This story goes all the way back to the distant days of art school. "CheeziePoof." I know, I know. It’s quite a random title for a website. But it’s actually not just a website name. It’s my nickname. :) And it actually stuck with me because it’s so random. Kinda like me, really.
A key aspect of who I am is who I have in my life and the closely knit bonds that I have with each of them. Friends. Family. Even pets. That being said, the nickname CheeziePoof comes from my good friend MaryGrace at a time when we were both in college in different parts of the state.
I remember the night quite well. I was in my apartment down in Irvine studying for some sort of Art History exam trying to make my way through a paper on an interpretation of René Magritte’s The Son of Man. Mary, in her own apartment at UCDavis, called and the conversation went, very literally, like this:
Mary: JONJON! (Another nickname, this one stemming from my childhood)
Me: Hello?
Mary: YOU’RE MY CHEEZIEPOOF!
Me: …excuse me?
Mary: YOU’RE MY CHEEZIEPOOF!!!
Me: I...what?!
Mary: I’m watching South Park right now and Cartman’s eating cheezy poofs and talking about how he loves cheezy poofs and for some reason I thought of you. BECAUSE YOU’RE MY CHEEZIEPOOF! (Now say that sentence in one breath. Because that’s how she said it. In one breath.)
Me: What?
Mary: CHEEZIEPOOF!
Me: So… you're saying I’m a fat kid with an eating disorder? You really know how to make me feel good about myself.
Mary: No, no! You’re the cheezy poof! YOU’RE MY CHEEZIEPOOF!
Me: So… I’m an imitation-cheese snack?
Mary: YES! YOU’RE MY CHEEZIEPOOF! Okay, love you. BYE!
[ hangs up ]
Me: Hello?
Mind you, the entire exchange took just under a minute. Actually, now that that I think about it, I have to question whether MaryGrace was under the influence of something. [shrug] I’ll have to ask her at some point. Anyway, since then I was perfectly content to let that conversation fade into memory, filed under the “Random as F*@%” category. But Mary... She wouldn’t let it go. And it spread to the rest of my core friends. Like wildfire. I don’t know why. And now it’s stuck. So, why not use it for my website? And I did.
I know, it’s not as epic as it could have been… like Trey Parker and Matt Stone (the creators of South Park) giving me the nickname themselves after some stunt, say... my winning a who-can-eat-the-most-cheetos contest or something. But, nope. It’s just a nickname from one of my best friends. :) The end.
Thanks for joining Story Time with the CheeziePoof. No refunds.
Comments