Hi Ross,
I read your post a couple of hours ago and have been straining my poor memory trying to picture you... Your name, and the joke thing, seem to ring a bell, but I can't quite place you. Were/are you tall and thin?
I don't remember Dale M.... I do remember Brit R. because I stayed at his parents' house once... I don't think it was usually a girls' host home, but if I remember correctly, there was some kind of problem at my usual host home (which also belonged to a guy, Brian G.'s, parents) at the time.
Some of the guys I remember, I remember because I stayed at their parents' house (Brit R., Brian G., Danny R., Dan J.). Others I remember from going to school and work with (Mark F., Freddy M.). Others are completely random:
- Scott P., 'coz I thought he was cute (heh)
- Jaimin M. and John F., 'coz they both had girl relatives in the program that I knew
- Dylan S., 'coz he seemed like such a nice kid and I always wondered what he was doing there
- Dave L., 'coz my parents talked about him (oops on their part?)
- Nick and Jay C., mostly 'coz they were brothers and that differentiated them from everybody else
- Cliff P., 'coz he had an interesting story -- his parents owned a liquor store
- Jason C., 'coz he was so tall, and could never keep his hair parted on the side (it always went to the middle)
- Gordon ?, 'coz he was freakin' hilarious
- Tim ?, who sat and sat and sat on 1st phase for like 3 years and finally walked out of Group on his 18th birthday
- Jason M., who I ran into at a restaurant in Northern Virginia after we were both out of the program
Silly reasons to remember people, huh? :roll: There are countless more I've "met" (girls too, I'm sure) that are lost to memory, that perhaps the sight of would remind me... Or not.
I'm sure you know some of the folks I've mentioned 'coz we were in the same place at the same time. I'd be interested in finding out how any of them are doing now...
You mentioned that you were over age. I guess that explains why you didn't split when you could have, from Springfield at least... I don't know what the policies were in Columbia; I'd be interested in hearing about that, too. Did you have to motivate there? Could you get restrained? Could you just up and walk out of group? Lots of questions...
~ Mindi
PS - I re-read what you wrote about what you were wearing when you arrived at Straight. Sounds more like bad golf course attire than Hollywood to me. :razz: :lol:
PPS - I'm sorry for rambling so much but posting here is kind of therapeutic for me, and writing about Straight sometimes helps me remember things about my life that I'd thought were long forgotten.