My friend Dustin Rickman (a.k.a. D-Rick), came up with a brilliant idea at the beginning of March...because most of his ideas suck. He thought it would be a good idea for the guys to get off campus and hang out because this year has been insane. I'd say that 90% of the academic year consisted of me intensively studying for exams and projects. The other 10% was consumed by work. So, D-Rick created a facebook group about the event....when he only invited 4 people (an e-mail would've sufficed). So, the power players for the evening consisted of: Dustin Rickman (D-Rick), Pavan Ganapathiraju (Brown Ninja), Criag Rebou (Boo), Michael Stephens (Mikey), and myself (JB).
Our friend of Pavan and I's, Anton (TJ) Grasch was supposed to come with us to hang out because we've missed him dearly, however, he gave me a call letting us know that he was going to ditch us for an impromptu vacation to Paris! WTF? I'm pretty sure he had fun, but it's just hilarious that doors just opens for this kid, it's ridiculous. The date was set March 6th, 2009 (3/6/9). Every time we kept saying the date, we kept singing that song by Lil' Jon and the East Side Boys, which there's nothing wrong with that. But, the plan was to go out ot dinner, and catch the release of "The Watchmen." We came to the consensus that we were more excited to see the movie because it was supposed to be the biggest movie of 2009. We figured since the graphic novel was good and was declared 14 of the top 25 novels, the movie was bound to be badass.
We couldn't decide where to go for dinner, so the first hour consisted of us figuring out where to go, because everyone had a grudge against the restaurant that was shouted out. We finally decided on Buffalo Wild Wings since Pavan and I have never been there. That place is the "shiz," there were t.v. screens in the stalls, nothing like going onsies and watching "Sports Center" at the same time. I had this platter that was called crazy chicken, and I picked the hottest sauce to dip the chicken strips in....best dish ever. There was also this trivia game that you got to play where you had to know Trivia from the winnings of the Academy Awars. We got to 4th place in the rankings, but this guy named Weenis was pissing us off by getting every answer correct. We dream big, so our goal was to get to first place.
After Dinner, we went to a late showing of "The Watchmen." The story takes place in an alternate time line in which masked, costumed vigilantes fight crime in America. In the 1930s and 40s, the vigilantes form a group called the Minutemen. Decades later, a second generation of superheroes attempt to form a team as well, calling themselves the Watchmen. Various historical events are shown to have been altered or impacted by the existence of superheroes, such as the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the Vietnam War. The American victory in the Vietnam War, due to the intervention of the godlike being Dr. Manhattan, leads to Richard Nixon's third term as President following the repeal of term limits in the United States. By the 1980s, however, the Watchmen have been outlawed, and tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union have escalated the Cold War with threats of nuclear attack. The characters are pretty cool, they're in the DC Comic universe and some of them bare a striking resemblance to certain DC Characters. Unfortunately, I didn't care for the movie too much, which is a general reaction for someone like me because I haven't read the novel yet. Word on the street is that if you read the graphic novel first and then see the movie, you'll appreciate it a lot more, however, I didn't, so I just though it was okay. I felt that there was too much political mumbo jumbo that was thrown into the world. My reaction to the movie is that I feel like I payed $8.25 for a physics lecture opposed to an action movie (which is what the general public was promised). The action sceens were great, and as many action scenes, there was an equivalence in the amount of sex scenes, especially with the character Dr. Manhattan who is portrayed as a "God-like" figure. He can do anything, however I felt that the film focused more on him being in the nude and swinging blue pipe for 3 hours. The movie is a beautifully wrapped package with a cheap toy in it.
Here's the question of the hour: Have you ever wanted to get back at someone so bad that you'd be willing to pay money to do so? Now, let's re-work that question to make it more suitable for a college student: Are you willing to pay money to get the revenge that you so desperately seek on your R.A.? Well, fortunately, the residents of Lincoln Residence Hall and Founders Hall of the University of Illinois at Springfield got the chance to seek revenge on their RA's February 23rd.
I overheard a resident talking to some friends that they'd be willing to pay money to prank their RA for writing them up. I heard this statement and utilized it as the opportunity to establish my Civil Service program. As an RA, we're required to put on a certain amount of programs that need to fit a criteria, I won't go into details about programming....that's for another day, however, I decided to create a Civil Service Program to raise money to donate to the Big Brothers Big Sisters Foundation, the program was titled: Bullseye.
For the advertisement of the program, each Resident Assistant from different wings of the neighboring residence halls provide me with a picture (meaning I facebook creeped a picture from them) and I placed a bullseye over their face, I did the same thing with the Resident Directors of the buildings as well. I took each flyer and posted it on the front desk of the buildings to get the attraction of the residents. Throughout the week, the program generated some Buzz. My friend Brittney Meyer had a different promotional statement for the program, she said "Are you pissed at your RA for doing their job by writing you up for a noise complaint, alcohol violation, or non compliance? Well, you're in luck, so you can get get back at them by paying them a dollar for pissing you off!" I laughed till I went ones-ies on myself (it's a "Scrubs" reference). The prices were $1 to pie any RA of the resident's choice and $4 to pie one of the RD's. I thought they were reasonable prices...for college students that is. On the Monday of the event, words can't even describe as to how amazing the program was, so I took some videos to show you how everything went down.
So....the only problem about the program was the clean-up of myself. It took me 40 minutes to get all of the whipped cream off of me in the shower, because it also got in my ears too, it was utterly disgusting. However I had fun, plus, it was a great way for my residents to get back at me for all of the trouble I caused them. I think the Kouba, Kubal, and Felix had too much fun, but Becky Zehr was almost in tears from pieing me in the face, not because she felt sad, but because she was so happy get revenge on me from tall of the pranks that I pulled on her. Blake Johnson was the only student to pie Barbara....I didn't see him until two weeks later. The program was a success, we raised $130 dollars, which was pretty good for the prices that we had and I think the residents had a lot of fun. I look forward to more of the programs and more of the zany adventures that go along with the Resident Assistant job. Look out for my next program!
