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| Quo Vadimus?
This is it, this xanga’s last entry. The final post.
It may come as a shock to some of you. To others, you’ve known for a while.
The truth is, it ended the week I got back to LA from Blake’s wedding. It just took a while to die.
It’s ending for several reasons:
1) They always say, go out on top. Well, January, February and March yielded unheard of numbers in regards to comments and eProps, as well as daily visits. I can’t expect that to stay, so might as well get while the gettin’s good.
2) Brian Michael Bendis always says he stops writing when the story is done, when he has nothing else to say.
I have nothing else to say here. I’ve said what I came to say, the story of this xanga is over. No need to draw it out. I talked of coming to CA to follow my dreams. I’m here, for a year now. My dreams, though not here, are not as distant. That phase is over; it’s time to move on to the next.
3) I started this xanga in college. It’s a college blog, and even though I’m long since past college, this blog never really left. Drama, petty drama, and not letting go of college feelings. Hence why I can wrap this all up after the last 5 posts. I’ve said all I can say about college, and it’s time to move on.
4) This xanga grew out of my control. It started small, a few readers, and has grown to more readers than I’d like. I don’t mean that in a bad way, or to offend any of you. I just didn’t expect to have so many people reading about my life. It’s flattering. But at the end of the day, even though I may post personal things, I really don’t expect so many people to read it.
5) This blog was put on Facebook, MySpace, e-mail… it’s out there. You can search for me and find this blog. And I’ve learned that lesson. A blog without my name attached, not broadcast across the net, is the blog for me.
Who knows, I may come back to this one down the line, but not anytime soon.
I want to thank everyone who made this site great. Those who encouraged me when I was down, who lifted my spirits, and who just read my griping with a sense of understanding.
But for now, I bid you a fond goodbye.
If you guys had half as much fun reading this as I did writing it, then I had twice as much fun writing this as you did reading it.
I’ll see you guys next time.
”The rest is silence.”
- Hamlet
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| The Five People You Meet in College:
The V, Part's I and II
Yeah, for the fifth person, there's actually 2. What, you expect me to play by the rules this late in the game?
The following two people set themselves off nicely from the previous four. Whereas the previous four all ran in the same semi-circle of friends, these two didn't. Sure, they were around and came to parties, but they had their own lives and friends. And it was I who occasionally entered their realms.
Five people with whom being with makes me smile, makes me think, makes me happy for new friends.
Five people whose friendship means a lot to me, more than it does to them.
Five people I met in college and hope to know long, long after.
The Five People You Meet in College
The V, Part I: The Band Aid
I met Kathy my freshmen year, because she was my boss.
She worked for the Director of the Institute for Exploration and Development Geosciences. She needed an assistant.
I was one of two she had. The first, Adam, bit the dust. Jana came next, and the three of us had an awesome working environment.
The job wasn’t hard. It was mostly office work, errands, scanning, etc.
But Kathy made it fun.
She’s easy to have fun with, she’s fun to joke with, and she’s a blast to talk to.
And she knows a thing or two about music.
In fact, Kathy is the female equivalent of Tyler. She’s the only person I know, next to Tyler, who goes to as many shows and concerts. In fact, she sees Tyler at the majority of the shows he goes to in TX.
Kathy took me to the Ills long before anyone else I know was into them. We’re talking like 2002 or 2003, people.
It’s because of her I had such amazing seats at Coldplay in OKC, and because of her I got to meet them backstage.
She took me to Spoon in Norman, the same show Lauren and Tyler were both at.
She came out to my 21st birthday party at the House Off Rye, a truly fun night.
And she always has a good story to tell.
She was also a link to the Geology department, my first major, and even though I changed to Film Studies, I stayed working for Geology until I graduated. Good people there, though Kathy was far and away the best.
Even after she got her finished grad school at OU and moved back to TX, we stayed in touch. She took me to a Phantom Planet show in Dallas that rocked my face off.
Kathy, also, has the fortunate experience of being someone I can complain, rant, and rave to about things. As an outsider, she’s got a different world view on situations.
And it return, I usually mock her current love drama.
She was always a faithful friend, whom I could lean on or at the very least bear the brunt of my sarcasm.
Haven’t seen her a lot in recent years, she lives in Austin, now, but the wonders of the net keep contact going.
