Not-So-Boring Meetings! by Kristian Travis

Every student is bombarded with meetings that just seem to be boring, too long, or irrelevant. Fatigue and restlessness settles in as you sit listening to someone talk for an hour about how important it is to listen. Michael Scott reiterates by saying, “Inventory is boring. In the islands they don’t make you do stuff like take inventory. Why do you think so many businesses moved to the Caymans.” Most can agree that when it comes to meetings, why must we conduct them in a way that is so dang boring? One of the characteristics that make Mabee North First an awesome hall is our dedication and desire to have fun. The night was cold as we gathered one week after winter break ended to talk about Town Hall stuff every Abilene Christian student needs to know. As we gathered in the common room, excitement exploded in the faces of every guy that was there. It was revealed that we were not going to just sit around and be boring, but rather we were going to do what humans have done best since forever. We were going to pretend! We split into groups and then performed the best Mabee has seen in quite some time. Needless to say, we could have won an Emmy if we wanted to. Attached is a video of the best act titled, “Quiet Hours.” Don’t forget the popcorn!!

-Kristian Travis

3rd West Football Frenzy! -by Drew Thomas

It’s interesting to think that a small, oddly-shaped ball of pigskin being thrown from one person to another down a grass field can attract guys of Mabee Hall (or anywhere else for that matter) like the fresh cookies of the World Famous Bean attract almost everyone—but that is exactly what the Super Bowl does. On February 2^nd, 2013, the most widespread thoughts and most popular tweets involved two things: football and Beyoncé (imagine that). In all honesty, the willingness of the men of Mabee 3^rd West to watch the most anticipated sporting event in the United States made my job incredibly easy.

As an RA, my goal is to provide the guys of my hall with a fun, hall-wide activity twice a month (I bet you can already see where I’m going with this). For the month of February, I decided the Super Bowl would be a great program. However, there was talk of a party for all of Mabee Hall in the lobby. While I don’t disagree that this was a fantastic idea, I decided it would be better for the guys on my hall to have their own party. Some of my residents had been talking about having a Madden 13 tournament before the Big Game started. When I presented the guys with the idea of playing the tournament until game time, they all seemed very excited. So we went with it. Instead of the incredibly successful lobby party, I got permission for Mabee 3^rd West to have its own party.

We managed to get a couple pizzas, some drinks, and chips to enjoy throughout the day, and a total of 18 guys ended up being a part of the Super Bowl watching party. As seen in the picture (left), we organized a bracket, set up three TV’s (one of which can’t be seen), and played Madden for almost four hours straight. Even though all of the guys are pretty competitive gamers, the tournament remained cordial and fun—almost as if everyone understood the insignificance of the video game in comparison with the real game that was to follow. In the end, I got eliminated in the first round and the champion (Kyler Wilks) was crowned with hall bragging rights and pride. But at 5:30, the real party began.

I was very pleased to see a very diverse group of guys attend the party. There were many football fanatics, but there were also many others who simply enjoyed being around their friends, watching Beyoncé, and analyzing which commercial would be considered the most entertaining. Regardless of why they were there, everyone seemed to have a tremendous time. The football game did not disappoint (especially because everyone wanted the Ravens to win), the food was enjoyable, and our time in each other’s presence was time well spent. From my perspective, the Super Bowl was a huge success!

-Drew Thomas