My Guys

Would you like to meet the boys? I’d be more than willing to introduce you. Keep in mind though, that I choose not to be objective in my portrayals of them. We’ll start with my friends that are more on the acquaintance side and save my best friends for last. Shall we?:

Ryan- Ryan was Mark’s (my boyfriend) roommate. He was very outspoken on basically anything he believed. All of which was quite often obnoxious and not always logical. Fortunately, he wasn’t around very much to argue incessantly about whatever thought he decided to run with at any given time too often. He’s a frat boy.

Luke- Luke is Polish and proud of it. He’s actually a very talented musician, although he has nothing to do with the music department here at YSU. His major is pre-pharm. He’s very loud and outspoken. He is quite possibly the most conservative Republican I’ve ever met. He’s catholic and doesn’t hesitate to announce and argue his views, no matter who he’s speaking with or what their reaction might be. He can be a little obnoxious, but also incredibly amusing.

Evan- Evan is Ginger. I told you you’d hear more about ginger later. Evan’s hair is flaming red; like a male Ariel. No, no quite that red, but if you’ve ever seen the episode of South Park about gingers and daywalkers, Evan would not be going out at night. He’s really loud too, which is fairly obnoxious. He messes with Bobby and Mr. Mark (they’re all friends) virtually every night in some way, and they’re back and forth ‘wars’ can get loud from time to time.

Nico- Nico was like my brother at first. I don’t really know him that well anymore. He does love puns though. Nico can be rather moody at times. He’s either totally into hanging out with you or can’t stand you, and it seems to me that he needs his solitude. Tony and Nico are really good friends despite the fact that they’re polar opposites. I don’t think I’ve ever had a late-night conversation with those two where it wasn’t Nico and me on one side and Tony trying to argue the other. Nico is sarcastic and can make the whole common room laugh whenever he’s around.

Mr. Mark- I don’t really know Mr. Mark that well. He’s not around too much, and when he is he basically sticks to his room. He and his roommate, Bobby, are pretty much fuzed together at the hip. He’s pretty nice from what I have seen of him and bears with Evan’s sense of humor much more amiably than I ever have.

John- quite possibly the oddest individual in the bunch. Lovable, but odd. He’s definitely a theatre geek and sings almost as much as I do. He has a tendency to snap and uses his body as a drum-set on a regular basis. That is a tad bit irritating, but you learn to live with it. He plays ultimate with us from time to time, but for the most part John hangs out with a possy outside of 3 South.

Bobby- Bobby is a funny kid. I’d have to say the best thing about Bobby is that he allows me to say “dang it Bobby” all the time without being bothered by it. We played on opposing teams in intramural Ultimate Frisbee and he is very respectably competitive too. Not to mention athletic. He’s a soft-spoken kid, but not at all unfriendly.

Cory- Cory is our resident government and politics expert. He’s an excellent speaker and incredibly personable. He’s a future politician if ever there was one. He knows everything that is happening in current events and has no problem having a discussion about world events. We were in a debate for Intro to Honors once, and he and I were our speakers. We had thirty minutes to prepare and Cory ended up giving a convincing, well-articulated speech. When I got to the podium it was a pathetic, bumbling attempt to prove a point I didn’t have a solid grasp on yet. Amazing.

Shawn- I’m going to be honest and say that I wasn’t particularly fond of Shawn at first. But have no fear, my snap decision prejudice against him has been completely reversed. Shawn is very quiet. I don’t know if he just likes to observe, he’s shy, or maybe some other, more inventive motive keeps him from running about babbling about inane events constantly like his roommate Steve did all year. Once he kind of phased into the atmosphere of 3 South during second semester though, all was good.

Bret- Bret is quite a piece of sunshine. Here’s a sample of a typical greeting: “I see you all f***** day, and now I gotta see you again. Un…believable.” The truth is: Bret’s my pal. He’s hilarious. Yes his greetings are less than friendly, but that’s because half of these guys are like my brothers. No matter where you are in 3 South it is very likely that you will hear Bret screaming expletives at his TV screen about whatever video game he’s playing at the time.

Mitchell- I probably would not know Mitch very well if it wasn’t for having Intro to Lit with him. He’s a funny kid. He’s the only guy that was a fellow English major with me. I have now abandoned him for music, so he is the ruler of the English domain. He’s the one I can talk poetry and books with and actually have read the same things. At first you would think he’s pretty straight-laced. Mitch has some serious sass! I love it! Not sass in a bad way of course, but in a funny way. His sass takes shape in curses and insults that can counter the best of Bret’s comments.

