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In the 19 months I've spent at Penn State, I've always felt left out one way or another--so much so that I've grown some kind of superiority complex/disaffection with Penn State. I knew that my kind of people existed; I just had no idea where.

[An aside: I love my friends, but I have somewhat diverse friends who generally are rather unlike me. When I say "my kind of people," I mean pretentious, jaded assholes and artsy-fartsy pseudo-hippies.]

Last night, I attended my second Phroth meeting. The "meeting" consisted of watching Arrested Development, eating pizza and drinking Miller Lite. Tonight, I went and "sold" magazines at an open mic night. Somehow, everything has changed.

At the open mic night, someone played "El Scorcho" and at least 50% of the people knew the song. The girls looked different in a good way. There was free coffee at 10 P.M. Why hadn't I stumbled upon these gatherings before? It seems so obvious now. All this time, I was assuming open mic nights were full of untalented hacks and their friends. Don't get me wrong; they are. But I'm an untalented hack, too! I'll fit right in! I feel like Isaac Newton getting hit on the head with an apple, all in a two-day span.

Like I said, it wasn't the open mic night that was good; there were a handful of good acts there, but on the whole it was pretty sucky. However, 90% of the audience was there for new, original mucsic. Surely it was a glass-half-full crowd, optimistic that something interesting would stand out. For me, it did--I'd found my niece, as Eric Matthews would say. For the first time since high school, I felt like I fit in.

Now to practice my Weezer covers.