when people ask you what you want for your birthday, all you say is “For my team to be in Atlanta on that day!”
You don’t reckon I’m overdosing do you?
Is there a cure for FIRST? :]
More FIRST. You’ll never get over it, it’s what they call a “vicious cycle.” A really fun, really awesome, life-changing kind of vicious cycle.
Why would we even create a 12 step cycle??
You miss 3 of your classes to watch the Championship.
You stay late after school just to watch your favorite team play. (Katie!! I would have given you a ride home! :P)
we’re all overdosed on FIRST. call the Inspiration control center.
I’m not suffering from my FIRST “addiction”. I enjoy every minute of it.
and;
…When you spend 6+ hours in a dark basement watching nationals.
(thanks Renee)
…you don’t lose your voice during regionals in March, but you lose it cheering in a basement at the video stream of Atlanta.
I totally know what you mean! That happened to me every time we had to play a “getting to know eachother” icebreaker game! =]
…when–during the Championships–you are watching the webcast, talking on the phone with a former member of your former team, getting match results via text message from TBA while at the same time getting texts and phone calls from your old team about two-three times an hour.
…when every paper or presentation you do in high school/college somehow incorporates robotics in it.
…when your wardrobe consists of mainly robotics-themed clothes.
…when you’ve seriously considered getting a tattoo because that’s how much you love FIRST/your robotics team. (Sidenote: I don’t do well with pain, so I won’t get one, but I think it’d be kinda cool!)
…you see one of the transport carts in the airport heading toward a crowd and you have to fight back the urge to yell “ROBOT COMING THROUGH”
…when you walk through the wrap party after championships with second team member chair-carrying a third team member, and having a fourth team member out in front yelling “ROBOT COMING THROUGH!!!”
…when you’re walking through the airport and joking around by breaking rules with you as the robot, i.e. crossing back over a line- G22, stopping in front of someone-impeding, lightly shoving someone’s shoulder- contact outside the bumper zone. The only thing we couldn’t do was interfere with a hurdler…
Interestingly, I saw someone at an airport a few days ago trying to toss a ball high up into the air. 
No, I wasn’t catching a plane to Atlanta. 
When you get so depressed because all of your senior friends are leaving including the person that started this thread. =…(
… you are at the airport waiting to go home, and you think the flight attendant said “division 3 robots please load”. (but she was really calling for zone 3 rows to load [the plane]) LOL
… you see a guys at the airport with a lot of luggage on a cart and you immediately call out “robot coming through!” in a VERY load voice
… you blame the freshmen for impeding you from your luggage
… you call a penalty on some random person for not moving their car when your dad is trying to pick you up from the airport… and then you tell him “red alliance has won the match on a account of a penalty by the blue alliance” once you get in the car
… he actually knows what you meant by that
… at the social you called 4 penalties on other people at the food tables ( I only did it once)
… you miss the feeling of your safety goggles
… you have over 30 FIRST shirts … and could go an entire month without having to wash shirts… and still have some left over
… you suitcase was overweight because of all the other shirts you got there
… you are surprised that the freshmen didnt set off the metal detector from all the pins on his bag
… you were up at 11 at night at the hotel, on chief delphi
… you are at school now, on chief delphi, when you could be very well sleeping.
–You don’t know what to do now that the championship event is over
When you skip study hall to go to the computer lab and browse CD just so that you can try and avoid the inevitable depression of the knowladge that season is over.
When your bag is delayed coming back from champs because you packed your button cloak
When random numbers and phrases cause your mind to spit out data and names of teams.
That closet on the floors of the Marriot Marquis labeled with “FDC” in red letters continues to stop me each year. This year, I got to thinking whether the “intermediate” program had changed it’s initials again.
Yes, definitly overdosing, but in a good way. There is no cure from FIRST, its a lifelong addiction. I was just letting you know in case you had missed that glaring and quite obvious fact.
You know you’ve overdosed on First when you recive informatioin about an advaned junior/senior high school and the only thing that makes you read the information is the fact that it has a “robotics club”
…when your friends tell you to shut up about the robotics fundraisers you’re setting up.
…when your favorite teacher agrees to be taped to the wall for you, because she knows how much you love robotics.
-When you spend more time on CD in one year than you did on homework for all 4 years in high school.
- You laugh whenever you see the WWF on TV because of what President Bush Sr. Said.
-When you dream about walking through the pit during Nationals on the night before you leave Atlanta. And the only reason you wake up is cuz your roommate sticks your vibrating phone on your leg. {Happened to me on Sunday. I thought the phone was something else vibrating in my dream. Ha :] }
-When you spend all your free time on CD when you never have before just trying to find this one guy who you met at Nationals and all you know is his team and his first name
-When everyone in your family and even beyond family knew that you were excited for RoboProm this year just cuz it’s your rookie year and you want to take a million pictures to show your nonrobotics friends
-When you put your hair in pigtails, put pipe cleaners in the pony tail ring, and braid the pipe cleaners in your hair to create funky hair and spray your hair blue cuz your team is the LuNaTeCs :]