I first met Alissa and almost immediately developed a crush on her. She had long, dark wavy hair that went perfectly with her tan olive skin. She also had fun personality which matched up with her great laugh and smile, there wasn't much not to like about Alissa.
My memory of Alissa is one of the more embarrassing stories I'm going to share on here because it's one of those moments where I look back and thing, "Andrew...you IDIOT." I think it was in like eighth or ninth grade and I was at my buddy Nick's house with a group of kids after football practice or something. I'm not exactly sure if it was after a game or a summer practice, that's irrelevant, all I remember is that I was talking to Alissa and somehow brought up how sore I was from practice. She offered to give me a massage, and I said "Thanks, but you don't have to do that, I'll live." I remember nothing else from that night other than me turning down a massage from a girl who I had a massive crush on...except that I'M AN IDIOT.
The most recent time I saw Alissa was when I was at an MSU football game sitting with some of my buddies in the non-student section and Alissa was walking up the stairs to her seat with her friend Allesandra. I saw her walking up, gave her a big hug, and said a quick hello but unfortunately didn't have to chance to catch up about anything. So honestly I have no idea what Alissa is up to these days, but she looked as good as ever so I hope the rest of her life is doing as lovely as her looks are. I hope to see her again because it would be great to catch up and get to know the woman she has become in the last four plus years because I'm sure she's a great one to know.
Cheers,
Andrew
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Ana Garcia
Ana is one of the more interesting friendships that I've had. Ana is a member of the MSU marching band in which she plays the...soprano sax, if I remember correctly. She's a year older than me and she is a Latina, although if it weren't for her name and hearing about her family I would never have guessed that because she's even less tan than I am. Anywho, it all started my sophomore year of college when I was on this site called AllMSU which is like social networking/craigslist/professor ratings all in one and I saw she had a profile up, so I responded to it and within a few weeks we started hanging out. The whole online dating thing is, after some experience, for the most part a complete waste of time, but some how Ana and I just kinda clicked and became pretty good friends. We bonded over several different things including our shared love of going out and buying a CD rather than always downloading music online, but we also were both pretty big fans of Harry Potter, and it is within our common fandom where I had one of my favorite memories with her.
In November of 2010, the first half of the final installment of the Harry Potter film adaptation was about to premiere. Ana, being the darling that she is, invited me to attend the midnight show with her and some of her friends at a movie theater in Lansing. I'd never been the kind of person to wait in line for hours just to see and/or get something that will be the same if I get it a little later for a fraction of the hassle, but this was Harry Potter after all, so I said yes and wouldn't you know it? It ended up being a pretty damn good time. We saw all of these super fans dressed as their favorite characters; my personal favorite was this girl dressed as Luna Lovegood. She looked so good that I actually walked down like 20 rows from where we were sitting to go say hey and tell her how awesome she looked...Ana got a kick out of that. With the waiting in line, it was probably like a four or five hour ordeal before I got home, but just about every minute of it was a good time.
I haven't talked to Ana in quite a while, in fact, it's been over half a year since the last time I've seen her. She's done with school now so I don't know when the next time I see her will be, but I hope it's soon because I miss her and all her "nom nom" eccentricities in my life.
Cheers to hoggy hoggy Hogwarts,
Andrew
In November of 2010, the first half of the final installment of the Harry Potter film adaptation was about to premiere. Ana, being the darling that she is, invited me to attend the midnight show with her and some of her friends at a movie theater in Lansing. I'd never been the kind of person to wait in line for hours just to see and/or get something that will be the same if I get it a little later for a fraction of the hassle, but this was Harry Potter after all, so I said yes and wouldn't you know it? It ended up being a pretty damn good time. We saw all of these super fans dressed as their favorite characters; my personal favorite was this girl dressed as Luna Lovegood. She looked so good that I actually walked down like 20 rows from where we were sitting to go say hey and tell her how awesome she looked...Ana got a kick out of that. With the waiting in line, it was probably like a four or five hour ordeal before I got home, but just about every minute of it was a good time.
