Wiess | The Plaid Pladd Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Wiess’

What I’ve Been Doing This Week: T-shirt Quilt

July 7th, 2009 by pladd

While packing up all of my clothes in preparation for the move and Roadtrip: The Lightning Round, I inevitably found a bunch of t-shirts that, while nice, I was never going to wear again. Some of them because they were worn out in the sleeves, others (“Florida: Where Old People Go to Die”) because I’ve had too many traumatic encounters to justify the risk. Wiess ones because, damnit, no one looks good in goldenrod. So, with the help of some maternal wisdom and good, old-fashioned plaid, this happened:

It also makes a stylish cape

Suck it, Betsy Ross. If I were sewing the flag of our country, it would be eight times as colorful, with 30% more inside jokes. Also, please note that you should now add “quilting prowess” to my list of skills/reasons to fear me.

Tagged: goldenrod, historical figure insulting, quilting, t-shirt, Wiess

Posted in Fabric, Things I've Made |

Transcripts: Thomas Misses Wiess (More than I do?)

June 19th, 2009 by pladd

Thomas: I miss Rob.
Me: Yeah, me too.
Thomas: And Josh. They should come back. And bring Roque. And JerBear. And all of Wiess.
Me: It seems like that would get kind of crowded.
Thomas: They could sleep in my room on the air mattress.
Me: Okay…
Thomas: Except for Roque and JerBear. They can sleep with me.

Tagged: JerBear, Rob, Roque, Thomas, transcripts, Wiess

Posted in Uncategorized |

The List: Final Round Up

May 8th, 2009 by pladd

After weeks of denial and trying to use all my Tetra points (to no avail), I think it’s finally hit me that I’ll never be coming back here and these people will never be part of my life again. The defining moment: taking The List off the wall, incomplete, and lovingly taping it into my journal. I told everyone to tell me if they happen to complete any of our so-far unmarked items so I can cross it off, but it seems unlikely that we’ll be able to #53 Start a Pyramid Scheme at Wiess. Ah, missed opportunities. Here is The List in its entirety (with amusing anecdotes where applicable and completed items crossed off):
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Tagged: JerBear, nostalgia, The List, Wiess

Posted in lists |

The Creative Process: Long Island Iced Tea Version

May 5th, 2009 by pladd

For some reason, Anna Baron has commissioned me to write a One Act for her to direct next year. Thinking that this year’s play would be my last chance to show off my “forgettable dialogue” as the Thresher put it, I’ve already used up all my good ideas. Seriously, here’s the list I brought to college. I think it applies, not only to one acts, but to life:

Patricia’s List of Good Ideas
1. LIVE ANIMALS
2. Witches!
3. More singing
4. Tape inanimate objects to people as much as possible
5. Find silly nickname–ADJUST WARDROBE ACCORDINGLY
6. This:

Yeah, that's Dhruv in a leotard and tutu made for six-year-old girls

As you can see, I’ve already used up all of them because, unlike THE 434, I’m good at completing lists. This means I’ll either have to write a whole new list of good ideas (though I can’t see how it’ll beat that one) or attempt to use the same one over again without anyone noticing. But how can we get Dhruv back into that tutu? And can I somehow make it a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure One Act? I’ll ponder these.

Lately, my strategy has become sitting down in the depressingly empty Wiess commons at meals and announcing, “So I have to write this one act…” and then making a list of everything people suggest. In the end, all I’ll have to do is find a way to squish everything on the list into one play. It’s the Long Island Iced Tea version of the creative process. AND IT ALWAYS WORKS. Here are just some of the gems I got tonight:

Dr. Gustin: You should write about a married couple!
Denise: You should write about your road trip!
Dr. Gustin: Wait, you could have some kind of trial and then pick audience members to be part of the jury! It could be a different outcome each night!
Me: So a choose-your-own-adventure couple’s road trip courtroom drama?
Roque: Ummmm… (his face says he wants to be the voice of reason, but he’s just not man enough)
Me: Genius!

And clearly the best way to get inspiration for this epic tale of melodrama and audience participation is to experience my OWN courtroom drama on our road trip. Like most of my goals, this one can easily be solved with a simple game of Truth or Dare. Here’s the plan I’m going to whip out about half-way up the Pacific Coast:

Me: TRUTH or DARE?
Steven: Ummmmm… Truth.
Me: That’s the wuss answer.
Steven: Okay, dare.
Me: I dare you to steal the World’s Largest Holstein Cow! Pride of New Salem, North Dakota!!
Steven: Crap.

That should get the job done.

