Torn between FIVE Men! Me?–College Memoirs: Life At Roanoke–February 1995, Part 7

by Nyssa McCanmore
Posted on December 21, 2014October 3, 2022

Sharon and I plotted to go to The Brady Movie, which had just come out in theaters, with Krafter and Stimpy on a double date. But before we could say anything about it, Stimpy told me (totally oblivious) that he just saw it with his good friend Misty, a thirtyish gay man.

Misty was a sweet guy, and also flamboyantly gay, at least online. I loved playing with him in tele. Fortunately, he and Stimpy were just friends. But dang it, now our scheme was ruined.

On Saturday, February 18, Krafter drove Sharon and me in his minivan to his house. (Stimpy didn’t have a car.) We watched MST:3K there, sitting on the pillow-filled, white couch in the immaculate living room, watching a big-screen TV.

I sat close to Stimpy on the couch and kept inching closer. I forget what else I did, but it was obvious to Sharon what I was doing.

****

I couldn’t believe how quickly I got a reply from Cugan: within a few days of sending my letter. I showed his letter to Catherine, who read more into it than I did.

She thought the line, “If you cannot find someone [to drive you to the next SCA meeting], let me know, and I’d be happy to help,” and his phone number, to be signs of interest. I hoped so, but didn’t want to read in things that might not be there.

We were both impressed to find that the universe actually favored me: Cugan was a conservative Christian, a Lutheran (Missouri Synod). I asked Catherine if that was compatible with Nazarenes, because I’d had quite enough of religious friction. She, a member of ELCA, said Lutherans are probably the most compatible denomination.

I planned another letter, hoping to start a correspondence that may lead to more than friendship.

****

On the night of Monday, February 20, I went online and found Stimpy. Somehow, the conversation turned to dating. I don’t remember if he noticed me coming on to him on Saturday, but he might have. I asked if he wanted to be considered my man, and he said okay. I wrote,

“I just got out of a bad relationship only a few months ago, so I don’t want a serious relationship yet: I’m scared of it.”

This is one reason why I pursued several guys at once: If the heart is so divided, the rejection of one will not hurt, and none will be able to wound it with mistreatment.

It gave me the chance to find out what each guy was really like, to find a compatible one, and to weed out deceptive ones like Peter and abusive ones like Phil. I even flirted with Stubby, though he had an online girlfriend.

Stimpy wrote, “I’m not going to push you, and it’ll be nothing you don’t want.”

We agreed that we could see other people.

That same night, Catherine called and asked, “Do you want me to call up Cugan and get some information out of him? I’ll say I’m doing a poll on who’s married and single in the shire.”

I didn’t know it for quite some time, but she was actually direct, asking him what he thought of me.

Soon after I logged off TCB that night, the phone rang again.

Catherine said, “I just talked to Cugan. You know what? He thinks you’re cute.”

Of course, here I was in Heaven because Cugan thought I was cute, but also ambivalent because I’d just asked Stimpy to date me.

I knew it was okay to date them both if they both wanted me. I’d never played the field before, despite wanting to with Peter at times, so it intrigued me.

After I told Speaker of my agreement with Stimpy, I still called myself “your Nyssie,” but Speaker wrote, “No, you’re not my Nyssie. You’re Stimpy’s Nyssie now.” I tried to tell him it wasn’t exclusive.

And I also wrote to Brad from the Superbowl Party. I never had three guys interested in me all at once before.

If I got serious with any of them, I’d have to give up the other two–and give that one a chance to turn abusive. Brad was more a pen friend than a boyfriend, though: We were writing to see if we wanted it to go farther or not.

****

On the night of either Friday the 24th or Saturday the 25th, Krafter hosted a “Python-a-thon.” He invited those whom he considered to be the nice and cool users of TCB. So Avenger and Lima were not there, of course.

Sharon and I were invited. An engineering student named Franz was there; either I or someone else called him Znarf. He was one of Avenger’s favorite targets.

I believe Stubby was there, too. A few others were also there, mostly guys. Krafter showed Monty Python movies: The Holy Grail, The Meaning of Life, and Life of Brian. I’d never seen The Meaning of Life before, and it was quite a treat.

At some point that night, when everyone else had gone home and left Sharon and me with Krafter and Stimpy, somebody mentioned the SCA. Krafter said he thought about joining a local group, but then he met a member who didn’t believe in bathing or modern dentistry. (I later found out who he meant.) He didn’t want to join anymore.

Sharon and I stayed over until the next morning. No, there were no orgies or improprieties. 🙂 I cuddled up with Stimpy on the couch, and eventually fell asleep.

Sharon, Krafter and probably Stimpy watched late movies they found on TV, such as the re-make of The Fly with Jeff Goldblum. I was asleep when they turned it on, and since I couldn’t stand to ever see that movie again, I tried to go back to sleep. (I had to see it in my Sci-Fi Winterim class freshman year; it was gross. 😛 )

After that, whenever I saw Stimpy online, I usually typed “cuddle stimpy,” and he typed “cuddle nys.” This called up the actions, “Nyssa is cuddling with Stimpy” and “Stimpy is cuddling with Nyssa.”

Index
Cast of Characters (Work in Progress)

Table of Contents

Freshman Year

September 1991:

October 1991:

November 1991:

December 1991:Ride the Greyhound
January 1992:Dealing with a Breakup with Probable NVLD
February 1992:

March 1992: Shawn: Just Friends or Dating?

April 1992: Pledging, Prayer Group–and Peter’s Smear Campaign

May 1992:

Sophomore Year

Summer 1992: