NCTO's

Westmont had a tradition called a NCTO (nic-toe), a Non-Committal Take Out, which I always thought was brilliant. The idea was that an organizer, usually the resident assistant, would arrange a group outing, like bowling or a trip to the zoo, and then you set your roommate up with someone you thought they would like. It was pretty low pressure, since there would be a ton of folks there, if you didn't really like your date there was always someone else to talk to. Plus, you could really tell which roommates did not like each other.

One of my favorite NCTO dates was Andrew (Fuzzy). Fuzz and I got hooked up alot, and he was one of the nicest men I have ever known. I think people put us together because we were both awkward, and never was that more apparent than Ballroom Dancing. I have danced, so I thought 'no problem'. Fuzz, on the other hand, was about as coordinated as a broken leg trying to paint with it's toes. The instructor was an ancient Japanese man that taught Judo during the day and dance at night. He walked around the room with a Shinai, a bamboo cane, wacking people in the back telling them to 'stand up straight', 'don't look at your feet', you're too close together', 'you are too far apart', and 'Kristin stop leading'. The funny thing was that we kept going back for this torture, it was so much fun. Inevitably, the assistants would come over and break us up, Fuzz would end up dancing with the beautiful pro dancer, and I would be in the arms of a guy that didn't let me lead, a glorious feeling. There was no chance that Fuzzy and I were going to date, he felt like my brother, but it was so fun to hang with him and laugh at ourselves. That was the point of these NCTO's after all.

As we made it into our Sophomore year these take outs got more intense. We, as women, were at school to find our husbands, after all. The pressure to look cute, hang on his every word, and find 'The One' was so high that eventually I found other things I had to do on those nights when a NCTO was scheduled. I was 19, I didn't want a husband. Mostly, though, I didn't want the whole school watching as I bungled my way through yet another awkward date.

The year after I left Westmont I went to visit some of my friends there. I was so excited to see Fuzzy, but his then girlfriend, now wife, was not happy to see me. She insisted that I not refer to her future husband as 'fuzzy', his name was Andrew. How sad I thought it was that this funny guy, creative and silly, was going to end up married to such a prig. It scared the shit out of me. How do you avoid this?

In other news, our well is broken, so I haven't showered today. Anybody got a shower I can use? Wanna share it with me? ;)




This picture is the new jewelry display I did for my store today.