My adventure!
Nov. 19th, 2004 01:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brigdhI did have a self-imposed ban on posting this week, in an attempt to force myself to work on editing ClubSoka (which I still have not finished, yay!), but I need to post.
See, this Saturday is the big football game against my school's rival, and as a crazy football school (and I do mean crazy. Other people riot over police brutality or civil rights, we riot over getting to go to a Championship. And these are not wimpy sports riots, these are overturned-cars, couches-piled-in-the-middle-of-the-street-on-fire, police-spraying-tear-gas riots), there are certain annual traditions for good luck. One of these involves jumping into Mirror Lake at night the Thursday before the game; Mirror Lake being a little man-made lake on campus, about 200 feet long by 50 feet wide, and waist-deep.
Mirror Lake is nasty. The water is a solid shade that's not quite green and not quite brown, but definitely has something shiny on the surface. Also, given that this game takes place in mid to late November, it's usually freezing-ass cold.
But I'd never been to watch the stupid drunk people soak themselves before, and neither had my roommate, and we won't be here next year, so we decided to go just to check it out.
There was an amazing number of people. You could hear the noise of the crowd from over a block away; not just the whistles and bullhorns, but the simple roar created whenever that many people are in one place. There must have been hundreds of them. They were standing at the edges of the lake, swimming races across it, floating on rafts in it, jumping in from trees, screaming and laughing and throwing one another in. People wandered by in bikinis or speedos, or in one case, in absolutely nothing at all, dripping wet or still dry or covered in mud. There was a guy in a Santa Claus hat and swimming trunks, with so much mud on him you could barely see his skin. People were waving flags and throwing beachballs. There was a giant inflated penis being tossed around. You could actually smell beer in the air, just off of the people.
In a word, crazy.
We stood at the end of lake where it was relatively calmer, away from the giant screaming, throbbing mass at the other end. There were so many people that the ones nearest the lake were effectively trapped, which the ones in the lake kept taking advantage of, splashing freezing water at them and getting huge waves of screams as they tried to back away and couldn't. Not that it was deserted where we were; not by any means. But it wasn't quite so scary. We waited around for a while and laughed at everything that was going on, pointing things out to each other, admiring the various people in swimwear or soaking clothes.
At which point four random guys- who I didn't know, who I have never even seen before- suddenly ran over and picked us up to throw us in the lake. My first reaction was to grab for my roommate, because I wasn't sure if she wanted to be thrown in or if she was amused by it, and try to haul her back, since she'd been standing slightly closer to the lake than I was. I was still clinging to her hand, trying to hold her in place, when I realized that my 'OMG TWO PEOPLE HAVE JUST LIFTED ME OFF MY FEET MUST PROTECT FRIEND' mode was probably a little extreme, since she didn't seem really *angry*. I let her go and turned to protecting myself, because I was definitely not getting thrown into any dirty lake. One guy was holding my feet, and the other had my torso, so I couldn't touch the ground or grab on to anything to get away. I writhed over and locked my arms around the one for leverage and started to yank my legs away from the other; I knew they were only playing and I didn't want to hurt them, or otherwise I'm sure there would have been more with the punching and less with the just getting away.
But I heard my roommate calling my name, sounding panicked and worried, and we all turned. She'd lost her glasses in the lake. The guys had backed off, so I jumped in and had her get out while I dove under the water to try and feel for them along the bottom.
The water in Mirror Lake tonight was the coldest thing I have ever felt. I was on the swim team in high school, so I have plenty of experience with jumping into cold water, but this was nothing like that. I'm lucky, actually: it was almost 60 degrees here tonight, which is an unheard of temperature for this time of year. I can't imagine what it must be like other years. I couldn't find her glasses, so she jumped back in to look for them, and we switched back and forth a few times without any luck. The guys wandered off at some point. Assholes.
We couldn't find them, and then we realized that her cellphone was in her pocket and now refused to turn on. Even without the glasses, the cold was just too much to keep looking. It was *painful*. Even on a normal day I hate the cold with the kind of virulent passion most people reserve for child rapists, and I have never before been this cold. I didn't have my shoes on anymore, because they'd come off in the lake, but that didn't really matter because I couldn't feel my feet anyway. We had to walk home, even though she needed her glasses to see and I was shivering so hard that I was shaking with it, sudden violent shudderings, muscles clenched so tight that they still hurt. I could hear that I was stuttering badly, but I couldn't make myself stop.
