thescruffypiratedotorg

Polling.

So beca had this posted on her website the other day and I thought I would put it here, too.

If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now, even if we don't speak often, please post a comment with a memory of you and me. It can be anything you want- good or bad. When you're finished, post this little paragraph on your blog and be surprised (or mortified) about what people remember about you.

A couple notes about this.

  • That first sentance really caught my attention. So, my main motivation for posting this is that I am curious about how many people actually come to this site. So regardless of anything. Anything. Please post a little comment, so we know who everyone is. So that means all of you. All of you. You too dad.

  • If I put something in italics, I really mean it.

  • I don't want sappy answers. They should be short, snappy and to the point. Maybe even a little funny at my own expense.

23 November 2005 01:57am UTC • 452 views • 41 comments

★

41 comments

  1. Boatswain The Fool 2

    23 November 2005 02:59am UTC

    A memory (I was reminded of this while talking to Joy earlier today): the day I met you, we were in the Loomis classroom for the first meeting of our FYE to discuss some short story and get to know each other. I was reading _Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance_ (my second _ever_ philosophy book), and thought I was going to be the hardcore philosophy guy in the class (or something).
    So, I get to class, and people (including you) start chatting. I - of course - don't utter a single word. Somehow, someone mentions current reading (maybe they saw my book, or something), and I explain that I'm reading it - all proud and such - and three other people in the class - you included - have already read it. Benjamin 1, Omer 0. Then, during the meeting, we start discussing the short story. I don't talk for a long time, but eventually get into the conversation, and at some point - I don't know why - make a claim about the end of the book, "At least he doesn't turn his daughter in!" ... having not read the end of the story, this is an unwise decision... obviously... because, as you and others point out, that is (in fact) the way the story ends. Benjamin 2, Omer 0.
    I remember being so intimidated at that point, by everyone in the class, but especially by this Benjamin character (I think you introduced yourself as "Ben" at the time), who seemed to know everything and had also made friends with some people in the class _already_.
    Then (I'm sorry, this is not concise _at all_), I also remember that time that we argued about whether Galileo actually believed in the heliocentric system, and we were the only two people arguing. Then, when we had a break in class, you invited me to talk about it while getting rice-crispies treats from Benji's. That was kind of the beginning of our friendship... It was at least the first moment that I was terrified of being around you.

    Yeah, I suck at this game.

  2. Sailing Master Keri 40

    23 November 2005 09:24am UTC

    My first memory of Benji (and probably one he would like to forget): Freshman year in good old 3-west, we were having our first hall meeting. For those of you that don't know, Benji was my RA, and he was running this meeting. He was really nervous and kept stumbling all over his words. For the ice breaker, we played "If you were a vegetable, what would you be?" There was a foreign girl in our hall, named Moe, and she didn't speak English very well. As you can imagine, she didn't really understand this game, and instead of just moving on, Benji just kept trying to explain it. He kept saying, "Ok, if you were a VEGETABLE, what would you be?" over and over (and did I mention that he was REALLY nervous??). It was pretty funny. :)

  3. Dread Pirate Benjamin 1

    23 November 2005 09:30am UTC

    You were right keri. I would like to forget that whole meeting.

  4. Seamonster Mom 13

    23 November 2005 09:36am UTC

    One of my favorite memories is you and Nathan playing in the surf on Waikiki. It was a beautiful day, the waves were big and gorgeous, and you and he were having so much fun. Greg and I were sitting on the beach basking in the sun and enjoying seeing you so happy. I know there are lots more but this is the first one that came to mind.

  5. Dread Pirate Benjamin 1

    23 November 2005 09:42am UTC

    Mother! I said not sappy!

  6. Seamonster Mom 13

    23 November 2005 09:45am UTC

    oops

  7. Surgeon , Brittney the 41

    23 November 2005 12:43pm UTC

    keri took mine!!! so now i have to think of another one...
    we (3 west freshman year) were really angry at benji for leaving us 2nd semester with a stranger RA. so benji, trying to make us all feel better, goes to andy's web page. at first the page didn't work, so benji-being the computer genius that he is, fixed andy's page so we could read it. we then read over andy's resume to see if he was fit to be our ra. once we saw that he was in twig we were a little more excited...

  8. Peon Peetie 38

    23 November 2005 02:28pm UTC

    so we had a meeting in loomis where everyone was going to yell at us because of the drunken buffon frat boys who destroy stuff. everyone was chatting and to get our attention, benji, this super cool ra guy with a great beard, walks to the front of the loomis lounge and says "so a pirate walks into a bar with a steering wheel in his pants. what's with the steering wheel, the bar tender asks. arrr, it's drivin me nuts!"

  9. Peon Peetie 38

    23 November 2005 02:29pm UTC

    note that there are several things i could have put, but i tend to be sappy in situations like these, and i don't want to be scolded like your mom was...

  10. Robert 3

    23 November 2005 03:59pm UTC

    There was the one time that you tried to take my watch out of my pocket, bruce hit you and made you cry.

  11. Dread Pirate Benjamin 1

    23 November 2005 04:45pm UTC

    yeah, that was really funny robert.