I haven't talked to Ana in quite a while, in fact, it's been over half a year since the last time I've seen her. She's done with school now so I don't know when the next time I see her will be, but I hope it's soon because I miss her and all her "nom nom" eccentricities in my life.
Cheers to hoggy hoggy Hogwarts,
Andrew
Kellie Roussos
Kellie is yet another one of the seemingly countless incredible people I met during my trip to Australia with International Student Volunteers. Having spent essentially everyday with Kellie for about a month, I got to know the rock necklace making, Humboldt University attending, hippie California girl pretty well. When I look back on my time with Kellie, I always picture two things. The first is her doing her trademark dance move, one which consisted of her taking both hands, fingers spread, and having them back in forth parallel to each side of her head...I think everyone in the group ended up doing it at one point or another, it was that freakin' awesome. And the second would be her introducing the word "hella" to my vocabulary. It didn't matter how cool you thought something was, it wasn't validated as truly awesome until Kellie used the "hella" to describe it. Ex. "That burger was hella good!"
My favorite memory of Kellie is actually one of the few times when she wasn't being her normal self, it was one of those rare moments when you get to see a person evolve, reach potential's they may not have even know they had, right before your eyes. Kellie is the kind of girl who could roll with virtually anything in any situation, except when it came to heights. On one of the stops in the middle of our travels up the Australian coast, the activity that ISV had planned for us was to rappel across a series of different cliffs ranging from a few feet to a few hundred feet. I remember seeing Kellie at the top of one of the ledges looking so terrified that she had tears in her eyes...it broke my heart. Nobody expected her to go down the side of that cliff, so when she decided that she wanted to push herself and go for it, despite how much her mind was telling her not to, we all felt a sense of pride. That day I watched that girl overcome her fear of heights as she worked up the courage to rappel down a 200ft + cliff, and if I remember correctly, walk back up to the top and go down again. It really was a beautiful sight to see.
Aside from the rare Facebook wall post, I haven't really talked to Kellie since we returned from our trip, and that's kind of sad, because I miss her. I hope she's doing well and that she's continuing to push herself because after what I witnessed in the short time I knew her, there are infinite places where she could go in life.
To a hella cool lady,
Andrew
My favorite memory of Kellie is actually one of the few times when she wasn't being her normal self, it was one of those rare moments when you get to see a person evolve, reach potential's they may not have even know they had, right before your eyes. Kellie is the kind of girl who could roll with virtually anything in any situation, except when it came to heights. On one of the stops in the middle of our travels up the Australian coast, the activity that ISV had planned for us was to rappel across a series of different cliffs ranging from a few feet to a few hundred feet. I remember seeing Kellie at the top of one of the ledges looking so terrified that she had tears in her eyes...it broke my heart. Nobody expected her to go down the side of that cliff, so when she decided that she wanted to push herself and go for it, despite how much her mind was telling her not to, we all felt a sense of pride. That day I watched that girl overcome her fear of heights as she worked up the courage to rappel down a 200ft + cliff, and if I remember correctly, walk back up to the top and go down again. It really was a beautiful sight to see.
Aside from the rare Facebook wall post, I haven't really talked to Kellie since we returned from our trip, and that's kind of sad, because I miss her. I hope she's doing well and that she's continuing to push herself because after what I witnessed in the short time I knew her, there are infinite places where she could go in life.
To a hella cool lady,
Andrew
Monday, July 30, 2012
Amanda Miller
I first met Amanda when she moved to Michigan in what I believe was the fourth grade and I've counted her amongst my friends ever since. In seventh grade Amanda was the first person I ever asked "will you go out with me?" To which she replied, to my surprise, with an emphatic "Yes!" I'd always had a thing for her, so even though I was like 12 at the time I was pretty stoked to call her my girl for the couple months or whatever we were "going steady." Unfortunately it didn't last (shocker, I know) but we would remain friends for a long time, even when she moved to Arizona just a few years later. The memory I'm going to use for Amanda actually takes place in AZ, the last I saw her when we were both graduating high school and our lives were about to go in drastically different directions.
