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joykins1. What were you like in your last year of high school?
1. And the year was....1990-91.
2. Your three favorite bands were.... The Indigo Girls. Followed, probably, by They Might Be Giants, and if pressed for a third at the time I would have blurted out some group I didn't actually listen to but had heard of and thus could name. I have never, ever been good at paying attention to who sings the songs I like to listen to, and this was an Issue for me in adolescence when you were expected to be able to instantly name ten bands you loved.
3. Your favorite outfit was.... I was going to say "jeans and a t-shirt," then remembered the outfit I wore for my senior picture. I had this purple gypsy-ish skirt, very full, and I'd wear it with a black tank top or something like that.
4. And the hair, darling? Long, and I was trying to grow out my bangs.
5. Best friends? May in one social circle, and probably, hmmm, maybe Nathan in the other. I have long since lost touch with Nathan though I periodically Google him to see what he's up to. (Hi, Nathan, if you've returned the favor.) I'm still in touch with May.
6. And after school, you did, what, exactly? "Juggling Club." Except most of us didn't juggle, we mostly just hung around and gossipped about whoever wasn't there.
7. Bus or? I rode my bike and walked nearly everywhere. At some point early that year my parents leaned on me to take my driving test, so I finally got my license.
8. So who floated your boat? Lifted your skirt? I broke up with long-time boyfriend Ben early my senior year. Dated no one for a while, then hooked up with a red-haired college freshman named Rudy. How I met Rudy is somewhat interesting, actually. You'll note that this was in early 1991, before most people had ever heard of "online dating." However, I would dial in to a locally based chatline called the Beeline. (At 2400 baud! Text only! I had to give the command ATDT and the phone number to the modem! I was a STONE AGE GEEK.) Anyway, we all used handles; mine was Green Bead. Late one night I made some reference to West (my high school) and got a private message from someone called Orn saying, "Hey, I went to West. What's your real name?" I sent a message back saying, "Naomi, what's yours?" He said, "Naomi Kritzer?" I said, "Um, yeah. Who are you?" He said, "Rudy M_____." I said, "Huh," since the name didn't connect with a face at all. He said, "I had a huge, huge crush on you for three years."
I looked him up in the yearbook and he looked....vaguely familiar.
Before meeting in person, I asked around about whether he was trustworthy; the other Beeliners who knew him all agreed that he was a sweet guy and not scary or stalkerish. We met the first time in a public place, for coffee. He really was a genuinely sweet guy, and we dated for a while. It was Not Meant to Be, as I was going away for college -- we did, however, go to prom together, which was fun. He visited me once in college, and came to my wedding. We're still friends.
9. And did you fight the parents? Yes, constantly, mostly over curfew, which I violated at every opportunity.
10. Did you smoke? No.
11. Did you lug all of your books around in your backpack all day because you were too nervous to find your locker? No, I lugged them around all day because my locker was in an inconvenient location and I had a huge, huge, HUGE high school.
12. Did you have a 'clique'? Yeah, the juggling club probably counts as one.
13. Admit it, were you popular? Does it count if I was a Queen among Nerds? There were jocks and preppies and they all thought I was a loser, but I didn't exactly lose sleep over that. I much prefered the geeky get-togethers I had with my friends on weekends than the "ooooh, Brenda's parents are out of town and she's throwing a party and we're going to have illegally purchased alcohol and binge drink until we make ourselves sick" sort of socializing that some of my classmates engaged in.
14. Who did you want to be just like? Ursula K. LeGuin, or my neighbor, Nancy Vedder-Shults.
15. So what did you want to be when you grew up? A writer!
16. And where did you think you'd be at the age you are now? I would have modestly said that I didn't really expect that I'd have gotten published yet while secretly believing that I'd be a New York Times bestselling author.
17. And your favorite story was--? I can't remember my favorite at the time, but Exodus by Leon Uris, Dragonsinger by Anne McCaffrey and The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck would all have been in the running.
joykins1. What were you like in your last year of high school?1. And the year was....1990-91.
