Okay, enough of this rubbish sentimental stuff, down to the nitty gritty. So another preface to this post today is that I will in fact depart from my planned schedule of going into much detail on one specific topic and rather tell you all about my extremely busy week. I originally wanted to do the one topic per week idea because honestly I thought most of my weeks would be just alot (RAWR! I hope more than just Rich gets this) of time spent on class and homework. This turns out not to be the case, or at least not for this week. This week was fun because I had my first activity with my pledge brothers at the fraternity I joined... Yes. Fraternity.
A FRAT!?!?!?!?!? YOU JOINED A FRAT!?!?!?!?
Yes. We drink and fuck women daily.
Except, we don't. Shame too, (sorry Derek, review for you) because a study was done that if you ejaculate 360 times a year you significantly reduce the risk of prostate cancer. Weeee! The more you know...
So yeah, I was unsure if I was going to rush (some of this stuff is from the second week of school till now but I didn't get to include it in the first post so I'm going over it now) at all, and almost positive not first semester until... Cole of all people wanted to go to a rush event. So yeah, apparently Cole was texted by this guy who used to go to our school (Sam Parks, I think only Derek will know him) saying we should come by the frat he's in because they were having a barbecue. So, being a college student, I obviously obliged to getting free food somewhere. This was the first night of rush (though I was unaware at the time) and it was a sort of kickback just to get to know the brothers. I went with Joel (yes be jealous) and Cole (ehh, your choice) to mainly just get some food in my belly.
FLASHBACK!!!!! The first couple days at Berkeley I was out partying on Frat Row and I had been to a party hosted by this frat (Phi Kappa Psi, or Phi Psi for short), which was definitely the best/least sketch of all the parties I went to. Just FYI.
We ended up staying there longer than expected, Man-flirting, as the activity is dubbed. This was where I first got a feeling that a frat isn't just the partying lifestyle it is portrayed as. All of the brothers were extremely chill and they were, for lack of a better word, more "real" than I expected. So yeah, my interest was slightly aroused (good verb choice I know) so I decided to attend as many of the rush events for this particular frat, as much as I could anyway. I ended up going to: Game Night (BP essentially), Ultimate Frisbee (quite fun), Sky High Dodgeball (OH MY GOD READ BELOW), and Wing and Cigars (no smoking for me, but the wings were tasty). Sky High Dodgeball is something we must do when we see each other over Winter Break. It was one of the most fun things I have ever done. Bouncing on trampolines while playing dodgeball is unlike anything else. Sidenote: Kevin also joined a frat (different one than mine) and he concurs that Sky High Dodgeball is fucking amazing.
The way the fraternity system works is you (the rushee) go to rush events throughout rush week, and then the brothers of each fraternity will decide whether they want to give you a bid, an invite to become a pledge at the fraternity. Now, this sounds really simple... and it kind of is. There are no names being taken down for records, no registration fee, no formal tours of the house. There is essentially no structure to rushing (fraternities that is, sororities are much different, extremely structured) and thus you just need to try the hardest to make sure that the brothers at the fraternity you are interested in joining know you, and know your name. Being loud and obnoxious is surprisingly effective (take note Rich).
So now that you know how frats and he rushing process works, I got my bid during the 3rd rush event I attended on the 5th day of rush (I missed 2 days for random shit) and although apprehensive about becoming a stereotypical frat bro, I decided to accept because I figured it would be a good way to meet new people and cultivate my social life. One way that my college experience is completely different than all of yours is that I was already friends with so many people before I came to Cal. This is significant because having so many close friends to begin with makes it much more difficult to branch out and build new friendships. I've managed, but knowing so many people from high school definitely puts you at a disadvantage, not to mention I'm rooming with someone from high school along with being in the most antisocial dorm.
Pledging up until this weekend was so far uneventful. We had a couple of meeting (in chapter meetings one of the things we do is pass around the gavel and make a little speech about how our week is going, and I dropped the gavel on the first chapter meeting, sooooooo awkward... my speech made up for it though and I got an applause at the end), but other than that nothing has happened. Up until this weekend, where we had our first pledge event: Scavenger hunt in San Francisco and Berkeley. SOOOOOO MUCH FUN!
Sell one of the brother's wisdom teeth. Five cents please. Take a picture with Bush Guy (a homeless man who tries to scare the fucking shit, surprisingly successfully, out of people by popping out of foliage he holds up to camouflage himself). No Problem. Cuddle with a homeless guy. How about cuddle with two homeless guys! (Note: Derek no homeless person will ever replace you in my heart, or in my bed. And Jack, if you are reading this the answer is no, your roommate is not gay. Derek and I just have something special.)
Among other things we did were: take a picture on a cable car, get a phone number from an Abercrombie model, have a race on Lombard street (the crookedest street in the world, also inconveniently uphill), act out "The Play" (Cal vs Stanford 1982) on a crowded sidewalk, act out a scene from Jurassic Park in front of the full skeleton of a T-rex in the Valley Life Sciences Building (toilet scene anyone?), call a number written on a bathroom stall (apparently someone lost a Hello Kitty planner), "party boy" a studious Asian girl in the library, and finally perform a synchronized swim routine in the largest fountain on campus (Heeeeeey Macarena!). Overall, a successful day.
This scavenger hunt was probably one of the most fun things I've done since being at Cal (oh and Sky High Dodgeball, can't forget my hard on for that). ANDDDDDDDDDD (brace for it Rachael), total coincidence that the San Francisco Urban Race was the same day as the day we went into San Fran. Here are some pictures (see below) of my time in San Fran.
Pledge class at top of Lombard Street.
Urban Race peeps at the beginning of their long day (blue shirts).
A cool fountain I saw.
Um, what is tastier than fucking alligator bread.
Yeah, so I hope this extremely long post made up for my shorter one last week. I truly did have a lot of fun on my scavenger hunt, and I cannot wait to see what else lies in my Frat future. Another thing to note is the identity of my suite-mates. They are two enormous black football players who I really haven't gotten to know too well since they are gone most of the time for football. They're pretty chill, but there really isn't too much I know about them, so until a later date this is as much as I can tell you about them. Sorry that this is late for three of you, I tried getting it out earlier but I just had so many things I wanted to say that it was hard to compose it quickly, especially with the busy schedule that is college life. See you next Tuesday!
Stay Classy,
Jason
Okay at least you didn't run the GUR without me. I'd be mad. Also the alot joke is the alot monster thing Topping talks about? Idk I didn't have her in 9th grade but I think that's what that's all about. Great story and don't fuck too many girls! The prostate cancer thing is true but it's also true that 50% of people have had/ do have an STI by the time they're 25. So there.
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