Chapter 2- Meeting the Gang

Chapter 2- Meeting the Gang

After getting through the weekend, and meeting my roommate, Luc, It was Tuesday and time to start my college career. Making the long walk that morning, My stomach was doing flips, as I didn’t know what to expect, being out of my comfort zone.

Arriving at the college, I ran in to Steven, a guy that I knew from home, having worked with him at Fundy Television. Happy to see a familiar face, I made my way to the gym, where the opening exercises were going to be taking place.

There I met some of the group that I would be sharing a classroom and studio with over the next two years. Justin, a mountain of a person, with the longest hair I had ever seen on a guy. Geoff, the seemingly most together of our little crew. Tyler, the most experienced entertainer, as we would find out over and over again. Kim, the hard rocker of the group. Laura, she comes in to the story later on. Joey, the youngest of our class at 17. Among others.

I remember thinking that this could be fun, I already knew a few people, and most of the people seemed to be friendly.

While I would get to know and become close with the people in my class, I knew that I would have to get to know some people on the outside of my class to make the most of this situation.

Valerie, another person I had worked with at Fundy, was also in Woodstock in the video production. She had moved in with someone who had been there the previous year, Kim C. They were having a party that night, and Val invited me over and I said, “To hell with that, I’m not going alone” and brought Luc with me. I met a few people that night but hadn’t really connected with anyone, but it was a good time and gave me a few more familiar faces.

The next morning, it was a tradition at the college that during orientation week the teachers would cook breakfast for the students. I wasn’t going to miss a free meal (I may have been new in college, but I understood that a student’s favorite word is free), so away I went. Got my tray, some bacon, eggs, pancakes and sat at small table with a paper to read. Not too long after that, two of the guys I had met the night before, Dave and Dave, asked if they could sit down with me. I, of course, said sure. With their trays they brought the pancake syrup. A couple of minutes, my instructor, Wayne, who later on would come to be known as the voice of god, bellowed out in the middle of the cafeteria "Where's the syrup."

"Chris stole it," said one of the Dave's, almost immediatly getting me in trouble with my instructor on my first day in the college. Wayne then sauntered over and took the syrup off the table and said the words that put this whole book in motion:

“Mr. Doyle, I’d be careful. Those two could be trouble “

After that, not many days went by that we weren’t causing trouble as at least a trio.

I was kind of adopted into their existing group, along with some other of the first years. One of which was Lance. Poor Lance, I would go as far to say that he was the most corrupted at the end of it. I remember the first complete sentence that I heard out of his mouth. Sitting on the benches in front of the vending machines, with a few people around, just waiting for class. I introduced myself, “I’m Chris”, “Lance”; just then two absolutely drop dead gorgeous ladies walked by. With that, Lance looked at me and said, “Man, I really need to get laid” With that, he got up and walked into the teaching theater. I sat there, kind of shocked for a few seconds, and for the first but not the last time when it came to Lance, just shook my head.

One of the existing members was Chuck. In my second year, Chuck returned and we became the best of friends but one of the funniest memories of Chuck is the first time I saw him. First day, I’m sitting on the bench in the cafeteria, there are a few other first years around but it’s kind of quiet, as we really don’t know each other yet. All of a sudden, a loud bang comes from the bottom of the stairs, and an obviously drunken man is coming up the stairs. One of the second years behind us asks him how he’s doing. As all of this is going on, the principal of the place, Mac Clendenning is coming down the hall. Chuck is almost up the stairs, and just as Principal Mac comes around the corner, trips on the top step and screams, as he’s throwing a beer cap “I’m fuckin’ loaded”. Mac looks at him, shakes his head and continues on his way. I am somewhere between shock and death via laughter. I think to myself, again for the first time, but not last. “You know, maybe I should take notes and write a book on this stuff”