Chronicles, "Turning Japanese"

I think we all know someone who refuses to act their age. They may be like me and still listen to heavy metal or they may read comic books or watch cartoons. Whatever the behavior, most of us know someone like that. This installment is about a guy that I know that refuses to act his age. Let me tell you about "Mwonga".

I met Mwonga when I met Holmes, either the same day or shortly thereafter. Mwonga is a couple of years older than I am but he has a child's heart. Now that would not be bad if he still did not act like a child and at times play RPG's with them...but I am getting ahead of myself.

Mwonga and Holmes recorded parodies on audio tape as a past time and they were pretty good at it (when asked how the two met, Holmes stated that Mwonga sort of just appears when Holmes was in 6th grade. He never left). Mwonga was a huge fan of the original Dr. Who on PBS and was the inspiration for one of the funniest and oddest BSOB films ever, "Dr. Who vs the Krelnoid". Mwonga, the son of an American soldier and Japanese woman, starred as the scarfed hero in this action comedy that included the fearsome pig faced Krelnoid. Need I say more?

Mwonga was not around as much as the other in the group, but when he was he made up for the times he was absent. IIRC, Mwonga was attending Fairmont State College part time. I am sure he was not working so something had to be occupying his time. I knew it was girls. He never showed any interest at that time in the fairer sex.

When I met Mwonga he professed to be a Christian and since I did not know much about Christianity, I thought maybe all Christians were as nutty as he was. He did not drink or smoke and he did not swear. He was honest and we trusted him because he never gave us a reason not to. He did not get involved with the activities we did (drinking, girl chasing, the antics with our cars, etc) and for that I am proud of him. He was smarter than we were at that time.

Mwonga was a pretty good actor and made a great addition to the BSOB stable. He was a bit like Johnny Depp in that he was always given the odd role and he seemed to made it work. He was given the role of Mwonga (hense the nickname) in the BSOB film, "The Dumb Ones" (A spoof of "The Young Ones" on BBC). Mwonga was supposed to be an African exchange student living with an eclectic group of college students in the US. Mwonga (while dark skinned) did not even come close to passing for a black man, but he did not care. He played the part just like it had been written for him. My only complaint was that he kept slipping into an Irish accent during filming. We got tired of reshooting so we eventually just left the take as it was.

Towards the end of BSOB's short but prolific run, Mwonga started playing role playing games (RPG's) such as D&D and Marvel Super Heroes. While I had fun for a while, I got tired of playing and also work kept me from joining in most of the campaigns. Holmes picked up the slack but after a while even he tired of the games so Mwonga went in search of other players. He eventually found some kids to play RPG's with...a group of 12 year old kids who lived nearby. Mwonga was now about 20 or so and he was playing RPG's with 12 year olds. This struck me as odd and I was a bit concerned. How many 20 year olds play 12 year olds?

Sometime later after he moved to Ohio and began working at a variety of companies. At one point he worked at Ace Hardware and then later on at an automotive plant building Honda Elements. While in Ohio, Mwonga continued his rather unique lifestyle. At one point he was living with two lesbians (I am sure that was interesting) and later on he joined a Star Trek Fan organization where he was a former captain and to quote the web site "Chief of Shuttle Operations - Former Captain - Advisory Staff". Needless to say Mwonga is passionate about Star Trek.

I may pick on him but to be honest, I like him. We catch each other on AIM every now and then and the next time I see him online, I am going to have to let him knw about the "Chronicles". I am sure he can add a few things to the collection.