Friday, October 21, 2005

I'm supposed to be a lover, not a fighter

So in the physics homework lab, which is where physics students gather to cry about their assignments and exams, one student got fed-up. At 7pm a mysterious student sitting on the opposite end of the 20 meter long hot dog shaped room whistled loudly. Once attention was given he asked for everyone to stop talking loudly.
My thought was, "This is a group physics lab where students come to discuss. It is a social room. What is this guy's friggin' problem?" Now I like quiet, just like the mystery man, but I don't have any reason to require it in a room like this one. I myself have shh'ed people in the library before. Anyway, everyone was probably thinking the same thing, but in the spirit of cooperation quieted our collective volume a bit.
About 10 minutes later this same mysterious character started yelling with a thick eastern European accent. "You people are being disrespectful. You are talking waaay too loud, 'blah, blah, blah.' Please shut your mouths now. I'm so sick of hearing you...."
"Why don't you go to the library?" I offered.
"You can just shut your mouth, buddy!" he yelled.
me: "Well this is not a room that is supposed to be quiet, so you should find..."
man: "I told you to shut your mouth!!"

me: "I have some ear plugs if you want them. I have extras."

man: "You can take those ear... pl... whatever.. and you can stick them... you know where!!"

At this point I just couldn't believe what I was hearing. Apparently this guy was insane.

me:
"You know, you're not really convincing me that you want quiet; I'm more convinced that you just want..."
man: "You shut your mouth!! You know, we can go outside! Right now!! We can settle this!!"

At this point I considered the option he offered. The first thought was, "Sweet, I'd love to get it a fight right now. Maybe I can hurl this metal chair 25 ft. at his head right now." This thought was followed by the thought, "Why are we fighting again? Doesn't fighting get me kicked out of BYU? I guess I need to only defend myself if he attacks me. I wonder if he's even that strong. He is from another country. He might have killed a person before, or even punch a woman." The thought of fighting about talking loudly in the physics lab then became funny to me, and I started laughing out loud.
me: "There is no reason why we should be fighting, seriously."
man: "Listen to me. Shut your mouth. Shut your mouth now."

I thought for a moment and said, "Ok, I'm going to talk whenever I want, and it's not my job to beat you if you don't like it. But I will call BYU police because I'd like to fight with you, and I might lose my patience."
man: "You shut your mouth."
me: "Yeah, keep it up."

At this point, I went back to doing my homework with my classmates. Also, when my friend came in a few minutes later, I told the friend about how ridiculous I thought this guy was. The guy could hear it all and didn't do anything. Take that, punk.

I see this guy every few days now, but we haven't had any more exchanges. If he has something useful to say, I'll listen. If he says something stupid, I will again discount it.

Happy Halloween, everyone! Look at my pumpkin picture.


This also reminds me of the Kevin Bagoyo incident.

9 Comments:

Blogger Justin said...

what is it with europeans? it makes me think of uncle rico: "it's a free country, i can do what i want!"

YOU SHUT YOUR MOUTH!

7:35 AM  
Blogger gumball said...

Gustavo suggested to get the honor code office involved.

8:25 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You should have thrown the metal chair!

8:30 AM  
Blogger Alicia said...

Oh, hilarious! Don't you love it? It's people like that idiot that keep life funny. I mean really, didn't you have a great story to tell to everyone after that?

8:57 AM  
Blogger Justin said...

take a picture of him for the rest of us... do you have a camera phone?

it would just make the story that much better...

9:09 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

your story is precisely why i never stay on campus after dark. only over-zealous overachievers are on campus after dark.

if you have to be on campus after sunset, keep your eyes peeled for crazy foreigners. and, if that particularly mysterious non-american dares pick a fight with you again, get him to throw the first punch. then you can go to town.

metal chairs, etc.

now ... about the pumpkin ... why can't i carve a good looking pumpkin like that? did i miss the enrichment that taught the proper techniques?

10:02 AM  
Blogger Cooper said...

Was he eastern european? 'Cause I like to picture an Ivan Drago-type guy (the Russian from Rocky 26) when reading your story. 'Cause his accent was really funny. "I will break you," he says. hahaha... I can't get enough of eastern european accents.

12:51 PM  
Blogger Cicada said...

I saw the pumpkin on my way to work today! I really like it a lot.

Also, this story was beyond belief. I miss sitting beside you. But... did you make this up, because I still can't believe it. Wow. Like, he seriously asked if you wanted to fight. Wow. Incredible

6:40 PM  
Blogger gumball said...

i'll try to snap a picture of him with my phone

8:45 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home