You know you're addicted to FIRST when...

[darthfroggy]

when you read science fiction and think about how it would work then go and try making it

[SlaminSwimster]

when u watch eagle eye and start thinking about making a computer like that.

[typharn91]

When you tell your girlfriend that you want it to be kick off again so you can have your life back

[bobwrit]

...When you start redesigning last years robot so that it's a von neuman machine whenever your bored...

[synth3tk]

You know we're all addicted to FIRST when we can crash whole sites by clicking links in a Game Hint thread.

You know we're all addicted to FIRST when we cause Chief Delphi to become slow-as-a-snail....

[Nin_estarSaerah]

When you run around the house shouting joyfully about the game hint.

[JulieB]

When you are going to miss the SEC Championship Game to help with FLL.

ROLL TIDE

[xxsumz]

you realize that your becoming more and more like a robot

[synth3tk]

...you constantly "hint" to your mom that you'd rather get a gift card to The Home Depot over anything else, including that computer or guitar you've always wanted.

[BlondeNerd]

...you look up "FIRST" in the pieces of flair facebook application and giggle when one of the first results is an opah

[guakam0li1089]

when you get rick rolled and think of a way you could make a program to do it for you

[MiniNerd24]

When you feel like taking a shopping cart and adding the new system to it and submitting it as your robot for the year.
(Not that I've done that... yet)

[Robert Cawthon]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

Your wife refers to FIRST as your "Second wife"

I think you have it backwards. My wife thinks that FIRST is my first wife and for six plus weeks of the year, she's right.

[NorviewsVeteran]

you get depressed at the beginning of winter break because the school is locked until the fifth of January

[Torboticsmember]

When you ask your mentor's if you can take home the new control system home over the break to work on it.

And they let you.

[synth3tk]

Originally Posted by Torboticsmember

When you ask your mentor's if you can take home the new control system home over the break to work on it.

And they let you.

That's pretty freakin' awesome!!! Fortunately, our mentor convinced the school to give us two meetings during the break.

[DMitriPetrenko]

. . .When the robot attacks you in your nightmares

. . .Whenever you try to make a decision, Dean Kamen and Woody Flowers pop up on either shoulder

. . .When you start to talk in C++

. . .When you ask for "the strippers" you mean THE TOOL.

. . .You stay up till 3 in the morning working on the bot... WHEN IT'S ALREADY DONE- Random Thoughts from Joe

. . .You spend more time working on the robot than wth your own girlfriend or boyfriend

. . .When the show "Robot Wars" isn't as cool as it used to be

. . .When you smack someone because they called your bot "it"

. . .When the Robotics Competition is more important to you than the Super Bowl

[eternalearth888]

-you stay home sick from school but manage to push yourself out of bed and go back at the end of the day to build the robot
-when you had a day where you didn't do any work and still called it productive
-when you could less about your grades and worry about getting the bot shipped in time for the deadline
-what other people would call "social issues" become obsolette

[BX HANNAH]

...your local hungry howie's knows your saturday order....and your sunday order..before you call them

...you talk about Woodie Flowers and Dean kamen constantly and get frustrated when you realize people actually DON'T know who they are

...your best friend stops asking you to hang out during build season because she know there is no chance of you saying yes

...when you can say what FIRST stands for in less than four seconds

...all you dream about is robotics practice (and they arent good dreams..its the dreams that you cant figure out the problem is and its competition day!)

[rotolomi]

~ you've always got band-aids on your hands
~ you've got bruises from dropping metal on your foot, or being hit with something
~ you've broken a nail from accidentally sanding your fingernail, or trying to rip out stubborn staples
~ you've got sawdust all over your clothes and shoes
~ you think little wrenches and lockwashers are adorable
~ you must think before you speak or else someone will respond with "that's what she said!"
~ there are so many "dirty" words that make you laugh: balls, nut, lubricant, rod, noodle, etc...

[Klake]

...You have nightmares about metal shavings in the victors.

