In about eight minutes, there will be an all hall, mandatory meeting. I can already hear Jake (my RA) hollering down the hall. I’m sure we’ll hear about this weekend. I’ll edit this post with details, and a scan from the campus newspaper when I get back.

The added part is below:

Villa has always been a proud hall. Our motto, translated from the Latin that is painted just inside the front door, is “Through these halls walk the proud men of Villa.” We’re simply the best on campus. We win all the inter-dorm competitions. We created and make up the entire drum squad, now such an integral part of the University that the President asked the squad to lead the parade across campus as part of his inauguration. Our bible study, called Stible Buddy, is the model for the other bible studies on campus. And we have the best fundraisers. We have the highest percentage of residents return to the hall every year, even more than Corrado, the newest dorm, which has showers that get warm, air conditioning, and doesn’t smell. The Man Auction raised over $17,000 this year. I saw an article in today’s paper that mentioned the top grossing fundraiser for another hall: $600!

In talking with other people about being from Villa, you might have to defend the all male atmosphere, or note that the residents weren’t really crazy, but it’s never been anything to be ashamed of to live in Villa. The hall staff used to brag that we had the fewest incident reports of any hall (2), and one of them was for when an RA accidentally cut his hand. Villa has always been a welcoming place. Many people from other dorms come over to hang out. I, and all residents always feel comfortable wandering the halls, talking to other residents, or just generally being here.

That all changed this weekend.

While I was out of town, at the retreat, a party was thrown in Villa, and was busted. Twice. Those throwing the party were in the wrong, and were figures of authority in the hall. The on Saturday, the second party was thrown, and many people holed up in their rooms and didn’t leave, because they feared getting in trouble if caught anywhere else in the dorm. Some people felt trapped in C wing because they did not want to pass through B wing, where the party was. Others left early for the Saturday night movie in BC Aud, and didn’t return until they were sure the party was over. I’m sure that many would-be visitors to the hall stayed away that night, too. Over 100 people checked into Villa in the span of an hour. This number of (drinking) people would certainly have reduced my feeling of security.

This feeling that one was not safe in their own homes, this was one of the worst things to come of the party. But worse, in the words of one person speaking to Fr. Pete, the Hall Director, “I was embarrassed to be a Villan.” I, too, am embarrassed to be part of the hall that threw the biggest party in memory.

The ones responsible for this are receiving their punishments. The RA who purchased the kegs has been dismissed from the University. He was a Senior, scheduled to graduate this spring. The student who hosted the party, the hall council president, has resigned his post, and faces his hearing late next week. Over 10 others received MIPs, and will be receiving their punishments. But not all who participated got what they deserve.

I think most people were affected by tonight’s plea to restore the Villa Pride, to restore the community and safety felt by all who enter this hall. But I fear that some will not hear the message. There are those for whom drinking is a normal activity. Many of their friends also drink. The Villa Pride and reputation may mean little to them, many are planning to live off campus next semester.

Please, do not look on the party, or the subsequent bust of the party, as a point of pride. It is not. As of now, people from other dorms feel welcome visiting, and do so frequently, as you all know. For at least this reason, We should collectively be ashamed of this weekend, and resolve not to let anything like it happen again. Do not host parties in the dorm. Do not attend parties in the dorm. If no one will attend a party, then none will be thrown here.

Let’s put this behind us.

THE RETREAT

I just got back from the retreat this afternoon. I had a good time, and talked with several of the people there. We stayed in on of those summer beach houses that the people rent out while they’re not using them. Nice place, it was big enough for the ten of us students who went. The adults (Ryan Hendricks, the Assistant Hall Director (AHD), Fr. Pete, the HD, Fr. Brad, the pastoral resident, and Tom, who is in his last year before becoming a priest came too, but slept in another rented house.

There were several talks, and some small group discussions, as well as general reflection periods. I’m not going to go too deep into the details, but the way they had it set up seemed to work well. There was enough free time to do stuff, too. Friday night, several of us walked down to the beach. Someone had brought a light-up frisbee, so we played frisbee in the dark. Well, not exactly dark, with the light from the city, but it was pretty dark. You could usually see the darkness created by a person, but if they moved to the wrong spot, so they appeared near a light source, they disappeared. It was fun, and then we ended up playing a game of 500. Some of us waded a bit, and then we all walked back up to the house. It was up a road, about 5 blocks from the beach. Jake had walked down the hill barefoot, and declared it not too bad, so as we had all taken off our shoes to keep the sand out, we all walked up barefoot. Turns out Jake’s feet are a bit tougher than most, as there were a few parts of the road that had some gravel that kinda hurt. The road, and the sand before it, was pretty cold, so I really couldn’t feel it that much.

