Welcome to the associate chapter of Lambda Phi Epsilon at the University of Wisconsin-Madison! This page is dedicated to sharing stories of this brotherhood and giving insight into the personalities of our brothers.
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3/31/2020
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8th Entry
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Encroaching Madness of Quarantined Lambdas
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Yeah the title isn't exactly indicative of what I'll be writing about but we'll just say it's a placeholder.
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During the past couple of weeks during the outbreak of Corvid-19, multiple brothers of LPhiE have been keeping in touch through our snapchat group and through games like League of Legends. Because we're responsible members of society, staying inside like we should and limiting all outside contact, many of our members have been trying to grow beards and mustaches. Unfortunately, the majority of us fall into the gene pool that can only grow a limited amount of facial hair (not all of us can grow beautiful beards like Sirtaj even if we tried).
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Still, maybe we'll have a good goatee or half of a mustache once the outbreak is over.
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Another way some bros are keeping connected and staving off boredom is through League of Legends. Because a good chunk of us are on during certain times, we host matches against each other. I'm glad to say that while some brothers are newer to the game, everyone plays competently and are probably all above the average player.
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Friendly reminder, don't forget to check your emails! A lot of important information is being sent that way and if you're having financial trouble, make sure to reach out to the financial aid office of your university. Thanks to my LB, Yeng, I was able to receive a significant amount of help.
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This week's song recommendation (or earbug): "Boyfriend" by Tyler Cassidy (a favorite of the fraternity).
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Oh, also make sure to scroll allllllllllllllllllllllllll the way to the bottom and click on that YouTube link right below our view counter. (If it doesn't work, message me secretly so I can fix it without anyone noticing ;) ).
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3/11/2020
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7th Entry
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A Week in the Life 3
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In the past week, 3/1-3/8 (to be honest I'm not sure if I'm listing these weeks right but it almost doesn't matter so I'll just do it from Sunday to Sunday) LPhiE participated in their first Triple S Show! The five brothers who performed were Austin Ly, Sirtaj Grewal, David Ho, Travis Dao, and Brandon Geluk. It was a stunning performance and I can attest to that because I was there and I had trouble hearing from all the screaming in my ear. The stroll was great and their loose and flashy movements mixed with their tight powerful ones made it a pleasure to watch (I think the song choices were good too but I couldn't hear them well).
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Unfortunately, we didn't win. The competition was rough and all the other organizations who were there performed admirably and also drew a lot of excitement from the crowd as my ears could attest to, again.
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Following Triple S, there was a great big get together and a lot of people had fun catching up with each other.
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There was also the LPhiE and SLG hosted Cultural Carnival: College Essentials Edition! There people came and learned about the culture of the participating organizations and their members as well as having the chance to win some college essentials (hence the name, "College Essentials Edition").
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This week's song recommendation (or earbug): "Unsullied" by Mao Buyi (courtesy of See Xiong).
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I know that I didn't have a song recommendation last week and I know that it'd be easy to just go back and put one there but I would know and because I wrote this, you would know. I could also just delete this, but I would know and now you know. So I can't go back and add the song recommendation. Our bad.
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Future Stories: D&D, A brother's funny story, A week in the life, Thutop's favorite sauce, A Date Auction, MY BOY, a story I get from following another bro around.
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3/4/2020
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6th Entry
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Springing Forward
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In case some people have troubles remembering when we turn our clocks forward or back for Daylight Savings, the simple way of remembering that my teacher taught me was that in the fall, we "fall back" and in the spring, we "spring forward".
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Now, this is one of my favorite stories to tell because it happened with all my line bros, the Beta Class. We were out studying late at night, up until around 1:00ish when we decided to order Mcdonalds using Uber Eats. Well, Lerseng passes his phone around (I think it was his phone anyway) and we all put down an order. The app said it was all good but as we waited, the time it would take for our food to be delivered grew and grew minute by minute.
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When it hit the 1:45 mark we all gave up and walked out of our study area in search of food. Because of how late it was and where we were on campus, near Union South, we decided to go to the good ol' Qdoba since it was open until 3am. Well, if you're a keen reader, you can probably guess where this story is going.
