Lucas Trerice doesn't consider himself hamsterish. His friends beg to differ.
Arriving at his newly rented apartment at The Martin in downtown Olympia this week, Trerice found his new digs transformed into a human hamster room, complete with a man-sized hamster wheel, window-mounted water bottle, metal tub full of large Cheetos, and lots of shredded newspaper. He also found his own homemade hamster suit and couldn't wait to try it on.
Trerice is no stranger to outrageous pranks. He was, after all, the mastermind behind The Foil Room prank that grabbed national attention during the waning days of 2003. Chris "Goose" Kirk, the room's tenant, was visiting his girlfriend in Columbia and while he was gone his friend Lucas got the idea to cover his entire apartment in foil. It took five days, hundreds of rolls of foil, and the help of a crack crew of local pranksters, but the results were brilliant. At the time everyone wanted to know what Kirk's response would be.
Kirk who currently lives in Bogota was contacted for comment on the hamster room and denies any involvement, "I couldn't be happier or more proud that my friends continue to make the world a less boring place, just for the sake of doing it. Also, I couldn't be more relieved that this time, it's not my apartment."
Keith "Zeet" Jewell, a local theater sound wizard and computer pro, is the creative force behind The Hamster Room. He says that he was inspired by The Foil Room. "It had to be done. We had to get Luke back, if only because it's just the kind of thing he would have done."
Such is honor among pranksters.
Trerice, who is looking to begin his dental practice in Olympia, says, "Considering all of the pranks I've pulled over the years, I think I got off lightly."
Perhaps the fates agree because within two minutes of running on the hamster wheel Trerice was nursing a "slightly lacerated" lip from a face-first fall. Hamstering is obviously not as easy as it would seem.
Trerice is a good sport about the whole thing but as he rolls in his bed of newly shredded papers one can't can't help but wonder what cunning plan is percolating in the mind of this trickster dentist. When asked, his response leaves little doubt that Olympia can expect an escalation of hostilities in this war of wits.
"If this had come from one of my past victims like Goose, that would be the end of it. But this is far from closure. All Zeet has done is start a new prank vendetta." â€" Andras Jones