Making me laugh over 15 years after the fact

So I was packing up my office today and I came across my old high school yearbooks. (As many of you know, my husband and I are moving to our new house in McLean, VA next week.) I've looked through them a number of times over the years. However, it's been a while since I perused them. So I took a little packing break and cracked them open. I wanted to present some of the highlights from my senior year (1993).

A few things to keep in mind. I was heavily involved in debate and other speech activities in high school. I also had a reputation among my friends as being a little absent-minded. Book-smart and a good arguer, but a bit of an airhead. And back then I still was really into politics. Many of you won't get all the comments, but those who remember will hopefully chuckle a little.

Matt W. starts the first page of my yearbook out with a nice one.

"Even if you don't always get what's going on, I sure have enjoyed having you around . . . Don't become too emeshed in politics . . . although you could get really good at making excuses!"

JP W. follows up with equally amusing observations.

"You have been the butt of many jokes . . . However, I don't ever want you to believe that the people of this squad dislike you. You are a pillar of this squad and have been an inspiration to . . . well . . . err . . . somebody.

Another person, Sam M., thinks I'll become a politician.

"I can't wait until you are some corrupt, slimey politician. That will be so cool! Maybe I'll be your bodyguard . . . "

At least my airheadedness made some people, such as Rebecca B., laugh.

"You always made me laugh, whether intentional or not. That counts for something!"

Rebecca I. recognized my foibles but still likes me anyways. Then Corey L. recognizes he's even more guilty of said foibles than I am.

"You really are spacey, but we love you anyway."

"Most people say you're spacey. Even more people say I'm spacey."

A nice sentiment from the Bagel (Jeff S.) after all the playful teasing from others.

"You are a really neat person, even though people don't give you very much credit sometimes"

Shelly refers to something that I can't remember but I hope is a joke (or at least we made some money off of)

"I am so glad we combined creative forces to form the forensics sex line (ext 666)."

Like Suji J., I do look back and think that. And I also remember what fun we had :)

"I can't forget those numerous 90210 parties when we religiously watched it every Thursday last year. I know we'll look back at that and think 'what the hell was wrong with us ?!?'"

Ann M. remembers those 90210 nights fondly as well.

"We'll cruise around town (I'll drive, of course), then go eat pasta at your house and watch 90210. Did you know Brenda has a big butt?

I had a reputation for skipping class (to work on debate, mind you.) Mr. Becker recognizes this with his dry sense of humor.

"You are the best correspondence student I have ever had in class."

This entry from Aaron C. is amusing considering he was the man of honor at my wedding over 10 years after this was written.

"I'm glad we can at least talk to each other without wanting to throttle the other person."

I don't remember Nick W. being at my house, but I guess he was at least in my fridge!

"You wouldn't believe how much beer we stole from your dad!"

It took a few years for Michelle M.'s prediction to come true, but it was worth the wait.

"Someday we'll find men who are mature enough to handle us."

Erin S.'s observation still holds true after all these years.

"Even though it takes you nine hours to get ready if you have to curl your hair . . . it's been a lot of fun."

Heather C.'s prediction eerily came true more than once.

"You'll drive some poor man wild and he'll offer you the world but you'll say 'I'm sorry, I'm just not sexually attracted to you.'"

Missy B. was so wrong . . . oh so wrong . . .

"We have to watch Sgt. Peppers Loney Hearts Club Band because I know what a BIG fan you are!"

The most hysterical is when Laurell mocks me by using her entire entry to repeat dumb stuff I had said.

"Shut up! Are you making fun of me . . . huh? What are you talking about? Stop it, guys! Was it good for you too ?!? Where's that? Isn't it neat how they placed the roads through the rocks? I smile because I don't know what's going on. Am I your slave? You better be nice to me at Nationals Laurell. I feel so used. Do you like her, or do you like her like her? That guy has a bad butt. Is that guy NAKED?!? What? I am sorry I am late guys. I didn't spill it. Scared of Heitz. Airhead? Am I blond or am I blond? Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh! Trolling, trolling, trolling. And on . . . and on . . . and on . . . Love ya, K. Condensation Baby!"