[kelseyroo112308]

You know you're addicted to FIRST when....

One of your text templates on your phone is "Are you coming in to Robotics today?"

Your top friends on myspace are all people from robotics.... and your school friends are complaining.

[thefro526]

You go home and think about how to make your robot better.

You go to work and think about how to make you robot better.

You write really long E-mail's to you mentor outlining a modification because you won't see them that day.

You come up with names like "The Shumper"

You refuse to stop practicing until the robot doesn't move.

[gorillamonky]

when you think your safety glasses look good on you (mine actually do)
when you could go home but decide to wait for something to do.
when you know the answer before you finish hearing the question
when you think girls holding screwdrivers are sexy

[ATannahill]

When Thursday means the first day of your first regional, not the 19th.
When you have mastered the art of pretending to work on the robot and show it proudly when the TV camera is rolling

[Raumiester2010]

Originally Posted by eternalearth888

-when you could less about your grades and worry about getting the bot shipped in time for the deadline

actually, when grades become more important because if your grades dip too far, you dont get to travel... then go insane from trying to get the robot done while maintaining good grades in mostly AP or advanced classes (voice of personal experience there)

[carolynn4848]

-When your only motivation for getting good grades is Robotics. (it's not, but still)

[mrbob1000]

When you choose where you will live later in life based off of what teams are in that area.

[kellyerin91]

-your friends tell you to shut up about the new sims motor
-you beg your teachers to let you leave class to work on the robot
-you routinely stay at school until 8 or 10 at night
-your team argues over which name is better, "Vince" or "Dr. Sheila"
-you nearly cry when Vince (the robot) is shipped
-you get up early during a weekend/vacation to work on the robot
-you are suddenly trying to fix or re-engineer everything in your house
-you dont want your life back at the end of the build season
-you spend history, english, and spanish class dreaming about robots
-robotics=life

[bobwrit]

When you've been at robotics more than any of your mentors.

[Boydean]

-When you lose count of how many robotic competitions you've been to.
-When you put student on the consent form and have to reprint it to put mentor(mentoring FLL team)...its called filling it out without thinking about it.

[typharn91]

when you look at chief delphi 3-4 times a day totaling about 6-8 hours a day you look at it

[synth3tk]

...wearing safety glasses becomes a part of you, and you bring a pair of them home by accident.

[Sarah H]

you stay in the botcave till 4:23am the morning of ship day to put the finishing touches together

[carolynn4848]

When your 2 mentors have 3 leathermans (2 big 1 small) and your team as named all of them, and given them an entire life's story. (David, Fredrick, and Steve)

When you ask for a leatherman by name and your mentor hands him to you.
(i.e. "Hey ____, I need David!")

When you accidently cut your finger with a leatherman and blame it on him.
(i.e. "____, your leatherman just cut me.")

When the leaherman in question cuts you, you say, "____, your leatherman just cut me." and ten minutes later you say "____, may I see David please?"

[GaryVoshol]

When you read all the "witholding allowance" and "battery connection" threads in their entirety

[EricH]

Originally Posted by GaryVoshol

When you read all the "witholding allowance" and "battery connection" threads in their entirety

When you debate whether or not to read the condensed Q&A--and then save it for later because a) you already read all the threads and b) you really don't want to read several pages of bumper rulings AGAIN.

[SammyKay]

When you leave the FLL meeting on a Thursday at 4 to be at the workshop working on the big robot at 4:30....And still making it there before the majority of the team...BEFORE 4:30 (it takes like, 25 min. at least to get from where the FLL team meets to where the workshop is haha)

[Waffle]

...when you know everyone who works at Home Depot, can rank them on a scale of 1 to 10 and you rank 11.5 where as the employees range from -1 to 4, lol
...when you break up with your girlfriend because neither of you have enough time for the other(this really sucks!)
...when blood has been shed over the robot, lol

[GreenReaper1735]

-You laugh at a teeshirt that says "There are 10 kinds of people in the world, those who get this sentence, and those who don't"