The Four Essential Daveisms

Four things characterized Dave's physical persona: his voice, smirk, walk and glasses. These were his personal signatures. Wherever he went, he was immediately recognized by these, for lack of a worse term, Daveisms. He could whisper in a cave and the deepness of his voice would reverberate outside; he could suddenly warm your heart with his smirk; his shuffling gait could make you smile with fondness; his glasses--. I don't know what to say about his glasses except that they weren't the most attractive pair.

His voice wasn't always deep. In fact, it used to be squeaky when he was little. However, little by lot, it turned into a smooth and elegant baritone that would make Barry White red with envy. Smooth talking the ladies, therefore, was never a hardship for Dave. However, this same voice made him the butt of endless jokes and impersonations from high school onward. He never minded these; in fact, he seemed to take an indulgent pleasure from them. He knew his voice was a gift, and for this reason and others, he genuinely loved to hear himself talk. This is perhaps the reason why he loved ball-hogging conversations.

His smirk lit you up like a lantern. Dave could say just about any horrible thing, and then almost at once make you forget it with his little smirk. All it was was a wrinkling of the side of his lip, but it could move mountains. Even now, I get ticklish inside as I see his smirk in my mind's eye. This and his voice are the two things I remember most vividly about him. Every thought that I have of him finishes with glimpses of these two things: a thunderous voice, followed by a soft, friendly smirk.

I've spoken about his walk before. Dave shuffled his way through life. His walk consisted of a side-to-side waddle that was punctuated by a constant raising of his pants. Maybe his baggy jeans were what caused his shuffling gait. He very rarely speedwalked because I think that comfort was primary for him when walking, and, sloppily put, his baggy pants didn't mix well with speedwalking. Besides, I think he deemed his walk regal and grandiose, and any alteration of it was essentially a compromise of pride he didn't want to make.

His glasses were too big for him! But maybe I am picky about this because I am by nature uninviting of lens that are bigger than my eyes. For me to put on glasses (which I have to every day), they have to be small. I'm talking Clark Kent small. I think that he probably fell in love with his glasses either because he wasn't particularly picky about glasses or some inexplicable love for them befell him. Be it what it may, he wore them just about 24/7--for one exception! He never wore them out on dates. This is why I suspect that he knew deep inside that they weren't likeable, at least to the majority of people. He might've loved them, but he was nevertheless self-conscious of them.

Dave is a mosaic made up of those four distinct physical qualities. You have to step back to take in the whole. It's a beautiful, beautiful sight. This is the essential Dave, regal and grandiose, simple yet profound. A true work of art.

“A thing of beauty is a joy forever.” John Keats


This self-taken photo of Dave highlights two of his essential Daveisms: his smirk and his glasses