The last time I saw Amanda was when I met up with her while paying a visit to some family who live near Phoenix. It was the first time I'd seen her in a few years and I have to say, she looked stunning. Better than ever. We didn't do anything particularly different or over the top, we just hung out and chatted about life, or mostly about how different they were becoming. I was moving to East Lansing in the fall; Amanda was moving across the Atlantic to Germany. I was as single as one could possibly be; Amanda was just weeks away from marriage. I was picking out dorm posters while she was picking out a house. It was crazy, even crazier to think she's but a few days older than I am. That last day I saw her was the day when one of the more incredible women I've known was about to be taken officially taken off the market, and regardless of how happy I was for her, it still kind of sucked knowing she was going to be married to a German dude living in a village thousands of miles away before I was could even decide which band I was going to commit a year of dorm living to.
For the first few years following that visit, Amanda and I still talked occasionally often through email around our birthdays where we would catch up with everything in each others lives. As I'm writing this though, it has been about two years, but I'm sure it's a little tough to keep a Michigan pen pal when you're raising two young children, something I can't even fathom doing at the age of 22. I'd be lying if I didn't say it's kind of a bummer that we've lost touch, she was always a great friend to me and I miss her, but that's life. People grow up, some faster than others, and it becomes more difficult to make time for people from your past. Especially people who live a world away. I'm sure I'll talk to her again and when I do, I can't wait to hear about all the wonderful things that have happened in her life.
Auf wiedersehen,
Andrew
The last time I saw Amanda was when I met up with her while paying a visit to some family who live near Phoenix. It was the first time I'd seen her in a few years and I have to say, she looked stunning. Better than ever. We didn't do anything particularly different or over the top, we just hung out and chatted about life, or mostly about how different they were becoming. I was moving to East Lansing in the fall; Amanda was moving across the Atlantic to Germany. I was as single as one could possibly be; Amanda was just weeks away from marriage. I was picking out dorm posters while she was picking out a house. It was crazy, even crazier to think she's but a few days older than I am. That last day I saw her was the day when one of the more incredible women I've known was about to be taken officially taken off the market, and regardless of how happy I was for her, it still kind of sucked knowing she was going to be married to a German dude living in a village thousands of miles away before I was could even decide which band I was going to commit a year of dorm living to.
For the first few years following that visit, Amanda and I still talked occasionally often through email around our birthdays where we would catch up with everything in each others lives. As I'm writing this though, it has been about two years, but I'm sure it's a little tough to keep a Michigan pen pal when you're raising two young children, something I can't even fathom doing at the age of 22. I'd be lying if I didn't say it's kind of a bummer that we've lost touch, she was always a great friend to me and I miss her, but that's life. People grow up, some faster than others, and it becomes more difficult to make time for people from your past. Especially people who live a world away. I'm sure I'll talk to her again and when I do, I can't wait to hear about all the wonderful things that have happened in her life.
Auf wiedersehen,
Andrew
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Dave Allen
Dave Allen is one of the manliest men I've ever known, and because of that he quickly became one of my favorite people ever. I met Dave when me and too buddies of mine, Dan and Brett, were looking for our third roommate for our apartment that upcoming year and he came across an ad we posted online. We liked him right away but it wasn't until that fall when he moved in with us that we, especially me, realized that this was one of the coolest guys I'd ever met. There are a lot of memories I have with Dave, some of them being quite hilarious and probably inappropriate to post on the interweb, so I'm going to go with one that I think best defines the kind of friend this man's man is.
One night during the school year, Dan and Brett were out of the apartment probably studying engineering or something, while Dave and I were just chilling in the apartment and outside it was essentially raining slush on the Earth when all of the sudden BAM! "What the fuck was that?" I say as the electricity goes out in the apartment and we look outside to see that the damn transformer exploded and our entire apartment complex lost power. After realizing that the power probably wasn't going to come back on anytime soon, we end up grabbing some random candles lying around the apartment (don't know how the hell we had as many candles as we did, we can thank Dan for that one) and since we couldn't use our computers or watch TV, we ended up just chilling in the living room. After a while of doing nothing I thought, you know what, I'm gonna have a drink. So I went into my room, grabbed a bottle of Bullit bourbon, two glasses, and came back into the living room where I poured us both a decent amount of whiskey then proceeded to share stories about stupid shit we did when we were younger. Hearing about how he and his buddies would have firework fights on his property and how one of his buddies broke a then left a few bucks on the ground for repairs had me in stitches. All we were doing was drinking whiskey with no electricity and chatting, but it was about as good a time as you could have with another man.
