Pranks: What college is all about

Pranks: we love them because of the sheer joy that we get from disturbing the peace of our closest friends; and because of the legends we create to tell our grandchildren about the “things we used to do for fun.”

Maybe we all didn’t get to play the best pranks in the dorms because our RAs were sticklers, and maybe deep down, there’s the little kid in all of us that just wants to mess with people. Whatever the reason, a friendly prank my friends and I played on the neighbors turned into an all-out war.

This story is for people willing to go to great extremes to win the honor that inevitably comes with epic prank wars; to be victorious; to be the last man standing.

It all started with some harmless donuts. Between half-eating the powdered donuts and half-chucking them out of our friend’s window, we obviously ran out of them.

Their sharp shooter busted out the Airsoft gun and hit my roommate in the eye (thanks). Luckily, our friend across the street was awake at 1 a.m. and was extremely helpful in teaching us the art of flour bombs. So, back we went to knock on the door and hide behind the ever so perfectly placed cars in the driveway. Little did they know that what awaited the open door was a cloud of white flour that made an excellent sheet of haze for our escape.

But we all have a little vice called pride. I realize we’ve all played little tricks here and there. But when it’s you that gets attacked, revenge always sounds sweet.

That’s when this harmless donuts/flour bomb war started to get ugly. You have to admit, you always wonder if there’s going to be retaliation and that’s the scary part.

There are some unspoken taboos, like putting horse heads in your bed or dead hookers in your car. Other than the completely insane offenses, all is fair in love and war, and this was war.

Then my frantic roommate screamed at us because, apparently, smoke was billowing out everywhere. We went to see what really was going on (thinking immediately it was a joke). Through the window I saw it….some sort of smoke look-a-like, literally, pouring out of our kitchen door like a waterfall. Maybe she wasn’t joking.

We went outside to offer assistance and immediately water balloons filled with shaving cream bombarded us. Turns out, a fog machine being set up in your kitchen is a good diversion and ploy to get your target out in the open. Really, what kind of sick people have fog machines? Aren’t we all poor, starving college students?

So, naturally, we had to counter. This time we were going to have to step up our game. After sneaking into the enemy’s house and grabbing their keys, we successfully moved three cars out of their driveway and locked them into ours halfway across town. (The sleeping babies didn’t even know we were snooping around in their rooms.) If only I could have seen their faces the next morning when all their cars were gone.

Thus, while I write this I realize what an incredibly paranoid person I’ve become waiting for the next strike. But the point is I’d rather be living life by the edge of my seat then focusing on the daunting mound of homework that awaits me nightly.

And wouldn’t we all rather live that way? Making time for our friends, even if it be in somewhat malicious ways? It helps to just get away from the day-to-day drag.

You see it everyday anyway, the little white lies that piss everyone off or the recent water gun shootings around campus for Sigma Phi Epsilon’s mob week.

I kind of like this idea of messing with people…you know, just something to “get the reaction.” I urge people to be spontaneous, be stealthy, and be exhilarated by the chase. Laugh at the times that you share with your college friends, during some of the last chances we’ll have to be a little less than adults. Spice up your life, pull a prank on someone.