Daggers wrote:i know the rules, geez. but i was locked out of my room and had to get dressed for a dance. and, no one was around anyways since all the administrator type people were at the event. plus, it was the room i was staying in and i had a key! it was just locked inside. Another thing is that the reason i was at the college was for a camp by my church and i know the people there and how they would react. They would be cool if they saw me trying to get in for that reason since no one was supposed to be out. everyone was supposed to be at the dance but i wasn't allowed in my current clothes.
I understand your dilemma and in your shoes and at that age I might have found myself tempted to do the same. I think the point the others are trying to make though, is that while there was a low chance of getting caught and you had the legal right to enter that room, both ethically and legally you really had no right to PICK that lock. Picking locks can potentially damage them; as you've been hanging out both here and on lp101 for a while now I'm sure you're familiar with the common threads posted by people who picked some lock somewhere and are now distressed because the lock no longer works. Also, in the slim chance that you had been caught picking it, the university could have prosecuted you for breaking-and-entering (or burglary, etc... however the statues are worded in your particular state).
Lockpicking is viewed as a shady skill. Even locksmiths are often viewed with suspicion in our society. Hobbyist lockpickers are the redheaded bastard stepchildren of the lockpicking world and it doesn't take much to make you, and by extension the rest of the hobbyists look like the crooks that people assume they are.
At my old house before I recently moved, I don't think there is a single house on my street that I didn't open at least once for the people who lived there, at some time or another. Once word leaks out that you're a locksmith, everyone assumes you'll do it for free or at least super-cheap since you're a neighbor. The first time I did a lockout for a neighbor, once I opened the door for a few seconds they were elated and grateful. Then all of a sudden their faces changed as it dawned on them that someone on their street had the ability to come and go from their house, anytime he wished, had I been so inclined. After that I never picked a lock for a neighbor again. Whenever someone locked themselves out I'd just go looking for an unlocked window, which I could find 3/4 of the time, and make them crawl through it to go unlock their own door. Or else I'd send them around to the opposite side of the house under the guise of looking for an unlocked window, while I slipped the latch on a different window and by the time they made it around the house to where I was, I'd just tell them I found this one open.
I'm not saying all this to add to the dogpile and jump all over your case, I just wanted to try to explain things a bit more and perhaps ease some of the tension since you seemed a bit upset by some of the comments in this thread.
That being said, these locks can be hard to pick due to the dual shear line. Some folks pick them without any trouble, but others struggle with them for ages. As already stated, the Matt Blaze article is a good resouce. Beyond that, I'd say just get a used lock and practice, practice, practice.
*edit* while I was typing this, Riyame made the post above basically saying the same thing. But since I already typed all this out, I'm posting it anyway.