Wall of text warning.
It was a warm day in late August, i went to the campus the first time. i wanted a softer landing in college, so i was in a freshman dorm on an all-male floor. i think the program was called something like "enrichment" which allowed me to come onto campus a week or so early. The college i went to was a small state school where people would go for a year to transfer to a more notable college.
There was a huge paper banner outside my dorm (Hitchcock Hall) that said Central Perk. That kind of gives you an idea when that was. i dropped some of my stuff off at the dorm, then my mother took me out to Pizza Hut before leaving me at college (where i had my first stuffed crust pizza). So there i was alone in my dorm room until my roommate came.
i went to the same college as one of my biggest high school crushes. Apparently, she lived in the alcohol/smoke free dorm that was one of the two i was considering. i ran into her a few times and briefly talked. You know the "hey i recognize you from high school, how are you doing" thing. Then the guy greeting when you see them (the upward nod acknowledgement).
Adjusting to college life wasn't the easiest for me. There was the dining hall thing where i didn't go for a month or so because i wasn't sure how it worked. Eventually i went after the cool guy across the hall took me. He also helped me out doing laundry for the first time. i kind of liked his roommate better. i didn't take as many showers as i should have because i was not sure how it worked. There were not stalls, but two showerheads behind one curtain. As someone who never really took showers after PE (except) swimming class, i was not sure what the unofficial policy or timing of using them was. i think i was supposed to use it when nobody else was, but there wasn't really a schedule i could see.
My first roommate was a semi-rich kid (his dad owned a rental property company) who came to college mostly to party. i didn't like him, he didn't like me. He wanted me out and someone more like him in. Someone i had a class with told me that my roommate offered him $50 or so to beat me up in the bathroom. Apparently, he didn't because i was in his ECON 101 class. My roommate was eventually kicked out of college for repeated underage drinking. i was told the next year that he got cut off and shot himself.
i might have lasted about a month with him as a roommate. i told him if he wanted me out he would have to find me another room. He did, and i moved into a room on the other side of the floor nicknamed by its denizens as "the dungeon". My new roommate was better, but he smoked like crazy and the room would always reek. At least this roommate went home every weekend. During the week, he would go to sleep listening to music. He was kind of a wannabe guitar player who was briefly a roadie for a small-time band.
Then, there was this time that he kind of got in trouble when a couple of neighbors and me were jokingly filling out a survey. Some of the responses got a little risqué. Never expected someone to sign my roommate's name on it and put it under the LGA/RA's door. Didn't think the LGA (living group advisor) would turn that into a disciplinary group. Did not go well for my roommate (some probationary type thing, i think).
i would occasionally sing along to stuff with a couple of people down the hall. i had always sang along to albums. At that point i had an above average voice. Mostly stuff like Boyz II Men, Color Me Badd, R&B. At one point one of them, a future music major said i had near perfect pitch. That one time when i was listening to CMB and a semi-attractive girl (we'll call her "froggy") asked who the song was by, then said "let's keep it that way" - i should have looked her in the eyes and started to sing along. Though i think the song was "I Want to Sex You Up".
So, i spent much of my time in the TV room partially to avoid my roommate. That is where i picked up the moniker "king of the TV room". Who was the queen of the TV room? That will be revealed later. In those days, many people didn't have TVs in their rooms and certain days were events (Must see NBC TV Thursday, FOX Sunday, Monday night was Melrose Place/90201 type stuff, not sure if there was a little TGIF might be mixing in some future years). The TV room was by the front door, so there was always someone going in or out. i would occasionally fall asleep on the couches (unintentional napping). i would also sometimes do my homework there.
As for school, i gave myself a soft-landing Intro Chemistry (no lab), Econ 101, and whatever the last class was. i could have probably aced those classes in middle school. It was the first and last time i ever got a 4.0 GPA (even though i only took 14 credits). i did get Dean's List (3.5+ GPA on 4 of my first 6 quarters, though never after then). For some reason, i always had trouble with the classes i took in Winter Quarter. Probably half of my freshman dorm were on academic probation after the first quarter.
Now we get to Winter Quarter. i was still spending my free time in the TV room. However, an honor student girl started hanging out in the TV room with me. i have always wondered why she suddenly started coming to the TV room. Was it a roommate issue or something else? Her roommate started dating the cool guy from across the hall, i think they eventually got married. She was a "bible thumper" missionary kid who spent a bunch of time in Kenya. So, college life must have been almost as much of a shock to her as it was to me.
Was i initially attracted to this thin, red-headed, blue-eyed, freckled girl? No. i was more attracted to girls like "froggy", a rodeo girl, and a couple of others - but always felt too scared and unworthy to ever make a move. i've always been a guy who puts up walls. A problem with that is that when a female starts challenging those walls, i eventually develop feeling for them, even if i can't admit it. It took me months to figure out i did kind of like her. The future queen of the TV room, Katie, was one of those. She would sit next to me on the couch and talk to me. We never touched. Unfortunately for me, she said she would never marry me because i didn't believe in God. i didn't remember asking, but she was definitely "marriage material". She was my first and my second date (i think i covered that one in a previous post). If only it would have been as easy as marrying the first girl i dated...
Chances missed. i will always wonder certain things. The cool guy across the hall would occasionally invite me to come and take a drink with him in his room. Alcohol usage in a freshman dorm is probably the highest among in collegiate cohort. The bathrooms on a weekend could be really bad, with all the vomit. One time he said that there was a girl there who kind of liked me. i'll always wonder who that was.
Now for an apology for senior year. Julie (a short girl i met my freshman dorm), sorry for calling you "Smurfette". i totally blanked on your name and could only remember someone else calling you that. My memory is usually pretty good, thought there have been multiple times where i would forget names, locker combinations, etc. It was kind of strange to me, to see a person i hadn't seen in 2+ years remember my name. i've always thought i was completely unmemorable. Maybe she was the girl who liked me a little, probably not.
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