2. Your three favorite bands were.... The Indigo Girls. Followed, probably, by They Might Be Giants, and if pressed for a third at the time I would have blurted out some group I didn't actually listen to but had heard of and thus could name. I have never, ever been good at paying attention to who sings the songs I like to listen to, and this was an Issue for me in adolescence when you were expected to be able to instantly name ten bands you loved.
3. Your favorite outfit was.... I was going to say "jeans and a t-shirt," then remembered the outfit I wore for my senior picture. I had this purple gypsy-ish skirt, very full, and I'd wear it with a black tank top or something like that.
4. And the hair, darling? Long, and I was trying to grow out my bangs.
5. Best friends? May in one social circle, and probably, hmmm, maybe Nathan in the other. I have long since lost touch with Nathan though I periodically Google him to see what he's up to. (Hi, Nathan, if you've returned the favor.) I'm still in touch with May.
6. And after school, you did, what, exactly? "Juggling Club." Except most of us didn't juggle, we mostly just hung around and gossipped about whoever wasn't there.
7. Bus or? I rode my bike and walked nearly everywhere. At some point early that year my parents leaned on me to take my driving test, so I finally got my license.
8. So who floated your boat? Lifted your skirt? I broke up with long-time boyfriend Ben early my senior year. Dated no one for a while, then hooked up with a red-haired college freshman named Rudy. How I met Rudy is somewhat interesting, actually. You'll note that this was in early 1991, before most people had ever heard of "online dating." However, I would dial in to a locally based chatline called the Beeline. (At 2400 baud! Text only! I had to give the command ATDT and the phone number to the modem! I was a STONE AGE GEEK.) Anyway, we all used handles; mine was Green Bead. Late one night I made some reference to West (my high school) and got a private message from someone called Orn saying, "Hey, I went to West. What's your real name?" I sent a message back saying, "Naomi, what's yours?" He said, "Naomi Kritzer?" I said, "Um, yeah. Who are you?" He said, "Rudy M_____." I said, "Huh," since the name didn't connect with a face at all. He said, "I had a huge, huge crush on you for three years."
I looked him up in the yearbook and he looked....vaguely familiar.
Before meeting in person, I asked around about whether he was trustworthy; the other Beeliners who knew him all agreed that he was a sweet guy and not scary or stalkerish. We met the first time in a public place, for coffee. He really was a genuinely sweet guy, and we dated for a while. It was Not Meant to Be, as I was going away for college -- we did, however, go to prom together, which was fun. He visited me once in college, and came to my wedding. We're still friends.
9. And did you fight the parents? Yes, constantly, mostly over curfew, which I violated at every opportunity.
10. Did you smoke? No.
11. Did you lug all of your books around in your backpack all day because you were too nervous to find your locker? No, I lugged them around all day because my locker was in an inconvenient location and I had a huge, huge, HUGE high school.
12. Did you have a 'clique'? Yeah, the juggling club probably counts as one.
13. Admit it, were you popular? Does it count if I was a Queen among Nerds? There were jocks and preppies and they all thought I was a loser, but I didn't exactly lose sleep over that. I much prefered the geeky get-togethers I had with my friends on weekends than the "ooooh, Brenda's parents are out of town and she's throwing a party and we're going to have illegally purchased alcohol and binge drink until we make ourselves sick" sort of socializing that some of my classmates engaged in.
14. Who did you want to be just like? Ursula K. LeGuin, or my neighbor, Nancy Vedder-Shults.
15. So what did you want to be when you grew up? A writer!
16. And where did you think you'd be at the age you are now? I would have modestly said that I didn't really expect that I'd have gotten published yet while secretly believing that I'd be a New York Times bestselling author.
17. And your favorite story was--? I can't remember my favorite at the time, but Exodus by Leon Uris, Dragonsinger by Anne McCaffrey and The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck would all have been in the running.
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Frightening...
Date: 2005-02-11 10:51 pm (UTC)