What was last Friday? It was "the night the lodge went wrong." For some, the complications of a lodge being shut down ruined the night, but I had ended up experiencing the joy of random fun. Plus, being removed from the actual lodge while in the midst of a lodge mindset and atmosphere allowed for some (deep and meaningful) reflection about our campus' obsession with lodge parties.
At the lodge, I had finally made it up onto the stage when the evacuation commenced. More than anything, I was just confused. Flashing black lights are a little much, and whoever kept turning the music on and off was just causing random ten-second dance parties--not conducive to herding swarms of people out one door. I do sincerely apologize to whichever pledge had to pick up my beverage off of the floor in the morning, though. Really, facilities should put those black Recylemania receptacles in the lodges. I, for one, would stop dropping cans on the floor, and maybe we could eliminate the whole grimy-floor-equals-morning-after-lodge-feet aspect of life. But I digress.
As I said, leaving the lodge unplanned resulted in ultimate confusion, because you can't go out ready to dance and then go sit in an apartment, and you certainly don't want to head home at the peak of your night. I somehow maintained a state of happy delirium (perhaps because I was wearing a rando Dane Cook black hoodie that I grabbed before going out since, surprise, it got cold again, and thought I was hilarious for looking so sketchy in a sea of girls wearing dresses), and my friend and I decided to head off campus.
We made it to our destination (I added dark glasses to my "sketchy" outfit - my happiness skyrocketed) and proceeded to pretend we were still at a lodge, when in reality, we had unintentionally crashed a small get-together of people who did not understand the need to blast music and ... just dance. I have a feeling they may have simply stared at us for about half an hour, since conversations were put on hiatus to enable said blasting of music. Obviously, it was a good time.
The point is, the fact that our night semi-continued as if we had remained at the lodge tells me that it is, in fact, all in our heads. So, to those who call the lodges this or that, listen to me! We just want to be happy and wear clothes we may not wear in daylight, and yes, we want to dance in a manner that might actually be ridiculous. Don't rain on our parade. We've decided it's going to be a good night, so it is. Now you may point out that I just proved you can have fun anywhere, but I think we can all admit that realistically, our options on this campus are limited. So, we can complain about the lack of variety in campus life, or we can thank God for fraternities and just get silly.
Contact columnist Susie Compton at susie.compton@richmond.edu
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