These last few days have been good ones for me. My old dorm floor had decided not to decorate the hall on the grounds that it was a relatively needless expense and that it would only mean time spent to set up and (what is more menacing) more time spent cleaning up. Oh, previously, as a joke, some guys had set up mistletoe all along the center of the hall ceiling, so that everywhere in the hall were these sprigs of mistletoe; a joke, based somewhat off of our social status as a floor. Well, apparently (this is after the non-decoration decision, now), some guys found some old Christmas lights somewhere and we got more mistletoe and... well, we stand a pretty fair shot at winning that contest, now.
We also had Hershey's Kisses to pass out to females visiting the floor. Their caution was rather amusing.
When the judges were on the floor below ours, I did a touch of scouting to see which way they were coming (so they could be greeted with the obligatory kisses at the door). I noted, in passing, that one of the judges was, shall we say, not at all unattractive.
Ok, for this next part you need a smidgen of background. Last summer I met a girl online who was going to be attending a Christian college in California (whose Senior Admissions Director's husband's sister's boyfriend is my father). She has a friend who was going to be attending LeTourneau. Several times this year as I've talked to her, she's asked me if I'd met her friend -- we'll call her Alice -- yet. I've had to reply that I hadn't and probably wouldn't, seeing as I'm not exactly Social Man on campus.
Anyway, I'd seen her picture (through her friend), and I thought I recognized her later that evening when she was on the floor. So I asked her her name, and when she replied "Alice", I realized that I wasn't sure I had remembered the name correctly. So, when after a slightly awkward silence she offered, "You mean my last name?" I gratefully accepted. [last name], ok, that sounds familiar. So I told her that I knew one of her friends online, ...
I'd forgotten *her* name! So I mentioned something about Westmont and she rewarded me with the girl's name. So there you are. She continued down the hall and I realized what a splendid - and rapidly departing - opportunity had presented itself. I quickly grabbed a kiss and ran down to present it to her. I've since had great fun with the online friend about it.
Later that evening I attended a chai party; this is something originally started by the international student organization (ISO) on campus. My old dorm floor, by virtue of its historically high number of missionary kids and other international students, tends to attend them. Chai, by the way, is a type of tea. It is fixed with chai (the actual tea leaves), milk, and sugar (and water). At a chai party people get together and play Mancala or Uno or Hearts or Spades or Checkers or whatever else. Or just sit about and talk. Also there are other refreshments, such as brownies, pretzels, popcorn, and/or rice krispies treats, etc., etc.
I'm not sure how I got around to it, but I ended up holding a pretzel over the vent in a stove (or whatever one would call it; it held fire) where the flames, being rather high, were leaping. (Just a tip: the salt crystals get hot first.) I'm not sure how exactly it all happened, but I ended up joining the conversation there by the fire. And in that group of people was -- guess who? -- the not-at-all-unattractive judge! And she seemed to show at least a fraction of interest in me!