talk about Gareth with Jamie, and Jamie with Gareth.
This might have been the longest post I’ve ever made. I am now finished.
Location - Coffee News, one block from Macalester
Hearing - None
Time - 4:15pm
January 30th, 2005 at 7:02 pm
Wow that was long, nice and stuff but oh so long, and i can’t help but feel that website thing is because of me. If so, and i know it partly is, i apologize, i just, nor molly, knows the first thing to making a website . . . so im uber sowwie joelie!
January 30th, 2005 at 7:51 pm
Mmm. Well, chèri, I have a few things to comment on.
First of all- drinking in moderation is fine with me. I’m known to take a few shots of vodka or rum, and even a nice bottle of champagne or wine. Though getting smashed is a generally dumb idea, and I’m glad you’re someone who knows that. Kudos to you, darling.
Next- drawings. You can ask me to draw you anything anytime. I won’t charge a fee, either [as long as you don’t’ constantly pester for something new all the time]. You forget that I was a freelance artist and tattoo designer. I’m used to being asked. ^_^ I’m still working on your Duke character, anyhow. So you should have that soon.
- Which SNES games were there…? ^.^
- Ignore jock-type [or any type] of assholes you come across. I don’t know if you’re used to being treated that way, but eventually you harden to it and their ignorance just becomes a form of entertainment. You might get the shit beat out of you at one point, but that, [as you said for something else], builds character. Building character is good. And if all else fails, do as my friend says—hide. It works for rabbits.
New subject- can’t wait to meet Gareth. The way you talk about him makes me think we’ll get along just fine. Any friend of yours is welcome around me.
Lastly- smooches, chèri. I missed you.
–Jamie
January 30th, 2005 at 9:26 pm
i dunno where else i can really say this except here, but jamie, thank you, you seem like a really good person for joel, and have made him quite happy it appears, and i thank you for that because joel is one of the nicest, sweetest, most well deserving guys i know. Anyways, joel i like those long posts i think, also movies, make more movies! lol i enjoy those!
January 30th, 2005 at 9:54 pm
Ahem… AH-HEM! I’m still here people, this is not your personal chatroom! (Haha, just kidding!)
Alex what you said was really sweet of you, you’re getting an extra big hug next time I see you (maybe a big wet kiss if you’re lucky). Also, I’m kinda liking the longer posts. And this time I really had a lot to say. As requested, I’ll try to my my posts more fun with more links, pictures, movies, and so on.
Jamie, chéri, I went to public school. Ignorant-Jock-Types are very common there, as I’m sure Gareth and Alex will tell you, but I still like to bitch about them ^_^ Maybe they’ll all go away some day if I continue.
January 30th, 2005 at 9:56 pm
Yeah…
Never gone to a house party, partially cause I knew it would be somewhat like what you experienced. Oh yeah, that and the not-drinking thing. Anyway…
Heheheh… ever notice ‘building character’ is just doing something you don’t want to do? I think that’s how the man keeps us down. *shifty eyes, whispers* we have an underground…
Right. Well, don’t worry about me, Joel. Although not everything may be alright, I’ve come to realise I have to do more than just bitch to you guys. So, I’m gonna try to be a lot more proactive, I think. But whatever.
As for coming over next week, I’m looking forward to it, as well as meeting Jamie. She seems like a pretty awesome person.
Alas, I have this sinking feeling that I should be doing something school related… Hmmmm… well, I guess I should go now…
January 30th, 2005 at 10:57 pm
joel, you are too good of a person. while I haven’t been though a lot of what you have, I’ve shared some similar experiences. I hear you brotha. word.
shut up colin, you’re too fucking white.
the solution: stop being such a good person–you know, the kind with feelings, and rationality, and sensitivity, and goodness, and intellect, and a damn fucking nice body.
-c.
January 30th, 2005 at 11:56 pm
Yeah. Honestly, Joel, sometimes I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t here. Well, ok, I’d probably bitch to someone else, but it’s not the same. We know each other so well and we know how the other feels. It’s good to know that there’s someone out there who understands.
January 31st, 2005 at 2:21 pm
Yeah, i agree with them, i don’t know what i would do without you sometimes joel. Ok this sounds really wierd and kinda sad, but at carlyn’s b-day party last year before you left, like it was the night before you left at like 11:30 i left her party, drove to your house sat outside your house and cried because i knew you would be leaving the next morning . . . sigh, thank you for putting up with my shit, and gareth i hope things get better, but i like the pro-active-ness solution thingy ma bobber . . . yeah . . .
ALSO
when do i get to met Jamié? Oh can i do the accent thing like that all the time? [just cause im a dork and like using my alt commands]™ ⌐.⌐
February 2nd, 2005 at 8:33 pm
just so everyone knows, i wanna make a few things clear:
A. macalester is not a typical “party” campus as joel said…go to U of M for that. if you want cool people who normally are geeky and play video games and DDR and are extremely politically active and study our asses off, but enjoy partying a bit on the weekends to get away from the intense academia that is mac, THEN you should come to mac.
B. neither me nor any of my friends got drunk that night. we had a couple of shots each but were definitely NOT drunk nor did we have any intention of being so…also, when we do get drunk (which isn’t even every weekend), if we drink on friday we usually don’t drink on saturday. and never during the week.
C. Most of Mac is not jocks. in fact, there are very few jocks here. but you’re right, drunk jocks are annoying…fortunately they are far and few between here.
D. Joel–You need to come visit again soon, this time when something cool is going on, and we can plan ahead. and i should also come visit you! (Alex, Gareth, and anyone else who reads this–you guys are also welcome!!!)
Ok I’m done now.