Luke Fisher plays five hours of pool a day

by Jake Knoeller

If you’ve ever stopped by the Student Activities Center to play pool on campus, you have most likely seen Luke Fisher, who has become somewhat of a celebrity at Cal Poly Humboldt in his first year here.

Fisher is known for his extroverted personality and almost always having a pool cue in his hand.

“Luke is just here so often, it’s kind of impossible to not see him if you come here every now and then,” said Dremaine Boyd Jr., a newcomer to pool who likes to play socially. “It’s kind of infectious because it makes you want to play more.”

It is almost a surprise not to see Fisher if you are in the pool table area, meaning he is usually eating or getting some work done instead. If you strike up a conversation with him, he is pretty much always up for a game of pool with anybody.

“I’d say he is here 95% of the time I’m here,” said Chance Arendt, a friend of Fisher’s who also plays pool on campus regularly.

Fisher has always played a little bit of pool, but started playing every day last semester. He spends about five hours playing in a day when he has the time.

“I think I’m one of the few who doesn’t ever get bored of it,” said Fisher.

According to Fisher, he has really good luck when playing pool. His record for pockets in a row is six and he wants to reach eight in a row at some point because a few of his friends have. He hopes to continue improving.

“I’m hoping maybe I can get as good as Efren Reyes, but that’s gonna take a long, long time because he’s the best pool player ever,” said Fisher. “If I can get better than Cole Insalaco

I’ll be happy because he’s the best on campus.”

Fisher is majoring in journalism with a news concentration. He is from the Central Coast and has lived there since 2014. If there is one thing Fisher loves doing as much as pool, it’s showing off the tattoo he has of Nicki Minaj at the bottom of his leg.

“I think Luke is the most social person I’ve ever met,” said Arendt. “He really cares about everyone.”

Luke Fisher is unapologetically himself, which is one of the reasons why many people enjoy being around him. He intends to continue working towards his goals in the game of pool.

“He has something that he’s working towards, which is pretty remarkable,” said Boyd.

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Kristina’s – 5/5 stars

Kristina’s is a place you can’t miss, resting right at that sharp turn as you drive the 101 north, just before that shady strip through downtown Eureka. It’s got an inviting pink exterior and abundant booth and bar seating that makes it look hauntingly empty on a quiet night. It lies more on the old-folks-home side of the design spectrum, but just a tad saucier with pink neon lights, red accents and funky carpeting.

Here, you can eat a classic diner breakfast anytime between 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., or go crazy and get some New York steak and scampi for dinner. My waitress didn’t call me hun but she was wearing 4-inch platform knee high goth boots and that was good enough for me.

Samoa Cookhouse – 6/5 stars

Dear reader, I am saving the best for last. In the odd little town of Samoa lives the revered Samoa Cookhouse, which has literally been in business for 150 consecutive years. It was original- ly an old dining hall that fed 500 mill workers at a time but opened up to the public sometime in the 1960’s.

It’s a huge red building overlooking the bay that always has stray cats lurking around outside. Inside is a massive cafeteria layout with plaid tablecloths and old logging equipment adorning the walls. They even have a little museum where you can eat amongst rusty old chainsaws and other ambiguous logging paraphernalia.

Their only menu item is a breakfast, lunch or dinner special that changes everyday of the week that they serve family style. You can eat breakfast until you pop and it’ll only be $14.25. To my luck I landed on their sausage, scrambled eggs, and homemade toast special, but I was weak, and barely made it through two rounds of their perfect diner breakfast.

When this world gets a little too shiny for you, when the fluorescent lighting of the classroom starts to burn a hole in your brain, when TikTok starts digging your personality into a grave, you can time-travel away from all your problems in the dusty neon lights of Humboldt’s diners.