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The Beta Line walk past Union South and we spot another group of college students, who seemed a bit drunk. One of the girls in the group called out to us as we walked past and said, "Happy Daylight Savings!"
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We all looked at each other surprised because none of us remembered it was Daylight Savings. Cool we thought.Then one of us realized that Daylight Savings happens at 2am and when we looked at the time, it was 1:45ish. Now, there's the possibility that Qdoba would go on for another hour regardless of Daylight Savings but none of us were willing to take that chance. And that's how the Beta Class ended up going to and remembering the beautiful place that is Kwik Trip.
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Future Stories: D&D, A brother's funny story, A week in the life, Thutop's favorite sauce, A Date Auction, MY BOY, a story I get from following another bro around.
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2/26/2020
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5th Entry
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Thutop's Favorite Sauce???
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Okay, so the not so great, not so big mystery of Thutop's favorite sauce has finally been solved! I think. Now you're probably wondering, "Favorite sauce for what?" and that's a great question. Definitely a good one.
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Following the end of LPhiE's Founder's Day on 2/25/2020 (a Tuesday for those who are, for some reason, reading this far into the future), Me and Banana Bonobo's Boundless Beta's Benevolent Big Brother Stony Oni Oldie Rurouni Timothy Spicy But Whole Briyani Rich Brian Ain't Dyin' Nuryadi, went with Thutop to go buy some food, even though we were both stuffed from eating out just two hours prior.
Thutop wanted to go eat a burger at Five Guys. While it's true that Me and Banana Bonobo's Boundless Beta's Benevolent Big Brother Stony Oni Oldie Rurouni Timothy Spicy But Whole Briyani Rich Brian Ain't Dyin' Nuryadi, already ate, we needed some way to kill time until my bus got there and stroll practice started.
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Thutop didn't tell us his favorite sauce but did you know he likes to get the hamburger, all the way, at Five Guys? Well now you know. TB and I had a chat and flicked around some peanuts while TB ranted about United Airlines.
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Thutop came a few minutes later and I watched him as he ate and I think I know what his favorite sauce is. It's ketchup. I always thought he was more enigmatic but he's just basic, like the rest of us. I then asked him again for his favorite sauce when getting something like Taco Bell, and he said he forgot...
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And thus the story and my journey to find out Thutop's favorite sauce continues.
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This week's song recommendation (or earbug): "Humans" by The Killers (courtesy of Banana Bonobo's Boundless Beta's Benevolent Big Brother Stony Oni Oldie Rurouni Timothy Spicy But Whole Briyani Rich Brian Ain't Dyin' Nuryadi or otherwise known as TB).
Future Stories: D&D, A brother's funny story, A week in the life, Thutop's favorite sauce, A Date Auction, MY BOY, a story I get from following another bro around.
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2/19/2020
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4th Entry
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Exam Music
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This happened last semester. I was heading to class at the usual time on the bus but for some reason, I got there faster than expected. I sat next to my friend in the back row and took out my earbuds, wrapping over my neck, so we could chat. In this class, the two of us always sat in the same spot but, as it often happened on exam days, there was suddenly an influx of students I'd never seen in class before. Because of that we sat on the outer area of the back row instead of in the middle.
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As everyone settled down, the professor passed out the exam. I'll admit, I wasn't doing fantastic in the class (this was a stats class. It combined NUMBERS and WORDS. Crazy, I know). This exam in particular had me rattling in my seat, literally (I like to bounce or shake my legs while I'm sitting 'still'). I had trouble with my water bottle tipping over because my knee kept hitting the pull-out desk.
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The test starts and the room goes dead silent except for the coughs of sick kids and pencils of those who jumped to the short answer section. Well, it was silent for the majority of the room except for the little corner I was in. My friend who I spoke to before class was taking her test with her earbuds still in and her music was leaking out. It was so loud that I couldn't believe she could still hear.
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I want to tell her that I can hear her music but we're in the middle of an exam and I'd rather bear with hearing some music than risk getting accused of cheating. I got through some of the multiple choice but ultimately couldn't focus because of how loud it was. I kept peeking at the other girl beside me to see if she noticed the music. At one point, the professor walked over to the back row in the aisle we were at the edge of, and stood there staring at us.
