JACKPOT!

Day 2 at Gucci School, St. Olaf's College in Northfield, MN and we find ourselves in the midst of a truelly magical event, the "Join Our Club, We're the Best" event with free dinner and entertainment, was this evening in the courtyard. We emerge from the student center and feel the childhood excitement of a wondrous holiday or birthday where you throw your modest consumption of all things delicious out the window, even the fact that neither of us are particularly hungery is momentarily forgotten as we approach tables and tables of fresh fruit, piles of sliced cheeses in all shades of orange and whatever you can fit between two buns.
JACKPOT! It was all there, and it was all supposed to make you want to join a club. Robbie and I took what we could both manage to consume while awkwardly walking around and then decided it was a stockpile mission. The apples were local, organic and freshly picked.
JACKPOT! All together we stole 11 apples from this join the club thing, and boy do they look delicious. To do such a thing, we had to stroll through the aisles of clubs and look mildly interested as time passed so we could swoop back in for another attack. Along the way though, we found ourselves getting caught up in the sales pitches and free piles of Starbursts that each club had to offer. I found myself being pulled in so many directions. My hypothetical life would be so busy here in Northfield. The Accordian Club met twice a month with their wild musical orgies and occasional recitals...Sign Me Up! The Hip-Hop Club, which met often to learn new dance moves, freestyle with each other and watch break dancing videos on YouTube also sounded pret-ty awesome. One girl shouted to me "Would you like to take a prospective student out to lunch?" I said "Are they buying?" She frowned and I had to keep going, the crowd was just moving too fast! Until I got to my favorite of all the clubs, "Be A Middle School Chaperone Club". The bespectacled young man sitting at the table yelled to me saying "what are you doing this Saturday night?" I said "probably sitting in a hotel room, watching reality TV and drinking gin, you?" he said, "Im chaperoning a dance for a middle school near here...wait, didnt I buy a poster from you earlier?" Then the beloved poster conversation happened. He actually bought two good posters: Biggie and Wu-Tang. I remember have an approving conversation with him earlier. I moved away from the much loved topic and found out more about this wonderful club. Twice a month, college students voluntarily go to where 11 year olds want to grind on each other in the dark to an Usher song and they tell them No, you cant do that. 'Wow, I said that does sound kind of amazing', both he and his friend agreed, laughing about it. Ironically, Im not sure. But, they got my email and Im sure Ill know just how funny it is when they send me a newsletter soon. JACKPOT!
There was also a Magic the Gathering Club which is a game I've never personally played, but Nate has told me a little about, so I actually put his name on the list to join that club*. Next we came upon the college radio station and found that they were giving away free CD's. We dug through the bins with several other people and finally walked away with a couple exciting prospects and one CD by some friends of ours back in Olympia, we figured we give it back to them and maybe they could resell it or something. But, the most exciting find from this freebee was this: A group called TRU YORK.
We haven't listened to it yet, but we're excited by the titles of some of the songs, heres a small sample: "In Dem Jeans" and "Hip Hop 101 Gameshow Interlude" and a song simply titled "Hustlin' ". Before we walked away from this musical free for all, I inquired about the black bottle someone was holding and asked hopefully "Was that free too?" she verified, telling me the Nobel Peace Prize Forum was giving away these beautiful Striving for Peace water bottles made out of stainless steal, the same of which are going for a whopping $25 at your local New Seasons. Robbie and I made a bee-line for these peace lovin co-eds and found a crowded table. Finally we weasled our way through and before the girl at the table finished asking me if I wanted to get involved my paws were already fondling a shiny free canteen. JACKPOT! "THANKS!" I shouted, and turned to resume our mission but was quickly derailed. A clapping circle of enthusiastic young people were watching a small team of 'dancers' do windmills and other impressive feats of shoulder meets concrete break dancing and one handed body lifting. Dazzled but mostly confused we turned to go in for the final gastronomical slam dunk. We thought we'd lift our last apples and go but the steaming pile of burger pattys was as enticing as a world without Bob Marley posters. We quickly convinced each other that we needed to take some back to the hotel with us for dinner. 10 minutes later, we were sitting in the truck with our apples piled up on the dash, wiping mustard from our chins. JACKPOT!

So, thanks St. Olafs we'll join all your clubs, as long as you keep the free shit flowing. See you in the morning at the Student Center (lower level) where we'll be taking all of your money all day long.

*Nate - The MTG club meets every Friday night at 7 pm in the Auger Building room 302. Once a month you have to bring the chips and soda so I told them they could count on you for that on Fri. September 26th.