And the sweetest entry is Jenn S's She was right. The future held as many, if not more, good times for our friendship as well as other high school friendships.

"The past holds a lot of good times for us. Let's hope the future holds just as many."

Ah memories! I'm so glad I'm still in touch with so many of these people. I love you all!

25 random things about me

This is a meme going around facebook. I was tagged by a few people so here is mine.

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged.


25 random things about me:

1. I played the baritone in 5thand 6th grade band. It was almost as big as me. I would get this huge ring around my lips from the mouthpiece that would last for hours. I switched to the saxophone for 7th and 8th grade band.

2. I have a tattoo. It’s the Eye of Horus, an Egyptian symbol for wisdom and protection. It’s located above my left breast. I got it my first semester of college as a sign of rebellion. Wow I was soooo cool. Not! But now I think of it as a permanent reminder of who I was back then.

3. I have a condition called vassal vagal syncope that basically means I pass out when certain things occur with my body. It’s usually when I experience sharp sudden paint, get back stomach cramps, get overheated, have low blood sugar, or some combination of those. I think of it as my body’s reset button

4. I passed out in the White House when I was 12. We were on a tour during the summer. The air conditioning wasn’t on (who decided to keep the air off in the summer in DC?!?), I hadn’t eaten, and I started feeling woozy. We were in the Green Room, and the tour guide moved a divider so I could sit down. I passed on an antique Duncan Fife sofa. A secret service officer then escorted me and my parents outside. I wonder what the tour groups we walked by were thinking I had done!

5. My hair has been various shades of brown, red and blond throughout my life. Dirty blond naturally when I was young, slowly turning brown during my pre-teen years. Then I died it blond before I started high school, but let it go back to brown after my freshman year. In college I kept it various shades of red, including manic panic tangerine, with blonde again right at the end of college. My final foray into blonde with a home highlights kits was a disaster, so I had to dye it dark brown to cover up the mess. That was 1998. I’ve been a brunette ever since then.

6. I had plastic surgery when I was a kid. It’s not as bad as it sounds. I was born with really stick-out ears. Think Will Smith. When I was 10 I had to get my tonsils out and the doctor said he could easily lay my ears back while I was under. My parents said okay so I did it.

7. After said ear laying-back surgery, I developed a condition known as Keloids behind my right ear. Basically a small build-up of scar tissue that was only visible if you were looking directly into the back of my ear. Therefore, I didn’t wear a ponytail in public from the time I was 10 until I got them removed at 20. Now I love wearing ponytails!

8. I buy waaaay to many books. Amazon’s used book buying option has ruined me. I calculated how much I spent on books last year and was shocked. I don’t think I will ever read them all completely.

9. I also buy waaaay to many shoes. I had to count them recently (for the closet built-ins for our new place) and I stopped at 100. David started calling me Imelda.

10. I have dated guys from four countries outside of the US - Ireland, Germany, Belgium, and Sweden.

11. My ears are currently pierced 10 times (7 on the left, 3 on the right), although I only got them pierced for the first time my senior year of high school.

12. I still haven’t found an activity, job, cause, etc. that has inspired me to work my ass off as much as I did in high school debate.

13. Speaking of debate, my senior year of high school I was fifth speaker at the NFL debate national tournament. (No relation to the football league for you non-debate types).

14. When I was growing up, my dad would ask me “how was law school today” when I got home from school. I think this is what caused me to never consider law school after undergrad. Too bad because I think I would have made an excellent lawyer.

15. I am one of the worst procrastinators on the face of the planet.

16. I have always loved science fiction – books, television, movies, you name it. My mom introduced me to the original Star Trek when I was young and I’ve been hooked ever since.

17. I am a whore for anything Joss Whedon has done. Buffy and Angel are my two all-time favorite TV shows. I could watch them over and over and never get tired of them.

18. I would jump at the chance to live forever. Therefore, I will be the first in line to cryogenically freeze my body, upload my consciousness onto the internet, or get bitten by a vampire.