Thankfully, we don't live far away, so we made it back and took warm showers. The tips of my fingers still feel weird though, but I'm not sure how to describe it. Blistered, almost. My stomach hurts, but I think it's just from the 'hunch over and draw in really tight' thing my body did. If I end up infected or sick from the disgusting water in Mirror Lake, I will not be happy. Regardless, my poor roommate is out a new pair of glasses and possibly a cellphone, though we're hoping it'll work again once it dries out. *hugs![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
minakochan*
I just want to complain about being cold. I hate it. Hate it. Can't stand it. It *hurts*. That's what I don't get about people who prefer summer to winter or cold to heat- yes, warmth makes you tired and lazy and sweaty and sticky and a million other annoying things, but at least it doesn't *hurt*. It doesn't burn in your ears and fingers and toes, or ache in your joints. It doesn't rack your body with shivers that feel more like seizures, or make your teeth chatter until you can barely speak, or linger, painful, even after you're safe from the snow or wind or sleet until you long to curl up and away from your own body.
God. Cold.
So, that was my night. How was yours?
See, this Saturday is the big football game against my school's rival, and as a crazy football school (and I do mean crazy. Other people riot over police brutality or civil rights, we riot over getting to go to a Championship. And these are not wimpy sports riots, these are overturned-cars, couches-piled-in-the-middle-of-the-street-on-fire, police-spraying-tear-gas riots), there are certain annual traditions for good luck. One of these involves jumping into Mirror Lake at night the Thursday before the game; Mirror Lake being a little man-made lake on campus, about 200 feet long by 50 feet wide, and waist-deep.
Mirror Lake is nasty. The water is a solid shade that's not quite green and not quite brown, but definitely has something shiny on the surface. Also, given that this game takes place in mid to late November, it's usually freezing-ass cold.
But I'd never been to watch the stupid drunk people soak themselves before, and neither had my roommate, and we won't be here next year, so we decided to go just to check it out.
There was an amazing number of people. You could hear the noise of the crowd from over a block away; not just the whistles and bullhorns, but the simple roar created whenever that many people are in one place. There must have been hundreds of them. They were standing at the edges of the lake, swimming races across it, floating on rafts in it, jumping in from trees, screaming and laughing and throwing one another in. People wandered by in bikinis or speedos, or in one case, in absolutely nothing at all, dripping wet or still dry or covered in mud. There was a guy in a Santa Claus hat and swimming trunks, with so much mud on him you could barely see his skin. People were waving flags and throwing beachballs. There was a giant inflated penis being tossed around. You could actually smell beer in the air, just off of the people.
In a word, crazy.
We stood at the end of lake where it was relatively calmer, away from the giant screaming, throbbing mass at the other end. There were so many people that the ones nearest the lake were effectively trapped, which the ones in the lake kept taking advantage of, splashing freezing water at them and getting huge waves of screams as they tried to back away and couldn't. Not that it was deserted where we were; not by any means. But it wasn't quite so scary. We waited around for a while and laughed at everything that was going on, pointing things out to each other, admiring the various people in swimwear or soaking clothes.
At which point four random guys- who I didn't know, who I have never even seen before- suddenly ran over and picked us up to throw us in the lake. My first reaction was to grab for my roommate, because I wasn't sure if she wanted to be thrown in or if she was amused by it, and try to haul her back, since she'd been standing slightly closer to the lake than I was. I was still clinging to her hand, trying to hold her in place, when I realized that my 'OMG TWO PEOPLE HAVE JUST LIFTED ME OFF MY FEET MUST PROTECT FRIEND' mode was probably a little extreme, since she didn't seem really *angry*. I let her go and turned to protecting myself, because I was definitely not getting thrown into any dirty lake. One guy was holding my feet, and the other had my torso, so I couldn't touch the ground or grab on to anything to get away. I writhed over and locked my arms around the one for leverage and started to yank my legs away from the other; I knew they were only playing and I didn't want to hurt them, or otherwise I'm sure there would have been more with the punching and less with the just getting away.
But I heard my roommate calling my name, sounding panicked and worried, and we all turned. She'd lost her glasses in the lake. The guys had backed off, so I jumped in and had her get out while I dove under the water to try and feel for them along the bottom.
