Tell tale signs robotics has taken over your life:
1. When there are more pairs of safety glasses at your house than in the shop.
2. When you see denim, you think of Dean Kamen.
3. When you see a 33, you stop and take a picture.
4. When red, white, and blue are NOT the colors of the American flag; they are the colors of the FIRST logo.
5. When you use Mountain Dew as mouthwash.
6. When you spend more time at Robotics than at your house.
7. When you have a favorite tool in the shop.
8. When you know the exact Pantone color of your team’s logo (123c, of course).
9. When finding aluminum shavings in your shoe isn’t out of the ordinary.
10. When you use Tap Magic as cologne (and can recognize others’ Tap Magic cologne).
11. When you consider Robotics a sport.
12. When half your wardrobe is made up of Robotics shirts, and the other half you can’t wear to school because of the grease stains.
13. When you compare the time of the day to a robotics team.
14. When you make weekend plans around Robotics meetings and competitions.
15. When you spend more time on Dean’s homework than on actual homework.
16. When you find out others participate in FIRST, you take every opportunity to discuss anything and everything Robots (besides confidential team information, of course).
17. When you have team related stickers on everything.
18. When you check Chief Delphi more than Facebook.
19. When you spent your last sixteen birthdays at robots.
20. When you have names for your shop tools.
21. When all your light bulbs are FIRST light bulbs.
22. When you skip school prom for robot prom.
23. When you use duct tape to cover your injuries.
24. When you go on more outreach programs than school field trips.
25. When you have an email just for robotics purposes.
26. When the FIRST website is your home page.
27. When you can find hundreds of uses for zip ties.
28. When you can fill a bucket with teams’ pins.
29. When you look for team numbers on the back of your Chinese fortune cookie.
30. When you use files from the shop to do your nails.
31. When you’re editing the Chairman’s essay in your sleep.
32. When you find robot parts in your hair and clothing.
33. When tube skirts are an excellent fashion statement.