There are a few moments in life that can change a person’s life. One of those is, undoubtedly, being told that you helped someone to shape their own life – being told that you’ve helped them to find a new goal or aspiration. Koshimaty, companionable fool that he is, was the person who granted me this moment, and for that I will always be grateful.

To be honest, from the very start, I shouldn’t have liked Koshimaty. We met when I was in sophomore year of high school, and I was even more stringent and judgmental back then than I am now. I still hadn’t outgrown the notion that profanity was inherently vulgar, and I was still excessively disdainful of crass or off-color humor. Koshimaty is crass, swears like a sailor, insults people for sport, and blackmails as a joke – by all means, I shouldn’t have even talked to him on principle, let alone be friends, but…

He’s not dislikable???

What the actual hell, what sorcery is this – no one this controversial should be so fun and easy to talk to. And yet, here we are.

I may have called him a mentee in the title of this post, but I do consider Koshimaty one of my very few, very selective group of friends. If there’s anything in my power to help him, I would. Somehow, despite his purposefully abrasive personality (he’s a troll – there’s no other way to put it, he is actively and deliberately a troll), he has managed to convince me that he is trustworthy, intelligent, and overall a good person. Amazing.

He is currently studying animation in a respected art school, and I am constantly surprised by how much  he’s learned there already. On occasion, he shows me what he’s been working on for a certain class, and I’m blown away by his rapid progress (and also flattered to know that my opinion is valued).

I’m sorry, I should have written this post before I took allergy medicine, but I’ve been swept away by antihistamine drowsiness, so I will add to this later;; Sorry, Koshi, wait a moment