Most College Kids LIKE Free Stuff, Don't They?

And now comes the time to tell tales out of school about The Pony.

When we last left him (and my heart) in Oklahoma, The Pony had just moved into his dorm, and was reaping the benefits of SOW. That's Sooner Orientation Weekend. Lots of free stuff and welcome activities. Of course, being The Pony, he was a bit lax in his reaping. More on this later...

I'm pretty sure The Pony partook of a lot of free food. Mainly pizza. And ice cream. He picked up several shirts. Got a nifty ID holder that he stuck on the back of his phone. That's how he knows he'll never forget his ID. When Hick and I got back home that Saturday night, I sent The Pony a text so he would know that we arrived. I'm sure that was weighing heavily on his mind, his first Saturday night at college, out from under Val's two-ton thumb.

"I'm playing blackjack right now! And at 9:30, I'm riding the bus to Target to pick up a few things."

"Okay. You DO have a car there, you know."

"I know. But everybody's going on the bus! The last one leaves Target at 11:30. I'm going to get a Brita water filter, and some snacks." Said The Pony, who grew up drinking well water from the former lead-mining capital of the world.

The next day, he sent me a text of his purchases, which included a 12-pack of soda. I relayed the information to Hick.

"SODA! Why would he buy SODA?"

"Um...to go with his snacks? Because it's cheaper than getting them out of the vending machine?"

"CHEAPER! When I moved him in on Thursday, they had CASES of soda stacked on the lawn. Higher than your head! With big signs saying to take some! All he had to do was pick up a case for FREE! And his roommate could have got one, too. Some kids were taking a lot of cases. But then I heard one say, 'It's not hardly worth carrying it up to the 12th floor.' And they had ELEVATORS! I don't know what's wrong with kids these days. You can bet I would have taken free soda if that had been me."

Here's the proof, from a picture the university had on its website. I don't know any of the people, but it looks like they were with various organizations that helped with move-in:

Yeah. It looks like there was plenty of FREE soda for the taking. But, being The Pony, he prefers to buy his own. In fact, a couple weekends ago, he went on a special trip for that very purpose. I think it was somewhere around Oklahoma City, because he sent me a picture of the skyline as they went by:

The Pony said he bought a six-pack of Grand Teton Grape Soda, because he thought his dad might want the bottles when he was done drinking it (awww). And also a six-pack of Australian Root Beer, because he likes root beer. No word on if Hick gets these bottles, or if The Pony threw them away. Here's a picture of the inside of the place, which also sells a lot of candy, it seems. That's the head-back of his friend who took him there:

There was another photo The Pony sent to further my understanding of irony, which showed this friend in front of one of the soda fountains, ALL OF WHICH WERE OUT OF ORDER! I won't put that one here, because I can't crop her out, and I don't know if she wants to be famous! The Pony also sent a picture of this unique treat:

He didn't tell me the name of the place, but I'm guessing from my less-than-thorough research that it's called POPS.

I suppose one of the first things I've learned from The Pony's college education is that free soda isn't good enough for him.