Since then...

Well... where do I begin...? So much has happened on so very very many fronts of my life that I simply don't know where to start... If I wanted to do this chronologically it would make the least amount of sense, I think so I guess I'll go with that. Eh?

The rest of that third semester went by rather smoothly, well except for calculus 2. That was a pain. Got an F in it. The next semester (we're now talking Spring 2007) also kinda sucked. But sucked in a good way. It was.. probably by far my favorite semester of school that I've experienced since coming to NDSU.

That was also the semester that I met Vossler. Vossler is a crazy, happy go lucky friend of mine and it is imperative that you understand this from the get-go, because I will mention him time and time again. (Currently, he is the Fighter in our D&D game that I'm running.) I've been hanging out with the man almost completely nonstop since I first met him and it is only in these far reaching back introspective moments that i'm starting to realize the profound impact he's had on my life. And no, i'm not gay, and i'm not coming out of the closet right now, stop thinking that you sick perverted bastards.

Moving on...



It was just before spring break that I was hit by a car coming into work. Here's a small excerpt from an older blog:



Finally at the top of the shit list is the fact that I was recently (Saturday) in a car accident.




Before you panic... I'M FINE!



I was biking to work Saturday for catering and traveling north on 11th street just before the ballpark when i saw headlights in my side vision... i remember thinking wow they're in a hurry, they'll probably side their way around me... next thing i know i was sprawled out onto the pavement trying to get my head screwed on right. I crawled over to the sidewalk and just sat their for a bit trying to figure out just what the hell happened. Some girl came running outta the car screaming and crying asking if i was okay. She called 911, we got an ambulance.. i filed a police report...they left insurance information. then i was taken to the hospital by ambulance... calling my parents and my brother to let them know i was okay. Apparently, from what I've been told, she was traveling at 35mph (a little bit over the speed limit) and hit my bicycle, whereas I flew off back towards her car, smashed her windshield, and as she hit the brakes I few off her car into the street. Had I not been wearing my helmet you would all be one Stan short of a friends list. So they determined I had a mild concussion. They took me to the hospital and I was given a clean bill of health. I walked away with some road rash, a big ass bruise and a now 4 day nonstop headache. Tomorrow their insurance person comes by to take a look at my bicycle and figure out how much they want to give me. I'd settle outta court for my bicycle, my helmet, and my hospital bills. That's all I'd really care about.. I'll let you all know what happens.



Anyway... so yeah, getting hit by a car really sucked. The insurance company gave me $600 straight up for a new bike since the 2007 version of my bike cost that much (when in actuality it was a used bike i'd had for almost 7 years that originally cost me $50) I used 200 of that to buy Brett's bike and then I used the rest of it on a Wii. Later on I did sign an agreement saying that I wouldn't take them to court for long term damages and that was another $500. Looking back on that i could have gotten more, but if you look back at the old blog, being greedy wasn't on my docket of things to do. I had more pressing matters on my plate.

Then came, after all the jokes had been full exhausted about being ht by a car, it came time in April 16th 2007, the Virgina Tech Shooting. I'll only briefly touch on this subject because of what happened later. Essentially what happened is that I left my gym bag at the bus stop on campus a day later and someone had a misunderstand, reported it as a bomb and they shut down campus for a few hours while they attempted to defuse and eventually blow up my gym bag. I will never live down my campus bomber title.

Another fun side tangent... so back when Vossler was truly impressed by the amount of people I knew on campus (back when i first met him, he's still impressed, but become numbed by it by now i'm sure) and he calls me at 3 am one morning. Says he's just come from the library and asks if I remember an Amanda from Cresbard. I had no idea who he was talking about and sharply reminded him that it was 3am. He goes on to explain, and since he's my friend i continue to listen telling him, "I dunno maybe i know her, i guess?" and he says, well there's this librarian.. and he's at the front desk asking if they can fix the printers. Well they can't and Vossler spouts, well you know if my friend Stan were here he could fix them. The younger librarian, Amanda (and well actually i think he said her name was Amanda.. it's a great story but I don't recall the specific deatils, i'm horrible with names) and well Amanda says, "who's that" Vossler is appalled that he's finally found someone who doesn't know me. Until the older librarian who know's me very well (as i'm at this point in time a Tier 1 worker at the helpdesk and working nearly everyday at the library) "Oh yes, Stan Kwiecien, good kid." Amanda's face turns pale and she mutters.. "Stan.. kwiecien goes to school here... i hate that man..." Apparently the story here is that I came out of nowheresville (Spelled: Pollock) South Dakota and kicked her ass at Oral Interpretation at a State competiton and then dissappeared. Which is true.. i wen to state.. beat the pants of everyone my senior year and then moved.

