Matty Hypes

Let me tell you about my friend Matthew David Hypes.

We met on Summer Staff in July 2003. I was a baker. He was a PM cook. I did not think he was all that fantastic. He didn't think I was all that special either.

Ha. However, on our New Year's Summer Staff Reunion I found him to be quite funny, and one of my newest favorite friends in Virginia. We played a lot of Speed Scrabble with the group, and we stayed up really late with all of our SS BFF's, and it was jolly time. Shortly after we took a fun road trip to Kentucky to visit the then Julie Berg, now Julie Michels.

In the lull's in conversation I asked ridiculous questions like, "How do you feel about the Martha Stewart trial?" or "Your thoughts on Michael Jackson?"...anything to pass the time.

We've been friends ever since- through all the drama that comes with being of the opposite sex, sharing a small community, having squabbles about ridiculous things...Matty Hypes is still one of my most favorite friends for a good solid four years after our not so great start in the kitchen.

I have a little list of my favorite things about him and our friendship and I will share them now:

1) The ability to talk endlessly about Pop Culture and debate about whether Amy Winehouse is really that big of a deal.

2) The silent competitive nature when cooking. He's truly fantastic, but I love it when I can get an affirmative reaction about my culinary skills...most recently my Won Ton Soup: delicious.

3) His random dance moves and how he attempts to sing along to every single song he hears.

4) The fact we actually went to a Justin Timberlake concert last March...umm it was amazing.

5) How he throws me parties. My return from CA was my favorite, but the birthday parties the past few years have also been quite special. He knows exactly what to make and what I like. These are important traits in such a friend. Baklava & Fish Taquitos.

6) He drives a Honda Fit, or "Jazz" if you are in Thailand.

7) How sometimes he mocks my love for Pat by singing "Almost Midnight" on the top of his lungs.

8) When I have been out of town, he babysits the Tivo to make sure that the Oprah's I want to watch are saved, and all the other misc. crap TV shows we watch are still on there.

9) We realize that we are ridiculous and that we have the ability to drive our mutual friends crazy.

10) On a sappy note, I know that there isn't anything he wouldn't do for me if I needed it. 

11) He has two shirts that are immensly important, and without realizing it he has a way of knowing the perfect days to wear them... oh the pink and yellow stripes. 

12) On the topic of clothing options: he has the clearance Old Navy Madras Shorts I despised when I worked there and he wears them proudly in Lexington, and it makes me giggle.

13) His birthday is shared with a very significant day in my life, and we are able to celebrate both. 

14) How he talks with his hands and describes his culinary creations, and he makes his own dressing.

13) When he gets mad he gets mean, but when he's funny and sarcastic you can't touch it-there ain't anyone funnier.

14) Back to my sappy note: after all of the changes and realizations he is a brother. I can't imagine the past without him, and I am thankful for the ways we have never given up on the other, even when it would have been easier. 

That's all. He's wacky, loony, a bit crazy. I'm ridiculous, particular, and also a bit crazy. It works. It didn't when it started, but we've left the frozen cookie snatching in the past and we are friends. For life. 

The End.