I first heard of Cheeks the way most did—through Adam. I was cruising a fan board when I saw a post saying, “Cheeks posted another video and MAN it’s hilarious!” The Miss CA vid was embedded in the post, so I clicked on it and watched, not knowing what to expect.

I watched the Miss CA vid four times, one right after the other, before realizing that Cheeks had more vids listed. I spent the next couple of hours watching and rewatching the videos, loving Cheeks’ wit, sarcasm, his facial expressions that said a million things—I loved it! I immediately sent him a friend request on Myspace and started talking about Cheeks and how extremely funny he was on the fanboard, prompting the need for his own thread.

Not long after that, the first Cheeks fan forum was set up, and I met several great people through the chat, and even had the pleasure of talking to Cheeks.

That’s when he said something that stuck with me—normal doesn’t have enough flair. Seeing how comfortable Cheeks was in his own skin sort of helped me get past the old, rigid comfort zone I set for myself and let me push out past that. Before then, I’d never seriously consider going out of state by myself. Now, I have a small vacation planned out of state and I’m confident enough to strike out on my own for it.

Past all of that, I’ve made some great, great friends through the chatrooms and forums. These people are the ones I go to now to share my achievements, my pitfalls, my blah days, and they’re always there and always know exactly what to say to make things better without sugarcoating the truth. We’re all a little strange, a little weird in our own ways, but it’s okay.

Cheeks said it himself—normal doesn’t have enough flair.

-Weetz