Anyway... where was I? Krash, bomb.. Amanda... oh yeah... time for the happiest ... and crappiest part of the story thus far. Tracy... Olsen.

I met Tracy the summer between my Sophomore and Junior year. This was the summer that I worked 40 hours a week, and the only time that I've fallen so head over heels in love that it hurt to the point of irreparable when I picked myself back up from falling....

It started when I helped Cassie with her computer. Cassie is one of the heads of the anime club and a good friend that I know from the Association for Computing Machinery. It was during the summer and we had lunch together one afternoon since we were both bored and hanging out on campus. Cassie introduced me to Tracy Olsen. Tracy was a ... ou know i can't remember what major she was, but I know she holds a job in the reptile room in Steven's Hall. We started having lunch on a more and more regular basis and we went out on a date or two during the summer and with more and more nagging from my older brother, Brett, I "siezed the carp" and asked her out an afternoon in the fall.

That was awkward.... I remember it very clearly too. We were in the downstairs of the Union and I asked, "So ummm.. Tracy.. do you wanna... like, I dunno... Go out... go out... out?... uh.. with me?"

...and she said YES! (While most people wouldn't make a big deal about this.... but I never dated in HS or throughout my first years at college... Tracy here was my first official girlfriend). I met her parents, she met mine, we had dinnner at my house once (grilled italian chicken and spaghetti) and watched Love Actually. It was a great evening and... at the end, welll... I just i dunno, i couldn't kiss her... we'd only been dating a month and it was stuipd but I was a scared little shit. Later on, Brett chastized me mercilessly and now that I had a gf, he was goading me to trying to kiss her. Even then I didn't do that until February of the next year. I had invited her over several times, wanting to show off my cooking skills with the Christmas Present she gave me (a really nice crockpot) but every time she came up with some excuse as to why she didn't, or couldn't come. They say "love makes you blind" and in retrospect... they're right. ... those fuckers. I should've seen the end of the relationship from a mile away, but didn't. I fell in love with her and then after we kissed... February 9, the valentine's ball, I spoke to her maybe once or twice, and then over easter break I tried to get a hold of her and she wouldn't respond... then the monday morning after we got back from spring break.... she broke up with me.

I had such an amazing time with her, when we were together she was my everything, which I realize now was stuipd. I didn't stop hanging out with my friends but I was so enthralled to be spending time with someone my age of the opposite sex that it was... I can't describe it. It was perfect, those little moments together. When she told me that monday that she didn't want to be my girlfriend anymore, I tried to keep my head up, she said, "this is the hardest thing that she's ever had to do"... and why? To this day, I don't know. She never has given me an answer, and well, to my defense I've never really asked her. I've called and left messages asking to talk to her once or twice, but she's never called me back. We still hang out at the ACM together, and I don't things will ever be not awkward between us. She left me in the basement and then I went back upstairs and kept to myself for a few weeks, crying in my alone hours not wanting to share the pain that I felt with others, knowing it would bring them down.

She avoided us, and people we knew for the next few weeks. I'm not sure why. People either decided to try and make me feel better, or perhaps she just felt guilty about leaving me but, if she felt guilty, then why did she do it? I've thought about it and I've thought about it, and to this day I still don't get it. Perhaps I'm missing something, like maybe she spoke to her parents about it or...?

I suppose it's no use dwelling on the past too much but writing about this has been pretty theraputic, even if it's taken me nearly 2 months to think about and complete this section. I have three things left from that first relationship, the crockpot, a few pictures, and my pewter 20-sided die. I think for now.. i'm done.. i'll post another blog later but it's high time that this piece got out onto the interwebs.