And at some point I’ll make it to Austin, the live music capitol of the world, and she’ll invariably show me another good time.
The Five People You Meet in College
The V, Part II: The Comic Guru
I’ve posted about Sterling before, on the blogger page, regarding him as Seth Cohen given flesh and blood.
Hard to say when I first met Sterling, I could have had a class with him or run into him at Speeding Bullet… but the first time I remember meeting him was in the Hitchcock class with Dr. Sturtevant.
Then, the next semester, we had Dr. S again for Media Theories or some such. It’s there that I gave Dr. Sturtevant the name ‘Battleship Sturtevant’, in a joking way.
Sterling is a lot like me, only smarter, cooler, and with a better hyperdrive.
He knows more about comics than I do, more about movies, more about TV, more about music.
He just knows more.
I’ve got a lot of friends that are smarter than I am by leaps and bounds (Matt B., Mark P., Misty J.,), and I pride myself in having a group of friends who are smart. The majority of my friends from High School I still stay in contact with were in the various honors programs (save for Blake and Carl, and it shows, guys). I surround myself with people who are smarter than I am.
And I’m fine with that.
But Sterling makes me feel dumb, especially when he’s around his friend Jonathan. And it’s no fault of theirs. They just run at a level that’s about three times above mine.
Sterling also has a brother, Alex, whom I became great friends with. In fact, Sterling and Alex and my brother Cary and I have had some great times.
Sterling brings out a great side of me. For example, he likes to drink. And when I’m with him, I like to drink…more so than I usually do.
He’s a fun guy, always honest, always quick with a joke, always two steps ahead of whatever retort I’ve got going.
He laps rounds around me.
And I don’t really mind. Keeps me on my toes.
That he moved to California earlier this year made for good times. Always nice to have a friend close by, even better when it’s someone who brings out the best in you.
Who always holds you to a higher standard than you hold yourself to, who keeps you motivated, and who doesn’t let you settle for less than perfection.
Kathy and Sterling are two friends who keep me going. Two people I can go out and have a good time with, two people I can relax with, two people I can call up and just listen to for awhile.
I can't imagine college without them there to shepherd me, guide me, listen to me, goof with me, or just make fun of me. | | |
| The Five People You Meet in College:
#4 of 5
Friends don't come and go. Not anymore, not with the advent of the Internet. Not with MySpace, Facebook, Xanga, Blogger, email, IM...
Friends are here to stay. And it's important we keep in contact with them, now more than ever.
The ones on this list are no more or less important than any one else I call friend. They're simply friends I feel my college life would be empty without having met them. Having never laughed with them, cried with them, taken trips with them, or simply sat around with.
Five people with whom being with makes me smile, makes me think, makes me happy for new friends.
Five people whose friendship means a lot to me, more than it does to them.
Five people I met in college and hope to know long, long after.
The Five People You Meet in College
Part Four: The Blue Eyed Blonde
“She's got eyes of the bluest skies
As if they thought of rain
I hate to look into those eyes
And see an ounce of pain.”
Guns N’ Roses, Sweet Child of Mine
You can’t talk about Jessica without first mentioning Tracy.
Tracy, at the last minute, decided to go to OSU. Went blind, got a roommate she didn’t know.
And it couldn’t have worked out better for the rest of us.
Somehow, she managed to get a roommate that was funny, smart, fun, and able to put up with the shenanigans of the group of friends Tracy ran with in high school.
Unlike the rest of the people on this list, Jessica wasn’t someone I met or was introduced to.
She found me.
You see, one day, in probably September or October of freshmen year, I got an IM on AIM (which EVERYONE was on back then. Thousands of college kids with ‘net 24-7? It was amazing.)
It was from “puooter”, whom I didn’t know and didn’t know what to make of the name.
She introduced herself as Jessica, Tracy’s roommate.
I had no idea who she was or why she was IM’ing me. I had no way of knowing then that she would become a great friend. All I thought was she was some crazy OSU chick.
She got my name from Tracy; actually she got everyone’s names from Tracy, and because she (I assume) had no idea how weird we all were, decided to IM us.
And so that was how I “met” Jessica. She was a weirdo AIM stalker girl.