    (i am not quite sure if I am being sarcastic or not.)

  12. Dread Pirate Benjamin 1

    23 November 2005 04:49pm UTC

    this is not working out according to plan. only the usual suspects are commenting!

  13. Dread Pirate Benjamin 1

    23 November 2005 04:52pm UTC

    (which, I guess was a part of the plan).

  14. Surgeon , Brittney the 41

    23 November 2005 05:04pm UTC

    HOORAY for the Surgeon's 100th visit!! i'm part of the cool club now!!!

  15. Completely in love with Benjamin 51

    23 November 2005 05:27pm UTC

    Although, I think we probably met through jc freshmen year, seeing as though i have only recently begun to hang out at your place, my first involved memories of you have been in the very recent past.
    I think I'm going to have to recall the first time I was trying to leave your apartment and I felt extremely welcome because you kept encouraging me to stay. I think it was buffy night 2 weeks ago. Anyway, since then I've realized that you adamantly encourage most everyone to stay at your place, and so I'm not that special, but it was a great first true encounter, regardless. It might be the the momemt I realized that I was completely in love with you.

  16. Boatswain The Fool 2

    23 November 2005 06:55pm UTC

    He never encourages me to stay...

  17. Boatswain The Fool 2

    23 November 2005 06:56pm UTC

    (Congratulations, Brittney the! You rock!)

  18. Sailing Master Bloody Bun

    23 November 2005 06:56pm UTC

    *burp*

  19. Surgeon , Brittney the 41

    23 November 2005 08:25pm UTC

    thanks fool!!

  20. Boatswain The Fool 2

    23 November 2005 08:33pm UTC

    7 people online... OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD

  21. Dread Pirate Benjamin 1

    23 November 2005 08:55pm UTC

    That was a high of all highs! Now I am so confused. The site has reached unheard of highs. I composed a little poem for the occasion. (or by composed I mean stolen from a favorite musical of mine):

    Why is the path unclear?
    When we know home is near?
    Understand we'll go hand-in-hand
    But we'll walk alone in fear.
    - Tell me!
    Where do we go from here?
    When does the end appear?
    When do the trumpets cheer?

    (the buffy musical)

  22. Dread Pirate Benjamin 1

    23 November 2005 08:55pm UTC

    It really isn't fitting. Except the where do we go from here part.

  23. Cotton Eyed Joy 42

    24 November 2005 12:55am UTC

    One of the first questions Benjamin asked me was if I was wearing underwear. With explanation, this makes more sense.

  24. Cotton Eyed Joy 42

    24 November 2005 12:56am UTC

    The first time I danced with Benjamin was about a year ago. I attended my ballet class before going out with the group and didn’t change out of my leotard. This confused Benjamin greatly, so he asked me what I was wearing. I guess he can tell the difference when you dance with him.

  25. April- like the month

    24 November 2005 01:12am UTC

    So, one of my first memories of Benji was when I found him carving a chess piece in the hall. I thought, what does this kid not do? He carves chess pieces, knits, and he programs. Of course, now I know I was quite naive. Benji does so much more than those things. He also salsas, slacklines, and eats lots of hotdogs. Oh yeah and is really good at eating a lot of carrots in a 24 hour time period. Do I live with a college student or some type of powerful alien? Maybe Omer and Benji are both aliens.

  26. Cabin Boy Farluffo

    24 November 2005 03:08am UTC

    THIS MEMORY ISN'T FOR PEOPLE GROSSED OUT BY BATHROOM HUMOR...

    So, Benji and I got addicted to grape soda over the summer while living with each other. And, after a few days of drinking them we noticed that it turned our poop a certain shade of green. A shade that interested us greatly! Anyway, I thought this was going to be our little secret. But, when we went to a party one night full of extra cool hipsters, Benji announced to the crowd of people, "HEY, guess what me and Michael just found out!" It was utterly fantastic.

  27. Peon Peetie 38

    24 November 2005 08:22am UTC

    that shade does sound interesting!

  28. Surgeon , Brittney the 41

    24 November 2005 08:25am UTC

    did you guys look at each other's poop?

  29. Beca

    24 November 2005 11:10am UTC

    abridged version, also trying to be not cheesy because I don't want to be yelled at:
    outdoor school, red vines, skittles, McMinimins, jelly bracelets, letters, the notebook, cheerio's and lucky charms, gingerbread house partay, knitting, photos, costa rica, salsa dancing, your cowboy hat, your northface coat, camping, POWELLS, the zoo and you wearing two different shoes, mr. martell and AP physics, TA for mr. ambinder, skipping class (Martha, pretend you didn't read that), the Honda, the subaru, Trouble....um, my two MOST favorites are: when the man in Mcminimins congratulated us on getting engaged when you brought your graduation announcements to lunch to fill out, you turned completely white then completely red; AND holding the first edition Hobbit in the rare book room at Powells, I still remember the awed look on your face.

