Self-knowledge

I've re-learned the following about myself while going through old papers and things at my parents':

-I was a truly mediocre student until senior year of high school.

-French paradox be damned: I did get fat the term I studied in Paris, and look quite different in those photos from just before and just after. Yes, it's true, the weight came off effortlessly, without diet or workouts, upon returning to Chicago. Sometimes the presence versus absence of delicious pastries works not paradoxically (sorry, Frank Bruni) but rather just as you'd expect.

-I had blond highlights at one point. The photos might be worth saving as a reminder not to do that again.

-High school English teachers saw potential for me as a fiction (!) writer. Oh well.

-There are all kinds of items bearing evidence of my 'participation' in athletic endeavors. As in, I'm of the generation for which self-esteem was the issue of the day, and it was thought too traumatic to let athletically-talentless kids participate in sports and not get any ribbons or anything. Which I suppose beats the latest generation, which if reports are accurate never gets off the couch.