Oh, and I’ve declared myself the Winner of the Cookie Self-Portrait Contest. My Secret Mystery Prize is not having to come up with a Secret Mystery Prize. Thanks for your votes/nitpicking (Brian).

Tagged: One act, pictures, roadtrip, Steven, transcripts, Wiess

Posted in Road Trip, Uncategorized |

Despite the Rainpocalypse, THE TRUTH WILL PREVAIL

April 28th, 2009 by pladd

When the weather is this bad, I tend to blame it for absolutely everything wrong with my life, including my inability to access my blog from my lap top. Usually that alone would be enough to trigger my intense paranoia, but it seems to only happen on Tuesday and Friday mornings when I want to update my blog. It says WITHOUT FAIL in the top right hand corner there. I can’t ignore those capital letters. So for the second time this week I have dutifully walked down to the Wiess computer lab to work on it there, which seems to annoy the people around me who have actual work to finish. Also, me, because I like to write in my pajamas. Friday, I grudgingly got dressed before warning you about the dangers of Rachel Liontas, but today I’ve given up. Steven Wiggins, itinerant webmaster, at first told me I was crazy. Then, when Roque also complained that he could not see my blog, he decided to investigate, and then decided to blame WordPress or some server or something. He says it will be okay by the end of this week, but I think it is some conspiracy perpetuated by Brian Reinhart. He seemed pretty upset when I saw him last Friday.

Ostensibly, he dropped by on a “I’m never going to see you again because I’m going home tomorrow” visit (the VERY day the Rainpocalypse began–a little TOO convenient). Along with his sadness, however, he brought along two reusable Target bags full of newspapers, claiming that I could take them to IKEA and exchange them for food.

Brian Reinhart: I view IKEA as the greatest triumph of modern capitalism.

Only later did I find out this was A LIE. You CANNOT exchange newspaper for food at IKEA and now there’s a 20-inch stack of newspapers in my room I don’t know what to do with. I can only make so many funny hats, Brian. I would just recycle them to make Jeremy Caves happy (my goal in life) and think nothing of it, except for Brian’s OTHER comments on that fateful Friday.

Brian Reinhart: I saw your blog. (dramatic pause) You think it’s over because there’s no Thresher this week. But you just wait. You forgot the GRADUATE EDITION.
Me: I have no idea what that is.
Brian Reinhart: OH, YOU’LL SEE! (maniacal laughter)

I don’t know if he realizes that, after every “last” issue of The Thresher, I WILL STILL HAVE A BLOG. You can’t turn off the Internet, Brian.

And just when I was about to shout that at him I realized: that’s what he’s been doing. It’s not the server or WordPress or the other things Steven Wiggins has claimed so it looks like he knows what he’s doing; it’s BRIAN REINHART trying to STIFLE THE TRUTH. AND CAPITAL LETTERS. As Bo will tell you from his career as a Wiess President who often says things he regrets at Cabinet, I firmly believe that The People Have a Right To Know, but mostly just Nobody Tells Me What To Do. And that includes you, Mr. Calendar Page. Bring it.

In other news, despite Brian’s Rainpocalypse, we managed to complete another List item #88 this weekend by, not only going to see Molly and the Ringwalds at the Continental Club, but singing on stage with them:

As you can see by the dancing drunk girl, it was a wild success

We got made fun of a lot (by the band) for being “babies” and, in the case of Rachel and Bova, for forming a “Tall Girl Club” that the lead singer could not join. Still, we prevailed. Livin’ On a Prayer was never shrieked into a microphone so well. (I am noticably absent from this THE 434 picture because Patricia Ladd does not sing in public ever since a traumatic incident in the sixth grade.)

Tagged: brian is a weather witch, conspiracy theories, JerBear, paranoia, pictures, rain, Steven, The List, transcripts, Wiess

Posted in Uncategorized |

Things That Spell Our Doom–2

April 24th, 2009 by pladd

1. Rachel Liontas

Harmless Gullible Freshman... OR IDENTITY THIEF???

She looks a little TOO happy considering we convinced her to buy most of the Wiess Garage Sale. I mean, don’t get me wrong; I love Rachel Liontas. If there was some kind of bracket system to determine The Best Freshman, she would totally be in my Final Four (now that I think about it, why DON’T we pit the freshmen against each other in a dramatic, death-defying battle for the seniors’ love? Or is that the Freshmen One Acts?). At the wildly successful Wiess Garage Sale, Rachel made off with the following from THE 434’s stash of amazingness: a coconut cup, kickball, Mystery Date Game, pirate hat, Rubix Cube, shiny pink 80s dress, hot pink toga, cowboy hat, Christmas lights, and red star sunglasses. This list is a little too calculated to be just random, impulse buying. Clearly she is amassing all of our definitive possessions in a wild bid to become THE 434 after we have gone. DO NOT BE FOOLED. Just because it is pink and sparkly does NOT mean that it is necessarily Bova!
Read the rest of this entry »

Tagged: brian is a weather witch, conspiracy theories, doom, freshmen, JerBear, lists, paranoia, pictures, The List, Wiess, zombies

Posted in lists |

Last Last Day of Classes!

