Well Oklahoma State, it's almost that time of year again. The busiest, most hectic, most exciting time of the year, homecoming. Of course for the Greek community, homecoming means approximately 10-12 hours taken out of our week devoted to pomping. For those unaware of what pomping is, it's essentially covering chicken wire in glue and sticking tissue paper through it with the edge of a pencil. Interesting, right? I think it is fair to say that as a whole, there is mixed feelings about the art of pomping. These are the typical stages most people experience throughout pomping season.
1. The initial confusion.
As a freshmen, the first few weeks of school you hear about the upcoming homecoming season and pomping. People try to explain to you what pomping is and you pretend to understand, but deep down you're confused and a little nervous. What is this? Does every school do this? I didn't sign up for this. What if I mess up? Can I get kicked out for being a bad pomper?
2. The initial dread of what's to come.
Homecoming is one of the best parts of Oklahoma State, there is no doubt about it. Getting to work with your fraternity/sorority pairing is guaranteed to be a fun time, but still deep down you feel a sense of dread. You're already plenty busy with school, clubs, and whatever else you're already involved in. Sometimes it's hard to find ten minutes to even call your parents, how are you going to find ten hours to pomp? The stress is real.
3. Free time becomes pomp time.
Going along with number 2, time is limited in college. There's always something that you can be trying to get accomplished throughout the day. Your mentality changes during homecoming. No longer is that hour break you have devoted to a nice power nap, it's now spent sprinting to the fraternity house to get your last pomping hour in for the week to avoid fines.
4. Pomping becomes a form of socialization.
"Hey, want to go pomp together?" becomes a common phrase throughout homecoming. Hours spent in a room poking tissue paper through chicken wire can strangely bond you with people.
5. You start checking your bank account and questioning if taking the fines are worth it.
Everyone is required to do a certain number of pomping hours a week and gets fined if they don't reach their quota. You tell yourself at first you will be on top of things and never miss an hour, but the further into homecoming you get, the more losing out on some cash seems like a fair trade. What's twenty dollars when you can have some free time?
6. You start attempting to bribe your homecoming directors.
You start to wonder that maybe if you bring your director a coffee or offer to do some of their homework they'll cut you some slack and reduce your hours, or let you sign in and leave. To be honest, you'll do just about anything to get your hours reduced, but that's probably not going to happen.
7. The midweek mental breakdown.
It's Wednesday and you have only completed two of your ten assigned pomping hours. You mentally go through your schedule for the rest of the week trying to figure out when you can possibly spare eight hours. You realize that you'll have to give up sleep, but who really needs it anyways right? Ha. Ha.
8. Lastly, the part that makes it all worth it. The pride you feel looking at your deck when it's all finished.
When it's all said and done and you're able to look at the masterpiece you and your fraternity/sorority pairing made together, the sense of pride you feel makes the whole thing all worth it. Sure there were stressful days and nights and emotional break downs, but weirdly enough, you had an amazing time doing it.