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THE MOMENT he left, I nudged her. I don't know if she thought I was trying to get an answer for one of the test questions or not but she didn't even glance at me. I nudged her again but I was ignored again. I knew that my friend had some decent taste in music but I didn't know she had GREAT taste in music. She was listening to songs from bands I thought she had never even heard of. I was very impressed and planning to make a comment about it later to let her know I could hear what she was listening to, but I had to make it through the test first.
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Then the song changed. It sounded like a song I knew but it wasn't one I liked much. Still, this song was as obscure as songs could get. How does she know this song? I swear we have the same taste in music... (And I know what you're thinking, dear reader. I was thinking the same thing) I reached for my phone, and realized that I still had my earbuds plugged in. The whole time the loud arse, great music, was mine all along.
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I turned the volume all the way off and pretended it never happened. I also removed that one obscure song because I didn't like it very much.
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This week's song recommendation (or earbug): "Stigma" by BTS (courtesy of Thutop Wangchuk).
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Future Stories: D&D, A brother's funny story, A week in the life, Thutop's favorite sauce, A Date Auction, MY BOY, a story I get from following another bro around.
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2/12/2020
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3rd Entry
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A Week in the Life 2
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In the past week (look I'm not going to always list the dates of the past week because I have to look it up but I will sometimes like this one), 2/3 - 2/9, our chapter continued with our recruitment events. Because of those events coupled with the LPhiE x HASA Date Auction, my brothers and I ended up wearing suits for, essentially, three days straight as the Date Auction was "dress to impress" (jokes on everyone though, my socks didn't match. I needed some way to rebel without showing it otherwise I'd get got). The setup was fairly simple, though we were locked out for a good 10 minutes, and a question that everyone was wondering was finally answered that day. How many Lambdas does it take to untangle some lights? (The answer is too many. But the real answer is somewhere around 5 - 6 with a couple of us switching off here and there.)
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The donors for the Date Auction were mighty impressive. So impressive, in fact, that a substantial amount of our own bros bid on them (even though they could've gotten those dates for free but it's for charity so, yay!).
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During the various events, a new myth was born within LPhiE. If LPhiE is hosting an event of any kind (except for maybe those get togethers) two bros will always meet outside the event area without any other bros around. It's probably- no, it has to be fate. Otherwise, why would I- I mean the bro keep meeting with Jaso- the other bro outside the event when they both live miles away from each other? Weird but it happens.
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Also during last week or this week (I forget), a video was posted to advertise our amazing funnel cakes! (I think it was made by Thutop but I'll have to check. Yep it was made by Thutop. And just so I don't have to remember it for next week, Great Job to Tashi and Jason for all their hard work as fundraiser chair!)
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Fun Fact: #4 Brain "Astro" Leung's name was spelled wrong on the Ascended Alpha's page. (It's also spelled wrong over there <----)
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This week's song recommendation (or earbug): "Octavia" by Marcus Warner (courtesy of me searching for instrumentals while I write. Pls refer to post 1 if you don't know who "me" is.) And another song recommendation: "Mario Kart Love Song" by Sam Hart (if you need to get into that Valentine's mood :p).
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Future Stories: D&D, A brother's funny story, A week in the life, Thutop's favorite sauce, A Date Auction, MY BOY, a story I get from following another bro around.
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2/4/2020
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2nd Entry
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A Week in the Life 1
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In the past week, 1/27-2/2, our chapter started our semesterly recruitment events (it would certainly be amazing if we could only have one event but time is tight and more events mean we snatch up more people). The events were similar to the ones we held during other semesters (if it's not broken then rehash and reuse right? Saves that time we don't have), but this time around, there were a lot more icebreakers.
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I think I said my own name more times in that one week than I did in the entirety of last year.
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Anyway, the icebreakers were a great way to lighten up the atmosphere (big props to Ben, the current recruitment chair). We tend to be fairly casual with each other and friendly to new recruits but things are a little stiff when everyone's dressed up formally. While I am not contractually obligated to not talk about events and our recruits, I will refrain from doing so anyway because bros are this website's biggest viewer base (feel free to hit the refresh button to get that counter in the bottom up ;) ).
