Snowball 2003

I have delayed long enough with my review of the Snowball this year, which is ironic because I was really quick to get my pictures up this year and I even went to great lengths to create a couple of useful scripts that will assist me in future photo galleries. If you haven’t seen them, there are definitely some good ones in there.

As for the event itself, it was without a doubt the best one I have been to - and I have been to them all. This year is doing pretty well for great events, which is definitely a testimony to the great job our current society is doing (despite that being somewhat painful to say). The evening started off with me getting into a new suit. This was one reason that I liked this event, having a proper suit that fits makes a difference. Mike was kind enough to drive a bunch of us down to the Westin. Once there I did a bit of roaming - talking to people and taking pictures. Not too much later we settled down for dinner.

The buffet was excellent, as it always has been. The food is similar to all the other years, but you can’t really mess with what works. My brother and I endulged ourselves in seconds and I was even able to slip in a slice of the delicious egg nog cheesecake. After all - dancing fuel was going to be necessary. During the meal, they played the slideshow which showcased many of the events from the past year and more. Many of the photos were taken with my camera, either by myself or by Chris. It was good to finally feel that I had contributed to the social tapestry of the faculty.

After dinner, the award portion of the evening started. The Srini Award this year went to a deserving Dr. Norm Scrimger. The Staff Appreciation Award went to Margie Publicover and the Student Appreciation Award was given to society’s VP External, Geoff Johnston. There were three Citizenship Awards this year and they went to Melanie Kellar, Richard Carpenter, and Steven Thong. After the usual awards went out, there was a special presentation made for the Dean, Dr. Nick Cercone, who was recently married. Society had prepared a video about Nick and his new wife and that was followed up by Jacob Slonim (our former Dean) presenting Nick with a wedding gift from the students - a dish set. All told it was a great portion of the evening.

It was around this point, when Whitney (the MC) got everyone to get up in front of the stage and have their photo taken. Since we didn’t have a photographer there, I was one of the people who was snapping photos of this large group. There is a great composite shot that mike stitched together from my originals - please check out the photo website. This was all a clever trick to get people on the dance floor when the music started. And it might have worked, if the music was right.

I’m not going to complain about the music itself. It was a great Jazz Fusion that I would love to listen to while laying in bed resting or chilling out reading a book - even programming possibly. It wasn’t however the best suited for getting your groove on out on the dance floor. There were a few brave souls who ventured out and gave it their best pop dance effort, but it didn’t seem to last very long. I was impressed though, considering that there were more people on the dance floor at this initial part of the music than ever get up on the dance floor period during years past. That being said, the style of music didn’t seem appropriate. And I don’t think that was anyone’s fault. When I was told the type of music that would be at the Snowball, I was looking forward to it. A departure from the usual gruel. However I don’t think that it dawned on anyone that the music might not be best for getting people on the dance floor.

After a short while, the DJ came on - the same DJ as last year, DJ Bruce Johnson I believe. Despite my initial skepticism about the sugary sweet canned pop that might have flowed, it actually offered up a refreshing taste of change. I made note that he started with the exact same song that he opened with last year: I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor. (It might be worth it to note that I gave credit to Cake for the song last year, and while they do perform a version of the aforementioned classic, it wasn’t the version played at either Snowball - my bad). The DJ wasn’t on for the rest of the night however, and at one point the band, The Metric System, retook the stage to while away some more of the evening.

Obviously by this point there were fewer and fewer people about, as people filtered out for various reasons ranging from genuine illness to the fact that they couldn’t recognize fun if it came up and mounted them from behind. By 1am, when the DJ played his last tune - Good Riddance by Green Day - there were about 20+ people still there. This actually impressive given that many of the professors and their families left much earlier on. It was at this point that my brother and I left in a ride generously donated by mike once again.

I hope that gives all that weren’t present for this excellent event a taste of what it might have been like and I hope those people in attendance mirror my positive review of the evening. I am glad that so many of my friends (and family) made it to the Snowball this year and I hope that tradition continues. Cheers.