Letter from Tim, Summer After Freshman Year at BC (With Annotations)

Freshman year wasn’t exactly an easy one for me. I finished my cancer treatment during that first weekend in September and was hospitalized for two weeks in the middle of September. In the second semester, I started my two-year long struggle with drinking. But, I still made and kept friends that put up with my post-cancer/drinking shenanigans and these friends were a huge part of me being able to get through that first year of college. I may have been struggling, but they laughed with me (and sometimes at me). Thanks to all those “Gonzagans” who helped me deal…

Here’s the letter typed with annotations:

Dear Spaz¹,

I have no idea why you owe me $3, but I guess I’ll take it. Although I probably don’t have to worry about money much, because I have a full-time and part-time job. I’m really busy, but I’m so broke it’s not even funny, so it all works out. How’ Mickey D’s?² Are you basically a blimp yet? If I worked there I couldn’t keep myself away from the French fry bin. You must be in heaven. Do you listen to Extreme³ while working? Or watch Boston Bruins games? Does “the doctor”⁴ come in a lot? Holy orgasm man.

There’s not really much going on around here. The first weekend I was back I went to my best friend’s and sister’s school/ We partied too hard – my friend hurled on the front bumper of my car and I spewed (yes, finally) in his bed. We had to throw away his sheets. Much fun. Then last weekend my parents went to Oregon to see my sister and I threw a party @ my house. It was awesome – the best part was that no one that I hated showed up (somebody that you can’t stand always comes). Plus I stayed up ‘til 4:00 AM talking to this chick that I got it bad for. Yes, we just talked. I wished we would have done more, but she’s way out of my league. It’s the story of my life⁵.

Well, that’s about it for here in Wisconsin. I’ve got a top ten list of my own below.

See ya,

Tim

Top ten things I miss about BC:

10. Debbie 5. “Wasn’t it yestaday?”⁶

9. Ji Sue 4. Godzilla Burger⁷

8. Emily 3. Prince of Persia⁸

7. Mike’s daily “shit fit” 2. Chinese Food

6. Pink Floyd – NOT! 1. Debbie (given)

Annotations:

1 – My close friends called me “Spaz” my freshman year, due to my inability to interact correctly with BC women, alcohol, and combining the two. One of my best friends now calls me “Stinky” in reference to my Crohn’s. What can I say? I call ‘em like I see ‘em and I guess I tend to hang out with people who do the same.

2 – I worked at McDonald’s the summer after my freshman year of college. It wasn’t as bad as you might think, but I stopped eating hash browns soon after.

3 – Yup, they were my favorite band then, and everyone knew it. It only took me 17 years to get a “Tragic Comic” tattoo.

4 – A reference to a BC girl I had a huge crush on

5 – Mine too, buddy. I do love how Tim said “not really much going on” and then proceeded to tell me about two apparently raging parties.

6 – Something a girl Tim had a huge crush on said with a very thick Boston accent

7 – A place we loved to go whose official name was Eagles Deli…we called it Godzilla Burger because of the item menu with the same name (a huuuge freakin’ hamburger). We also went to GB when Tim came out to visit last summer, and you can read about that here.

8 – The video game that started getting really popular when we were in college.

I wonder what current college students would think if they could only communicate with their friends during the summer via letters and the occasional long distance phone call...