who i am is not quite who i was

i have been cleaning my room for the past 2 days (because there was that much stuff) and rearranging the furniture and swapping in new furniture, etc. a few minutes ago, i found an old assignment i participated in back in grade 10 or 11. it was an english writing assignment where we'd each submit a short blurb about ourselves as if we were meeting together for our nth year reunion (where n is an integer).

the following is what i wrote. you can clearly see where my priorities were back then; it's not so far off from where they are now.

After graduating from Woburn Collegiate Institute in 2003 as an insignificant student having made little visible difference, Herman quickly rose up the social ranks as a hackey sack champion in Brock University. He double-majored in Greek Mythology and Biomechanics after receiving a scholarship for Insignificant Achievement. While attending Brock, Herman wrote a novel, aptly titled Foot-Eye Coordination and the Flying Beaver, but it was never published.

Graduating from Brock in two years, Herman celebrated his 20th birthday by getting married. To this day, he still doesn't know her name (or does he simply forget? either way, if he doesn't know, she's not telling), but they worked around it. He moved to Zurich, Switzerland, quitting his job at Indigo for a higher paid job at the Indigo in Switzerland as manager. In 2007, Penelope, his first daughter, was born. She exhibited early skills in percussion and visual art, but later changed her mind and became an astronomer. His son, Edwin, was born two years later and grew up to play centre for the Toronto Maple Leafs. By that time, Herman and his family had moved back to Toronto, but outside the city. Herman became a computer game storyline consultant as a result of the move.

In his spare time, Herman enjoys reading, various sports and just plain living. He still occasionally plays hackey sack, but since no one else in his family does, it's not much fun. He had a pet kangaroo named Jenny, and they used to hold jumping contests. Jenny died of old age in 2024.

At the moment, Herman is Manager of Indigo again and resides with his family in Markham. He is contemplating adopting another kangaroo.

i'm sure you're dying to psychoanalyze this. i've taken the liberty of getting the ball rolling to maybe offer a bit of insider insight. it will help you develop your interpretation of my crazy.

the word insignificance crops up twice. self-esteem issues?

Brock? definitely self-esteem issues.

Greek Mythology and Biomechanics: early signs of English and Physics

the book title is... wow

graduating from Brock in two years: no self-esteem issues at all

marriage at 20: i still wish for that, but it's trickier now

"still doesn't know her name": didn't want to seem too wishful

Indigo: i heart bookstores.

Zurich: snow, mandatory military service for a neutral country that never goes to war, paid tuition for post-secondary education, chocolate

Penelope, born in 2007: i still have a few days to get on this. i've always liked the name (Odysseus' loyal wife).

Edwin, born 2009: TML player... pretty obvious where this is coming from.

kids' interests and professions reflect my own

computer game storyline consultant: English + Nerd

Jenny, the kangaroo: i've always wanted a pet, but something a little more obscure than usual