Alien Steve

The wife and I had dinner last night with my old college roommate 'D' and his wife. We were roommates for 4 of my 9 semesters at Western Kentucky University. His wife is 8 months pregnant, and we ate together so that we could give them their baby shower gift. Conversation topics drifted from babies and pregnancy, to old times back at school. I say old times, but it was only 4 or 5 years ago.

D reminded me of one of the funnier moments that we had in school.

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For 3 of my 9 semesters, I lived in North Hall, a dorm in the middle of campus. I will forever be known as an NHB, or North Hall Boy. At the time, it was a very old, run down dorm. It has since been renovated, and is one of the nicest dorms on campus. When I lived there, there was no air conditioning, and everything about the building was very bland. Because of the no AC, everybody always had their windows and doors propped open to help circulate what little breeze could be found. It was an excellent way to make new friends, by just walking up and down the halls and by going in and out of people's rooms. This is how I met D, as he lived across the hall from me during my first semester at North Hall. We quickly became friends, and decided to be roommates during the next semester.

The Residential Assistant (RA) on our floor during that semester, Brad, was a great friend of ours. He came to me one day near the end of the sememster, and he asked me if I would like to be an RA. He said he was getting promoted, and he was trying to find someone to replace him. Since I already knew everybody on the floor, I said I would do it. It was a great experience, and one that I could write a hundred more entries about, but I'll save them for later.

Being an RA meant that D and I had to split up. I would be getting my own private room. Brad had this lifesized blow-up alien hanging from the corner of his room (very similar to this one). He said the alien's name was Steve, and that I could have him for good luck. So I left him hanging in the corner. All of the furniture in my room was movable, including the beds. I took the two twin sized beds and scooted them together to make a king sized bed. It was awesome.

I started my RA duties in January of 2000. Let me add here, that the wife and I started dating in this month. In February, she and I went on a ski trip with a local church. It was an all day trip, and it was after midnight when we got back home. I dropped her off at her parents' and went back to North Hall. As I got to my room, I heard the TV on behind the door. I knew that I hadn't left it on, so something was weird. I opened up my door and the light was on, and I knew that I had left it off.

I walked into the room and I immediately burst into laughter. The kind that makes your stomach hurt. Alien Steve had been removed from the corner and had been placed in my king sized bed, with the covers pulled up to his chin and his head was propped up on two pillows so that he could watch TV. His arms were on top of the covers with a Mountain Dew can taped to his left hand, and the TV remote control to his right hand. To top it all off, the TV was on the Sci-Fi channel.

The guilty parties had left their doors open so they could hear when I got home. They heard my laughter and came running. It was hilarious. I had a disposable camera and took a picture of him. I tried to find it so that I could post it here, but I couldn't find it. It's probably at my parents' house.

Everytime D and I get together, we usually reminisce about our college days. I really miss those times. I wouldn't go back and take those classes again for anything though.

edit: I have to post a song of the day. I don't want to ruin the quality and downgrade it by converting for the radio.blog, so I'll post a download as a high quality mp3. This song has some of Dave's best lyrics, and the band is at their best.

Loving Wings - Dave Matthews Band - Live 6.12.05 (last night!)