Sadie Hawkins Dance

The prospect of being asked by a girl for a dance is a totally new and unknown experience for me and most of my friends. Though some viewed it with a cynical eye, and some were up for the experience, all of us - in the back of our heads - were worried about who was going to ask us, or if anyone was going to ask us at all. Unfortunately for many of the hopeful girls (or I'd like to think so), I had taken the easy way out and agreed to go with a friend of mine, Jessica Joute.

However, before the arrival of the "big day," hundreds of rumors and stories were flying around all over Woodstock. Most of the guys sneaked to classes and returned to dorms as quickly as possible, trying to look inconspicuous and avoiding the stares of the girls, while I looked on with a smug smile. Try as they might, some of them couldn't escape their fate, while my other friends mourned the loss of their comrade-in-arms. Sadly though, as the Arsenal vs. Liverpool game was going on at the same time as the dance, most of my friends had to prioritize, and the majority of the girls were left behind, dateless.

Fortunately, a number of boys thought differently. On Saturday night, I dressed up in my wrinkled blue shirt and a pair of jeans, waiting for my date to show up. While I was waiting, I realized that I had completely forgotten to buy my date a gift. Hastily, I took a bag of candy (already half eaten), stuffed it with a handful of dried yak cheese (What? It's a delicacy), and tied it up with some ribbon things. Satisfied, I walked out of the room only to see a bunch of guys hurriedly taking off their jeans and putting on formal pants. "They're not letting me inside," one grumbled. Thinking that it was not worth the effort, I quickly changed to formals. Just on time, my date arrived, and I gave her my gift, trying to keep a straight face. Guiltily, I accepted her gift, also chocolate.

After the dinner - which was unusually quiet - we made our way to the Midlands basketball court, the venue for the dance. Unfortunately, many of the couples were conspicuously absent from the dance floor, and the ones who started dancing soon became stricken with shyness. Also, the music was far from satisfactory. Trying to make the best of things, our group danced the first hour or so away. Unable to dance much, I just banged my head like I would to a hard rock song, much to the consternation of my date. After a while, we were pretty downcast with the lack of dancers and decided it would be best to leave. After all, if we were lucky, we could still catch the football game.

Gonpo "Fuser" Lama, a student intern with the Development Office, writes articles for the website.