For starters, I can’t stand the smell of seafood. Even at a restaurant when a server walks by with a plate of salmon, I have to hold my breath until the smell clears to refrain from gagging. Now how exactly is it that my favorite bar on campus spends its daytime hours serving-up almost every type of stank-a– sea urchin ever?

Aside from the unpleasant stench the bar maintains, I’ve also encountered a few unpleasant drinkers. The first incident occurred when I noticed a man throwing trash and full cups of beer off the balcony that he found sitting on abandoned tables. I would have kept quiet – well maybe not, I have a tendency to speak my mind – but then he asked me for my full bottle of beer so it could join the trash pile that was now accumulating in the South Campus Gateway. Something needed to be said.

Of course, I said no, which was accompanied by a sneer, and then told him he shouldn’t be littering and he was likely to be thrown out.

He then proceeded to take a few steps closer, so he was about three inches from my face, and began screaming “I can do whatever the f— I want” and then flashed me his Blockbuster card. At this point, a male friend of mine pushed, not shoved, him back. In short, all the commotion caught the attention of two bouncers who escorted both men out of the bar. A little unfair on my friend’s behalf – he was just protecting me – so I left with him because I was much obliged by his efforts. And to top it all off, as we headed south to visit Lucky’s, we saw the other guy rip his shirt off while screaming as he walked into oncoming traffic on High Street. That settles it. He was certifiably crazy.

You’re probably confused as to why I’m highlighting all my negative experiences in a column that’s supposed to be about my favorite bar. But without explaining the cons up front, it would be hard to understand my love/hate relationship for the Tuna.

Of course, I saved the worst for last – my debit card was stolen. This episode has certainly made me think twice before opening another tab at any bar. Because they don’t ask for identification when closing out your bill, someone decided to do the honors for me and ran off with my card. But my point to this laundry list of horror stories is that despite all these disasters, the Tuna is still my favorite place to drink on campus.

Tuesday is the best day of the week at the Tuna. It’s hard to find a better deal than dollar draft night. Plus, I hate it when bars become overcrowded on the weekends. It’s an ideal night that provides a much more laid back environment: You can sit at a table and drink with your friends while singing along to the live music.

And for those who can carry a tune, or who simply enjoy making a drunken fool of themselves, Sunday is karaoke night. My advice is to be one of the last performers, or at least wait an hour for everyone’s booze to take effect. There’s usually an awkward silence that follows the first few singers, except for maybe a few faint cheers, which obviously come from their table of friends. But by the end of the night, the entire bar joins in with the singing, and sometimes dancing too.

For me, my relationship with the Tuna is similar to any other relationship I hold. Sometimes we have bad days, but the majority of them are full of awesome memories.

Jamie Galvin is copy chief of The Lantern. She can be reached at [email protected].