Penn State, the land of many cows and an infamous party scene, has always held the promise of a good time. What to do on a Friday night, the endless fraternity parties where many have, and will, toss their cookies, the bars where you buy shots for yourself and 20 of your new best friends, the apartment gatherings where you will be asked to evacuate in zero to 60 minutes, even HUB Late Night where a free movie and board game are always appreciated. At any rate, the choice is yours, however you choose to take it.

And I have to admit, some people take it blatantly past the nine yards to a place I refer to as the beyond.

Over the past weekend, like most weekends, I had the pleasure of enjoying what goods Penn State has to offer, and I don't mean its natural goodness.

After the umpteenth time attending these parties and get-togethers, I started noticing idiosyncrasies that students display. All I'm after is a few answers.

n Greek life: When did it ever become so deplorable?

Granted shows like Fraternity Life and Sorority Life 2 are not packed full of wholesome family values, but, then again, MTV is not out to inform the general public about the joys of brotherhood. It's like saying that Real World Las Vegas is out to promote the city's recreational activities, other than hooking up and excessive drinking, of course.

But if I hear one more stereotype about the greek population, I think I just might have an aneurysm. I would just like to point out that overdrinking is an issue in any situation concerning alcohol and the practice is not solely facilitated by fraternity functions. Furthermore, I don't recall anyone shoving alcohol in my hands lately.

The thing that I don't understand is why people will criticize the parties, the people and the organizations while still choosing to attend these places every weekend. How quickly we judge others over ourselves.

Ah, the sweet mystery of it all.

n The amounts of clothing people choose to wear in relation to the temperature of State College.

If anyone hasn't noticed, it's cold out there! True, Mother Nature decided to endow us with a couple days of sunny bliss, but two days of 70-degree weather does not account for skirts and tank tops at nights. But over and over again, I see scantily dressed women with no jackets and T-shirt sporting men with flip-flops. This was in February, if you can believe it.

I understand the important factor of convenience and the effort put forth to looking good, but isn't there some biological law being broken here?

Obviously the direct correlation theory does not apply to Happy Valley.

I suppose that in some cultures it is not only acceptable, but also respectable to defy the frigid coldness. But we're not killing seals for their blubber at Penn State, so put some clothes on!

n People who stay home on the weekends to do work actually believing that they will.

It's an unspoken rule of the weekend to be festive to the best of our given abilities, in any shape way or form. Given that the weekend is the end of a hectic week of deadlines, meetings, exams, projects, post-distress syndromes and whatnot, it's time to relax. Although some students' weekends start on Tuesday, the general consensus would be that Penn State's weekends commence on Thursdays and Fridays.

Don't get me wrong, it's not like I haven't skipped a weekend or two to pursue academic excellence. But who are we kidding? No one who plans to stay home to do work will actually accomplish a fraction of that goal. There's always an old classic waiting to be watched and a random Web site waiting to be visited. It is just a given law of procrastination that you are unlikely to do anything substantial if you choose to stay home.

Now if you do in fact manage to stay on task, then you are in dire need of praise and admiration. But if you're using that good old "I've got too much work" excuse, give it up, no one believes you.

There is nothing more about Penn State weekends that could be said but my deep appreciation for the many joys that it gives me. But some quirks and follies will never really be explained. Then again, maybe that's just me.