The Man Behind The Hair

Who am I?  The most basic of all questions to ask someone, yet the hardest one to answer.   I can tell you the bare minimum and perhaps allow you to create your own conclusion.  My name is Ryan Timothy Shaw; I was born on the 15^th of October 1993.  I am a Dance major at the Ohio State University, where I am a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity.  I could stop there and let you make the assumptions everyone makes based on that information.  I don’t really know a good way to say who I am.  I am an only child, but I try not to “act like one.”  I sat at the “big kids” table before I reached double digits, and because of it my mom will tell you I didn’t really have a childhood.  I spent summers going to camps and, oddly, became really good at knife throwing, archery, and “making friends.”  I haven’t had a babysitter since the third grade.  I started playing soccer as soon as my dad could find cleats small enough to fit my feet.  Even though people don’t believe me, I have played all the major sports you can think of.  I spent grades 5 through 8 trying to prove myself to a group of friends that would eventually turn their backs on me.  I spent freshman year playing soccer, getting drunk, being bullied, learning to dance, and still trying to prove myself to this same group of people.  I spent sophomore year playing soccer, getting drunk, and being lonely because that group of friends decided over night they didn’t want to be associated with “someone like me” and left me for dead.  I told my parents that I no longer wanted to play soccer and spent junior year dancing, rebuilding, accepting, and mentoring.  I spent senior year dreaming of no longer being in senior year, missing 30 days of school, dancing, and doing whatever I wanted for the first time in my life.  And now?  Well, now I wear whatever clothes I want to prove to people that you can.  I like fashion and I’m straight, just to break the stereotype.  I joined more student organizations than you’re supposed to and took a maximum course load just to prove that it can be done.  I would drop everything in the entire world for My People because I don’t what I would do without them in my life.  I over share my emotions because I would rather tell My People how much I care about them everyday than never tell them at all.  If anyone is reading this you probably think I am over dramatic and possibly depressed.  But the truth is I try to be as happy as possible everyday.  I am one of the most emotional people in the world.  I dance because my body physically can’t stop itself when the music comes on.  I love doing any kind of physical activity, playing sports, working out, dancing or really anything physical.  I love seeing my friends smile because I like knowing they’re happy.  I am a super nerd for anything Harry Potter, Teen Wolf, or Lord of the Rings.  I cried for multiple hours straight after reading/watching the Fault in Our Stars because it is one of the most beautiful books I have ever read.  I dance like nobodies watching.  I dream of kissing a girl in the rain.  I am a mix of scars and emotions and crazy and love and clichés and people all rolled into one crazy, loud, emotional, tall, lanky package.