19. I am a skeptic towards all things paranormal, pseudoscientific , religious, and the like. I have never personally seen evidence to convince me any of the above are real. However, I try to keep a cautiously open mind about others’ experiences.

20. Even though I don’t believe in any of the above things, I kind of wish some of them were real. (Hence my interest in science fiction.)

21. My husband is the shortest guy I’ve ever dated. I used to have a thing for tall brunettes. Of course I would marry a 5’7” blonde!

22. When I grow up I want to be a college professor. However, while I love the teaching part, I don’t like the research part as much.

23. Because of the above, it’s taking me way too long to write my dissertation. I need to be finished!

24. If I were to do college and grad school all over again, I would ditch the political science, international relations and economics, and instead focus on philosophy, cultural anthropology, and history. If I could start my Ph.D. over again, I would do it in either Cultural Studies or American Studies.

25. I have explored a number of religions throughout my life. I was raised Catholic, but left that when I was about 14. My freshman year of high school I went to Baptist youth group a few times with a friend. Another acquaintance took me to an evangelical meeting once the same year, but it kind of scared me. During later high school I would have considered myself a liberal Christian (probably would have liked some of the Episcopalians or the Unitarians). By college I had abandoned Christianity and read up on Buddhism and Wiccan. I adopted a kind of vague spiritualism, the whole “no one religion is right; they all have good and bad parts and all have been corrupted by humans” kind of thing. By grad school I was agnostic and a few years ago I embraced my growing skepticism and finally atheism. Philosophically, I now consider myself a secular humanist.

Obama Inauguration Report 2009 - I was there!

My husband, David, and I had the pleasure of witnessing the inauguration of Barak Obama last week. I can't tell you what an incredible day it was. Just as emotional as the Election but in a completely different way. (You can read my reactions to the election here.) With so many people in the city (1.8 million on the mall on Tuesday is what I heard), it could have been crazy. But every single person I walked by was happy, excited, polite, friendly and gracious. I wish DC could be like that all the time!

I was actually able to score two seats in the yellow ticketed area. (Thanks you KS Republican connections. I knew you would come in handy for something eventually.) We live in Foggy Bottom at about 25th and F. Our security checkpoint was around 1st and Constitution. Because of the security perimeter, we had to walk a little out of our way. I think we ended walking about 3 miles each way. So we got up at 6am and headed out at 7am. Certainly a lot easier of a time getting to the ceremony than anyone who had to metro!

Along the way we met lots of out-of-towners. We tried to give them directions when we could, which basically amounted to "follow the crowd." We heard the mall was already filling up, so many people were heading to get seats to the parade. After about an hour of walking we arrived at our security checkpoint. Of course, I assumed that because we had seats we'd get in quickly. I was definitely wrong! We walked up to the yellow security gate to find a line snaking around blocks and blocks. It seemed to never end. Finally found the back and stood in line for about 1 hour and 45 minutes. Again, talked to some great people who had come to DC from all over. The only negative experience I had all day was some people cutting in line at the last minute. It didn't help my judging them that they all had floor length mink coats on and talked in those fakey pseudo-British east coast upper class accents. I guess they figured they didn't need to stand in line as long as the plebes had to. But other than that, I have nothing but positive things to say about how everyone in our line comported themselves.

We finally got to our seats around 10:30am. Having seats was awesome. We were sitting on the lawn of the capitol, and could see the entire stage area where all the action took place. We were far enough away, though, that we really couldn’t distinguish individuals people on the stage. Fortunately, there was a giant jumbotron in front of us. So we could see on the screen who was arriving and then squint at the stage and sort of make them out. I believe there were about 100,000 seats, so it was a big crowd sitting down. We did engage in some celebrity spotting. (They had to walk through our section to get to the famous people seating section.) David and I walked by Beyonce and Jay-Z when we were first coming through security. And later when I was walking around to gain some feeling back in my toes, I passed by Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins. w00t!