The water in Mirror Lake tonight was the coldest thing I have ever felt. I was on the swim team in high school, so I have plenty of experience with jumping into cold water, but this was nothing like that. I'm lucky, actually: it was almost 60 degrees here tonight, which is an unheard of temperature for this time of year. I can't imagine what it must be like other years. I couldn't find her glasses, so she jumped back in to look for them, and we switched back and forth a few times without any luck. The guys wandered off at some point. Assholes.
We couldn't find them, and then we realized that her cellphone was in her pocket and now refused to turn on. Even without the glasses, the cold was just too much to keep looking. It was *painful*. Even on a normal day I hate the cold with the kind of virulent passion most people reserve for child rapists, and I have never before been this cold. I didn't have my shoes on anymore, because they'd come off in the lake, but that didn't really matter because I couldn't feel my feet anyway. We had to walk home, even though she needed her glasses to see and I was shivering so hard that I was shaking with it, sudden violent shudderings, muscles clenched so tight that they still hurt. I could hear that I was stuttering badly, but I couldn't make myself stop.
Thankfully, we don't live far away, so we made it back and took warm showers. The tips of my fingers still feel weird though, but I'm not sure how to describe it. Blistered, almost. My stomach hurts, but I think it's just from the 'hunch over and draw in really tight' thing my body did. If I end up infected or sick from the disgusting water in Mirror Lake, I will not be happy. Regardless, my poor roommate is out a new pair of glasses and possibly a cellphone, though we're hoping it'll work again once it dries out. *hugs
minakochan*I just want to complain about being cold. I hate it. Hate it. Can't stand it. It *hurts*. That's what I don't get about people who prefer summer to winter or cold to heat- yes, warmth makes you tired and lazy and sweaty and sticky and a million other annoying things, but at least it doesn't *hurt*. It doesn't burn in your ears and fingers and toes, or ache in your joints. It doesn't rack your body with shivers that feel more like seizures, or make your teeth chatter until you can barely speak, or linger, painful, even after you're safe from the snow or wind or sleet until you long to curl up and away from your own body.
God. Cold.
So, that was my night. How was yours?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-11-19 01:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-19 08:29 pm (UTC)*shrugs* I'd have punched them if I felt like I was actually being harassed, but no reason to take it out on them simply because I didn't want to play.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-19 02:17 am (UTC)Hope you warm up soon...
no subject
Date: 2004-11-19 08:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-19 08:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-19 08:30 pm (UTC)And heh, I'm much better now. ^_^
no subject
Date: 2004-11-19 03:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-19 08:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-19 06:27 am (UTC)I'm mean. Yes. :)
Oh, and *hugs* You should find the guys, get their names, and have them pay for new glasses and cell phone.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-19 08:32 pm (UTC)I doubt there's any way to find them again, though. I don't remember what they looked like at all, and there are probably thousands of people who were there at one point or another last night.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-19 06:57 am (UTC)Anyway, good for you for trying. *offers another blankie*
no subject
Date: 2004-11-19 08:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-19 07:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-19 08:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-19 07:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-19 08:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-19 08:02 am (UTC)I hope you don't get sick.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-19 08:36 pm (UTC)And it is a stupid tradition. I don't get what inspires people to jump into a lake in November at all. Besides, it's not even like we have much hope of winning the game this year.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-19 08:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-19 09:19 am (UTC)Promise. *hugs*
no subject
Date: 2004-11-19 08:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-19 08:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-19 07:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-19 08:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-19 08:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-19 09:13 pm (UTC)Also, she might get somewhere whining at the college about it-- you know, poor security, the lot.
That's a good idea, though we won't be able to get away with the poor security excuse. There were plenty of police there, and the entire nearby road was actually blocked off my them. We're apparantly starting to get a bad name from the riots, which have been more excessive the last few years, and the university is trying to crack down. But it certainly won't hurt to try.
wait, you are in the States, aren't you? Sometimes I think I should make charts of my friends...
Heh, yep. I know what you mean; I'm always forgetting where people are from and making some stupid comment to them.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-20 11:35 am (UTC)So they were just...watching people get thrown into the lake? How sweet. If they're trying to keep their rep clean she might get somewhere though...
no subject
Date: 2004-11-20 12:22 pm (UTC)They were making sure no one was hurt. Apparantly, a few years ago a girl broke her neck and ended up paralyzed at this event. And there were quite a few ambulances screeching around that night, though my guess is hypothermia rather than anything so traumatic as broken necks.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-20 02:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-21 10:48 pm (UTC)