It's Not Hard to Be Great, Unless You're Not...

I remember when I was 10 or 11.  I played Little League Baseball for the Cubs in LaSalle.  I  had broken my arm during my first year and then my next year I got to play 3rd base.  Actually, I cannot remember if it was next year or the year after.  I was a pretty good 3rd baseman.  My coach had me batting leadoff.  I have no idea what my batting average was, but I always seemed to get my name in the paper and let's be honest, that's what it was all about.
I really thought that I could be a great baseball player.  Then one day, it all stopped.  I couldn't hit or field.  I became indecisive and then it happened.  I became that kid.  The one who played right field for 2 innings and got one at bat.  The one whose parents sometimes dropped him off and came back to pick him up.  The one who the team hoped they never had to depend on. 
What was it?  How could someone go from borderline allstar to worst player on the team?  I couldn't see.  In one summer, between 5th and 6th grade my eyesight went from perfect to perfectly awful.  My parents did what any good parents would do and bought me glasses to correct the problem.  Well, these glasses were the worst I had seen.  They had a brown tint to them, which now reminds me of the smoker's lounge or something similiar.  Even though no one said anything to me, I was sure that they looked at me like I was a dork.  So, I had no choice.  I would rather not see anything than to see perfectly and risk getting picked on.

That's the funny thing about being young and impressionable.  I wanted to do anything to fit in and not get picked on.  It seemed like these glasses took away everything I liked about myself.  That year in Little League, when I could hit anything in sight was probably the last time I was good at anything in competitive sports.  After that, I was the kid who was picked last, made fun of and avoided.  Junior High was the worst for me.  A lot of the people I went to school with I wouldn't even want to talk to now.  High School got a little better.  But, when you're insecure things tend to represent worst case scenarios.  By the time I went to college, I started to come out of my shell a little and the rest is history.

Why St. Bonaventure is the best place to go to school!

When I first started my education at St. Bonaventure, I thought to myself that this was not the place for me.  It was tucked in between the mountains in the Southern Tier of Western New York.  I was used to living in a neighborhood, where my friends were across the street, and everything that I wanted to do was within a short walk or bike ride.  I could listen to my favorite radio station and let's be honest, it doesn't hurt being able to mooch off your parents before you have to enter the real world.

Once I made it to Bonas, there were rocky moments, like the time I was in line at the dining hall unknowingly in front of some prospective students and parents, all the while laughing about how my roommate came home trashed the night before.  Then there was the night of the first snowfall where the seniors pulled the fire alarm in the freshman dorm and then killed us with snowballs as we came outside.

As time went on, I found Bonas to be the best place on earth.  There wasn't a single person on campus who I didn't know by either name or face.  In addition, there was always so much fun to be had.  Since we were tucked in a valley in between the mountains, our community was tight knit and everyone helped one another.  The professors were friendly and kind, and some of the Friars actually lived in the dorms with you.  There were a few occasions where i just walked into their room and sat down to watch tv with them.  Looking back on this, I'm not sure they were too thrilled with that, but it was a great experience for me.

My senior year was incredible!  Everyone came over my room on Wednesdays for movie night.  There were several nights where everyone would sit outside their room in the hallway and play games and chat.  We all had characters.  There was the crazy guy who walked around yelling "Hey, hey, hey, yo, yo!".  There was a guy on the floor who created Radovision, which was basically cable that he bought and then wired to just about every room on the floor for $5.  There was Steve who caught a fish in the river and tried to keep it in the dorm bathtub.  Of course, that was also when I met Melanie and Veronica who had the craziest lifestyle.  I still remember this fish that they had with puffy paint all over the fish tank.  All these funny things happened under the shadow of the Ricky Lake and Jenny Jones show that was on in the middle of the night.

I can't possibly tell you everything that I loved about Bonas in one entry, so let's call this part 1!
These were the best 4 years of my life!