I Heart My TDR Ahhh, yes, TDR. Love it or hate it, AU wouldn't be complete without
it. Here's a cultural guide to AU's only (and therefore best?) dining room.
TDR&B: The soulful sounds of TDR. Often you can see employees
singing along with their favorites. Don't be afraid to get down to the daily tunes,
like "Let's Get It On" and "Sexual Healing" by Marvin Gaye, or sing a duet with
your dining partner to "Endless Love" sung by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie. Oh
that Lionel Richie, he does it for me every time.
TDR Shopping: TDR Shopping is a delicate art practiced by many
AU students. Don't take too much at once. Be cool. Go and get food like you would
normally, and then dump it into Gladware at a table. It helps if you can get one
of the tables in the upper seating areas, sort of hidden away. Make sure you bring
a large purse or backpack to carry your Gladware. If you don't like TDR's prepared
food or don't have time to buy groceries, take out items you can cook with. The
key to TDR is not looking at it as a room of meals, but looking at it as a room
full of ingredients. Want to make stirfry for yourself? Try "shopping" for some
broccoli, carrots, and grilled chicken. Don't be afraid to take the vegetables
that are strewn about as decoration - you can usually find some good eggplant,
garlic and shallots.
TDR boyfriend/girlfriend: The rules are simple. Taken from
the article in The Eagle that first spawn the phrase,
"1. The first rule of having a TDR significant other is that you don't
talk to TDR significant others.
2. The second rule of having a TDR significant other is that you DO NOT talk
to TDR significant others.
3. While it is natural to want to learn more about your TDR significant others
(i.e., what's their major, where are they from, and why don't they eat dairy),
it is NOT acceptable and can actually be dangerous to uncover too many details
about them (i.e., who are they as a person, what are their hopes and dreams,
and what do they think about the conflict in the Middle East)."
TDR IMs: IM has become the gold standard for quick communication
at college, well, actually, for communication at college in general. When it comes
to planning a TDR meal with a friend, AU has developed a system of fine tuning
IM conversations to as few words as possible. Why ask if they're hungry, then
where they want to eat, and then when and where to meet? It's much simpler than
that. Most TDR IMs come down to three lines, for example:
HungryKidAU:
TDR?
DailyJolter44: sure. LA quad in 15? HungryKidAU: k.
TDR Comment Cards: As you exit TDR, you will notice two bulletin
boards with brown paper cards covered in various colored comments stuck in with
thumb tacs. These cards are filled with TDR dinners' comments on what TDR is doing
wrong, or what they might actually be doing right. Make sure you check out the
responses from the TDR staff, too, as they are often filled with hilarious responses.
And more often than not, the requests themselves are side-splitting. Popular requests
include: pineapple…if they've got so much other fruit, why can't they splurge
on pineapple for once? Also, Turduchen: a chicken stuffed inside a duck stuffed
inside a turkey."
TDR Moonshine: Ah, TDR Moonshine. Few words can describe the
combination of pain and pleasure that arises as a result of viewing the derrière
of the girl sitting at the next table. Everyone knows that girls' pants have a
tendency to ride down and reveal underwear, or worse, the rear end itself. The
design of the chairs in TDR frames the revealed portion, often causing a sudden
loss of appetite. If you think that you run the risk of spreading TDR Moonshine,
do us all a favor and put a jacket on the back of your chair.
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