Dormatorium

Dorm Rats, 1983
Dorm Rats, 1982

This image is from the fall of 1982, in my dorm room at Oklahoma University. A few interesting tidbits about this image:

  • Pictured are Michael, Allen, Chip, Chris and me.
  • The color image is a slide made on Kodak Ektachrome Professional Infrared Film. The lens was my first 20mm, and the camera was a neat old Nikkormat EL.
  • Michael referred to the circle of sticks he constructed as his “erection.”
  • Allen is wearing a two-way headset, but no one is on the other headset.
  • I am only wearing one shoe.
  • Above my left shoulder is a self-portrait I made earlier that year.
  • Chip and I each had complete stereo systems. Between us we could pump out about 500 watts of sound.
  • The “computer room” sign was one of a vast cadre of stolen signs that adorned the room. There was also one above Chip’s bed, hidden from view in these photos, that read, “If you are pregnant, please inform the technologist.”
  • On the other side of the room are stolen “Walk” and “Don’t Walk” signs, with lights in them that worked.
  • The shelf you see between our two desks was actually the storage box from above one of our closets.
  • There were 15 phones, mostly stolen, that all worked, and all rang.
  • Chris, the upside-down guy, collected high voltage capacitors out of old TVs, and would charge them up so we could play “shock catch.”
  • Although not visible in either frame, the light fixture above us is an old chandelier from my parent’s dining room.
  • It was during this period that we took up “elevator riding,” which involved using our lunch cards to open the outer doors when the elevator was a floor below us, then sitting on top of the elevator car and seeing where it took us, sometimes making noises to annoy the passengers inside.
  • If you Google “total idiots”, these images pop up as the first 180,000 hits.