This is going to be a tribute to probably the single greatest mind I have ever encountered- Andrew.
That's the truth, there's no other way to say it. Some people are especially good at one thing: like skateboarding, or public speaking, or rock climbing, and that's their claim to fame. Some people are well rounded, being decent at several things without standing out much in any area in particular.
Andrew puts all of these people to shame with his seemingly infinite capacity for knowledge and its application. In high school, I was often finding myself going to my teachers for help and getting frustrated when they just parroted their in class lesson- the thing that had confused me in the first place. My response to their ineptitude was going to Andrew. Remember that he's only a year older than me when I say that he probably understood most of the scientific curriculum better than the people teaching it. He's capable of breaking ideas down into their simplest, most basic parts, and reassembling them in a manner that almost forces the lightbulb in your head to go on. It often feels like you invented the topic yourself afterwards.
I honestly don't think I've done him justice quite yet. To try to put things in better perspective: my grampa (dad's dad) is a physicist. He lives in a retirement complex (it's not assisted living or anything, but that sounds better than "place you can find lots of old people") where he has his own lab he's made in a back room. He still does all kinds of experiments with equipment that transcends anything I will ever be capable of understanding.
Basically, Grampa Keeler knows his stuff.
Andrew argues with this man about physics- he argues with a TOP NOTCH PHYSICIST- for FUN. THAT IS HOW SMART HE IS.
The only argument I ever beat him in was when he tried to convince me that you could turn a square into a circle if you fold the corners enough times. I'm pretty sure he still thinks he's right, even though in this case he's not, but you get the point. Never go head to head with Andrew, because you will be humiliated.
Oh, and he's also training himself to be able to use swords.
He owns two training swords, a katana and a longsword, both double handed. At first I thought he was being ridiculous- after all, he had bought a textbook-sized training manual on how to use them, and was reading it religiously- but then I realized, wait.Andrew knows how to sword fight. I definitely have never known how to sword fight. He can now beat me senseless as if his arms were about 7 feet long, something I could obviously never compete with.
I "dueled" him once, too... and not surprisingly was handed my butt on a platter, figuratively speaking. It's a much more intricate- and difficult- art than I would have anticipated.
Not to mention the practice swords are heavy, and I have the hand-eye coordination of a squirrel made of chocolate. Messy, very confused, and easily defeated.
Don't get me wrong though- Andrew and I, we're an interesting pair. He's 100% intelligence, I'm the creative and artistic one. He thinks about things logically, I come at arguments from a more round-about approach. I'm always right, but he's always right too. We're mentally like black and white.
That doesn't hurt anything, though. Probably my top ten best/ most interesting conversations were debates or arguments with him. Both of us are convinced that our approach or opinion is the best, and the only way the other is going to see that is if we beat our point of view into the others head.
Verbally, of course. :)
No one comes close to him. He's not the most outspoken person, but I think we compliment each other the best.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm going to take a break from bios for the next post, just to mix things up a bit. I've done a bunch of them lately.
I'm wondering who you want me to do the next one on, though. Ooo, look up there! A poll! You should totally vote on it. Do it. I dare you.
