FIRST Withdrawal?

[Justin]

Hello,

Kate will not be surprised by this answer. Those who know me well know that I have a cynical streak that is probably just a tad larger than is healthy. I've participated in FIRST for 5 years actively. Four years on my High School team, some of the best time's i've had, and a 5th year going back and helping my HS team for the last year before it disband.

I've been out of FIRST (or maybe it's off of FIRST...like it's some kinda drug or somethin' ;-P ) for about 3 years now. My girlfriend is in FIRST so I'm never to far from it. But I'm not on a team...I still go to comps and help out in the ways that I can...work @ Kickoff, run invitationals, etc, etc.

After going back to nationals on my own w/out being on a team in 2001 my outlook on being off a team changed. What I realized is that FIRST will never again be the same as when I was working with Blue Lightning. Every team has its own culture, inside jokes, etc. and what I've found is that it is pretty hard to break into something like that. Therefore I've been kinda teamless but I don't miss it because I enjoy being able to look back on my Blue Lightning days...go and visit with some of the engineers who were on the team with me and remember it all quite fondly.

That's my take I guess,

-Justin