Columbian Friends Volume One: Zayne Turner

Let the record show that:

--she’s HILARIOUS! Sometimes her humor comes in a story or response to something someone else says, but most of the time there’s just this general wit about everything Zayne says. I find myself laughing a hell of a lot when I’m around her.

--Zayne is just very, very kind. This weekend, she drove from Eugene to Forest Grove (a 2 and ½ hour drive) and back twice, just to pick us up and drop us off and spend time with us. There were other options (like my car, for example), but she didn’t complain about it once. Also, she taxied us around Eugene for two days, let us crash at her place, and hosted a really awesome party, at which she told me several times how happy she was that I was there. All of this came when Zayne had some good reasons to be pissed off at the world, demonstrating how classy she is.

--she’s cooler than just about everyone in the world, but in an understated way. Zayne owns a turn-table (probably not the right word, but you get what I mean—it’s a record player), an iPod with music I don’t know (that means it is good because I think I’ve established that I have no taste in music), knits scarves and got her nose pierced.

--Zayne is smart…like, brilliantly smart. I’ve always read a lot and took classes in politics in part because I wanted to be well-read and educated, but the ultimate motivator was (and is) being prepared for debate rounds. Zayne has no such motivation and is still smarter than 97% of the people I’ve ever met, myself included. Plus, she writes poetry, and although I haven’t read any of it, I would bet the farm that it is really good.

I wrote on my old blog a while back about the concept of a “Columbian Friend.” They are friends who, if you found out they were in trouble in Columbia, your first thought would be “what’s the fastest way to airport from here?” Well, I’m happy to say that my list of Columbian friends just got a new addition.