A Good Fellow
Well, nothing interesting has been going on here at all.
That is so not true. Lots of interesting stuff happens, all the time, but I’ve just been lazy. That is more like it. I’m not going to write about my stuff just now though, because I think that reading about what happens when I kick my waschtrockner very hard will not be as entertaining as the entry I will write instead.
This entry is about my good friend, Scott Leclau. If you haven’t noticed, there are some new links to other blogs on your top right, and Scott’s is among them. Also relatively new is the link to HellowhenI’mcrashing’s blog. You might recognize her name, since she’s a long time commentor here. More importantly, she’s also a very good friend. I am going to write a short message about all the blogs I link to, since I don’t think I’ve done that yet, and it seems like it will be fun. I’m going to start with Mr. Leclau…
Why? Well, a few reasons. He’s the most recent entry to the “Links” list. He’s had his blog for a short while, but he didn’t update much at first, and then I forgot to keep checking it, and now he has many interesting posts, and I have never commented on any of them and this is like atonement. Most importantly, he’s responsible for my next big adventure, and I want to touch on that 
Scott has recently taken a position teaching English in Japan. Yelnad, Mr. Yelnad and I will be joining Scott in Japan to celebrate the New Year, and we’re all super excited. I have to say, I’m really impressed by Scott’s courage in moving so far from home. I know that might sound funny, coming from me considering my travels, but seriously, what he did is amazing. I moved to Germany (and a few other places) for temporary jobs, usually with people I knew. I was able to keep my home base in CA for a long time, and I pretty much always knew how I could get back home. It wasn’t until I had been traveling for nearly 3 years straight that I finally pulled up stakes and moved to Europe for good… And I already knew the local language and some customs. Scott picked up and moved to Japan on far shorter notice and with far less prep time. It really is amazing!
Scott has been a good friend of mine for going on 15 years now. He is my oldest friend from College, and he’s one of the people in my life that I’d categorize as a catalyst. If you know me well at all, you know that one of the things I positively suck at is asking for help. I almost never do it, and I’ll put myself through amazing amounts of suffering to do something alone, rather than risk imposing on someone and asking for aid. Yes, I know this is stupid, I’m working on it… Rewind to 1992, though. I’m younger, dumber, and quite certain I can do anything I set my mind to, thank you very much.
I had recently undergone a knee reconstruction, and was attending my College Orientation on crutches. My dad was there too, but he was attending some sort of Parental Orientation while I was supposed to be at lunch. There I was, dutifully carrying a lunch tray in one hand, while walking with two crutches under my other arm for support. At this time, Scott took pity on me and asked “Would you like some help?”, which I gratefully accepted.
Scott would have told you at the time that this was out of character for him, as he considered himself to be something of a jerk. The kind of person who could be mean, especially to those who deserve it. He even took some amount of pride in the fact that he considered himself a jerk at that time… I have to say, that in all of the years I’ve known him, I don’t think I’ve ever considered him a jerk. Sometimes he’s put up that facade, sure, but deep down, he’s always been a great guy, and a great friend.
Since he was already carrying my food, he invited me to join him for lunch with his friends. While many of us were attending college with some of the folks who we had gone to high school with, Scott and his friends were fortunate enough to end up going to the same orientation (there were about 6 orientation weekends, and I knew no one when I got to mine). We didn’t really spend a great deal of time together that weekend, but of all the people I had met at orientation, the only folks I had looked forward to meeting again when I got to school for real were the crew I met that day at lunch.
Which is why I would call Scott a catalyst… As a result of joining Scott at lunch, I met Yelnad. I also ended up moving to live in the same building as Scott, where I had some of the most entertaining times of my college career. Through Yelnad I became better friends with another classmate, Brenner, and the two of them spurred me into participating in some of the best extra-curricular adventures I had at school. These would include working in Residence Life, on Student Government, and on the campus ambulance.
Now, it is entirely possible that some or all of those things might have happened anyway. In my experience though, the journey of life is often shaped by the company you travel with. College was a good time for me. I learned a lot about a lot of things, and I had a really good time. I was lucky to forge the types of friendships that last forever, and I will always cherish that time. There are always a lot of factors that contribute to anything in life… However, I think it is kind of neat to be able to point to a small, apparently random event that pushed everything in the right direction. I think that lunchtime afternoon during orientation was possibly the best thing that could have happened during my four years at school.
Throughout the years, Scott, Yelnad and I have kept in touch pretty successfully. We’ve traveled the US together several times, and been fortunate to live near one another often unexpectedly. They’ve both been kind enough to visit me in Europe, and I am happy for all the memories we’ve made while traveling. Hence, I’m really looking forward to visiting Japan, a place I might not ever have had an impetus to visit were it not for Scott’s grand adventure there. Good times are ahead!