April 17th, 2009 by pladd

Actually, this title is not true in any way, since I’m pretty sure library science grad school also has a last day of classes, and BOTH of my seminars have decided to postpone our last class/presentations till Monday for some reason. Yes, I have six hours of class the Monday after classes are supposed to be over. I was okay with this earlier in the semester when my only thoughts were “That means I can postpone procrastinating on that project for another week! Holla!” but now I am less thrilled, mostly because yesterday I had to sit next to nostalgic people going “LAST LAST DAY OF COLLEGE EVER!” while muttering bitterly under my breath about anorexic teenage girls or whatever I’m supposed to be writing about.

Other things of note:
While this weekend is going to mark a flurry of List Completion, as of yesterday we have failed at completing #93 Get Professor Gorry to Throw His iPhone (at us?). I admit, it was a long shot even putting it on the list; he really seems to love it, no matter how irritating we’re being. Sad times.

HOEDOWN THROWDOWN SHOWDOWN. I’m sure I’ll be posting pictures later today or tomorrow of our epic win re: The Hoedown Throwdown Showdown. As stated previously, I thought only Bova and I would show up, but apparently a lot of freshmen have been practicing and Alex Mainor told me at pub Wednesday that “the Hoedown Throwdown has become my religion”. Then he filled any silence afterward with “Boom Clap. Boom de clap de clap…” Inspiring. Julia even told me that she stopped working on her senior thesis to practice it, which is the dedication we need to wipe that self-satisfied smirk off of Miley Cyrus’ face and/or become her BFF. I’m not really sure which is the goal here.

Sorry for the short and disjointedness–I have to go get ready for Dirty Sparkly College Night! This includes putting all of the jewelry that I own on at one time and not wearing shoes. See you at the Hoedown Throwdown!

Tagged: classes, hoedown throwdown, The List, Wiess

Posted in lists, Uncategorized |

Edgar Odell Lovett: Probably a Ninja; Now with Evidence!

April 9th, 2009 by pladd

Little known fact: I am an expert at Rice University history. Not only does John Boles recognize me on sight (as someone he should nod to; it’s unclear whether he knows my name) but I once wrote a totally historically accurate, based on a true story, completely not made up play about William Marsh Rice’s buried gold, which some freshmen then grudgingly performed. Also, I may have been peripherally involved in the True History of William Marsh Rice Campaign that The Man and Wikipedia clearly don’t want you to know about. Therefore, having listed my impressive credentials, I think we can all agree that I mean serious business when it comes to Rice history.

So I expect you to take me totally seriously when I claim that it has become clear in recent weeks that Edgar Odell Lovett was actually a ninja.

Unlike some of my seemingly wild claims that then have turned out to be eerily accurate (re: Jason Hawley has embezzled all of Wiess’ money to diamond-encrust his lap top, the Servery will one day have cheesesticks etc.) I have some actual, photographic evidence for this, and it is as follows:

As modeled by me in the Woodson Research Center Basement/Ninja Training Room

Basically, it’s a really long bamboo pole. At least ten or fifteen feet. Supposedly it was used for pole vaulting back in the very beginning of Rice Institute and then Lovett’s son used it as a banister in his house for awhile. I mean, we’ve all been there. At a track and field meet, when you see the pole vaulting poles lying on the ground and suddenly think: “You know what that would make? One sweet banister!”

OR he was actually trying to disguise the bamboo pole, to cover the evidence that Edgar Odell Lovett had actually used it daily in his secret career as a ninja. Everyone knows he went to Japan on his world tour of universities before starting Rice! But was it really to meet the Japanese Minister of Education… OR TO TRAIN AS A HIGHLY SKILLED ASSASSIN???

Don’t believe me? To quote an anonymous archivist within the Woodson Research Center: “Edgar Odell Lovett was definitely a ninja. But don’t quote me on that.” What more evidence do you need?

Tagged: conspiracy theories, edgar odell lovett, ninja, Wiess, William Marsh Rice

Posted in Uncategorized |