The Quirkies in my Life

Context: A little about me:

I live in a beach city apartment with two friends who I have known since my first year of college. I work at the university I graduated from, which is under construction like... ALWAYS. I work in Res Life which was a transition from my time as an RA to my current role as Asst. Resident Director. I am dating a current RA who I've known since her first year. She's a senior now in the building we were both RAs together in. Now I work in what will hereby be called Summer Camp because it is an outdoor community with lots of trees and squirrels. This brings me to my first little section of my blog:

Life in Summercamp:

My office is shared with the office assistant. A friend of mine calls me the Head OA rather than an Asst. Resident Director and the comparison amuses me because some days I feel like one. In fact, I walked into my old Res Life office the other day and my old boss was in a jam, resulting in me volunteering to be an Office Assistant for a day. (Ironically, I replaced my gf's spot because she couldn't make her shift due to class conflict). So I was Head OA for a day. I'd like to make some jab about college educations not really getting me anywhere, but as most of my friends live at home and everyone's working wherever they can, I'll take what I can get.

Now that summer's on the horizon (despite this week's rain) my duels with the squirrels have recommenced. They are everywhere in summercamp and one in particular likes to sneak into my office to inspect the empty trash can. I yell at it and this only results in my boss next door going "What?!?". The squirrel just stands motionless looking at me like I'm an idiot, then continues its journey into my office. Then I stamp my foot and it looks at me again and promptly ignores me. I have to get up, flail my arms, stamp my feet and look like a general fool, chasing the stupid animal out of my office under the picnic table and up a tree. At this point, the OA is just laughing at me and passing residents are giving their Asst. Resident Director a weird look. And my boss yells at me for picking on the squirrels! I wish the owl we had this past winter had picked more of them off...

Speaking of my boss, there are a few things you should know about him. He is legally blind and sometimes uses this to his convenience though it also has some hilarious side effects. He is loud, brass, and blunt and generally really funny. He talks about his experiences in Bible college where he was kicked out of, and that one time he was struck by lightning. It's a funny story but its even funnier to think that he was struck by lightning at bible camp. Needless to say he's not very religious anymore. He will be a regular character in the show that is this blog. For now, I've decided to refer to him as Maniac Magee.

I turn now to my domestic life, specifically my roommates.

The first one was my best friends roommate way back in first year. We have a pretty tight knit group of friends that we call the Family and many of us hung out because of that first year. Clark Gable, who I shall now call this first roommate, is one of the smartest people I know. He literally won Jeopardy! and regularly competes in pub quizzes and some days just lives on sporcle. He recently committed to our same undergraduate school to earn his Masters degree in Film and so I'm excited he's staying in the area. This man watches more movies in a week than I see in theaters in a year. We have a collection of over 600 movies on the wall and he is always renting films from the library. I'm sure we'll delve into some of his quirks but for now just know these three rules of the universe: Clark don't drink. Clark don't dance. Clark don't sing. Though that last one has an exception for Disney songs and very specific situations...

This brings me to my last roommate, the biggest reason people told me to start a blog. For future blogs, I want to call this Brock's Block. I would refer to him as Alejandro for the lyrical connection but Brock is just an amusing name and it rhymes with Block, which is also the name of a powerful man outside of whom's door Brock once stood naked, one of many streaking stories this man has. In fact, its hard to find situations where this man has all his clothes on in general. He generally comes home strips to his boxer-briefs and wifebeater (if its cold) and plops in front of his computer to catch up on the many friends he has around the world. We had a landmark moment the other day when he was like "Guys guess what." After a series of snarky and incorrect guess he went on to state proudly: "I have over 1000 friends on facebook". This is a big deal, especially in Brock's life. Just a few other random details for the purposes of context for Brock: he works at a stressful job that spurs him to have a drink after work to calm down. He is a fairly lightweight drinker and gets very chatty when under the influence. He can't keep secrets. You put it together.

I'll try to end all of Brock's Block with a quote from him. For future reference, please note that any"A" in this quote is his close friend from his hometown in Hickville, California (a town which Brock is very proud of but also makes for great satire). A is a reoccuring character too and I've decided to bestow him this alias Alejandro. I've just come to accept that Lady Gaga is a part of my life these days.

B-"When I was only around white people and dumb Asians in 'Hickville', I wasn't racist"
A- *Facepalm"

That's all for now. Until soon.

-JT York

Currently listening to: "Time is Running Out" by Muse (I'm still on a huge Muse binge after seeing them in concert in Las Vegas last week. So awesome!)

Currently reading: Voyage of the Dawn Treader by CS Lewis or I would be if I weren't...

Currently playing: Pokemon HeartGold by Nintendo. This explains everything: http://www.awkwardzombie.com/comic1-032910.php