The History of Vinny X
The History of Vinny X - According to Fox
[Picture of Kevin Here]
Who is Vinny X?
Vinny X was a famous African American leader in the 1960s... wait, that's Malcolm X... Oh ok. So Vinny X is this dude I meet in college. He actually became my first best friend up at ND since I didn't click well at first with my roommate. Lucius introduced me to Kevin after seeing my violin. He had mentioned that the kid across the hall had a violin case too. WRONG! I walked across the hall and introduced myself only to find that Kevin was a viola player. Well, there goes that friendship. J/K. Actually, Kevin was multi-talented and could play a bunch of instruments including the violin. He just never mastered any of them (Who does that remind me of?). Vinny and I became instant friends as we began our college quest - more importantly our quest to get into the university orchestra. Since he wasn't trying out for a violin chair, I didn't try to sabbotage him. Instead we supported each other in practicing like crazy in order to have a sound audition. It turned out God was on our side and we were both given a seat in the university orchestra (Vinny made it in by a hair! Last chair viola. Heheh.)
One of my first memerable moments with Kevin is when we walked around campus after checking out our audition results. We walked around the main building - soaking up the Dome's nighttime lights. We shared our experiences with our first visits on campus and how we just knew it would be a place where we would feel comfortable in to pursue our higher learning. There was definitely a spirit of Notre Dame that comforted us during those important first days of school. I related to Kevin well both because we were West Coast and shared many ideologies. Being away from home is a tough challenge in itself, but at least now I had found a friend.
[Another Picture of Kevin Here]
Man of the OC... Kinda.
When I found out Kevin was from the OC I was like - "Wow, he's soo cool. I bet he's like cool surfer dude with killer fashion and... and... whoa cool!"
Well, he was some of that, but it was clear that he hadn't been OC all his life. Kevin and I worked as a team during the first few days in checking out the new things to do on campus. We went to the clubs and activities fair and checked out a bunch of interesting clubs (and and actually joined very few of them). All this seems normal, but within the first few weeks we would how crazy Vinny X really was. Our first weekend we created our Mad Scientist video staring Pibbs. I don't think there's a day that goes by without Kevin entertaining us and bringing out laughter and happiness. Maybe it's some sick goal of his to keep us cheerful and brainwash us with his voodoo magic. No one can forget Kevin's first blunder on campus - getting stuck in the South Dining Hall freezer. For those of you who haven't already read that blog entry last September - go now! It's hilarious. Kevin would continue to be an intentionally clumbsy guy advocating random missions and shakedowns (running wild in the hallways and ramming into walls to relieve stress and tension).
[A Picture of Me, Kevin, and Kate]
DuckTales - Woo! Woo!
I know what you're thinking... no, no I don't know what you're thinking - but I'm sure you're probably wondering what's up with the title of this section. One of the odd attributes about me is my random ability to start singing something. It was a trait I found that Kevin enjoyed as well. Out first test subject was the lovely Kate who we befriended in orchestra (Kevin's stand partner). She lived in the dorm next to ours, so being the gentlemen that we are, volunteered to escort her every Tuesday night. These long walks to the band building were sometime uneventful leaving Kevin and I to burst into song with Disney television series theme songs like, "DuckTales" and "Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers." I'm sure we were the oddest pair of performers on those nights, but we didn't care. As long as we were having fun. Kate would always be laughing or smiling at us no matter how stupid we may have been acting.
The song singing continued with Pat, Alan, and Tracy (well, Kevin and I bothering them anyways) with memorable songs such as I Believe in a Thing Called Love and Daydream Believer. I almost want to bust out in song right now - or at least I'm imagining our college memories with the songs. If we weren't listening to our collection of songs or reading out of the Disney Songbook I actually bought, then we were singing randomly without the music. I guess you can't pry music away from us!
[A Group Picture of Me, Kevin, Pat, and Alan]
Mellow Thugs
After a while, we noticed that we had a regular group of people in our end of the hallway. We were already known as non-drinkers, so while the rest of the guys were out, we hung around and did nothing. Our RA Millea then gave us the nickname "mellow thugs." We were quite proud of our practices: studying, tv, watching movies, chatting, playing Battlefield, and other video games. I was common to see a bottle of cream soda, a can of Pibbs, or my popular Hi-C juice box. We were very dangerous. One time, a member of the Mellow Thugs was practicing with Vinny's Nerf guns and accidently shot the fire alarm. Vinny himself had actually shot at Father Pete with the same gun. Would the Mellow Thugs spell trouble for ND? Probably not since most of us can't read or right (<~pun intended).
Another memorable moment with Vinny was my first all nighter during fall break. Vinny had indroduced us to the obsession of Jeopardy on his laptop and he, Alan, and I began to play a marathon that would last until sunrise. This is where we created up our alias', VinnyX6 (Kevin), Mandu (Alan), and Lango (Me). We stayed up until Burger King opened up for breakfast. Those pictures are quite interesting. We all look dead. It was a fun week of games and General Tsa's chicken. That was also the week I got my TV and Vinny and Alan carried it for me all across McGlinn fields. I'm sure they were mad at me at first, but that TV ended up being a great source of fun for us throughout the year.
TBC...