Keith's Top Twelve List of "You Know FIRST Has Taken Over Your Life When..."
12) At night, you dream mostly about FIRST build sessions, contests, and design problems;
11) You have woken up screaming "Eureka!" so many times, you now keep a pencil and paper by your bedside for furious note taking;
10) Your wardrobe / jewelry / room decor consists more of FIRST items than other themes;
9) Your conversations with friends, strangers, and relatives at family gatherings mostly focus on you ranting about how cool FIRST, your team, your latest robot, (etc.) all are;
8) The first thing you think to ask every local storekeeper is "Hey, how'd you like to help sponsor our FIRST team?"
7) You've lost your fear of strangers, because they're all now simply "potential customers for your fundraising item";
6) Robotics hardware and/or drawings have taken over your room, and all other hobby items are somewhere in a box, corner, or closet gathering dust;
5) You know everyone's name, job title, extension number and email address at FIRST HQ by heart, but can't remember your SO's birthday or anniversary date;
4) You've overfilled your system's hard drive by mirroring FIRST's "Documents & Updates", and every kit vendors' data sheet and app note website;
3) To wake you, instead of buzzing, your alarm clock now sounds like bowling pins crashing, and dumps eighteen large rubber playground balls onto your bed;
2) Your teacher caught you in class with a "Centerfold" hidden in your books, only to discover you were really drooling over a full sized CAD rendition of either the FIRST Playing Field or your team's latest robot subassembly;
...And lastly...
1) Due to the number of shop hours you've put in this season, a bowl of mashed potatoes now has a MUCH better tan than you do...
- Keith