| To My Friends: without whom I wouldn't be me |
| in loving memory of Katherine |
| Andrew P: Ah, memories of Synchronicity and driving each other crazy in high school and then somehow just kind of growing out of that phase of our lives and realizing how much we actually had in common. I love that you understand my writer's quirks, that if I'm somewhere in New England you will come and find me and spend the weekend hanging out with me and trying to talk me into actually moving up there and that you can outdrink me better than anyone else I know. |
| Elyse: I love that you haven't changed a bit since high school. Thank you so much for teaching me all you have about the Jewish culture, for always making me laugh, for getting lost with me in New York at 3am, for never letting up the pressure for me to shop and date more, and for being your unique self in all situations. |
| Eric D.: Thank you for knowing me better than I know myself and for calling me on it. You're probably the best friend I ever made in college debate because our relationship never had anything to do with forensics itself. I'm enjoying watching you evolve into a brilliant, funny, independent person that is one of the best friends I've made in college. Thank you for putting up with my assanine arguments in Parli (Women should be struck regularly like gongs) for driving to Orlando with me for my friend's funeral Freshman year, for inviting me over to make sushi and gang up on you with Dave and for just being a fun person that I can be myself around. |
| Alex L.: Well, you know I loved you enough last year to give you mono and you helped me move anyway, so I know I couldn't ask for a more loyal friend. I can however say I wish I saw more of you. I'll always take with me memories of the two of us being drunk and acting goofy be it in the pool at University Place or throwing up in the bathrooms in Cracktown and the endless online conversations at 3 a.m. when we both knew we should be doing other things (like sleeping). Mono buddies forever, baby! |
| April D.: Saxon and Intro and Case Management, oh my! Thanks for putting up with me during our counseling videos in skills class last fall and for bitching with me about grad school in general. I'm sorry I missed your Christmas Party last winter but I promise I will try my hardest not to be in the hospital next year! |
| Avi: Geez, I don't even know where to begin. So let's begin at the beginning. When I first met you at teen court, you were this little geek who drove me nuts and just seemed to get in my way. But somewhere along the lines you became one of my dearest friends. And now I sit back and laugh as you make fun of 12 year olds wearing "Player" shirts at Red Hot and Boom and tell random strangers at debate tournaments to "Stop Speaking". Although I can probably count on fingers and toes how many times we've been in the same room, I feel like you know me better than most people. Thank you for always being online when I need a shoulder to cry on, for sharing my Borelando angst, and most importantly for being who you are, cuz that's what I love the most about you. |
| Brandi B.: Although we never competed together, thank you so much for sharing with me a passion for forensics, for the events themselves, and the friendships formed in the forensics community. Thank you also for sharing with me our Mathew Broderick picture taking experience in New York! I'm sorry we haven't gotten to know each other as well as we could have in the countless hours spent on buses, in hotels and on planes. But now that you're at *Bradley* I wish you the best of luck in your continuing forensics career. |
| Brooke: Ah, La Femme Brookita, my crazy little friend, what would I do without you? Thanks for countless hours spent dying hair or drinking coffee or watching movies or shopping at Goodwill. Although I know we competed together, I rarely think of debate when I think of our friendship because I really became close to you after my forensics career ended. I will never forget, however, closing out CA finals at FIFA my senior year or kicking ass and taking names in Parli (child pornography and juvenile justice woohoo!) |
| Casey: Well, you're the first UF cheerleader that I've ever liked but really also the first one I've taken the time to get to know. I'm glad we both got thrown into the craziness that is Rehab Counseling together and I'm even happier that it looks like we're both going to make it through alive, Meta included! |
| Christian P: My little Italian friend, I really miss you. It seems like we're both so busy trying to figure out what we want to do with our lives that we kind of lost track of each other. I wish I had said "yes" to your homecoming date junior year of high school, it could have saved me a lot of misery. But everything happens for a reason, right? Take care, hon and keep in touch! Eventually we'll both escape Orlando. |
| Christy: Dude, you rock! But really, you do. I completely admire your counseling skills and your desire to actually use the things we learn in our classes to an extent I can never imagine using them myself. I love that you don't put up with Thomas' crap or anyone else's for that matter. Thanks for always putting up with my bitching and moaning at Meta and class and about life in general. |
| Dave F.: Wow, I'm so glad we've ironed out whatever differences we thought we had and have bonded in the past few months. It's nice to have someone from the UF team to be nostalgic with that looked at things from an entirely different perspective. My best Dave memory will always be the 11 minute impromptu that you gave at Michele's house drunk off your ass at 4 am, right before Andy knocked you to the ground. Ah, the good old days when debate felt like home. We'll never have memories like the ones we have from debate, and you can bet on that! |
| Eric O.: You were one of the first friends I made in Grad school and definitely one of the cooler people I've met here. Thanks for taking me to the hospital when I was sick and gross and hallucinating last winter, for throwing barbecues and for being a good study buddy and Theories Skit Partner. :) |
| Erin P: I cannot believe we completely missed seeing each other in New York! Thank you for totally understanding that email I wrote what seems like ages ago now and for being my favorite little Orator! Best of luck at Harvard and in everything that you do. |
| Tell me your friends, and I'll tell you who you are. --Assyrian proverb |
| Bruce D.: You are my angel. Before you I thought I had known love, I thought I knew what it meant to be happy, to be me. Now that I have you I feel complete, not because I need another person to complete me but because you love me for the person that I am and the person we both know I can become. You are a wonderful "father" to our four "kids", an amazing partner, and my life mate. I love you so much...THE Poodle. :) |
| Fayrid: Thank you for introducing me to the wonderful world of forensics way back in high school. I'm so glad we became better friends back during our senior year. You're sincerely one of the funniest people I've ever met and I can't tell you how comforting it is to know that there are actually people our age who actually understand who they want to be and have made it so. Enjoy your year off--you deserve it! |
| Heather: Adventures in debate chaos! Thanks for letting me feel like a coach once in a while but being my friend at the same time. I'm glad to have such a strong-willed unique friend to go shopping for hoochie clothes in New York City with and to be an active participant in my corruption of minors phase. |