Dave is a hell of a guy, and expect to be friends with him for a long time, even if we just end up meeting up every once in a while to have some good whiskey and reminisce about some of the shit we did that year we lived to together.
Cheers,
Andrew
One night during the school year, Dan and Brett were out of the apartment probably studying engineering or something, while Dave and I were just chilling in the apartment and outside it was essentially raining slush on the Earth when all of the sudden BAM! "What the fuck was that?" I say as the electricity goes out in the apartment and we look outside to see that the damn transformer exploded and our entire apartment complex lost power. After realizing that the power probably wasn't going to come back on anytime soon, we end up grabbing some random candles lying around the apartment (don't know how the hell we had as many candles as we did, we can thank Dan for that one) and since we couldn't use our computers or watch TV, we ended up just chilling in the living room. After a while of doing nothing I thought, you know what, I'm gonna have a drink. So I went into my room, grabbed a bottle of Bullit bourbon, two glasses, and came back into the living room where I poured us both a decent amount of whiskey then proceeded to share stories about stupid shit we did when we were younger. Hearing about how he and his buddies would have firework fights on his property and how one of his buddies broke a then left a few bucks on the ground for repairs had me in stitches. All we were doing was drinking whiskey with no electricity and chatting, but it was about as good a time as you could have with another man.
Dave is a hell of a guy, and expect to be friends with him for a long time, even if we just end up meeting up every once in a while to have some good whiskey and reminisce about some of the shit we did that year we lived to together.
Cheers,
Andrew
Lauren Rossi
Lauren is one of those people who I really should have gotten to know better than I did. I met her while a part of a play, Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, during my junior year of high school when she played my onstage lover. Let's just get this out of the way early...Lauren is way hotter than me, even in high school when I had my athlete's physique. She's tall, has beautiful bronze Italian skin, curly dark hair, and an amazing body to go along with everything else that made her physically attractive. I have to say, I was a bit intimidated by her, which is a bummer because she's a sweet girl. When comes to an actual memory with Lauren though, I can't really put my finger on one specific thing. I remember rehearsals, the performance, and of course the after parties which opened my eyes to a whole new part of high school that I'd been sheltered from, but when it comes to Lauren, I really remember just...liking her. She was nice to be around, she had some really funny things to say, and I don't remember any time when she wasn't a kind a person to me or anyone else we worked with on that set. I wish I had a little more guts back then than I did, that I at least put myself out there and became better friends with her because she really seems like a great person to have around, but it is what it is. I saw her about a year ago when I visited a couple of my friends at Central Michigan University, and while I don't remember much of that night to do remember her greeting me with a smile and looking better than ever, and it feels good to see that she seems to still be loving life.
Cheers my fair Hippolyta,
Andrew Thom (Theseus)
Note: What the hell was I thinking not trying to kiss her onstage? It was pretty much in the character description to be a horn dog...SHIT!
Cheers my fair Hippolyta,
Andrew Thom (Theseus)
Note: What the hell was I thinking not trying to kiss her onstage? It was pretty much in the character description to be a horn dog...SHIT!
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Julie Adamo
I love hanging out with Julie. I met her when she and my good friend Greg started dating sophomore year of at MSU and I can honestly say that I can't remember a single time where I was with Greg and though, "Aw man, you're girlfriend is coming out with us?" She's that freaking cool. Julie is a sorority girl, but she's not uptight and bitchy. She's beautiful, but she doesn't shove it in your face. Julie is the kind of girl that you want your friend to date, and lucky for me, one of my friends did.