Who, out of the blue, started IMing all of Tracy’s friends in the hopes of… I don’t know… passing the time. Because Lord knows there’s nothing to do in Stillwater.
But unlike some people whom you only talk to online, Jess wasn’t dull, boring, or need coaxing. She was, and is, funny, sharp as a tack, and every bit as sarcastic as she is mean.
That said, I didn’t meet her for a good while freshmen year. She remembers. I don’t. I remember it was in the OSU dorms. I remember it being the first time I’d ever had conversation with someone I’d never met, and meeting was a little weird.
There are certain expectations and images one has when talking blind to someone on the net. (Hence why so many 14 year olds wind up with 48 year olds.)
But somehow, Jess, who wasn’t what I imagined, was exactly what I thought. If that makes any sense.
I didn’t make it up to OSU enough freshmen year, so I don’t remember seeing Jessica that much. I got a Christmas card from her and Tracy (which I still have). I remember maybe seeing her in the springtime. But otherwise, it was just IM conversation.
That would change.
Sometime sophomore year, maybe the summer before, is when Jess came around. She’d come to Norman with Tracy. I saw her at Orange Peel and parties in Stillwater at Grafton’s.
She was, it seems, close becoming a real friend. And I can’t say when it happened, exactly, but it did. She went from “that friend of Tracy’s” to “hey, let’s go to Stillwater and see Jess. Oh, and someone call Tracy.”
Junior year was when it kicked into high gear.
Junior year was The House off Rye. It was when everything in Norman clicked, for me.
And that’s when it clicked with Jess.
There are some nights that shouldn’t be remembered, but are too great to forget. Bryan’s 21st birthday was one of those.
Jess came down, and it was a party of a party. We went to the Mont, because that’s where EVERYONE goes when they turn 21. Bryan never drank an ounce of booze before he turned 21, so it was truly a sight.
So we all gathered at the Mont, Jess included.
And man… it was a night to behold. Sid and I were the DD’s (as I wasn’t drinking then).
And Jessica, well, that was the one and only time I ever saw her drunk.
Jess was a lot of fun.
She was always there when we’d go to Eischens.
She was an advocate of it, really.
Towards the end, we probably saw her more than we did Tracy. Probably because Tracy was too busy being Madam President of her house.
Jess and I bonded, and I could always count on her to listen to my teenage angst ridden drama. She, of course, had her usual way of commenting back.
She’d be mean. Sarcastic. It’s her thing. She’s good at it.
But the point is, Jess was someone who didn’t live in Norman. She wasn’t around 24/7. She was one of four people at OSU I would go to see. (Carl, Grafton, and Tracy being the other three. Abbey, too, I guess, though she wasn’t really there enough.)
But even though she wasn’t around, she was still there. She kept in contact with enough of us to make it seem like she was always there. She’d go to date parties with Michael, she and Jordan were and are good friends, and she even managed to win Mark’s friendship. In fact, little know fact, she loves the sound of Mark’s voice and wishes he would record an audio book she could listen to.
She’s weird, yes, but perhaps that’s why she fit right in.
But her not being around allowed her to have an objective voice on things around Norman. It was great to be able to talk to someone about problems in Norman. And not worry about her running into these people at Wal-Mart or The Mont.
After I moved to California last year, Jess was one of the few people I’d talk to on a regular basis by phone. She’d be traveling to Chicago or part unknown, having job interviews, working, but she’d always find time to talk to me. And I could always count on a good, fun conversation.
She’d always ask the same question:
“Have you got laid yet?”
And my answer was always, and still, the same.
“No.”
And she’d ridicule me for not having bedded some innocent So-Cal girl.
Or ridicule me for locking my keys in the car in Huntington Beach.
Or ridicule me for… well, you get the idea.
And I didn’t get to see her the first few times I came back to OK. But that changed over the Christmas holidays. Eishens, New Years Eve…
Jess has moved to OKC, living not far from my old stomping grounds in Northwest OKC. Makes being at home a little better, knowing there’s so many friends around.
Though I’ve been told, rather glumly, that the only time some people ever see other OKC people is when I’m in town. They all live there… so I think that’s a mite sad.
But Jess is there, and that’s important.
Because Jess is fun.
