“Kicking the bucket:” the confusing phrase that adults used on us youngsters to explain how our favorite hamster “kicked the bucket to enjoy a nice, long trip to New Mexico … forever.” Sadly, a couple years down the road, the phrase is more aptly applied to the dreadful day when the class of 2012 graduates from dear old Wake Forest.
(And yes, life after Wake does exist … or at least that’s what I’ve heard.)
So now it’s the seniors’ turn to take our “nice, long trip,” but this time, the destinations are more likely to be New York or Atlanta, and we’ll probably be back before the first leaf hits the ground next fall. To prepare for this fateful departure, many seniors have entertained the idea of a bucket list—maybe they’ve created a Google doc and shared it with 100 of their closest friends or started the list on the back of their HES 100 syllabus. Either way, the huge amount of work and necessary social life have sapped the life right out of many of these bucket lists.
We’re here to help, collegiettes™! Here are our suggestions with varying degrees of bravery that you may think about adding to your own bucket list:
1. STQ: You should know at this point what’s behind the meaning of these three letters, and if you don’t, you’re not old enough to know.
Fraidy-Cat: Streak the Quad on the dead of a Tuesday night, alone, white-knuckling your clothes in one hand and your Deacon card/car keys in another. Write about it in your journal as the most terrifying moment of your young existence.
Tiger Cub: Streak the Quad on an off night, but definitely not a Tuesday, in a small group of your most trusted confidantes. Extra points if you do it early enough that there are still library folks or late enough that an early-morning runner appears.
Lioness: Streak the Quad on a Wednesday, Friday or Saturday night in a group of no less than ten people of mixed gender. Clothing must remain at the starting line. This one is especially impressive if Subway is still open.
2. There’s a big difference between ‘golfing’ and ‘crawling,’ but whatever you choose to call it: hit all the bars downtown in a night
Fraidy Cat: Cranberry vodkas at every stop. Hold the vodka, please!
Tiger Cub: Take it like a marathon, not a sprint, and you’ll surely make it to the end of the night.
Lioness: Basically, you shouldn’t remember planning the night, let alone participating.
3. What happens in the tunnels stays in the tunnels.
Fraidy Cat: While maintenance is fixing a pipe, put your toe over the line.
Tiger Cub: Break out the spray paint and emblazon the wall with that Harry Potter mural you’ve been dying to create.
Lioness: Manage a small overseas banking firm from your office set up in the Bostwick-Johnson tunnel. Hold business meetings in your swanky underground lounge.
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4. Hook up with fresh meat … a freshman.
Fraidy Cat: You see that guy looking at you—give him a nice big wink.
Tiger Cub: Just find one of those freshmen who, you know, doesn’t really look like freshmen and partake in a passionate DFMO.
Lioness: If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times, “go big or go home.”
5. Climb to the top of Wait Chapel: You can see New York City’s skyline from up there!
Fraidy Cat: Photoshop a picture of yourself waving from the top.
Tiger Cub: Politely ask the Wait Chapel maintenance man if you can help him clean the bells.
Lioness: There’s nothing stopping you from harnessing up and scaling the outside of the thing.
So unearth that bucket list from between your couch cushions or underneath your mountain of homework. It’s time to celebrate our last few months at Wake Forest in the most outrageous and memorable ways we can!
*Photography by Elise Wallace and stock photos