They started showing important people coming in on the jumbotron around 10:45. Some people in the crowd booed when they showed Lieberman. I guess in the seats we were in the middle big group of democrat party faithful, but I still thought it was tacky. Colin Powell got a big cheer, as did Gore and the Clintons. All the living former Presidents, Veeps and their spouses were there. Boy did Bush I look old, but the Carter's were as spry as ever. What is there secret? I want to drink some of that Kool-Aide! Then Cheney comes out in his wheelchair. He kinds of looks like the other, old Jeff Lebowski in "The Big Lebowski." (Little Cheney's Urban Achievers. Ha!) David's theory is that he didn't really hurt his back moving boxes. It's all a big ruse so he doesn't have to stand up when they say "President Obama."

I have to admit, when W. came out I felt sorry for him. There were clearly audible boo's and some people starting singing "na na na na hey hey hey goodbye." So unclassy guys! I mean, I fundamentally disagree with the guy on almost everything and think he lead our country into a big pile o' shit, but I still am respectful of him. Then I quickly forget about all this as Obama comes out, and the cheer of the crowd is almost deafening.

The ceremony itself was amazing. While just being there is something I will remember forever, there are some moments that stand out. My muscles involuntarily started clenching up when Rick Warren began delivering the invocation. However, my rational brain told my emotional brain to stay calm. This was all part of the new Obama era. Must be nice to everyone, especially ones that a large chunk of the American population revere. And to be honest, he is not as bad as some of the fundies. I think there are whole swaths of policy eras like poverty, global human rights, development assistance, etc. that liberals and Rick Warren-type evangelicals can agree on. And his speech wasn't as bad as I was expected. However, I did think it was a little tacky to say the "Our Father" at the end. First off, you're totally alienating anyone who isn't Christian. And second, different denominations of Christians say the Our Father differently, so you're favoring one version. Oh well. As I said, it could have been much worse.

The anticipation kept building as Aretha sang, Biden took his oath of office, and the quartet of famous musicians played a John Williams song (which we found out a couple days later was pre-recorded. Makes perfect sense given how cold it was.) Finally Obama's oath of office! And then the speech. I have to admit, I had to wipe my eyes on multiple times. Man that guy can give a speech. I wonder if the speechwriter kid who's picture was on facebook right after the election behaving inappropriately with a cardboard cutout of Hillary wrote this one? He gets a free pass for future shenanigans if he did. So many memorable lines. My favorite parts so far are "your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy" and "we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist." I also wanted to cheer when we talked about restoring science to its rightful place. And, of course, as an secular humanist, skeptic, and atheist, I was pleasantly surprised by his recognition of us with the line "We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and non-believers." (A far cry from previous presidents'. The best we could do was being ignored. The worst was open hostility (like when Bush Sr. said "I don't know that atheists should be regarded as citizens, nor should they be regarded as patriotic. This is one nation under God." Bigot.)

After the incredible speech, David and I decided to start heading towards the exit. As we were walking out we caught the poem, another prayer, and then the national anthem. I'm sure Elizabeth Alexander is a great poet on paper, but she is definitely not a good reader of her own poems. The woman should have taken a speech class in high school! Since we were on our way out, I didn't pay much attention to Lowery's benediction. However, a did giggle at the end when he said "when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right." For some reason, it sounded like it could be a Paul Simon song to me.

The hour walk back home was cold, but I could barely feel through my elation of witnessing what I just saw. We met up with friends for a late lunch in Foggy Bottom. David's sister, Laura, and our friend Barbara, had stayed with us the night before so they wouldn't have to get into the city from the suburbs. They joined us along with my friend Anna and her husband PT, along with my friend Tom and a couple of his friends visiting for the inauguration. Tom is Irish and his friends British, so it was nice to get a non-American perspective on the day. One of them said "welcome back to the civilized world." How true, I thought. How true.

David and I skipped the balls that night and just hung out with my friends Dawn and Megan. I was way too exhausted to party and didn't think I'd be in the mood to walk an hour in an ball gown. So a quiet end to a spectacular day. One that I will remember forever and can tell my kids and grandkids about. I have always loved this country but Tuesday I felt as proud to be an American as I ever had. But now it's time to stop celebrating and get to work!