Note: This is Part V of the Hamilton series. Part I, Part II, Part III, and Part IV are available. This post will look at the first semester of junior year.
Tiger lily girl
Standin’ cross-eyed in the corner
Tiger lily girl
Standin’ toungue tied in the corner
Luna
Whereas in the summer before my sophomore year I got in good running shape in order to go out for the cross-country team, the summer before my junior year is a blur. At some point around there however I applied to go abroad for a year. I chose New Zealand, but only after my father rejected Nepal. He thought I might join a cult or something, but he didn’t really have an understanding of my interest in Asia, what it consisted of and what it did not. New Zealand was the next best thing.
I believe I was lined up to go to New Zealand before beginning junior year, so I knew that I’d only be at Hamilton for the first term. Junior year I roomed in Carnegie dorm, which was just across from North, back on the main part of campus near the English building. I lived with Kevin, Brett, and Chris. Brett and Chris I had known since freshman year and Kevin was Chris’ friend from childhood. In the room next door were Ian, John Innes, Marc Campbell, and Miche. All of us were close since first year as well, so it was kind of getting the gang back together. Although we were in separate rooms, both rooms were kind of communal and we all hung out.
The quads in Carnegie were quite a bit bigger than those of North, and the living situation was much improved. People had sort of settled down as well by then, and the situation was much more contained than North. I liked Carnegie and liked my roommates. We were all pretty easy going.
Chris had a car, a blue one, and I got in the habit of borrowing it. A lot. It got so I actually had his keys because I used it more than he did. I don’t really remember where I would go, mostly just drive around and such, but one incident sticks out as memorable regarding the car. This had to do with a girl called Miriam.
I had met Miriam maybe the year before at a dance at Sig. She danced very provocatively, was tall and lithe, and, well, she turned me on. Miriam was from Turkey and had a bad relationship with her father, which was a common topic for her. Although we only saw each other a few times as sophomores I think, we somehow reconnected as juniors. I took her for a drive in Chris’ car and although I had no money I think I managed to treat her to a meal. I was so low on money that we had to get gas and I faked filling the tank and just put in enough to get home. I didn’t want to be seen as skint, although I was.
Miriam talked a lot about her father on that drive, but we talked about other stuff too and listened to Robbie Robertson’s excellent album Music for the Native Americans. I recited her some of my poetry and talked about Leonard Cohen. The drive, sort of a date I suppose, went well enough that I got up the courage at the end of it to ask her out again. She said yes, but said why don’t we do reading dates. “What are reading dates?” I asked. She said a reading date is when she would come to my room and we would read next to one another on the couch, and then I would go to her room and do the same. This was not exactly what I had in mind, but it was kind of interesting, so we did a home and home set of reading dates. My roommates came in during our date and asked, “what in the world are you two doing?” We explained the reading date and they laughed. It was a live and let live culture and I think they were happy if I was happy.
We only had those two dates, and then I lent her the Robbie Robertson CD and never got it back. I saw her again briefly senior year, but the spark had dimmed. Overall, it was an interesting interlude.
One of the big events of that first semester of junior year was the Sega Hockey championship match with Innes. As I mentioned earlier, Innes usually schooled me. He would play the Calgary Flames and I would play the Detroit Red Wings, as I recall. But I was getting better and thought I could take him in a best of set of games. I don’t remember how many games it was, maybe just three, and everyone from the dorm gathered round to watch. It was all tied going into the last game, and then Innes’ water on the elbow kicked in and I beat him in the rubber match, either 2-1 or 3-2. Innes complained and complained, whining that it wasn’t fair, but it was fair and I beat him fair and square. I retired from Sega Hockey after that–why not go out on top?
That year Marc Campbell was deep into Luna’s 1994 album Bewitched, and although I was already familiar with their Lunapark album, Bewitched was better. I fell in love with that album, and the band, and have been a big fan ever since. They are in my top five bands of all time.
Another incident that I believe happened this year was a trip to Montreal with Brett, Miche, and I believe John Slack. Innes did not come for some reason. I rode with Brett in his car, and we spent a day or two there. While there, we visited a gentleman’s club at Miche’s insistence. Now there were wealthy people at Hamilton and then there was Miche. Miche was loaded, from a Cambodian-Swiss background. I knew he had money, but at the club he spent it like water, ordering dance after dance and dropping c-notes left and right. I paid the $15 or so to get in and could afford nothing else so I just stood there, like a dweeb. As a group though, we paid our way that night. I got even closer to Brett that trip and realized how much we had in common.
One other thing from junior year was club basketball. I had considered going out for the Hamilton basketball team as a freshman but chose cross-country instead. So we all played club basketball and Kevin was super competitive. I would always wear a Shane MacGowan shirt with an intentionally offensive lyric on it. I won’t quote it, but you can perhaps look it up. It’s from his first solo record. Anyway, a player on another team told me, “I like you but I don’t like your shirt” (echoing by the way exactly with the Sig alum told me at the freshman Halloween party). But that was exactly the point; I wanted to rile up the competition. We got to the final of the club championship and lost by a bucket. Kevin took this hard.
After one semester I was off to New Zealand, so the next piece will take up that experience. However, one bit of business that needs to be addressed is Jake leaving. He actually left at the end of junior year, and came back after I graduated and graduated himself. I didn’t know why he left, and still don’t. Also, I don’t want to get too graphic in my speculations, so here are some possibilities, humorously rendered.
Speculations on Jake Leaving Hamilton:
So why did Jake leave? Here are some speculations:
i) He left to pursue a quixotic quest to reunite the living Beatles. He always did love them. Perhaps Ringo Starr was involved.
ii) He was abducted by Irish leprechauns. Jake’s last name is Irish, and I think he may have identified with the Irish. Shane MacGowan likely had something to do with it.
iii) He may have been hanging a little too much with ol’ Funky Donny Fritz. Curtis John Tucker had a lot to do with it.
iv) Jake was always deep into British fiction such as P.G. Wodehouse and Evelyn Waugh. He could quote these books from memory to an astounding degree. Bertie Wooster and Charles Ryder definitely got involved.
v) He could have had health issues of one kind or another. The Cleveland Clinic may have played a part.
vi) A woman. There is always the possibility of a woman, man’s greatest weakness. Marlene Dietrich’s granddaughter may have had a cameo.
vii) Could he have been in a cult, and been involved in a group wedding of some kind? The Moonies may have had an oblique role.
Those are some ideas. No doubt there are wide of the mark, however the fact is, Jake left and Hamilton was the lessor without him.
That’s a wrap on junior year at Hamilton. It was a good, but brief term and New Zealand would bring a wealth of experiences, and also the most money-crunched year of my life.
Dedication: For Miriam, with whom I went on three dates. I hope you enjoyed the CD.