My Old Friend Troy

Shown here, an illustration done by my college pal Troy Cummings, who is not only the most gifted artists I've ever met, but one of the most ardent connoisseurs of all things gummi. You can check out his (artistic) work at www.trox5.com.

Question: Who is the coolest person you have ever met?

One of the coolest people I’ve ever met was a guy I met when I was a freshman in college. His name was Troy Cummings, and he was the graphics designer at our college newspaper where I worked as a lowly news reporter my first semester of school. He wasn’t cool like James Dean, with an aura of mystique. And he wasn’t cool like Brad Pitt is cool, with tailored leather jackets gripping his perfect torso. He was just...cool. Everybody loved to be around him. I never heard anyone on campus exhibit anything but glowing adoration when it came to Troy. He had higher approval ratings than Santa.

To this day, I still can’t figure out what it was about Troy that was so undeniably magnetic. I think part of it was that he had boundless enthusiasm. He was like Tigger on uppers. Rooms that were quiet when Troy entered soon had laughter echoing in them. It was like he came in and just started dumping paint on everything, radically changing the color and hues of whatever room he was in. Metaphorically, I mean. Because if someone did that literally, that'd be a big giant mess.

Another part of it was that Troy was unbelievably happy. Around Troy, even if you were having a miserable day, you felt like things were going to look up. With Troy, you felt like although he could have been friends with anyone, but the coolest part was that he was hanging out with you. It was like being in a room with a Rock Star, and finding out that he’s laughing at your jokes. Troy had, more than anyone I’d ever met in my life, an environment shifting personality.

I just found Troy on Facebook, and I was reminded why I liked him so much. For his favorite quote, Troy put:

You can now take the wipes you love for cleaning and disinfecting from your countertops to unexpected surfaces like your bathroom mirror.
- CLOROX™

Under religious views, he put: Table manners.

That's just funny.