summer 1993: the rancho boys, in cancun, mexico (top) mark sergott, derek baker, clay sammis, me (bottom): matt lockhart, bill scuba check out my stylish sunglasses. :)

july 4: del mar crowd (back) me, jamie knox, bobby stevens, <?>, <?>, kip efinger (front) pat garvey, adam spragg, adrian kulinski, phil stone, dax shifrel

the torrey pines high school academic decathlon team (back) jeff tang, rebecca cohen, paul-ryan lake, me, dan katz (front) blaze newman, james farrell, bonnie foote, dinesh shenoy, scott, dave

unfortunately, one of the problems of having such diverse groups around me was that i never was able to fit in into any one group. this problem haunts me even today, and i often wish i had only one big group of friends i could hang out with all the time. (it's just wishful thinking. i know that there are benefits to both situations.)

rancho boys, etc. at jeff's old house (top) karla collura, rachel jones (middle) <?>, jeff padilla, andy manson, michele collins, me, matt lockhart (bottom) mark sergott	senior ditch day @ julian (back) michele collins, karla collura, erin ankrom (front) andy manson, gaspard delibran, jeff padilla	me, bobby stevens, jamie knox, adam spragg
norm's farewell (off to brazil for his mission!) (back) <?>, <?>, andrea paz-frost, kirstin collingwood, adam spragg, grand ingersoll, bobby stevens, <?>, jarom pollock, "auggie?" (front) <?>, wendy cheng, carey may, norm hamson, greta, kim baldwin, me, chris abbott	this is drew stabile. drew and i hung out virtually every day during junior high and early high school. i think i consider him my best friend during those few years. there are memories we have together that still make both of us laugh out loud, when they come up. :) here are a few that he emailed me a long time ago: - rat hunting in his garage - blowing the skin off of my leg in my driveway - him kicking me in the neck - me spraying binaca into his eye, on the bus - shooting him in the stomach with a bb gun from 6 inches away - setting traps for each other when leaving town - shooting my dad with a jeff's paint ball gun (long story) we've grown apart in the last ten years, almost to the point of not really being able to relate to each other, but those memories will always be there for us to think back to.

music was a big part of my high school life, although it didn't mix with high school. our high school had no music department because of california education budget cuts. go, california. arts aren't important, anyway, right? *sigh*

I commuted (with my dad driving) 2.5-3 hours to tarzana for cello lessons with ron leonard, and now carry a lot of regret for not taking advantage of the opportunity that was handed to me. i never practiced. i played in a string orchestra at the local jewish community center, and also played in a string quartet and piano trio.

old string quartet + coach: me, michael gaisler, david goldman, angela noe, dan haley

old piano trio: david goldman, inna gaisler, me

performing with wendy at my graduation

what else should i write? well, i'll leave this section with a few more photographs. :)

my favorite teacher: mr. william harvie (a.p. physics) he's demonstrating superconductivity in this class session.	our senior float! rex chung designed the dragon head, and i was basically 'project manager' for the dragon. it was cool -- it breathed smoke using smoke grenades i purchased from army supply mail order catalogs. l->r: scott hall, me, jamie knox	our miniature pot-bellied pig, before he was eaten by a coyote. so sad. :( it was probably a good meal for the coyote, though.
experimenting with film	kenny liu, of kennyliu.com! who knew he was such a dork, before? :)	the first scary self-portrait of me. you can see what i was like, even back then. :)
a pitiful half-smile from me, at graduation, with my family		my first girlfriend, rebecca, at our grad night event

i also lost many, many hours online, where i was fully immersed in the warez world and was peripherally involved in the p/h/a/c world. you can see that i'm wearing a "legion of doom" shirt in the first photo on this page. i wasn't in it, but i had the shirt. :) someone actually stopped me at utc (local mall) once and commented on that shirt. anyway, i even went to a few bbs meets, where timid geeky computer kids would mingle with big, long-haired, tough-looking, leather-wearing motorcycle hacker types. ok, i only met one guy like that, but it still was different than the normal high school scene. the online bbs scene actually reached into my physical life once, when i backed into an old datson in front of the crypt keeper's house while on a bbs meet scavenger hunt. heh... :) i also remember going to the gatsby's house a few times and marveling at his toy collection. he would do some crazy stuff with all his gadgets. strange. searching for his name on google comes up with court cases and stuff, but i just remember him as an eccentric, smart ex-model who liked to listen to vivaldi's double cello concerto. oh, i was in the rebels' riting guild, too. that was fun.