I stayed up talking for a while that night, but I went to bed quite a bit earlier than I did last night. Saturday, there were sessions in the morning, and then we had the better part of the evening to ourselves. Drew, Korte, Luis, and I rode down to the main part of town (1/4 to 1/2 mile) with Ryan, who was driving Jake to go talk to his dad. (His dad is a contractor, and is working on a house very near to the retreat.) The four of us walked around town a bit, stopping at a boarding shop to browse, and then getting an ice cream cone. We walked/ played frisbee down the beach to the house. When we got back, Tom, Ryan, Fr. Brad and Andy were playing a game of “Settler of Catan”. I’d never seen the game before, but it’s really fun.

It’s a strategy game, and the board has several different types of spaces. The represent different types of land, that produce different resources. Each space as a number placed on it, and any player that owns a ‘settlement’ bordering a space that contains the number just rolled by the dice gets one ‘resource card’ of the appropriate type. For example, if I had 2 settlements bordering the clay fields, and the space had a 8 on it, every time an 8 was rolled, I would get two brick cards, one for each settlement. Resources were used to build more settlements, roads between them, and Cities (larger settlements). Whoever accumulated 10 ‘victory points’, wins the game. Settlements, cities, and a few other things counted towards the points. All in all a rather challenging game. The spaces are re-arranged every game, too, so you can’t just memorize the best locations to start out.

They were just starting their second game when I got there, and I watched to the end, where Tom won. I joined in the next game, and made a good showing, but Tom had his third victory. Later last night, the game was again played, and Tom again swept it. He’s really good with analyzing things–he says that he often plays risk with a friend in the seminary, and he’s never lost. Tom then went to the other house to go to sleep, helping Drew get started before he left. I watched that game, because I wanted to get in on the next round. The game ended going on over two hours (one hour is normal) and they finished around 3 in the morning. I’d long before given up on playing, but kept watching to see who won, certain that it had to end soon. By the end, Hendricks was helping Andy get whatever he needed just so the game would end. He was in a good position, except that he got blocked in, and then developed a bad trade relationship with the person who had a monopoly on the grain. HE may have been able to win, but it wasn’t worth it to him.

I called home and talked for an hour, but somehow, I didn’t tell them most of what I just wrote. I bet when they end up reading this, someone will complain that they learn more about me through my blog than they do in person. Such is life.

THE (DRUNKEN) IDIOTS

Teige W. came up on Saturday afternoon, he’d hosted a friend from his school overnight. He talked about the things that had happened Friday night. Between what he knew, and what I heard after I got back, it seems to have been quite a weekend here. Apparently, last year, during the hall retreat was the biggest amount of drinking in Villa. It actually makes sense, as the HD, AHD and some RA’s are gone. This year was no different.

Last weekend, we had a ‘Phantom Puker’, who puked all over the hall in A wing, down the stairs, and then on the carpet from the stairs to the door. It was not cleaned up, and discovered in the morning. Hendricks and a resident cleaned it up in the morning, but the stench was left, and an emergency steam cleaning had to be done. The fellow that cleaned it got called out, and gets double pay, so the cost of the cleanup was in the ‘hundreds of dollars’ according to the e-mail Fr. Pete sent out. As no one has come forward, there will likely be a hall fine to pay for the cleanup

Apparently, Public Safety (often called P-Safe) decided to check out Villa for drinking. I don’t know if it was related to the puker, the hall retreat, or something else, but they sealed off the dorm, blocking all the exits, and must have searched the dorm or something. I understand that the word of the party got out to the other 5 dorms, and something that big probably tipped of Public Safety.

The following night, last night, the procedure was repeated. This time, two keg were found in the dorms. From what I hear, there were kegs Friday night, but P-Safe missed them. The kickers–the kegs were in the Hall President’s room, and were purchased by an RA.

Not only were these people stupid enough to pull this off one night, but even after Public Safety sealed off the dorm, and managed to miss them, they kept them and had a party again the next night. I guess there was even a root beer social in the lounge, some say as camouflage for the party.

(I should note, that while the RA was over 21, the legal age, and the President may be, there seems to have been several (minor) residents at the parties. Not that having a keg is allowed in the dorms anyway, but these people were really trying to break as many rules/laws as possible!)

Seeing as the crackdown has become serious, chances are that UP will soon have two fewer students. The general consensus is that those in charge will make an example of them.

So that was what happened this weekend!

Does it seem to you that now that I got a new computer, I post less? I thought so. I sit down and say “let’s write a post, and then see the link on my personal homepage to someone’s blog, or the Aloof forum, and then end up wasting an hour, after which I go back to what I was doing, and never quite remember that I was going to write a post. Or (like this weekend) I decide I should write a post, and then the power has a surge, blinks, and the network is down half of Saturday and most of Sunday. I have fun online, though. One day, I got into a friendly competition with a gal from Canada, in the forum, to see who could post more nested quotes. Go look at this page, to get an idea what that looks like. That was pretty much the whole competition, but it was fun. I conceded in another thread, and DocD posted the next morning, to which Celtic also conceded. But I bore you.

