So when we last were looking back at the beginning of my Waapa days, we left off at the "Welcome BBQ" where finally we got to meet all the Victorian class mates and the one from Queensland.
I remember it was a hellishly hot summer day in Perth and I was getting public transport there because I hadn't yet inter-mingled with anyone since arriving in Perth. I had pre-arranged to stay with a friend of a friend in Maylands which was the neighbouring suburb of Mount Lawley where the campus was. Little did I know that Maylands was a huge suburb as was Mount Lawley and it was quite a journey up and down hills and required crossing the railway line. About 6 months into the first year I left Maylands and moved to Menora which neighboured Mount Lawley on the other side.
Anyway I remember I was seriously dehydrated that day and had been dealing with a couple of nose bleeds which was a very shabby way to start the Waapa social calendar and I must have looked pretty disgusting by the time I got there. I remember the first people I met was the blond hostess and her brunette friend who bared a striking resemblance to a young Ann Margaret. I put my beer in the fridge and was taken out to the pool area to meet the other students from my class and those in the two years ahead of me. It was a whirlwind of bubbly excited voices and pretty and handsome faces. It was a lot to take in and I tried to concentrate on who was in my class. Everyone was in their swimmers and I didn't bring any. It was a conscious choice though as I have always been very self-conscious of my body and I did not want my first impression to be of that. So I stayed clothed and mingled and I remember meeting two of the Victorian boys and immediately assumed they were both gay, however only one would prove to be.
This one was a very city boy and the other was a very country boy and the former had a quick wit and dry sarcastic sense of humour, the latter was just so damn happy and genuinely friendly. They were like chalk and cheese and yet they were rooming together in a street that was renowned for its Waapa population. I then met the girl who was forever having to spell her name to everybody as without fail everyone repeated it back to her wrong, myself included. She was so damn beautiful like a young Olivia and with the deepest blue eyes. Another Vic boy I met was very tall and quite aloof and we didn't really talk too much that day and for some reason that was how it was for almost the entire 3 years that followed. Then I met the zany hilarious girl from Geelong and she made me laugh a lot the moment we met but I was overwhelmed again a bit just like the picnic back in Sydney. I don't remember meeting the girl who would become my first room mate later that year. I'm sure she was there as I recall having the big class photo half in the pool and half out. I'm not sure if anyone has that picture somewhere out there. But that wrapped up meeting the Vic peeps. I also met the girl from Queensland and she was another blond and very tall. She seemed quite grounded and naturally friendly which was helpful as she went on to become my wife two times before we would graduate. :-)
As everyone drank more and the sun began to fade it was decided to kick on into the evening but that would need to be done at a place other than the beautiful City Beach abode. So we headed back to a place that was affectionately known as Porn House, I'd be very surprised if this building is still standing today. But I know I had drunk quite a lot and I really don't remember whose car I went there in. Whilst at Porn House I became engaged in a serious conversation with another student with the same name as mine who was a year ahead of me. He was half joking when he explained that he liked being the only James at Waapa so to avoid confusion it was decided that I should go by a nickname. I can't remember who else was in the room at the time but I think it was a kitchen of some sort and we were seated around a square wooden table. I offered up all the nicknames I could recall that I had been given in the past but none of them seemed appropriate for Waapa so James asked me what my initials were and so I told him JGS. After a few different letters interpolated around it suddenly the name JiGSy was coined and cemented as the name I would be known as at Waapa. Immediately I knew the name didn't suit me and I would never be a "Jigsy" what ever that really was. I knew if my friends and family back home heard that people were calling me that they would screw their face up as well. They would share the same view of the name that I had.
To my surprise, and somewhat horror, that nickname took off like wildfire and every student was calling me Jigsy. I still didn't feel like this "Jigsy" person but I responded to it and eventually I began introducing myself as Jigsy. But it took about 18 months for that to happen. By the time I graduated, every student past and present called me Jigsy and every member of the faculty including all the lecturers I had, and those I didn't have, teaching me called me Jigsy. All but my singing teacher Roma, but she did different very well. To this day I am still Jigsy, and I embrace Jigsy so much so that I am trying to stay Jigsy in an ever diminishing musical world for me.
So how did this epic day end up? Well, unfortunately I remember being driven home (legless) by a couple of second year fellas who seriously must have taken pity on me. I was a mess that night, stains everywhere on my clothes and I was utterly embarrassed the next day. I always wondered if any stories went around about my messy state after that day. It was not the impression I had hoped for, but you are who you are, and no matter how hard you might try to fight it, you just have to embrace it and all the challenges being you brings.
That's the real essence of Jigsy :-)
J G S
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