Though I've got to be honest, something said recently freaked me out a bit. In regards to Jess. A few months ago, I was talking with a friend of hers, and somehow we got to listing the traits I see in a woman. I listed them, and Jess's friend says, rather nonchalantly, "I don't know anyone like that. Except Jess."
This scared me. Not gonna lie. It's like someone telling me my perfect woman is Sid. No harm, just that it's Jess, and "my perfect woman" and "Jessica" should never be in the same sentence.
Jess is a friend, a good friend, one whom I feel a strong and common bond with. We have a sense of the same humor, the same ability to poke fun and be "mean" without being cruel.
Which makes the recent turn of events all the more tragic. I won’t go into details, this isn’t the time or place. Nor is it necessarily common business. Events beyond my control spiraled out of bounds, events I’ve since tried to rectify with those I feel deserve it. I'd like to thank fences have been mended.
But as of this writing, come Monday, it’ll be about 4 weeks since I’ve had any contact with Jess. Whatever bond I thought we shared, whatever friendship I treasured, whatever memories I gleaned and whatever good times I shared… I've had spats and disputes with everyone else on this list, but there's something about thinking you're never going to speak to someone again... And I hope that's not the case. I would miss Jess's ridicule too much. Her spunk. Her attitude and smile and her eyes.
Jess is a fun girl. She’s someone that everyone loves being around. She started out as simply someone’s roommate and grew into a friend.
She makes me laugh. She makes me smile.
She’s fun to banter with, fun to argue with, fun to talk with.
She’s mean, she’s sarcastic, she’s a smart ass in all the right ways.
She’s also one of the nicest, sweetest, and more devoted girls I know.
I can’t imagine my college career without her there, sniping at me from IM or being there at parties in Norman or Stillwater, McMahon to Tracy’s Carson.
No, actually, it’s the other way around.
She’s definitely Carson to Tracy’s McMahon.
And that’s why she’s on this list.
 | | |
| The Five People You Meet in College:
Episode 3
As the years wane, memories stay with us. And the ones I hold of these five people are some of the brightest and best.
We may all live across the country, but I'm a better person for knowing them. They keep me in line, they hold me in balance.
Five people with whom being with makes me smile, makes me think, makes me happy for new friends.
Five people whose friendship means a lot to me, more than it does to them.
Five people I met in college and hope to know long, long after.
The Five People You Meet in College
Part Three: The Anxious Dr. Pepper Drinker
"I got the magic stick
I know if I can hit once, I can hit twice
I hit the baddest chicks
Shorty don't believe me, then call me tonight
And I'll show you maaagic
(What? What?) Maaagic
I got the magic stick"
50 Cent, The Magic Stick
Sid, like Tyler, was someone from Michael and Shanda’s past. Only, way past. Like, second grade past.
Sid lived on my floor of Walker. The eighth floor. He lived on the other end, but nevertheless. Sid lived on the side with Kyle and Scott. On my end was… nobody I remember.
Sid’s a trooper.
Sid and I were also the only two guys in our little cluster at OU who didn't pledge a fraternity.
Sid and I had that common bond. In fact, it’s probably that which contributed greatly to us hanging out a lot freshmen year. When on Sundays everyone else had house meetings, Sid and I could entertain ourselves. We could watch Kyle steal things or whatever.
Sid lived with Scott, Sophomore year, in the Commons, a de facto apartment complex in Norman.
Sid was instremental in Cabana nights. He was always on top of that. Usually, he’d just get a Dr. Pepper. But he was there.
Sid and Dr. Pepper is like plants and sunlight. Sid needs Dr. Pepper to survive. Without it, he can’t properly conduct his photosynthesis.
Sid and I really got going Junior year. It was the first year of The House Off Rye.
Sid, me, Jordan and Bryan. Four guys who owned that house the first year. We were unstoppable. Sure, come that next May, we might have had a little too much of one another… but you can’t deny that the good times were better than great.
(Sid as the 'Sooner Spirit')
Sid and I found ourselves single within the first month of our occupancy that fall (Jordan, myself, my then-girlfriend, and her friend had lived there that summer). Bryan would follow a month later. It was pretty unbelievable.
Sid was strong. Sid’s anti-women ways wore off on the rest of us. Which probably says a lot about Sid. He’s able to positively influence the attitudes of others.