  30. The Anonymous Poppy

    24 November 2005 02:58pm UTC

    Long answer:
    Okay, so it must have been fifth block my first year, because I remember I wasn't in class. Oh! No, it was first block last year, because I was still kinda gimpy from the accident. Anyway, Omer was in "Writing for Performance" or something like that and he happened to include Benji as a character in his play. I thought the class sounded interesting, so I hobbled downstairs to watch the performances. I thought the Benji in the play had particularly clever lines, so he must be pretty cool, but the Benji in the audience was laughing uproariously enough to really kinda freak me out. And that is my first memory of Benji.

    Short, snappy and to the point answer:
    Penji!

  31. Seamonster Kristin __default

    25 November 2005 03:06pm UTC

    favorite memory? this might be more of a classic than a favorite. I met Benji, excuse me, benjamin, through extreme reading shortly after starting classes at CC, and immediately decided that this was the most irritating person i had ever met. When he showed up in my probability class over a year later, I inwarly groaned, dreading the block. But, lo and behold, the year away made me more tolerant, or benji less annoying, beause we sure seem to get along now!

  32. The Anonymous Poppy 53

    26 November 2005 01:33am UTC

    Okay, for a real memory of the Dread Pirate, since the one above didn't actually occur...

    I belive I will go with officially meeting Benji for the first time in Linear Algebra. I remember when he told me that he had friended me on Facebook, and I thought that was cool. And that Benji was obviously a much more outgoing person than me. Actually, I think my strongest impression was that his Facebook picture looked absolutely nothing like him.

  33. Carpenter Courtney 46

    26 November 2005 12:31pm UTC

    I remember the Harr Potter scarf you were knitting in Calc 3, although you didn't realize I was in the class.

  34. Quartermaster Lisa __default

    27 November 2005 05:46pm UTC

    So, lots of memories on the good and ummm... argumentative side, so here are a few: "Hi. My name is Benjamin Alan McMurry Thomas," Legos (specifically the big grey raft, spitting heads), fighting over the Goodlings, peeing on the tree, hiking through Opal creek, laying in the grass talking, sleepovers, "the fight" at the mountains, hot tub at the mountains, three houses parties (new years), Christmas mornings... obviously we've known each other for way too long... I could keep going but I know others will be bored.

  35. First Mate Kate

    28 November 2005 11:40am UTC

    Hmm. Told jokes at break neck speed in his apt living room..was like a gun slinger w two six shooters blasting corny joke after corny joke. Heard us groan, rolled his head to the side and ripped off a few more.
    I availed myself of his Mother's People magazines when he went into Math material.
    Thanks, Mrs. Benji.

  36. Carpenter Kathleen 5

    30 November 2005 11:23am UTC

    Who's red velvet slippers?

  37. Dread Pirate Benjamin 1

    30 November 2005 11:33am UTC

    Okay Kathleen! That isn't about me! That is a memory of you! And give us the context of the memory!

  38. Carpenter Kathleen 5

    30 November 2005 12:14pm UTC

    Oh. I'll refile this one under "Kathleen." One night, I looked in the back of your car and saw a beautiful pair of red velvet slippers sitting on a mat in the back, and asked you whose they were. Upon further investigation, the red velvet slippers turned out to be your muddy soccer cleats illuminated in the lights of downtown Portland. This is terrible story to tell, since even you didn't think it was funny at the time, so your internet posse definitely won't think it's funny now, but it was the last time I had a good solid laugh.

    So anyway, a more Benji-centric memory might be our ill-fated spring break trip that produced a lot a memories and firewood, most of which I moved to Oklahoma and is still sitting outside my house at this very moment. In our (well, my) lengthy attempts to find a free campsite, we ended up in a very icy and very empty campground in the middle of nowhere. We made it through dinner and spent a good while getting the tent set up, but only lasted about four minutes in the tent before deciding that someone was most certainly going to kill us. So we ran to the car and spent the most uncomfortable night in creation sleeping in the backseat of Esmeralda, my Toyota Camry. We did get to watch a movie, but only after we created a fully-covered fort to hide in so the fictional serial killer couldn't see the lighted computer screen and know we were in the car. We foiled him!

  39. Swabie Scabbie 34

    1 December 2005 01:25am UTC

    When I arrived at the apartment this summer with all my stuff Mike came out to help me unload, but Benji just looked at me like I was an enormous piece of poop come to smell up his apartment. I didn't know him that well, so I was a little afraid that he hated me. I later found out that Benji had just woken up from a nap when I got there, so he was a little groggy. I also found out later that he had marked his territory in my bedroom (and the stain remains).

  40. The Extra Anonymous Ben

    13 December 2005 08:11am UTC

    I have never mey you, but I read over that text and felt like, hey, I have read this text and it is only fair that you know your readers, right? I am the brother to The Anonymous Poppy. I live in AZ. At least, I think I am her brother. I might be thinking she is someone she is not. Anywho, I don't care if I have missed the spirit this was intended for; I am doing this for reasons that I don't even understand. Story of my life.

  41. Dread Pirate Benjamin 1

    14 December 2005 12:49am UTC

    What a great life it sounds like! And based on what I know about The Anonymous Poppy you are her brother. Thanks for stopping bye!

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