It’s that time of year again.

No, not Christmas, not midterms, not even Halloween. This requires much more study and preparation.

It’s GYRAD season.

For the unacquainted (along with the all too well acquainted), Get-Your-Roommate-A-Date (GYRAD) is pretty self-explanatory. A given dorm hall hosts a special event — anything from dodge ball to an art museum trip — with a particular theme. For example, “Wild and Crazy Kids” and “The Need for Speed” were my old hall’s themes.

Then comes the hard part: finding someone to go with your roommate.

I’m not a fan of awkward situations, and walking up to a guy saying, “Hi…I Facebook-stalked you and thought you seemed like the kind of guy who would want to spend money to hang out with my roommate for a day” is definitely high on the awkward list.

Who created this method of torture, anyway? If I wanted to feel like an awkward high schooler, I wouldn’t have graduated.

I’ve actually gotten off easy as far as finding dates goes — last year I had a roommate who refused to go, and this year I have a roommate with a boyfriend. Said taken roommate asked a boy to go with our third roommate, and everything seemed to be working out nicely.

Then they asked me to tell them who I wanted to go with.

I really don’t think a question like that is fair. I mean, come on, it’s messing with the very concept of the GYRAD! I want my roommates to find me some random person to go with — it’s not like it’s a big deal, right?

As long as he’s polite, cute, funny, charming, really talented at whatever activity we’ll be doing and not in a relationship, I really don’t care who it is. This is supposed to be pretty straightforward.

My roommates graciously accepted my refusal to name names, stopped pressuring me for hints and promptly walked down the hall to quiz my best friend on who they should ask.

I’m sure the guys reading this can’t comprehend the drama involved since most of them wait until the day before the GYRAD to ask the first girl who walks into Commons.

However, girl halls have a complex system of date finding that boggles the mind. I speak as a sophomore who lived in Alpha for a year — trust me, it’s intense.

The following is an actual conversation overheard in an Alpha lobby:

“So, I saw [boy] today.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I was like, ‘Hey, are you going on our GYRAD?’ and he was like, ‘No, I’m busy.’ And then, get this, he just walked away!”
“Whoa…do you think he’s going with someone else?”

See? It’s like junior prom all over again. Not to say that I’m immune, of course. I freely confess to having been part of at least three long GYRAD-related conversations this semester, and it’s only September.

I guess there must be something in the [complex infrastructure of the] female mind that begins shriveling up from lack of dance/formal/prom/date related small talk. GYRAD is our only coping method.

Regardless of its purpose, GYRAD is a fun little invention and a great way for everyone on my hall to hang out all together. I mean, floor brunches are nice, but I prefer to think outside the Caf.

I could do without the over analysis, but I guess acting like everything is overly dramatic and significant is part of being a girl. I hear it’s a phase we grow out of — then we go on and graduate, get married and things like that.

As of now, my GYRAD’s in two weeks and I’m super excited to go on a kayaking trip with my whole floor and their boyfriends/blind dates/etc.

Best of all, I’m going with a good friend. Totally drama-free.