* – he stole it, too. Relax.

High School for Steelbuddha

What year was it?
1992-1995

What were your three favorite bands (performers)?
Tori Amos, Nine Inch Nails, Red Hot Chili Peppers

What was your favorite outfit?
I had an off-white T-shirt that I wore with some cargo shorts in the summer as often as possible. It made me feel like a surfer.

What was up with your hair?
It was exactly the opposite of it is now. Long locks of blonde tied samurai-style on top, shaved around the sides and back. I began going bald when I was 17, though, so I decided to cut it short, then eventually, cut it to 1/4 inch all round.

What did you do after school?
A lot of Shadowrun (cyberpunk D&D), played video games at the arcade or at home, “worked” on the yearbook, movies, diners, the usual.

Where did you work?
A video rental place developing photos in the instamat machine, a grocery store as a bagger and then a dairy stocker, a hardware store, and finally the Kenosha News as a pre-press clerk. It seemed cushy at the time.

Did you take the bus?
I walked or drove, as I recall. I was lazy; the school was less than ten blocks away from my house.

Who did you have a crush on?
A lot of girls, really, and apparently a lot had crushes on me, but both sides were too inscure to make any moves. My junior year I let my best friend take my girlfriend to the prom, because I was being a dork about not going to something so lame. She probably made out with him. She was very attracted to him, but he would have been using her in that high school kind of way, and she knew that. I don’t think it was a use-me-to-get-to-him scenario exactly. The next year we weren’t boyriend and girlfriend anymore. I asked probably 20 girls that I didn’t really care about to the prom, but the only one who accepted was the tuxedo shop girl.

Did you fight with your parents?
They were too busy fighting with each other. They divorced when I was 17.

Who did you have a celebrity crush on?
Claire Danes, among others.

Did you smoke cigarettes?
No.

Did you lug all of your books around in your backpack all day because you were too nervous to find your locker?
I had a locker and a file drawer in the yearbook office, but I lugged around RPG books to read during class.

Did you have a ‘clique’?
Yeah, I suppose, but almost everyone was invited. They just didn’t ask to be included.

Did you have “The Max” like Zach, Kelly, and Slater?
We hung out in the yearbook office, mostly, or at the advisor’s house since her son was our friend and they had a huge house with a pool.

Admit it, were you popular?
I was well-liked and well-known but it wasn’t like people admitted that. I’ll likely be remembered by more people than most at my high school reunion.

Who did you want to be just like?
Neil Gaiman.

What did you want to be when you grew up?
A professional writer or professor. Maybe a famous actor. Certainly famous.

Where did you think you’d be at the age you are now?
Living in a huge house in Vancouver with a wife who supported me as I wrote my next masterpiece.