No.2 ‘MARK AS WELL’

Yes that’s right. No.2’s name is also Mark. Thought I better clear this up now just in case you thought I’d given up on this idea and started taking myself out for coffees instead.
Not that isn’t an enjoyable or interesting experience. I sit at a table on my own and look at the wall and stuff. It’s great reading it really is…but this isn’t the time for that. This time is for a man I call ‘Mark As well.’

But before meeting Mark As well, I had my first ‘No.’ Personally I was quite surprised! Just to look at him I thought he’d be up for it. He had long dark hair, was frowning slightly, quite nerdy and was reading a comic book. I thought he’d be the outgoing type. Oh well.

Mark As well was sitting in the Myer Centre food court right next to an Optus phone kiosk. He was wearing a nice blue shirt and was eating a muffin and my first thought was that he worked in the Optus kiosk and loved his job so much that he took his breaks as close to his work as possible.
He said yes to a coffee without hesitation and as I came back with two flat whites I realised I hadn’t properly introduced myself yet.
But as I put the coffees down on the table he quickly piped, " Hey my name’s Mark as well."
Suddenly I was puzzled. I guess I had introduced myself.
Then he asked ‘So, what was your name?’
I was confused. "Mark.." I said. "As well.’
"As well?"
"As well."
Mmm. I decided not to press the issue. Mark As well didn’t work for Optus. He’d just finished a law degree and was on work experience in the Legal Aid department for the The Institute of Aboriginal Affairs.

HERE’S THE MARK FACT FILE:
AGE: 24
STATUS: Single.
FAVORITE SONG: Adagio for strings- Samuel Barbel/The Nothing Song- Sigur Ros.
FAVORITE FILM: One Flew Over the Cukoos Nest.
FAVORITE BOOK: Brave New World- Aldous Huxley
FAVORITE YEAR OF LIFE: Nov 2005-2006. WHY: Previously Mark has been shy and a bit of a hermit. But thanks to an increase in activities such as public speaking, Mark has challenged his comfort zone and experienced a year of great personal growth.

GOAL FOR NEXT 12 MONTHS: To attain his driver’s license.

SOMETHING THAT EXCITES MARK IS: People standing up for an unpopular idea because they believe it’s the right thing.

Suddenly I was frightened. Who did he mean by people with unpopular ideas? People like Hitler? Chairman Mao? Or even worse, Jesse McArtney or James Blunt? But this fear turned into glee at the prospect I may have someone who’d support me in my idea to find surfaces that are accompanied by "Caution. Slippery When Wet" and re-pathe them using Bon Jovi albums.
(Get it? ‘Slippery When Wet??’ Ha ha. sorry.)

SOMETHING THAT PISSES MARK OFF IS: The amount of hair his sister’s new dog leaves around the house.

A BELIEF MARK WOULD INSTILL IN PEOPLE IF HE HAD THE POWER OF BRAINWASHING IS: To not hurt one another.

A QUESTION MARK DECIDED TO ASK ME WAS… "Do you think this project of yours is going to work?"
ANSWER: I’m not sure. It’s only the beginning. It’s been fun and I’ve been getting a lot of interesting ideas out of it, but I don’t want people to think I’m just using them for material.

THOUGHTS WHEN I INITIALLY ASKED HIM FOR COFFEE: That I had chronic shyness or a social phobia and that I had asked him for a coffee as an exercise my shrink had set me and that he’d better say yes or I might get crushed and spend the rest of the night under my bed.

THOUGHTS AFTERWARDS: Good, interesting and that more stuff like this should happen.

OTHER THINGS YOU MIGHT LIKE TO KNOW ABOUT MARK AS WELL!!
* Mark finds a cow covered with poisonous spikes more threatening than a man- eating lion that can only walk backwards.
*It was Mark’s birthday! (What a great present I must have been!)
*Mark obviously likes to treat himself to a muffin on his birthday.
*Mark is a vegetarian because he once saw David Beckham wearing kangaroo skin boots. I’m assuming this was on the TV and not at his local Bi-lo. Because it’s fairly likely David Beckham would wear something more comfortable like sneakers or ugg boots at Bi-lo.

I walked out of the Myer Centre together chuckling at Mark’s idea that I could be so socially inept that I might sleep under my bed. I wondered if that’s where the long harried comic nerd was going to sleep tonight. Not because I’m insinuating he has social problems, but because it looked like he was reading a scary comic and that’s where I always sleep when I get scared. Well since my parents have refused to let me sleep in their bed anyway.

Until next time,
Mark and Mark As well.