That's when I knew to turn and run.

As part of my ongoing "work-related research," (wink wink) I read a blog called "The Choice" on the NY Times website. "The Choice" is about the college admissions process, and features stories from students, parents, admissions officers, and other experts on how students and colleges intersect.

(OMG BTW, I would have eaten this up as a high schooler, I was such a freak about applying to college. I would have killed for ANY "insider" information. I remember how I'd search out news articles about admissions offices then read and re-read them until practically committing them to memory, eagerly awaiting those yearly college ranking lists with highlighter in hand, and creating a filing system by school name with all due dates listed out. God, I was such a NERD.)

Today's post recounted "College Night" at the author's daughter's high school, specifically an "advice" panel comprised of high school seniors in various stages of the college admissions process.

Oh, and it contains a gem so sparkly, throwing its oddness around the room like a diamond would light, I couldn't let it go:

For Emily, spending an overnight at each of her top three choices enabled her to decide that Wesleyan was the school she would apply to early decision. “I was looking for a certain environment, one with individuality and learning for the sake of learning,” she said. While walking back from a concert at 2 a.m., Emily came across a male student playing his saxophone in the middle of an open field. “That’s when I knew this was the school for me,” she said.

Now, I might have liked an illustration of this event, but frankly, what exists in my mind's eye is probably better. But what might compel a youngster to go out into an open field to play a saxophone at 2 in the morning? Could be that he wanted to express the newfound creative and academic energy he felt as he was released into Wesleyan, a campus just teeming with brilliance. Could be that his roommate had finally had enough and kicked him and his horn out into the quad to "rehearse." All valid guesses, but in my experience the simplest explanation usually tends to be the truth: Drugs.