Sid takes care of people. He’s there for you when you need him, and he’ll go the distance to make sure you’re okay.
Sid happens to be, outside of my family, the person I’ve lived with the longest. We lived in the House Off Rye for three years. Roommates, friends.
Sid also brought in a fair number of people to our world. Tall Jordan, Kyle Seraphin... One of the first times I met Tall Jordan was when Sid and I and Katie met him for dinner at On The Border following an OU game. And of course, Kyle is known for his pyrotechnic displays (he lit himself on fire) and his weaponry.
Sid’s friend Scott would date, and marry, our friend Audrey, and that just shows what a small world OK is.
Sid always said that between Tyler and Michael Downes, they know everyone in Oklahoma. If we went somewhere with one of them, Sid said we were gauranteed to run into someone they knew.
Sid was instrumental in getting Tyler and Jason moved into the House Off Rye Senior year.
Sid, that year, invited any and all to his parents house in Dallas to stay for OU/TX weekend. He took us to Sherlocks, a bar I loved. It was that trip where, after that bar, Blake pulled over so someone could puke. I got out of the car, saw a large orange traffic cone (the big ones), and proceeded to place it atop Blake's car.
Sid stopped Blake from killing me.
Sid is a pacer. He paces. He is full of what some would call nervous energy. I call it spunk.
Sid doesn't drink anything with alcohol. But he loves to take others out to get drunk. He's a good friend. One time, the final year of the House, we had partied and then were going elsewhere. I was drunk. Sid was driving. I kept wanting to roll down the window and yell at a cop. He kept me out of jail that night.
Sid will throw down. Don't cross Sid.
Sid doesn't like cheaters. it's best if Sid and I are on the same team at Halo, otherwise, my tactics of invisibility + rockets is frowned upon by him, and others.
Sid can multi-task. I've seen him pace, talk on the cell, and play NCAA X-Box football. All while drinking a Dr. Pepper.
Sid values loyalty.
Sid like Vegas.
Sid is known to stay up all night, talking to people in every time zone in the world.
Sid will go to bat for anyone he calls friend. It doesn't matter who you are, Sid has your back.
Sid ate Chuck Norris for breakfast.
Sid's like a brother to me.
Sid taught me "bro's before ho's".
Sid showed me how roommates can be friends and friends can be roommates.
Sid never ceases to make me smile, to make me laugh, to make me happy.
Sid, I miss living with him. I miss coming home and us just discussing our lives, laughing about the women, our friends, the drama. I miss his stories about Dallas and Vegas. I miss his "We're going to get ____ laid tonight!" plans.
Sid is rock and roll. Sid likes Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band. Sid likes rap, r&b, and hip hop.
Sid is the man.
 | | |
| The Five People You Meet in College:
Part The Second
Limiting one’s college friendships to five people is daunting. And it leaves a lot of people out.
But this list is five people I’ve known for years now. People I continue to stay in close contact with, people who I can’t imagine not knowing what’s going on in their life.
Five people who each affected me in some way, whom each appealed to a different part of my psyche, whom all treated me better than I’ve treated them.
I wish I could continue to be around them always, but present circumstances prevents that.
Five people with whom being with makes me smile, makes me think, makes me happy for new friends.
Five people whose friendship means a lot to me, more than it does to them.
Five people I met in college and hope to know long, long after.
The Five People You Meet in College
Part Two: The Maid Marianne
"When we all had finally washed ashore
It was clear there was no one else around
We declared a national holiday
A chance to build it from the ground
So far away from everyone and everything starts today..."
Guster, Keep it Together
I’ll start by getting it out of the way: I never knew Tyler and Lauren the couple, and met Lauren after college had started.
Lauren had it stacked against her before we met. Having just met Tyler, I knew little, except she was from Edmond.
To say I don’t like Edmond is an understatement. I loathe that town. It’s a vile, nasty, snooty, “we think we’re better than everybody else”, impossible to drive around in town. I’d rather live in a border town straddling the Mexico/Texas line, living in a teepee, working as a ranch hand, and eating nothing but old salad every day than live in that town.
And I am biased against residents of said hell. The majority of the people I had met, prior to college, from Edmond are truly awful people who all need to be slapped in the face with reality. I imagine that most of the denizens of SkyBar three weeks ago were all from Edmond.
