Tuesday, March 09, 2004
Last weekend was a busy one: Founders Day! I flat-out refused to even think about the thesis or job search from Friday on through til after yesterday's meeting, and perhaps partially due to that, I was in a good mood for the majority of the weekend.
Friday night was dinner and hanging out at the Nines. Well, that night was okay but not great. It's fun hanging out with people but loud/crowded places overwhelm me and make me on edge. So I didn't stay very late into the band's performance, only about 10:45 or so. That was probably a good thing, though, because I was supposed to be up at Appel for Initiation at 9:30 the next morning.
But what time was it when I woke up? 9:30. Whoops- alarm wasn't set. I managed to get dressed and up to the ceremony in 17 minutes (with a ride), however, which is pretty talented. I got to pin one of my littles today and a new one was initiated. Then most of us went downstairs for brunch- it was impressive how many tables PSP filled- around 60 people were there. I went straight from there to the mall with Jen, got a book at Borders but otherwise just wandered through stores looking at clothes and stuff. In the afternoon was PSP Family Feud, my favorite part of the weekend. As a member of the scholarship committee, I was supposed to come up with a Powerpoint for the board. But I was able to pawn this task off to Ryan by convincing him that he could regain some control over the weekend that way. And it worked. I'm glad he did it instead of me, because he was able to use some nifty Javascript stuff that's beyond the scope of my knowledge to imbed sounds and such. It was great, and added a lot to the enjoyment of the event. The teams were fairly well-matched and motivated to win, the questions were funny and challenging, and I got to sit up in the booth and laugh at people because I knew the answers and they didn't :)
There were a few tense moments afterward as Ryan and I attempted to find a projector for the banquet with only a couple hours notice, but we found one at Uris, so we could let out a huge sigh of relief. Went home, got dressed up for the banquet, and headed over the Statler. The food was good, the alumni were funny (Bolcar has no desire), and Ryan's slideshow was well-received. It seemed like a fairly small crowd, though, especially compared to the DA and BE Founders Days that I've been to. That was a bit of a disappointment...if people won't come out for the 10th Founders Day, will they come for anything? Especially interchapter people...we come to theirs but they didn't show much/any interest in ours. It also reflects poorly upon me as ICR rep- I did contact other chapters but they didn't respond. Anyway, after the banquet was the afterparty at Dana/Alexis'. It was okay, but somewhat clique-ish: the basement beer pong clique, the kitchen wine/philosophy clique (okay, mainly Liz, Herb, and other people rotating in and out), and the living room clique. I watched a little beer pong then spent most of the time in the living room. The highlight for me was definitely Jenga: even while a little tipsy, I astounded the room twice by surviving two seemingly fatal turns when there were no loose blocks...I just grabbed one and pulled it out as fast as I could, and it worked! Not to mention it looked damn impressive :)
Didn't stay too late at the party either, and got up for brunch at the Ramada in the morning. I wasn't too impressed with the brunch- we had to wait a long time for a table, then the food was just so-so, about the quality of RPU. We made it back to campus just in time for the meeting. All in all, I think Founders weekend went well but lacked some "oomph." That is, it would have made a great 9th or 11th Founders weekend, but I feel like the 10th should have had something special to really set it apart from the others. Increased attendance by alumni and interchapter (and even BN's at the banquet) would've helped too.
Evening yesterday: hung out with Ryan for a while and started studying for my Animal Communication prelim. Spent most of Monday studying too. Prelim is tomorrow- should be okay.
Friday night was dinner and hanging out at the Nines. Well, that night was okay but not great. It's fun hanging out with people but loud/crowded places overwhelm me and make me on edge. So I didn't stay very late into the band's performance, only about 10:45 or so. That was probably a good thing, though, because I was supposed to be up at Appel for Initiation at 9:30 the next morning.
But what time was it when I woke up? 9:30. Whoops- alarm wasn't set. I managed to get dressed and up to the ceremony in 17 minutes (with a ride), however, which is pretty talented. I got to pin one of my littles today and a new one was initiated. Then most of us went downstairs for brunch- it was impressive how many tables PSP filled- around 60 people were there. I went straight from there to the mall with Jen, got a book at Borders but otherwise just wandered through stores looking at clothes and stuff. In the afternoon was PSP Family Feud, my favorite part of the weekend. As a member of the scholarship committee, I was supposed to come up with a Powerpoint for the board. But I was able to pawn this task off to Ryan by convincing him that he could regain some control over the weekend that way. And it worked. I'm glad he did it instead of me, because he was able to use some nifty Javascript stuff that's beyond the scope of my knowledge to imbed sounds and such. It was great, and added a lot to the enjoyment of the event. The teams were fairly well-matched and motivated to win, the questions were funny and challenging, and I got to sit up in the booth and laugh at people because I knew the answers and they didn't :)
There were a few tense moments afterward as Ryan and I attempted to find a projector for the banquet with only a couple hours notice, but we found one at Uris, so we could let out a huge sigh of relief. Went home, got dressed up for the banquet, and headed over the Statler. The food was good, the alumni were funny (Bolcar has no desire), and Ryan's slideshow was well-received. It seemed like a fairly small crowd, though, especially compared to the DA and BE Founders Days that I've been to. That was a bit of a disappointment...if people won't come out for the 10th Founders Day, will they come for anything? Especially interchapter people...we come to theirs but they didn't show much/any interest in ours. It also reflects poorly upon me as ICR rep- I did contact other chapters but they didn't respond. Anyway, after the banquet was the afterparty at Dana/Alexis'. It was okay, but somewhat clique-ish: the basement beer pong clique, the kitchen wine/philosophy clique (okay, mainly Liz, Herb, and other people rotating in and out), and the living room clique. I watched a little beer pong then spent most of the time in the living room. The highlight for me was definitely Jenga: even while a little tipsy, I astounded the room twice by surviving two seemingly fatal turns when there were no loose blocks...I just grabbed one and pulled it out as fast as I could, and it worked! Not to mention it looked damn impressive :)
Didn't stay too late at the party either, and got up for brunch at the Ramada in the morning. I wasn't too impressed with the brunch- we had to wait a long time for a table, then the food was just so-so, about the quality of RPU. We made it back to campus just in time for the meeting. All in all, I think Founders weekend went well but lacked some "oomph." That is, it would have made a great 9th or 11th Founders weekend, but I feel like the 10th should have had something special to really set it apart from the others. Increased attendance by alumni and interchapter (and even BN's at the banquet) would've helped too.
Evening yesterday: hung out with Ryan for a while and started studying for my Animal Communication prelim. Spent most of Monday studying too. Prelim is tomorrow- should be okay.
