Sometimes the answers to life's great questions can be found on a bathroom wall.

Just ask Penn State graduates Vicki Glembocki, class of 1993, and Lynne Smyers, class of 1984.

Glembocki, a writer, and Smyers, an art designer, became friends while working for Penn Stater magazine in the 1990s. Reuniting over Thanksgiving weekend two years ago, the pair was trying to brainstorm ideas for a project they could collaborate on while they were enjoying drinks at Zeno's, 100 W. College Ave.

"In the bathroom, I saw the words 'writers and designers belong together with a beer,' " Glembocki said.

At that moment, Glembocki and Smyers found their idea. Using cocktail napkins as paper, they recorded all of the funny graffiti and sayings on the bathroom walls of Zeno's.

"I still have the napkins," said Smyers, who is saving them for posterity.

Over the next few months, the two traveled from bar to bar in State College, recording the graffiti in both the men's and women's restrooms, making sure the men's rooms were empty before stepping inside.

"We just started going nuts," Glembocki said. "Of course, we were drinking along the way."

The result is Penn State Whizdom, a compilation of amusing quotes found in the restrooms of State College bars.

The book is more than just a random hodgepodge of drunken wisdom, however.

"It's like a conversation," said Glembocki, who, with Smyers, arranged the sayings so they appear to be a verbal exchange between different bathrooms.

Case in point: "graduating college in four years is like leaving a party at 10:30," writes one Zeno's patron in the men's restroom.

The response? "It's not impossible. It just hasn't been done yet," writes someone else in the men's bathroom at the Phyrst, 111 1/2 E. Beaver Ave.

Putting the book together was the easy part, Glembocki said, who called the process "super fun."

"The book was like a natural collaboration," Smyers said.

Publishing the book was a different story because the two had to learn how to market and sell a book.

Making matters more difficult was the fact that Glembocki and Smyers both have full-time jobs.

Smyers is currently an art director for OmniStudio in Washington, D.C., while Glembocki writes for Philadelphia Magazine.

"We had to learn some big-girl stuff," Glembocki said.

The two created their own publishing company, Psycho Betty Books, and published Whizdom themselves.

Because they are just starting out, Smyers and Glembocki plan to sell their book exclusively to independent bookstores such as the Student Book Store, 330 E. College Ave., and University Book Centre, 206 E. College Ave.

"We're going to go independent because that's what we are," Glembocki said.

The book is currently available online and at Webster's Bookstore Café, 128 S. Allen St.

Glembocki said she and Smyers are planning to create different versions of Whizdom for other universities such as the University of Michigan and University of Wisconsin.

"We've branded this," she said.

"It has potential."