I’ve done some pretty interesting things offline, too. Every Tuesday, we have hall mass. At the after mass social last Tuesday, a couple of guys decided that they should have a Villa campout. They ended camping out right outside my window. I went outside about 1:00 to talk for a few minutes, and came back in a few minutes before 2:00. I was just wearing a t-shirt, so it took an hour or so to get warmed back up. I’ m glad my grandmother made me a warm jean quilt! (Thanks, Grammie!)

That was the first of two (three?) nights where I was outside in the cold. The next night, I was riding back to the dorm after a meeting (about 9:30), and heard some loud music/voices from across campus. I rode over that way, and ended up spending the next two hours watching Spiderman 2. Good movie, but towards the end, the whole screen may shake (perhaps shiver is a better word). 🙂 The grass was kind of wet, though, and after the movie, I noticed that the seat of my bike was damp, so I guess some sort of dew or something had been coming down during the movie.

I hinted at three nights because after mass, they mentioned potential plans for another campout. Looks like it’s not happening, though. I got distracted in the last paragraph, so there’s about an hour between that line and these ones.

Tuesday afternoon, I went over to St. Mary’s, the student lounge, for a game of college bowl. Turns out there were only 4 of us total. We broke into two teams of two, and my team took three of four rounds. The game is similar to Knowledge bowl, or Jeopardy, in a sense. Each person has a buzzer, and a toss-up question is asked. The person who rings in first gets to answer the question, for 10 points. If you interrupted the reader to ring in, and get a wrong answer, your team loses 5 points. Otherwise, it’s a no loss situation, except that your team can only have one member ring in. This is where I was dominant. I think that I may have answered over 2/3 of the toss-ups, correctly. In fact, I know I never lost points, and can’t remember ever being wrong on a toss-up. After the toss up, the winning team is asked a question fro only their team, usually from 20-30 total points, often in multiple parts. Here we didn’t do as well, but good enough. Luckily these questions don’t cost points for wrong answers. I’ll be going to College Bowl every other Tuesday, and hopefully finding more participants. W could actually go as a team to a competition, or onto a TV broadcast. But we don’t have to, and will make the decision later.

Nik just went to bed, and I should probably follow suit–I can pull late nights for a while, but REALLY late nights catch up to me before too long. You know the feeling where you want to hold the pencil and write something, but your hand thinks it better to let go of the pencil and just rest on the paper? Sleep-deprivation right there. Luckily, I have my first class at 10:20 MWF, and 9:45 TR (Tues/Thur), so I don’t have to get up really early.

Off to bed, with a promise to TRY and be a bit more regular in my posting.

–Nathan

I mentioned in my previous post that I got a laptop. Right now, I’m sitting in the library, at a table in the middle of the room. No wires, no cords, but still an internet connection. Wonderful. I’m told that he Campus is in the top ten finalists for a grant that will allow the entire campus to go wireless. That would mean that I could go anywhere on campus, and still check my e-mail, write a Blog post, and so on.

Funny thing I noticed last week–someone viewed my website from the University of Portland about two days before I got here. The referring link was from the forum on my free webhost-someone else here must be using aloofhosting. It’s a small world..

Went to the game, where the Pilots won 1-0. I got there about halftime, and joined up with the drum squad. I don’t remember if I’ve mentioned the squad yet, so here goes.

Basically, lots of Villans bring lots of drums to all the home soccer games. We beat out rhythms, encourage the players, and heckle the other team. Today, #4 from the other team (UAB, which I think is University of Alabama Birmingham) kept having his shoe come untied. We looked in the program and found out that his name was Jason. And so every time his shoe was untied, we’d all yell for him to tie it, etc. Then came the offers to buy him velcro shoes, and so on. When a player subs out, we all chant Right, Left, Right as they walk off the field, and then ‘Sit down’ as they do. The two games I’ve been to, both times at least one player has gotten frustrated by us and taken a funny hop step, or several small steps in a row, or faked us out as to when he’s going to sit down.
Then we have the cheers. This game, towards the end, when we were up 1-0, we sang, to the tune of “Sweet Home Alabama”, the following. “Go home Alabama/Jason tie your shoe.” and so on. Every goal results in the Pilots flag being run down to the goal and dipped once for each point we have, as we count off each point. Then if their score is zero, we line up and sing , to the tune of Auld Lang Syne, something like the following: “One-nil, one-nil, one-nil, one-nil/one-nil, one-nil, one-nil/…”.

In general, we try to rattle the other team, and support the Pilots. I’m told that the legacy of the Villa Drum Squad is that no one likes coming to Portland to play. Apparently, the word is out. I’m told that Good Day Oregon, a morning talk show in the region, is intending to do a segment on the Squad, and may do an interview Wednesday. We’re going to be out in force for the first ever night game this Friday, and they may also be there to film us in action.

Lots of reading to do tonight, so that’s it until later.

–Nathan

PS: Not all technology is smart. While spell checking this post, Blogger Spell Ckeck didn’t recognize the word Blog. And Blogger’s only product is blogs!