Saturday, May 06, 2006

Roommates

Last night I had the pleasure of getting together with some old friends from my undergrad. There were so many reasons for us to celebrate (Joe’s birthday, Cinco de Mayo, Patrick O’Neill’s graduation, Matt being back in town) that we just had to get together (well Joe couldn’t make it but we called him plenty). Three of my former roommates were able to make it (Nic, Matt, and Stacy – pictured below).


Nic, Matt, Stacy, and Me at the Sharks Club in Waterford


It really felt like I just went back in time to when we all lived together out in Kalamazoo. It is so nice to have friends that even though you don’t get to talk or see them very often when you finally get to spent time with them it is as if you’ve never missed a step. It is hard for me to decide how I should write this because I’m making the assumption that not too many people will read it that are a part of this group. I want to just reminisce about the places we went and the people I saw, but I don’t see much point in that. Instead I think I’ll just take this opportunity to introduce my faithful readers to my roommates from North Campus Village. Since Joe wasn’t in the above picture I have to add another picture below that has Joe in it (along with Iben, Hank, and Fender – our guitars).

Me (holding Iben), Nic (holding Hank), and Joe (holding Fender)
This was such a great group to have lived with. Now there certainly were our problems, but we really acted more like a family than just a group of friends living together. While the time I lived there was the busiest year of college, I really can’t think of a time that was more enjoyable. We started off the year with a party (read Blood and Pepper for some details), went through the school year hanging out all the time, and then had a blast over the summer. The absolute best part was that nearly every night all of us guys (Nic, Joe, Matt, and myself) would just sit around and play our guitars for hours. Now I’m not that good, but when you have others that can really play including Nic Weatherly of the Weatherly Band playing you actually can sound good. I guess so I don’t just ramble through this post I’ll just give you my favorite memory for each of these guys from this period.

Nic
There are two memories that come to mind for him. One is when he was writing a new song, Cloud Nine, and as soon as he finished it he shared it with me. It was such an honor because he put so much of himself into that song and then to want to share it with me as soon as it was complete really was awesome. The other is how he would come in my bedroom at random times in the night, sit on my bench, and we would just talk about whatever was on his mind. The talks were some times about how excited he was about something or about problems, but either way I was glad to trade the sleep for the honor of sharing in my friends joy and sorrow.

Matt
Well there are a lot of stories that come to mind, but from the house it would have to be him deciding to get Shaq, an Australian shepherd dog. While Shaq did all kinds of annoying things (replacing our alarms with his barking and using my room as his own personal toilet), our entire house really loved Shaq. The best thing is that thanks to this dog Matt’s first born son won’t have to be named Shaq (Shaq O’Neill).

Joe
Oh it would have to be pickle juice and wings. Joe and I liked to play darts and one night while finishing off a large jar of pickles we were playing some cricket. For whatever reason Joe dared me to drink the rest of the pickle juice (about half a gallon), and said that he would buy me 10 B-dub wings if I did it. I made it about half way and had to tap out. I then told him if he could finish the rest I would buy him 10 wings. Well he took it down like a champ…I was impressed. The following week we went to B-dubs to payoff my debt to him. Even though I had dinner already I decided to get 20 wild wings (I just love them so much and it was 30cent wing night). I finished those and said I could eat another 20 wings easily. The deal was they’ll buy half if I can eat them all…I said lets do this. I flew through those wings and still had room. I then said I could eat another 20 wings. Everyone we were with started offering money for the next 20, and after some twisting of my arm I went for it. This time in hopes of beating me they got extra wild sauce that they added to my wings. I made it through the first 10 easily, but the last 10 was a real struggle. However I was able to get down all 60 wings…this maybe my greatest accomplishment to date. I went home that night feeling a little drunk even though I didn’t drink any alcohol…yeah I got drunk on wings.

Stacy
My favorite memory of Stacy is just how she has an amazing ability to loss her stuff. Nearly everyday you could count on her walking out the door for work, waiting a couple minutes, and then her running back in the apartment looking for something. Typically it was more a question of just how many times she would return. She really cracked me up and I loved hanging out watching Law and Order with her (none of the other roommates would watch it, but her and I would watch it together).

Well now everyone has met these wonderful friends of mine…I miss them and love that we were able to have some fun together like old times.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

How waunderful that you got to get together with some old friends!

beneathwing said...

60 wings, eh? I guess I could offer that if you wanna do it again (or break your record).