THAT made me crack up laughing... having dealt with the sheet personally for a couple years.
The sign is very simple- a white bedsheet, folded in half, with "GOALIE" written in large felt cutout letters that were glued (and later... tacked... more on that in my thirteen) - and arrows pointing down. The other half had "SIEVE" with the same arrows. The sign was hung over the railing near the ticket entrance to the arena, placed just so in order to be over the net.
During the break between the hockey periods, two Sisters would quietly go over, and flip the sign around to appropriately identify who was occupying that net for the following period. When BU was at that end, naturally, the sign read "Goalie." When the visiting team was down there, it appropriately read "Sieve."
Since moving to the new arena, I guess the original sign wasn't able to be used- but new developments apparently are underfoot because it simply ISN'T a BU hockey game without that sign present.
And so, this week's Thursday Thirteen, relating to my experiences in Tau Beta Sigma.
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1. The sheer amusement I get from people giving me two looks when I say I'm in a sorority (because apparently it is just a cookie cutter world for sorority girls)... and even more when I say it's a sorority for band members. And (now as an alum) that it's now co-ed. That gives them a bit to wrestle over. :) 2. Season tickets to hockey, junior year. My class schedule was such that I couldn't commit my schedule to pep band that year, particularly with playing a majority of the basketball games. So I got together with Ivy and two other Sisters who had graduated at that point, and bought hockey season tickets. We wound up with amazing seats- first row behind the home team bench. We learned a lot about conversations on the bench that year-- the people who sounded like they had Tourette's. And I will be honest-- those are very, very stinky seats by the end of the second period. But we had a BLAST. 3. Ritual. There's something very special about going back as an alumna to a sorority ritual. The faces in attendance change year after year, but the words and the traditions don't. I didn't understand the concept as much when I was an undergrad, but now I realize how ritual really is the tradition above all else that bind a sorority together. 4. Sisterhood Nights - the night before the final initiation ritual, the Sisters get together for a goofy last night of celebrating the pledge period. Games, stories, lots of food. Can't go wrong. :) 5. Picnics on Memorial Drive. Every year we had a spring picnic to celebrate the outgoing seniors & have a last fling with area alumni. Everyone brought something. We snacked. We watched rugby players from BU and Harvard battle it out on the lawn. Along with sisterhood nights, those were the events where I really got to know other sisters outside of the band. 6. My pledge class rode down the several stories-high escalator at the Porter Square T stop, sitting down with our arms raised, screaming as if it were a really long (and really slow) rollercoaster drop. :) Just 'cause. If you've ever gone down that escalator, admit it-- you've been tempted to do the same. 7. Band trip to Maine, sophomore year - we stayed overnight in Portland, where the brothers of Kappa Kappa Psi from UNH came to hang out with us. Alcohol was, of course, officially banned from these trips. Unofficially, Brothers and Sisters of age found a way to bring supplies for the hotel. Good times were had by all. 8. Memories of the band community. No matter what college you go to, the members of a college band have a very strange little community going on. And it often translates to other colleges. It's comfy, it's cozy. It has its own drama. I miss that sense of belonging sometimes. 9. Painting The Rock. At the corner of Comm. Ave and the BU bridge, there's a rock about 2x3 feet that every fraternity and sorority spray paints with their letters. It used to sit for a few days with the same paint on it- now it seems that it gets painted at least once a day. I never painted it as an undergrad, but I finally got my chance on Sisterhood Night two years ago, when the chapter was celebrating its 20th anniversary. I've suggested (only half-jokingly) that the actual rock under the layers of spray paint is about the size of a baseball. It would be fun to be able to peel the layers back to see what's on there. 10. Missing the Damn Boat for the 20th Anniversary Cruise. In the end, it worked out for the better. :) 11. Having alphabet problems - on my final quiz before being initiated, I was asked to write down the entire greek alphabet. I wrote down every letter- except the letter that indicates my pledge class (Xi). It was the ONLY thing I missed on the quiz. 12. Transitioning from being known as "Klutz" to "Aunty Klutz." I no longer have active line of little sisters in the chapter, but by the branches of the family tree, I'm an aunt to everyone now going through the chapter. What was a quick little silly comment about me being an aunt has now transitioned my nickname. :) 13. Ah yes-- the Goalie/Sieve sign. This one is a story, which I know I've shared with a couple people... but we'll now get it in writing... As a senior, I was the one responsible for the handling and care of the sign. I kept it in my apartment, and brought it to every game. Over Christmas break that year, I decided to take a crack at washing the sign - a suggestion that had been made many times, but never actually attempted. By this point, the sign was at least a decade old. It was not quite white anymore. It had some traces of grime of unknown origin. Due to the felt, I decided that it really should be gently washed by hand, rather than thrown in a machine. To my surprise, ALL of the letters immediately began peeling off the sign as soon as it was dunked in my bathtub - the letters had been glued to the sheet with water soluable glue, but never otherwise attached. With a HUGE amount of swearing, I quickly ended my attempts at washing the sign, pulled everything out of the water and hung it to dry. As it dried, most of the letters completely fell off. I'd managed to kill the Goalie-Sieve sign. Thankfully, though, the felt letters had been outlined on the sheet with red markers. Once it was dry, it was fairly easy to place the letters once again. I first reglued, then TACKED the felt to the sheet. Close call. Hopefully no one ever tried that again! Links to other Thursday Thirteens! Chaotic Mom |
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