Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Eat, Drink, And Be Merry, For Tomorrow We Fast
Today is Ash Wednesday. I’m hungry. Believe it or not, those two sentences do go together, because Ash Wednesday is one of the two fast days of the year for Catholics. Good Friday is the other one. A Catholic fast day, in case you were wondering (you probably weren’t, but what the hell), consists of two snacks (which do not, when put together make up a full meal), and one meal. And abstinence from meat. I decided that my meal would be dinner, therefore I am hungry. I just had some rabbit food as one of the snacks. Carrots and lettuce, I mean, not what you feed to actual pet rabbits. It helps, somewhat.But Ash Wednesday is depressing. It’s the most time possible before Lent finally ends at Easter. And the idea of Lent stretching before us is enough to make anyone devoutly wish we could all just skip the next six weeks or so. So I should get off the topic, or I’ll sound like a self-pitying whiner, and whining in self-pity is not what Lent is about. Instead, I’ll talk about Mardi Gras, which was yesterday, because yesterday was fun. In fact, yesterday may have been one of the best days I’ve had here all year.
For one thing, because it was Mardi Gras, everyone felt justified in acting goofy all day. The Austrian boy in my section (one of the craziest people I’ve ever met in my life. He’s completely insane in a hilariously vague and out-of-it way. The quintessential mad genius), was called on to do a Euclid prop in Math. He wandered up to the board, suddenly whipped out a home-made devil-mask, and started screaming the prop at us in German. My section erupted in laughter. It was by far the funniest class we’ve had all year, and we’ve had some pretty wacky ones.
And the day just got better from there. We were all determined to go out and party that evening, mostly because it was Mardi Gras, but also because when would we ever not want to go out and party? Mardi Gras just gives us a better excuse than the usual cry of “Because it’s Tuesday!” So as soon as seminar (a 2-hour-long evening class) ended, we all changed into the warmest of our warm clothes, grabbed various blankets, chips, etc., and streaked toward the parking lot. From there, we hiked up the hill to one of our drinking spots. These spots are typically large patches of dirty asphalt, or just dirt, as the case may be, located barely within walking distance of the college. Steep, hard-to-navigate-in-the-dark-even-when-you’re-not-drunk walking distance. This is because we are a) not allowed to drink on campus and b) underage, therefore we cannot hang out in a spot that’s actually somewhat comfortable to drink. So it’s not just the college’s fault, it’s America in general. Specifically California for not having more convenient landscapes in which to drink illegally.
And a really good time was had by all. One guy had very sweetly bought all the beer for us, so there wasn’t very much, but that wasn’t a problem. We had enough for at least two beers each, which was the right amount to get most of us relaxed and happy, but not anywhere near drunk. So we sat around, listening to the guys playing guitar, eating cookie-like objects, slowly drinking beers, and just hanging out. I’m having a hard time expressing what a great, chill time it was. Pretty much the entire freshman drinking group was there (there are roughly fifteen of us), with the exception of Leon, whose departure is still being mourned by all. We toasted his memory. The guys played a song for us that they’d started composing the night before. It’s the ballad of our drunken group, and so far they’ve only worked out the chorus, but it’s hilarious. Each one of us gets our own line. When I remember it (or when they come up with the full version), I’ll post it up here, but for now, the line about me is “Spudge’s stealing cigarettes from the bodies on the ground.” For the record, I have never done that. But it’s still hysterical.
We made it back about five seconds before curfew, which is eleven o’clock on weeknights, by running almost the entire way back. It nearly killed us, but we made it. Whereupon, I burst into the dorm, ran to my room, hugged my roommate, told her I loved her, ran back into the common area, ate several doughnuts, ran out into the courtyard where I hugged Maggie (one of my best friends among the freshman drinkers) and told her I loved her, too, and then tried to call Fishy in order to tell her that I also loved her. Of course, I got her voicemail, so I just left a fairly effusive message for her to hear in the morning, or whenever she feels like listening to the messages. Yes, I was very hyper.
And today is Ash Wednesday, which makes the good time yesterday seem even better. That’s the way the day before Lent should be, and that’s why people party so much on Mardi Gras. The orginal reason, anyway. You need a happy memory to look back on, to smile at throughout the dismal days of the Season.
I’ve given up dessert and sweets of all kinds. It’ll be interesting to see how well I can keep this resolve. Good for me, too. I'm definitely lacking in the self-discipline area. But, as of now, all that is changing.
For the next forty days and forty nights, anyway. With the exception of Sundays.
Spudge at 7:08 PM
1 Comments
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at February 25, 2008 at 10:23 AM
fancythatt said... I AM SORRY I MISSED YOUR PHONE CALL
AHHH
I've been a terrible person. D:
I'm glad you had fun.