Stephen- Steve is Shawn’s roommate and is definitely a mama’s boy, which is really entertaining to tease him about. I’d have to say that about 65% of the time I spend with Steve I want to kick him in the toodles, punch him repeatedly in the spleen, and then throw him off the bridge over I680 into oncoming traffic. Let’s just say he tries my patience. You’ll understand why in a moment. He is loud. He whines about stuff incessantly, and even after beating something that’s not even a big deal into the ground, he keeps on whining about it. And then there’s the fact that he has to constantly one-up someone. If you say you’re tired he’ll go into a story explaining either: a) why he’s more tired or b) how in the past he has been more tired. If you don’t have a hankering to bash in his genitals, just wait…at some point you will. But! I can’t legitimately dislike Steve. See, Steve can be a real sweet heart too. He gave me a ride to the hospital when I sprained my wrist, and really does care about his friends. He likes to help people put things together or build stuff for them or fix things for us when it’s possible. And although I rag on him, he’s another good buddy of mine.

Kevin- Kevin’s a pretty cool guy. He’s one of two music majors among the guys. He’s in the saxophone studio. He is better at classical saxophone than jazz. He’s got this very high-pitched laugh that he lets out fairly often. He makes ‘your mom’ jokes to Steve all of the time. This automatically makes Kevin ok with me, because Steve makes inappropriate innuendos constantly. A lot of what comes out of Kevin’s mouth is pretty inappropriate, but when he does decide to have a legit conversation, and even when he doesn’t, he’s great fun to hang out with.

Tony- Tony is an oxymoron if ever there was one. He’s a total sweet heart, but also the most cynical, pessimistic person I know. If you ask him what he thinks of you, this is what he says.
Me: “Am I annoying you?”
Tony: “If you were annoying me, I wouldn’t tell you. And if you weren’t annoying me I would also tell you no. So either way, I’m going to tell you no.”
He doesn’t really like to be hugged, so there’s none of that with Tony unless you want to make him curl up in a ball as far away from you as possible. (Which I do when I need a good giggle.) He’s funny to talk to. Whether it be because of his formal explanations of his viewpoints or the fact that when you get him into an argument, eventually you will be moving in circles. I know…many times I’ve recognized the metaphorical ‘tree’ in our arguments.

Nick- Nick is the man. That’s how he’d describe himself and nobody will argue with him. He works out doing P90-X and is just a beast. He just gives off an air of manliness. He can be rather frightening too. One night, a few of us were in the common room, it was late, and we got a little too loud. Nick had been trying to sleep, and he came out and announced, “You have three options. You sit here silently. You go to another common room. Or you go to your rooms.” Terrifying. He is one of my best friends and always contributes a fun perspective to conversations. He’s been playing the guitar for a couple years now and is making really good progress. It’s fun to listen to him and see somebody care so much about learning an instrument.

Trevor- Trevor is our Asian computer genius. He is your stereotypical South Korean computer wiz. I love that kid. He’s a terrible dancer, but at the Halloween dance party he was on the floor with me pumping his fists to the beat the whole time. (Regardless of the fact that there were maybe 20 people there.) Sometimes it really is the thought that counts. Trevor is great at Band Hero, Guitar Hero, Rock Band, etc and we have spent many a day just whiling away the hours rockin’ out on his Xbox. Trevor also has a very impressive ability to sleep in incredibly uncomfortable positions. Like upside down on a couch for instance. True story.

George- George is my Georgia Peach. I love him! He’s a big guy, but not big fat although he’ll argue with you about that until you go blue in the face. He was the first guy that I really connected with here. Mostly because he’s one of the people who stays up late so the whole first week or two we watched YouTube videos and goofed off until 2 in the morning with a couple of the other guys. George is a total sweetheart. Whenever he teases somebody he makes sure they know he’s kidding, which is great. Whenever we play ultimate I know his weakness is a fear of crushing me so if I run at him full speed I’ll either see him swerve out of my way, or I’ll end up on the ground with a string of apologies not too far behind me. George is always so willing to help people and really cares about other people’s issues.

Mark- As always, I’ve saved the best for last. Mark is my sir, my fella, my man, my mister, or to use a more generic term, my boyfriend. I started liking him on Labor Day when I helped him edit a poem for his English class. No, I didn’t fall for him because he’s an amazing poet. I’m the writer. Mark is the other music major, also in the saxophone studio. His biggest passion in life is music and although he won’t always admit it, he’s good at his instrument. He’s probably one of the people who’s here the least during the week, so he may not be in the pictures of the group as a whole as much as George, Steve, Tony, etc. But he takes care of me and makes sure I take care of myself, cuddles with me, and makes me smile. Whenever he and Kevin get together it’s a constant stream of saxophone conversation. But he’s not just a music geek. He’s good with computers, and just like any respectable boy, can find his way around a video game with ease. Eventually, though it usually takes a lot of work, we always come up with something to do, but even if we don’t, he’s great to be with, and I love him.