WHEN THERE'S NOTHING ELSE...
I've been rather introspective lately. Had lots of time to mull since Turkey Day. Didn't really leave the homefire too much these past five days, caught up on sleep, paperwork, thinking.

Nothing terribly new to report except that I found this on the Brotzman's page and we all know that I can't resist a survey. So here goes:


1. What high school did you go to? Fayetteville-Manlius High School, baby.

2. What year did you graduate? 1997

3. What were your favorite band(s) or artist(s): Dave Matthews, Ani DiFranco, Indigo Girls, Dar Williams, Dancing for Nickels (my band, we did lots). This was all when I wasn't playing in the orchestra, so I guess that classical figures in there somewhere.

4. What was your favorite outfit? Jeans and a t-shirt. Birkensocks. And cargo shorts when it was nice out. Didn't really care much about fashion so much as comfort. Crunchy granola I was.

5. What was up with your hair? Not a whole hell of a lot. It was long in high school. For the most part.

6. Who were your best friend(s)? I had circles that expanded and closed tighter as folks graduated. For a while it was Joanna and that whole crew. Michelle. Elizabeth. Kelly. Nisha. Jamie. Sugene, Steve, Ander-Pander Whoopsie-Poopsie, Billy, Big Daddy Sung, Dave, Leah, Jeremy, Workman, Ange, Wound, Gibbon, the band. I was fortunate to have such great friends in high school. Most of us are still in touch when we can.

7. What did you do after school? God. I was President of my class all four years, so that took time. Orchestras - Chamber and the Pit variety. Yearbook. Various clubs I belonged to which I now conveniently forget. Thespians, MUN, NHS, I was always up to something, I remember not having much time in high school. Not much has changed since. Yeah, I'm a geek. I love it.

8. Where did you work? Well I did work at Fay's Drug Store in the Pharmacy for a year. Then I started at Mailboxes, Etc, which was a much better place of work. Better schedule. Even worked there when I was home for vacations from college for a couple of years.

9. Did you take the bus? Until I got my car, you betcha.

10. Who did you have a crush on? I think I might have had a crush on my guy friends as the years went on. Until I realized they really were just friends. But that's really about it. The good ones were all taken and the rest didn't interest me much.

11. Who did you date? See previous. I was rather busy, I didn't date much.

12. Did you fight with your parents? Who didn't?

13. Did you ever get detention? Maybe once? I can't quite remember, though upon more reflection, I don't think I ever had detention. I was quite the good kid.

14. Favorite subject? Orchestra with Hebert. Hands down. For obvious reasons. But I also always enjoyed my english and social studies classes.

15. Who did you have a CELEBRITY crush on? Jesus. Dave Matthews for a good long time. Brad Pitt - hello, what girl didn't in our day? Or now, for that matter? Keanu around Speed. He had that sexy arm thing happening when he was under the bus. His acting might have sucked, but I sure as hell didn't mind watching him.

16. My grades were... Pretty good when I applied myself. Which was often, I have to admit. Because I'm Asian. That's how we do it. But I always walked that extracurricular/academic line, I probably could have done better.

17. Did you smoke cigarettes? Nope.

18. Did you lug all of your books around in your backpack all day? Not if I could help it. We used to take Freshman who had those huge L.L. Bean bags and spin them because they used to carry their all their books - they couldn't stop spinning from the weight in those bags. I learned pretty quick.

19. Did you have a clique? You could say that. I traveled in different circles, but I had my close circle by my senior year, for sure. We travelled in packs where ever we went. We were very close.

20. Where was your Senior Prom? The Landmark Theatre in Syracuse. It was historic. I picked the place myself - couldn't have asked for a better location. It should have been a sign of things to come.

21. Did you have a Max like "Saved by the Bell"? No, but my parents were always gone on the weekends to Delaware, so we hung at my house a lot. And I guess you could say that Happy Endings in the Armory was our Max - if we could get out there. I did a lot of lying to get out there. Nobody ever spends that much time in a library...

22. Admit it, were you popular? I don't know that I would ever characterize myself as popular. I certainly didn't hang out with the crowd I'd peg as the popular, in-fashion, perfect all the time kids. I just got along well with everyone for the most part. We were a crowd unto ourselves.

23. Who did you want to be just like? I was pretty content with me. No point in pretending to be someone I wasn't.

24. What did you want to be when you grew up? President. I'll admit it. Or just doing something that would make my kids proud. Helping people. I thought politics was where I'd end up. I was right on the money for the most part.

25. What was the color of your yearbook? For the most part, ours were green. Except for that year we had a blue one. Didn't understand that.

26. What were the colors of your school? Forest Green and White. Loved it.

27. What was your school mascot? The Hornet. It's an angry hornet if you look at it. GO HORNETS!