Dusting Off Old Ambitions

My mother sent me a package containing sundry items from my past recently, which I opened about an hour ago.

Some things made me sad, others made me laugh, and some gave me pause.

In particular, something that caught my eye and stopped me was a paper object, with a small photograph of my second grade self (I think, the shirt was from that era) and some small blurbs about myself. I wish I had a scanner at the moment.

The blurbs were as follows:

"All About Me

By Ben Crane

I like to: watch t.v.

I like to eat: chocolate pudding

One of my favorite books is: Dear Daddy

If I could go anywhere in the world, I would go to: Florida

When I grow up, I would like to be: a FBI guy"

I don't remember the book. Looking around online confirms the timeline I imagined for the time of the creation of this artifact, since it seems to concern itself with lost family members, and my parents had gotten divorced at some point just prior to my beginning the second grade.

Telling, in my opinion, are the last two things. I'm not so sure about Florida anymore (Nick doesn't speak well of it), but I think I'd like to give it a try sometime. Interesting to me is whether I wrote this before or after I had visited Florida (a trip which I remember mostly as a time in my life when I was an awful child to my mother and everyone around me, but also enjoyed in some aspects). I don't remember exactly when that trip happened. Thankfully, I remember the 'new episode' of Star Trek: TNG that aired while I was in Florida. Wikipedia informs me that this episode aired on April 26, 1993 (oh so close to a Sublime song). I believe this would place me at the end of the second grade when I visited Florida. It seems likely that I wrote Florida as a response after having been there, but I can't say for sure.

Anyway, of most note, however, is the last answer I gave (duh, right?). I had forgotten about that, and honestly, I'm kind of surprised that at that age I was interested in doing that (blame The X-Files, my mom was a loyal viewer at the time, and it was a great show). Turns out I'm not particularly qualified at the moment. But maybe it's something I can work toward. I'll need at least a master's degree in one the fields they like, and focusing on foreign affairs a bit more in my studies would probably help.

Regardless, looking over other old stuff from school has reminded me that once I was earmarked as a high achiever. I have most definitely fallen off the 'fast track' since then. I think I'd like to get back on it.