Frank I. Szabo, in passing...

I found out a few days ago a person I had sort of roomed with during my attempt at DeVry in Columbus, Ohio had died in 2007. His name was Frank Szabo. He was from New Jersey & Pennsylvania, and he had a lot to say about lots of things. He was tall, imposing, more worldly than I was, and yet he was only a few years older than me. I have memories of him - not necessarily good memories as we weren't friends but mostly cohabitators.

He made fun of my 1st impression as I met my new college roommates in our student supported apartment because I shook with my left hand. I don't know why he singled me out for this stuff. He would tell me how "If you give a Jewish boy $1.50 this week, next week he'll have $5" in a way to tell me I made bad buying choices such as when I bought all 5 Voltron Lions in the plastic version at Toys R Us. He was supposed to have moved out by the time I moved in, but he was buddies with the other guys in the place so they let him crash on a bed in the basement (there never were inspections as far as I know so he never got caught) but he was supposed to pay to each of us who were supposed to be there a portion of the $180 per person rent DeVry was ripping students off with. I never saw a dime.

He spoke about having a cameo in Flashdance and even rented a copy on tape to show me his moonwalking scene while holding an umbrella and wearing a black jacket. He was so much slimmer then... what happened? His name is even in the credits... I once saw him in the DeVry labs using one of those microprocessor breadboard kits hooked up to an oscilloscope and making it display a scrolling rocket animation, while people coming by to see it working, saying things like, "The guy knows his stuff!" and generally being impressed.

He could get part time work at places like Eastland Mall area's Brown Derby, telling me things like don't order things like a salad at a steakhouse because that's cheap food & fills you up before eating the expensive steak. I was always the target of his pranks or at least whatever mischievous thing he could pull in the moment. There's too many things, mostly unpleasant. He picked about the smallest things, any perceived slight, and I ended up on the bad end of it. He picked on me having stuck a potato in a jar in a cabinet (I had hoped to cook & eat it later but with all the distractions I forgot) and later it rotted, stunk, and had to be thrown out. He picked on someone drinking from a bottle of grape juice he had in the fridge & accused me of doing it, like he could go to each of the other guys and ask them but wouldn't believe me if I said I didn't touch it. If I had dropped something outside, he would tap the end of a broom he was holding near it, daring me to pick the object up otherwise he would try to hit my hand. Those are the Frank the Asshole moments.

Eventually the student apartment lease from DeVry was ended, I had to leave (I wanted out anyway), met George Jenkins from Temperance, MI & we decided to split a studio in a nearby apartment community (later I would regret that decision). I managed to get away with Frank's portable chess set with a 1964 half dollar and silver lightning bolt necklace inside. I sold the chess set & necklace on eBay in the late 1990s for a fair amount, kept the silver half dollar for some time.

I had my interactions with Frank, not all of them entirely bad, but not all of them memorable. He was just another person I had to deal with and when he wasn't being an asshole could be entertaining. It was him and his group who took me to my 1st Chuck E Cheese's and then Showbiz Pizza Place in the same night (Eastland Mall area had both). It's surprising to know he ended up in Missouri, got married, had a kid, and started up a business. I don't even know when he graduated, but he did. 42 is still too young to die, even if I didn't fondly remember him. All I had of his existence are 2 photos I shot with a 126 camera, 1 of him getting a Bundy Splash by a friend (his name was Lauren) with Mo from South Africa helping. And the other with him & Mo in the basement with the ping pong table, 1 other guy you can barely see, and Frank's bed in a corner. Like I said, nobody checked to see if he had moved out or to ask why there's a bed in the basement.