Meeting Keith And His Hair by Erica Koch

        imagine it's the first day of tip again (yeah, i wish so too) and this being my second year here, i'm not TOO scared. it is, however, my first year here parent free. after posing for a pic by the van after i get out (YES! i FINALLY found a pic of me in the term book! [page 37! oh yeah, my luggage is the tipped over one on pg. 40. pretend you care. ok? :-) ] if anybody who was on that bus remembers me, i'm sorry if i made one of your first tip experiences, um, weird)

        so, ANYWAYS, i finally let my heavy bags down and go to registration. i'm a little freaked out b/c when i was @ the airport, my name was crossed off of the list, so i feared that somehow they had cancelled my reservation (or whatever it is) so i'd either miss out or be stuck there in the clocktower, or SOMETHING awful! :-) it's at the registration table where i first see keith. the brunette keith (BTW, brunettes RULE!) in his very fashionably hip outfit is there. OK, i'll admit. i sorta tried to avoid him.

        i'm sorry!!! i was bewildered, lost, and scared. luckily, i get my card and key and stuff w/o too much trouble, besides my own incompetence. (i didn't quite pick up what they were talking about at first when i gave nic or somebody a ten to put on my card.)

* * * * * * * SKIP TO WHENEVER IT WAS THAT KEITH DYED HIS HAIR BLONDE * * * * * * *

        by this point, whenever it was, i've been trying to coach myself into meeting new people, since the worst that can happen is that they totally ignore you, make some rude comment to their oh-so-cool friends (b/c they DO have friends, and you will too, if you stop thinking this way) and they all burst out laughing in your face at your expense, crushing your fragile heart. no, that's not bad at all. so, i'm walking on the quad, when i see this BLONDE guy and i think "hey, didn't he used to be a brunette?" so, i go up and ask/ inform him that he is now a blonde, as if he didn't already know. i think it was my turn to scare him. b/c it was then when i decided to try and call him "blondie" and i tried. i really did. it didn't go. maybe that's what drove him to changing it to blue :-) as i look back, i think i was really bugging him, at least i think so. i'm sorry AGAIN, keith. thank you for just smiling and nodding. "blondie" helped a little when i couldn't remember your name.

* * * * * * * SKIP TO WHENEVER IT WAS THAT KEITH DYED HIS HAIR BLUE * * * * * * *

        oh my, brunette/blonde guy now has blue hair. i think i did better on commenting on his hair color this time. i think this was all in the first week, right? i wasn't into bonding that much w/ anybody yet. i think we had a real conversation. i dunno. i said hi to a lot of people on the quad, w/o really ever having good (definitely NOT intelligent!) conversations. sorry. so, ANYWAYS. i'm glad i finally gave keith the benefit of the doubt, b/c he is so cool. (and not so frightening when you get to know him :-p ) now all i had to do was get to know him, and admire his ever fading (ha ha, molding) hair.

* * * * * * * SKIP TO WHENEVER IT WAS THAT KEITH'S HAIR FADED TO EVEN GREEN * * * * * * *

        OK, i know exactly when this was. around the talent show, b/c his hair matched his hat perfectly! (i love that song, pretty fly for a white guy, you guys should have gotten something!) it really cracked me up, and i'm glad i got a pic of it. not a good pic, but at least it's a pic. by now, i've grown used to keith, and his hair. it actually was pretty cool! it's at a time like this that i wish i wasn't a little second year, and that i hadn't just met everybody, b/c you're all so close and sometimes i felt like i was barging in (especially during doctor doctor :-) only, it was on purpose then) but you guys are very cool friends!

* * * * * * * SKIP TO WHENEVER IT WAS THAT KEITH'S HAIR WAS NICE AND BLOTCHY * * * * * * *

        [sigh] bliss. j commons and orgy/funy in a box was my sanctuary. thank you keith and chris (and everybody else who joined in on the fun) for those hilarious background noises whenever i was on the phone. OK, i'll admit it. it was funny, i liked it. y'all are just lucky my friends (and parents) are so understanding. (hmmmm, maybe i should write a separate memory on the phone/j commons. what do you think keith? or have i written enough?) BTW, i have a pict of keith after he talked to my friend (who looked sorta like barbie) and if keith gives the ok (for i wouldn't want to embarass him. JIC) then i'll e-mail it to you. just ask. volleybabe@usa.net it may not be all that funny, but i'm a sheltered second year, gimme a break!

        wow, i think i'm spent! few more things: what was with that blue spot?!?! i know i know, you told me a dozen times, keith, about it was bad dying/bleaching/whatever job. (i dunno the lingo since i like staying brunette) it's just fun to smile about. also, i wanna apologize to the confused reader. i go off on tangents a LOT. keith, you are tall. that's very cool. i like being relatively short, b/c it doesn't happen a lot. i should hang w/ juniors more often. they are so much more AHEM mature. :-) maybe it's an IQ, top 1/4 of the top %, tipster thing. oops, i forgot to introduce myself in the first paragraph. well, uh, i'm a brunette (which you gathered) i was in social psych (the BEST class) and in nancy's RAG (we were the coolest!) and uh, i hung out in j a lot. usually by the left AC. i tried playing mau once w/ avital (i think) (again, i know random people. go jew pride!!) and i just don't really get it. oh well, i have two more years to learn, if there will be anybody left who knows how to play :-( i'll bore you no more. ttfn. much luv. <3 erica

        [Keith's Notes] You're not boring. And yea, that was an experience, dying my hair. It was fun and interesting. I highly reccomend everyone to try it sometime. It looks stupid, but it doesn't last long and you get LOTS of attention. Now I just bleached it blonde and let it grow out (Hey TJ...my tips are frosted!) And I know a lot of people weren't directly tied to the whole gang in the past years, but to be honest, I was the closest to knowing the whole group before getting tehre and I didn't know half of them. We're a glorious modgepodge of humanity! Once again, special thanks to everyone. From the kid whose room three of us went into and started placing his cards in random places until he woke up to all my oldest friends. I hold you all close in spirit.