My Weasel
Well, for anyone who wondered who is Significant in my life now, read on... Yes, I am happy (ecstatically so), yes, we are compatible (frighteningly so), and he's even helped me work through my health problems. What a guy...
Nick Kolowski and I met through Darke-Silver Theater, a live-action game we were both involved in. He and I were both in other relationships, and he was shy, so we became acquainted gradually over the months. He talked with me during downtime meetings, and his character became interested in mine, to the point of becoming a minor game-plot (for the full story behind this -- and more on Steven Millan and Rebecca Nelson -- see Beauty and the Beast: The Undead Heart).
Our relations were casually friendly, and he mentioned once in a conversation with a few people that he got bored at work, and couldn't find anyone on ICQ. I was unemployed and often bored stiff myself, as I slowly recovered from physical collapse, so I asked him for his ICQ number. We chatted some after that, comparing interests and getting used to each other, and he told me one day he had broken up with his girlfriend. I had broken up with my b/f a few months earlier under similar circumstances, and commiserated a bit in a friendly way. He went off to a convention with his ex, then (a bit awkward, considering), but met with me first to arrange some game business. We sat at the diner for a few hours, talking.
I missed him somewhat over the convention weekend, but we chatted extensively when he came back, and decided to meet at the diner and talk in person. We talked until the wee small hours, moving to my place after the diner kicked us out, and he went home somewhat after dawn. I was unhappy that he missed work the next day, but decided to go to his place to work on the game webpage, since I was in a lot of pain and he helped me relax.
I didn't get much done on the page, as the goober had to go and kiss me ( ;P ) and I ended up staying the night. And the next day. And into the next, as he worried about what his family would think if we ventured out. Eventually hunger forced us out of his room (I think it took about 30 hours) and I was introduced to his family... We've been an item ever since. That was July of '99, and we're still as happy as ever.
For the curious: Steven was interested in Rebecca long before Nick looked twice at me... Strange reversal, there.
What's he like? Hmm. Physically, he's about 6'2" and thinnish -- see Steven's description (scroll down for the physical desc). He dresses in plain color tees and black jeans, with steel-toed boots; when he goes out, he wears his grey fedora and black leather trenchcoat. He is very soft-spoken, and somewhat anxious, but if you get him interested in something, he quickly becomes animated, talking quite a bit and smiling readily.
Personalitywise, he is shy and unobtrusive, almost paranoid of imposing on or offending someone. He is not a "people" person, preferring to stay at home and do his own thing rather than go out. He is not unfriendly, and is in fact very polite and personable; he is simply not social, and feels uncomfortable around strange people.
That said, he has a wicked and twisted sense of humor, cracking very odd jokes and delighting in giving people mental images they'd rather forget. He and I both like to give out far too much information about ourselves and other things, causing people to recoil in horror and try to hold their brains in. "TMI" (Too Much Information) is a common cry...
He is also very caring, sensitive (his self-esteem has been improving, slowly), and quiet. He and I take turns caring for each other as problems with health, emotional and physical, crop up. We are very relaxed with one another; even at the start we weren't nervous, which is odd at the start of a relationship. He was always very careful not to push, and still checks if he thinks something might offend me. He himself doesn't offend easily, often looking at me with puzzlement if I apologize for having snapped at him. He attributes this to being unobservant -- I figure it's his forgiving nature. It's probably both.
He is interested in computers, especially Linux and its related topics, mustelids (weasels and ferrets), the works of H.P. Lovecraft, military weaponry, foreign affairs, strategy, role-playing, strange music (he's a Residents fan), and computer games. He is currently an underemployed computer consultant (read: tech) and we are both living at my family's house, though he is still semi-officially at his place 10 minutes away. He's been focusing totally on college, having decided to get his degree in Engineering; to that end, he's working to transfer from the community college to U.C. Davis, the same place I'll be finishing my own degree and getting a Masters. Sometimes these things work out.
I shouldn't say he's "interested" in weasels -- he's very interested in them. His brother's onetime live-in girlfriend had a pair of ferrets for a while, and he really enjoys having them around the house. He describes himself as a weasel (thus the title of this page) and knows all sorts of odd trivia about mustelids in general. It's harmless, and endearingly odd. Or at least I think so...
We did some photography to get portraits of Steve and Rebecca; there was a nice one of our characters [13K], followed by a "crotchcam" shot [26K]("I'm HUGE!"), in the spirit of one of the game photos we called The Prince's Nostrils [17K]. There were some jokes in bad taste about nasal sex, which caused Nick to have a classic Brain Implosion... [32K] Good, unclean fun all around. Kudos to Amanda Kulesz, who wielded the camera.
