Let me tell you guys a story. Not everyone may remember it this way, but I do. So I'm just going to tell it my way (and no, this story totally does not reflect my mood at the moment, although it may reflect my thoughts).
Last year there were a group of college freshman guys who didn't know each other very well. They all lived in Rieber Hall, a dormitory at UCLA. Some were from the 7th floor, most were from the 6th floor, and one from the 4th floor. There was also a guy from Dykstra Hall, although his frequent visits to Rieber suggested otherwise. Well, somehow these guys became pretty close friends although all pretty much just met. That first year was pretty much an awesome year for all of them. So when it came time to chose housing for the following year, the group wanted to stay together. But trying to accommodate 14+ guys was a pretty difficult thing to do. There were problems regarding priority numbers, thoughts about living in different dorms, distance from campus, and a lot of other little things. And seeing how they only knew each other for less than a year, the bonds were not strong enough to keep everyone together. So the night before the housing contracts were to be made, it was decided that they were going to break up into mini-groups. 6 of the guys were going to live in Rieber Hall, 4 of the guys were going to live in Hedrick Hall, 1 of the guys was going to live in Sproul Hall with a guy none of the others knew too well (because he figured that he wouldn't be part of the group next year), and another 1 of the guys was going to live in Sproul because his roommate was planning to live in Sproul with a few of his friends. There were also two guys who were pretty much set with living in one of the newly built suites. It seemed that everyone was pretty much satisfied with their decisions. All but one.
One of the guys was a very unity-oriented person. Perhaps excessively so. He put tables together during meals because the thought of everyone sitting at different tables was horrible. So the night before he was thinking of ways he could keep the group together. He never really had such a great group of friends before, and he knew that if they all lived away from each other, they would slowly drift apart. He didn't want to take that risk.
So on the day of rooming contracts, this guy gathered up everyone in front of the elevators on the sixth floor. Having thought of a plan the night before, he coaxed the Rieber guys into moving to Hedrick Hall, and convinced the one Sproul guy to bring his roommate with him to Hedrick also. The other Sproul guy and the two De Neve guys were already set and could not be swayed. So, as one group the guys went down to Covel Commons with unity as their priority.
The two guys with the lowest priority numbers went in first. Each pair of roommates was equipped with a cell phone in hand. When the first two went in, they chose the 4th floor of Hedrick because it had the most available male doubles. So two-by-two the guys went in and signed up for the floor. So it came to pass that 12 guys from Rieber Hall (actually 11 from Rieber, 1 from Dykstra) took Hedrick by storm. Not something that UCLA has had happen very often, I'd imagine. And this year, the guys are having a great year ... together. And their friendships continue to grow. As for the three other guys who were not able to live in Hedrick, they weren't seen as often and weren't as close to the Hedrick guys as they once were ... or so it seems. Happy ending? Not quite.
This year, the Hedrick guys are faced with the same problems. Although you would think living together would be a priority ... it appears that there's no way to do that and accommodate everyone at the same time. Distance problems, price problems, etc. At the moment it looks like the group will be split into 2 or 3 small groups. 4 of the guys will be living in one place (their priority is being near campus), 4 in another place (their priority being the cost of living), and 2 aren't really too sure (they'll probably have to find 2 random people to live with). So why isn't the unity guys stepping in? Well, the unity guy would like to just pull everyone together again and think of a way to keep the group united, but it's a lot harder this time around. He doesn't know anything about apartments. He doesn't even know where to begin thinking of a plan this time. All he can do is sit and watch and hope that it will work out, although he knows in his heart that it might not ... not this time ....
THE END? I hope not .... |
