The bags are packed, the exams are looming and the kegs have all been tapped -- it's the end of another year here in State College.

For most of us, this doesn't mean much -- we just punch through this cyclical process, sit around bored all summer long, waiting to return to the town where the beer flows like honey in a beehive.

Some of us, on the other hand, feel an urge to look back on the past year as a whole and try to make some sort of sense out of the events we have witnessed to see if we can derive any sort of greater meaning or understanding from them.

What have I learned?

That we live in a gray world full of black and white people, and I'm certainly not talking about race.

Let's begin.

As we unpacked our bags in August, we took a break to hit up the HUB so we could sit by the now oft-ridiculed "fountain" (i.e. campus' biggest urinal).

As the year progressed, we encountered more obstacles on our way to the HUB including new construction sites closing off Shortlidge Road and occasionally Atherton Street.

This only set in stone the theory that Penn State holds the world record for longest continual state of construction since the university started in 1855, topping any of the pyramids or even Michael Jackson's face.

The football season was a memorable one to say the least, with JoePa, LJ and the rest of the Lions leading us to a admirable 9-3 season record, two of those losses being painful overtime defeats.

Oh, and we also made it into a bowl game, but due to space limitations (and fear of football player retribution) we won't talk about that here.

As the snow began to fall (seemingly continuously for about six months), local matters took a back seat and we couldn't help but notice that trouble was brewing in other parts of the world.

And yes, of course by that I mean the cast of Friends agreed to sign on for another season, thus proving the theory that money outweighs the agony of making us watch Matt LeBlanc attempt to portray a romantic Joey.

In the never-ending blitz of reality television, Joe Millionaire took America by surprise, with its finale garnering almost 10 million more viewers than this year's Oscars.

For those who don't know, the series followed a troupe of attractive gold-diggers who threw themselves at a faux millionaire (and gave him the occasional oral sex).

It truly makes one pine for the simpler days of Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire?

In other less obnoxious entertainment news, Norah Jones pulled a pleasant upset at this year's Grammy's, unexpectedly beating down The Boss and just about everyone else in the room. Eminem had his revenge by unpredictably nabbing an Oscar for Best Original Song, proving that the world was finally tired of Bono and his political activism.

At the same Oscar ceremony, a new level in hypocrisy was reached when Michael Moore received a standing ovation for his liberal documentary, Bowling for Columbine, only to be booed off the stage two minutes later while attempting to expound upon his political viewpoints.

Wait, what was it that caused his comments to alight people's emotions on fire? Oh yeah, I almost forgot, we had a war.

Whether for it or against it (and I was both), you have to raise an eyebrow at the generic terminology used to denote a military operation that began and ended within one semester and where a great percentage of fatalities were results of accidental helicopter crashes (check a news archive -- there were more than a couple).

Tragedies also struck closer to home this semester with the deaths of a number of other heroes and role models.

On top of the loss of lives overseas, the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon re-entry in February, killing all seven on board.

Also in February, a little piece of the child within us all died with the passing of the beloved Mister Rogers. Very brave men and women will be the next to fill those very different, yet similar, shoes, boots or even slippers of heroes.

As this town came out of its hibernation, we turned our eyes back on ourselves here in State College, with some interesting developments under way.

Underage partiers throughout the state of Pennsylvania cried foul at the institution of the stiff new chaperone law keeping them out of multiple local venues.

While the law is still in effect, Players Nite Club has been lucky enough to reopen to the under-18 crowd thanks to their discovery of a loophole in the law. God bless the legislative branch.

Penn State President Graham Spanier found himself taking a little heat a few weeks ago after winning a faculty doubles racquetball competition.

The fine print of the competition states that all competitors must be faculty members at the University Park campus.

Well, apparently Spanier’s partner works at the Altoona campus -- not to mention the fact that she is a former gold medallist in the same sport.

With morals like that, I might as well just call up my buddy Steven Spielberg next time I need to make a film for my major.

Big Brother is coming to town with the looming installation of cameras on Beaver Avenue. While State College has been a little light on the riots lately, at least the cameras can pick up the occasional latenight alleyway urination.

Speaking of Big Brother, more than 200 Penn Staters found themselves bordering on legal troubles when they were caught during a Penn State techno-bust of illegal file sharing.

Looks like the other 39,800 (give or take) of us need to rethink our file-sharing gameplan. And in the worst news of the year for And in the worst news of the year for State College, Mike’s Music on College Avenue is closing and yet somehow Jimmy John’s has found a way to open a second store on the same road. That’s just not right.

So much news, so little space. From Mars to SARS; and from abused Catholic schoolboys to vilified Dixie Chicks, we’ve seen how misunderstood our world still is.

We can’t agree on war, we can’t agree on religion, we can’t agree on entertainment, and the worst part is that almost all of us believe we’re the ones who are right.

Maybe the faculty should let Spanier enjoy his win. Maybe the war was a good idea. Maybe Joe Millionaire is the next evolution in high quality television. Maybe the Beaver Canyon cameras will benefit us in a way we can’t predict. And maybe I’ll actually give Jimmy John’s a second chance (although I highly doubt that one).

The world isn’t as full of as many absolutes as we want to believe.

Billy Joel was on to something a decade ago when he crooned, “Shades of wherever I go, the more I find out the less that I know.” Think about that before the kegs fill up again in August and drown out the color.