But Lauren proved to be the antithesis of Edmond and all it stands for.
Lauren was everything but what I expected. She was sweet, kind, open, and friendly. She quickly dispelled the stereotypes of both Edmond and sorority girls. She was funny, with a communicable laugh and was capable of telling some of the best stories.
When I wasn’t in Walker 5 or 8, or in Couch in Shanda’s room, the next bet was probably in Lauren’s room in Adams, listening to stories about her suitemates and their weird sex acts, or in her friend Elena’s room with the weird stuffed cat-thing.
With Lauren came Elena and Ann-Shannon and Erin, though I wouldn’t really know Erin for another 2 years. Elena, Ann-Shannon, and Lauren, together with Shanda, were the Delta Delta Delta sisters I got to know that first year, and the four of them were a treat to see in action.
One of the things I remember most about Lauren was the lunches.
Somehow we got into the habit of grabbing lunch once a week or so, our schedules dependant, of course. Sometimes my roommate would tag along, sometimes Shanda or Michael. Usually always in the Cafeteria, usually always followed by ice cream, usually always brisk and filled with stories and updates in the others lives, or the lives of those around us. The stories she’d tell of the Delta House, the dead fish(es) she had, or her nemesis, Erin.
Lauren and Shanda were Twins in their house, and this meant they became close friends. Which brought Lauren further into the circle. As most people in college swore off their high school friends, we stuck close. Shanda, Michael, myself, with Blake and here and there. Throw in Tyler, Sid, and Lauren, and you had the makings of greatness.
As freshmen year ended, I counted Tyler and Lauren as new friends.
One thing that stands out about Lauren is her love of Robin Hood, the Disney animated version with the foxes. It’s her favorite movie, and her devotion to it knows no parallels.
The first time I went to Disneyland, winter of my freshmen year, I looked log and hard for something from Robin Hood. And again, a year later, when I went to Disneyworld. There, at MGM, I found original sketches and lithographs from the movie. However, then I couldn’t justify the multi-hundred dollars they cost. I’m not saying Lauren isn’t worth it, she is.
But it’s her love of that movie that makes me, subconsciously and unconsciously, check for Robin Hood memorabilia. And someday, I’ll hit the mother load and make her day.
Sophomore year, as stated, was when things were off. But not in a bad way. Everyone was living off campus. Fraternity houses for the guys, sorority houses for the boys, my apartment, and Jordan’s thankful new presence with Bryan in their apartment.
Halloween party, for the first time, Lauren showing up as a cowboy. Very original.
We had an Oscar party and made Waffles for… the one and only time the waffle maker was ever used.
The beginning of junior year brought with it a trip that ranks among my top favorite trips, ever.
Lauren, Shanda, Jordan, Michael and I went for a two-day trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico, to see John Mayer and Guster.
A dinner at Blue Corn Café (long before one would open and close on Penn & Memorial), the infamous ass-on-ass picture, stopping on the way there to look at a house on the mountain, shopping around, the concert, my first John Mayer and Guster concert, and of course, the highly infamous trip back.
On the way back, we were all in the car, and Lauren was looking out the passenger side. When she screamed bloody murder.
Michael swerved the car, and we all were shook.
Lauren was pointing at the old lady and man in the car next to us.
It seems the old lady had lifted her shirt, and the man was groping her bare old breast.
Of course, no one else saw it. But it was enough to give us stories all the way home.
It was a trip that I’ll never forget.
There was the time Lauren, Libby, Tyler (maybe?) and myself went to see Bad Boys 2 at AMC, eating at Cocina De Mino before hand. Why we went to see that, I can’t tell you. Other than a lot of us wanted to. We didn’t know it was going to be three hours.
There’s Lauren’s story about Lee, her brother, making up a special ed kid he taught to read.
There’s any time Lauren is describing her dreams. She has the most vivid dreams, and the most amazing recollection of said dreams. Seriously, if you haven’t heard Lauren talk about one of her dreams, you haven’t seen Shakespeare the way it was meant to be seen.
Junior year, as I said, was the first year of the House Off Rye… and who gave it that name….Lauren.
It got its name from a postcard she sent from Italy second semester of junior year. The House Off Rye, and Lauren’s responsible.