A great memory I have with Julie is a pretty recent one when she, Greg (post-dating), and I were all hanging out at MSU just a few weeks before I'm writing this. That was the first time I saw Julie in quite awhile, so I was pretty excited for us all to hang out. Before we went to the bar we hung out at Greg's place where we played some music (Julie has a pretty great taste in music, which was a pleasant surprise), and drank some booze before going out to Rick's. We played some nude photo hunt, which Julie was into (another surprise), then played some quarters as well which, as anyone who has played quarters knows, is always a good way to have some fun. We probably drank a little too much that night, as I'm sure Julie will attest to, but while we were in a bit of a drunken haze, I did have a moment with Julie which showed me that my opinion of her is exactly where it should be and also reaffirmed my belief that this is the exact kind of girl I want Greg to be with when we're old enough to start having dinner parties.
Despite thinking that she's a pretty awesome lady, I don't really know Julie that well at all, but that night I think I learned more about her than any time before and it made me think something that I've only really thought about a select few other friends' girlfriends: "I really hope they get married." There are some people who come into a friend's life, barge in almost uninvited and start a relationship with no willingness to honor the past, and make you feel isolated and don't hide they think you're the one intruding. Then there are people who walk in with a smile, get to know the friend as well as the friend's life before them, and in a matter of time it's as if that person has always been there. Julie is the latter.
Cheers to Julie, a great lady who I hope will be sticking around for a long time.
-Andrew
A great memory I have with Julie is a pretty recent one when she, Greg (post-dating), and I were all hanging out at MSU just a few weeks before I'm writing this. That was the first time I saw Julie in quite awhile, so I was pretty excited for us all to hang out. Before we went to the bar we hung out at Greg's place where we played some music (Julie has a pretty great taste in music, which was a pleasant surprise), and drank some booze before going out to Rick's. We played some nude photo hunt, which Julie was into (another surprise), then played some quarters as well which, as anyone who has played quarters knows, is always a good way to have some fun. We probably drank a little too much that night, as I'm sure Julie will attest to, but while we were in a bit of a drunken haze, I did have a moment with Julie which showed me that my opinion of her is exactly where it should be and also reaffirmed my belief that this is the exact kind of girl I want Greg to be with when we're old enough to start having dinner parties.
Despite thinking that she's a pretty awesome lady, I don't really know Julie that well at all, but that night I think I learned more about her than any time before and it made me think something that I've only really thought about a select few other friends' girlfriends: "I really hope they get married." There are some people who come into a friend's life, barge in almost uninvited and start a relationship with no willingness to honor the past, and make you feel isolated and don't hide they think you're the one intruding. Then there are people who walk in with a smile, get to know the friend as well as the friend's life before them, and in a matter of time it's as if that person has always been there. Julie is the latter.
Cheers to Julie, a great lady who I hope will be sticking around for a long time.
-Andrew
Brittany Antosiek
A memory that sticks out to me about Brittany is one where she exhibited the mixture of ditzyness and comedy that only she can create. I think it was the summer of 2011 when she, John Diedrich, and I had gotten into the habit of going to Lifetime Fitness together to work out/hang out around work out equipment. One night though John couldn't make it, but Brittany and I still felt like getting our swell on do we decided to go ourselves. The workout itself wasn't particular memorable because, well, it was a workout, (although we did go in the hot tub and it is never a sore sight when you get to see a woman like Brittany in a bikini) but the ride home something happened that had me laughing for about the next five miles.
On the drive back from the gym, Brittany was driving and we came up to this traffic light which has always been there and which I'm sure she was very familiar with. So while we're stopped at the red light chatting about whatever, the green arrow to turn right comes on. Not paying attention, Brittany just starts to drive straight through as I'm looking at the still red light until she gets through and I say "Uh, you realize that light was red, right?" Obviously, she didn't, and while that would have been funny by itself, it didn't stop there. A few seconds later after the light turns green, some guy comes cruising up behind us and is riding up her ass. He keeps doing it for about a mile and a half until he comes up to an intersection where there is a left turn lane which he pulls into and starts yelling at Brittany to roll her window down. Mind you, it's like 1:00 AM at this point, so naturally Brittany is like "Fuck no, I'm not rolling my window down." Eventually the dude drove away, but it was just so surreal, and the rest of the ride home we speculated about what the guy was going to do when he got home...I had a lot of fun.
