Following Up Again - third and final dorm mate

[howeird]

The man on the waiting list turned out to almost make up for the previous two disasters. Tall, gangly, wore nerd glasses, and was particularly fond of a UW crew sweatshirt which had been washed enough times for the original blue and gold to be almost grey. He was in his late 20's, already had a pharmaceutical degree and owned a pharmacy about 3/4 of the way south on Rainier Avenue from the U to my parents' place. Near Franklin HS. He was going for his MBA, having discovered there is more to selling drugs than pharmacy.

He had a girlfriend. He was about 6'3" and she was about the same height when she wore heels. And absolutely stunning. Platinum blonde, I think. So it didn't surprise me when she asked me to take some portfolio photos of her that she was Miss Washington USA, and needed some more shots for her Miss Universe bid. She was 4th runner up, I think.

So how come she was attracted to this nerdy drugstore guy? Well, she told me that my humble roommate wore that grubby sweatshirt all the time because he not only had been on the UW crew, he had an Olympic gold medal from that. And, she said, under those baggy clothes, a physique to match.

They both liked to party, and we hosted a few in our dorm cluster & room. Let's call him Mike (I can't remember his name) being an ace chemist would brew up some ethanol at work, and party nights the threshhold of our room would have a row of petri dishes filled with the stuff, so just walking into the room could make you tipsy.

I remember them as fun parties.

That year I was making $8/day at The Daily, including summer when I wa A&E editor.  That and a scholarship which paid my senior year tuition allowed me to rent a room in a house full of folkdance friends, and when things got too dramatic, I found a tiny apartment above a head shop on The Ave. More on those adventures later, maybe.