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Another thing that happened last week were multiple meetings. One for a more serious reason and another for the merry making that is often found on college campuses between a close group of friends (that is to say a get together). On a slightly more serious note, don't forget that the people around you may be struggling with something in their life right now. If they matter to you, please drop in every once in a while and make sure they're doing okay. College is hard, life is hard and it doesn't seem to be getting much easier, but that doesn't mean we should neglect those around us. No one is perfect and you certainly don't need the webmaster (that's me, please refer to the first post if you need to know who "me" is) of an organization's page to tell you that.
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Moving on, the get together was probably a success judging by the amount of close friends that we didn't even know we had who showed up. We learned that a table very close to Beta Class's heart isn't great to play ping pong on in addition to learning that coffee doesn't always smell good (ugh, I didn't even smell it but I still shudder). Our hearts were sufficiently warmed by the gathering and fully prepared for Sunday's Superbowl (that I think most of the bros were happy with).
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On the morning of the get together, I had lunch with Yeng. We went to the best place for pho in Madison (the best place that I've been to anyway), Asian Noodle. He had the foresight to bring fish sauce, so bring fish sauce if you go, and we talked about various things which led me to add Call Me By Your Name to my watch list (though that might not mean much because I still have The Dark Knight on there). I might have watched it sooner but the amazing Your Name (heh, the names are similar) came out around the same time.
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This week's song recommendation (or earbug): "Hot Shower" by Chance the Rapper (courtesy of PD or #3 Ly "VISIØN" Hoang).
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Yes, I know that last week didn't have song recommendation but I didn't ask anyone last week.
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Future Stories: D&D, A brother's funny story, A week in the life, Thutop's favorite sauce, A Date Auction, MY BOY, a story I get from following another bro around.
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1/28/20
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1st Entry
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D&D 1
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During the week of 1/19 - 1/26 multiple brothers gathered together at our wonderful"Alpha-Beta House", named that way because of the brothers living there, to enjoy the timeless game of using our imaginations, otherwise known as Dungeons and Dragons. No one remembers quite when this tradition started but it felt like a semester ago.
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The dungeon master, Charlie Moua (that's me), arrived before the other players and awkwardly waited outside as he messaged his fellow brothers to grab the door. Once he had gotten in, the players arrived one after another. They were: Sirtaj Grewal, Jordan Nunez, Austin Ly, Ben Mohlke, Yeng Yang, and Lerseng Xiong.
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Together, the six players took on a mission from the Church of Bahamut (a church that worships a platinum dragon which is pretty cool) to eliminate an Ankheg (basically a giant grasshopper). Upon receiving their urgent quest the party of six decided the first thing they would do during the day was go to sleep. A reasonable and quite responsible decision considering their real life occupations as college students.
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Sirtaj, as cøntrola (also his line name), decided to test a magic imbued staff and conjured a fireball by which he had no clue how to control, despite his name. In the end, there were no injuries and the residents who had gotten their stone walls scorched black received compensation in the form of two silvers each, probably ten dollars if I had to guess.
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The two goliath brothers, Jordan (as Kenya) and Austin (as Zuko, also his line name), were working very hard. Kenya had a sort of sickness that caused uncontrollable vomiting and was working to properly control it while Zuko focused on flying with his crudely attached manticore wings (science says it doesn't work but this is a game based on imagination).
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Both Ben (as Finn) and Yeng (as Cornelius, a pretty cool name) were tasked by the church to watch over the rowdy bunch as they headed toward the Ankheg. The dungeon master wished them luck in his heart.
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Lerseng (as Glycon, also a cool name) was a newly appointed paladin who had also become a newly branded not paladin anymore. However, due to his acceptance of the quest to subjugate the Ankheg, he was allowed to keep his armor which he promptly threw into a fire for a quick black paint job.
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During the session, Sirtaj ordered pizza for all the brothers there and kept them fed as they imagined their great adventure. Eventually they did their duty and slew the Ankheg, though not without heavy injury. Thus concluding the D&D session of 1/26 and the first miscellaneous story of LPhiE at UW Madison.
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Future stories: More D&D, A brother's funny story, A week in the life, Thutop's favorite sauce.
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