I still get to see Brittany every now and again and it is almost always a fun time when I do. Some people consider Brittany to be a little bit of a polarizing figure, but I never really have. She's always been sweet to me and while she can be a little bit of an eye roller at times, I've always felt like her heart is in the right place. Oh and she's like, super hot.
Cheers.
-Andrew
On the drive back from the gym, Brittany was driving and we came up to this traffic light which has always been there and which I'm sure she was very familiar with. So while we're stopped at the red light chatting about whatever, the green arrow to turn right comes on. Not paying attention, Brittany just starts to drive straight through as I'm looking at the still red light until she gets through and I say "Uh, you realize that light was red, right?" Obviously, she didn't, and while that would have been funny by itself, it didn't stop there. A few seconds later after the light turns green, some guy comes cruising up behind us and is riding up her ass. He keeps doing it for about a mile and a half until he comes up to an intersection where there is a left turn lane which he pulls into and starts yelling at Brittany to roll her window down. Mind you, it's like 1:00 AM at this point, so naturally Brittany is like "Fuck no, I'm not rolling my window down." Eventually the dude drove away, but it was just so surreal, and the rest of the ride home we speculated about what the guy was going to do when he got home...I had a lot of fun.
I still get to see Brittany every now and again and it is almost always a fun time when I do. Some people consider Brittany to be a little bit of a polarizing figure, but I never really have. She's always been sweet to me and while she can be a little bit of an eye roller at times, I've always felt like her heart is in the right place. Oh and she's like, super hot.
Cheers.
-Andrew
Margaret Ventimiglia
I met Margaret when I was a sophomore in high school and we had a two hour chemistry class together. I liked Margaret from the first time I met her because she wasn't really like anyone I'd ever met before. She was a red haired Italian, which was a first, but also despite being a little bit older than I was (she was a junior to my sophomore) she always acted the same with everyone and her crazy sense of humor made anyone feel like they belonged in her company.
One of the best memories I have of Margaret was during one day in class when she came over to my table which consisted of me and the Diedrich brothers and proceeded to tell us what kind of strippers she thought we would look best as. I don't remember exactly how the conversation went down, but I do remember me laughing the entire time and that she decided to don me with the role of the sexy lumberjack...such a character. When it comes to my memories of Margaret, most of the great ones come from the numerous hours I spent with her in that classroom, which might seem kind of a boring basis for memories to the outsider, but I guess you just had to be there.
Margaret is married now, and I'm in line with a lot of men who have known her when I say that her husband is a lucky man. Regardless of her current taken status though, I don't have a problem saying that she is one of the most lovely people I've had the pleasure to come across in my life. I wish her nothing but the best and I hope that she and her husband have the best life they could possibly have. Maybe someday we'll meet again and reminisce over a nice bottle of fine, but until then, stay lovely darling.
-Andrew
Extra note: When we met, The 40-Year-Old Virgin was pretty big, and I once half-jokingly propositioned Margaret by reenacting the "fuck buddy" scene. It was hilarious and became a running joke with us for a while...dunno how I almost forgot about that!
One of the best memories I have of Margaret was during one day in class when she came over to my table which consisted of me and the Diedrich brothers and proceeded to tell us what kind of strippers she thought we would look best as. I don't remember exactly how the conversation went down, but I do remember me laughing the entire time and that she decided to don me with the role of the sexy lumberjack...such a character. When it comes to my memories of Margaret, most of the great ones come from the numerous hours I spent with her in that classroom, which might seem kind of a boring basis for memories to the outsider, but I guess you just had to be there.
Margaret is married now, and I'm in line with a lot of men who have known her when I say that her husband is a lucky man. Regardless of her current taken status though, I don't have a problem saying that she is one of the most lovely people I've had the pleasure to come across in my life. I wish her nothing but the best and I hope that she and her husband have the best life they could possibly have. Maybe someday we'll meet again and reminisce over a nice bottle of fine, but until then, stay lovely darling.
-Andrew
Extra note: When we met, The 40-Year-Old Virgin was pretty big, and I once half-jokingly propositioned Margaret by reenacting the "fuck buddy" scene. It was hilarious and became a running joke with us for a while...dunno how I almost forgot about that!
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