Normally, I'd be in bed by now. Instead, at 10:30 pm, I'm standing in line with thousands of other students lured to the student union with the same promise that ensorcelled me.
Free pancakes.
For the entirety of finals week, Oklahoma State offers free pancakes and drinks in the dead of night, and like cattle the undergrads and grads alike herd themselves in the cold dark, myself amongst them.
Isn't that how these things always go, though? Knee deep in the collective commercialistic orgy of the holiday season, the promise of free things drags the hordes in to the dark and cold, even for something as straightforward as pancakes.
Wow, that sounds a lot more important than it actually is, doesn't it?
I wonder if Cialdini had anything to say about herd mentality.
Still, dragged from my dorm room for the promise of free pancakes, I'm kind of glad I did. As an undergrad, UCO did free midnight meals that got me addicted to sopapillas, but could free pancakes measure up?
Eh.
The undergrads I went with think they're God's gift to breakfast, but I think a lot of that is because it was free. Especially at that age, free things tend to be just that much more, I guess. I wasn't thoroughly impressed, however. Maybe it's because I'm older, maybe it's because I'm a curmudgeon, but as a friend from undergrad once told me, "only [I] could find fault with free food."
Still, as much as I silently grump, I'm glad I came. Pancakes is one of those things I don't get in dorm life, if I ever have time for any kind of breakfast at all. It's cold and bland, but it's nice, even in the dead of night.
I also got to see Sam mack on a Women's World Cup player and fail, so that was kind of funny.