On "Michael" (?), posters and high-school crushes

Paul and I spent a couple of hours Sunday night working on the three-pile packing method: keep, toss and sell. Overall, I was pleased at how much we agreed to throw away. There are just some things -- such as a pink "Princess" cell phone case for one of those huge old-school phones -- that we don't need and, in my opinion, shouldn't unleash upon the world.

I think our garage sale (July 4-5 at my house! Stop on by!) could consist solely of books and we'd still make a sizable sum of petty change. Space-wise, if we can cut our book collection in half, we'll be doing well.

In all the cleaning out, I found some Christmas, birthday and wedding cards. I'm the world's biggest sap and hold onto cards forever -- they just manage to migrate to various places in the house.

Out of all the cards, et al., was one that left me a little bewildered. It's written in pencil on a yellow index card and says something to the effect of: Kate is a very nice person, but she is a little quiet. It's signed by somebody who, even after two days, I cannot recall from the depths of my memory. His name is Michael H. (It says his whole name, but I won't list it here. It'd be just my luck that he'd be ego-surfing, read this and be angry I don't remember him.)

So there you have it. Michael H. thinks I'm nice and quiet.

I also found a poster that was given out with our class rings during my junior year of high school in 1996. Anybody know the poster I'm talking about? One side is for 100 signatures of people who turned your ring. (What is the significance of that?) Another has a little questionnaire, e.g., Weather/mood (my answer: Sunny/happy) and What I am wearing ... (answer: My fave jeans and flannel shirt). Some things in life change; jeans and flannel shirts are forever.

I saved the poster despite the slightly embarrassing, cryptic notes in the margin. For example, under a question about my grades, I wrote that I made mostly A's. Next to it, someone scrawled, "... except for in Latin." (I barely scooted by in Latin, probably because I suffered from a bad case of the I Don't Cares.)

I have no idea who made these margin notes; it was like my Mr. E quest of 1996. For the most part, they're true. On the line asking what my friends say about me is written "Psycho" (which is what I wrote) and "Lazy" (which is what the mystery writer wrote). Very funny.

And for the question, "Who has a crush on you?" I answered, "Nobody."

Next to it is scrawled, "Well ..."

Hmm ... no. The neurotic girl in the flannel shirt and worn-out blue jeans has never really been a crush magnet.

I mean, even Michael H. could only go so far as to call me "nice" and "quiet."