isu never lets you down

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isu never lets you down Saturday November 6

i took a last-minute jaunt to bloomington on friday night to see hairbanger's ball again. they've got a new lead singer now, so, that was interesting. i like the old guy better. really, though, hairbanger's isn't about the music. if it were, i wouldn't have bought earplugs (which actually made it an enjoyable listening experience, at 30dB attentuation). rather, it is about the people: why have a group of around 10 people decided that they will convene in downtown bloomington every time a loud 80s rock band plays? i don't know, but what i do know is that once you have that momentum, it would take a lot to break it.

we ended up at "the white house": a house on isu's campus that puts the ugliest property i've seen at uiuc in a good light. i cannot believe that six guys live in a house and share one bathroom and kitchen. there were dirty, wet socks on the floor of the bathroom. and hair. lots of hair. all of the carpet has stains, and the whole place has a funk. which makes it the perfect place to have people over: no one cares.

we stayed out until about 4, when sarah wanted to go home because she had to be up at 8 to be at work at 10. she has been working at jimmy john's for over two years, and that longevity brings pull. so i asked, "hey, can i come to work with you? i think it'd be fun." so she called her boss, who, despite wondering why the hell i would want to come in to work for free at a place i'm not employed at, told her that i could work if i wanted to.

why would i want to work so badly? simply, the ten people that come out to hairbangers are sarah's friends: her coworkers. working a menial basic-labor job (which i haven't done for some time) is so easy, that well, you can have a lot of fun while doing it if you're doing it with the right people. and just when i didn't think it could get any funnier, todd shows up in full jimmy john's attire. it was the best mid-morning/noon hour i've ever had, i think.

todd and i were rocking the front sandwich line for a good twenty minutes during a lunch rush. i know most of the menu now. the boss said (as he was there) that todd and i were the "best first-day employees" he'd ever had. i assume this is because we knew our opportunity for this was limited, so we wanted to make the best out it. i kinda miss food service sometimes.

it all goes to show: you can never know what's going to happen when you go to ISU on a friday night.