Her going away party for that was unbelievable. Tupper the Clown was there, whom I knew growing up from Nino’s on Expressway.
It was awesome. Balloon animals, the whole gang, all of Lauren’s friends and family. A great party, a great send off in the classic Lauren way.
We missed her that semester she was in Italy, but thankfully, she kept us abreast with E-mails and post cards.
And upon her return, there was much celebration.
She returned in time for the final year of the House Off Rye’s greatness.
Halloween Parties, Christmas parties…
And the final semester of her senior year, Lauren joined the xanga revolution. And though Tyler was the first, it was with Lauren’s involvement that any number of others joined. I for one, my first post, stated ”If Lauren can do it…”. It meant that Xanga would transcend that boundary between geek chic and cool tools.
Jordan and myself were but a few who would follow in her footsteps.
After Christmas of Senior year was another great Lauren trip.
She, Mark, and I went to Dallas for a weekend of movies.
We hit three different indie theaters, saw The Cooler, Pieces of April, Shattered Glass, and a fourth film I currently am forgetting.
We ate at Cheesecake Factory, and we laughed, a lot.
And we feared for our lives from Mark’s driving. Seriously, I’m a bad driver. Simply because I have enough courage and control of my car to make turns and drive the way any normal person shouldn’t.
But Mark nearly killed us a handful of times.
And on the way back, Mark took us to Outback Steakhouse and we used up as much of his gift cards as we could. Appetizers, desserts, the full Monty of Outback’s menu.
But then around April, I wrote a column for The Oklahoma Daily, where I mentioned that I had a friend Lauren who was a stalker.
Now, in hindsight, it might not have been the smartest move on my part.
However, anyone who knows Lauren knows the validity of this statement. But perhaps the whole campus didn’t need to know.
But the truth is, well, her stalking prowess scares me. And I’m probably not the first to admit that.
As is, it wrought a momentary lapse in communication between the two of us.
But I did see her at the Spoon show that summer.
And come the fall, it all worked out.
One of Lauren’s more defining characteristics (after her cold hands) is her questions. She’s one of those people who have no problem asking something, to start a conversation, to find out more, to just ask questions because she wanted to know something.
It’s not a fault; actually, it’s one of her great qualities. She’s full of them, her mind spinning faster than others. And she won’t hesitate or stall. She asks the questions, she poses the questions that others might be afraid to say.
Recently, the last few years, Lauren’s apartment with Marla has become the new House Off Rye. The new gathering place, the new to-go-to place. It’s where I always find myself when I come home to OKC. Where it’s guaranteed to play a good game like Catchphrase or simply hang out with my closest friends.
She’s the hostess with the mostess. Her Christmas Party replete with homemade sugar cookies that were as delicious as the Jesus they symbolized.
Her Saint Patrick’s Day cookies, too, are not to be missed.
And it saddens me that I missed her Halloween party, her other gatherings.
But it warms my heart to know there’s a place I can go, where we as group from college can reassemble, if ever so briefly, for a night of laughter that can’t be beat.
Lauren taught me acceptance, taught me not to judge so quickly or so harshly.
She taught me pure laughter, the kind that is accomplished without worry of embarrassment or wonder.
She’s someone that is smarter than I am in all the right ways, and I could listen to her stories, her dreams, her updates on what I’ve missed, for days and days.
So thank you Lauren, for the lunch’s freshmen year and being kind to this non-Greek boy.
Thank you for your forgiveness.
Thank you for always being two steps ahead, always knowing what’s going on, always being sharper than the situation requires.
Thank you for the laughter and more laughter, for giving me something to laugh about and for laughing with me.
Thank you for being my friend, time and time again.
I hope I’m always welcome at your apartment, and can always laugh with you about something.
Things I like that Lauren introduced me to:
Guster
John Mayer
Catchphrase
Stalking online
Things Lauren likes that I think are cool:
The Beatles
Manfred Man’s ‘Blinded By the Light’
The Office
One of Lauren’s most popular exclamations:
”What!” as she kinda yells/leans forward/hands wide/eyes searching/half laughing.
Concert’s I’ve been to where Lauren was there:
John Mayer, twice (once in Santa Fe, once in OKC)
Guster
Spoon
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