Never underestimate the power of free pancakes

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. 

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Sam and Matt suffer right alongside. They seem more enthused, though. 

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? 

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There was nothing not epic about that line, though. 

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."

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Definitely got what I paid for. 

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. 

Late to the party

While sitting in a classroom during my undergrad days at Central Oklahoma, there was a common theme dictated to me, mostly in Dr. Terry Clark's classes which were often way too early in my day for me to stay awake in for the entire time. I still did really well in his courses, however.

That theme, however, was that one of the most important presences a journalist can have in the modern era is a web presence.

Now, a few years and about 60 miles north of there, I was sitting in one of my graduate courses and I thought to myself "You know, I should really get on that."

Look, I can meet any deadline set out for me, and produce content dripping with skill, quality, and refinement. I just tend to procrastinate if it involves me spending money, okay?

As I scrape my professional life together because my archive decided to go belly up back in April, more and more will become available here. Especially as I grow more and more experienced with Squarespace's capabilities and interface. It's not a bad deal, but the Squarespace editor doesn't like to play well with Chrome, so I'm doing all of my work in Edge. Lame.

Looking up at the top of this bar, you probably noticed a lack of...well, content. Well keep your undies on, Sally Sassypants. That will soon be populated with all sorts of content. Snippets from my professional portfolio, resume, curriculum vitae, and even information on my research as I pursue a Master's degree at Oklahoma State University and craft my thesis. As for this page here, I'll write whatever I want, whenever I want, simply because I feel like it, and I mean whatever I want. Be it profound, funny to others, funny to me, or just pictures of my cat back home in Seattle.

Kind of like this.

Because I can.