In a manner of explanation, I will give you the only thing I wrote in either my 1992 or 1994 yearbook from Naperville North High School: "This yearbook belongs to Jason Elliot Benda - 26376. He will eventually read all that is written in here, so don't write anything you don't want him to read. -Thank You". Given just that little blurb, what follows is what I find now, opening that 1994 yearbook nearly 26 months later. I'm not going to attribute any of these; I know who wrote them, and the authors may not want all they said public.

• "You are a unique person who truly knows how important _all_ of humanity is. Thanks for taking time to care."
• "I do wonder if anyone half as strange exists on this planet, and one must think about the possibility that, in this place, a cosmic significance spontaneously erupted which shall never be seen again."
• "P.S: If you need to relax, plunge a toilet."
• "...I've watched you grow and add so much to everything you have worked on."
• "The official NNHS math team problem: no one can write the number '4' to JEB's satisfaction."
• "Don't forget that in math, unlike life, Maureen can be 105 years old."
• "Thanks so much for always being a unique and exciting conversationalist."
• "I wish you the best of luck as you forge your very individual future."
• "I trust that you will not need good luck in your future endeavors--I have much confidence in your capabilities."
• ".hguone noos emoc lliw taht ,yrrow t'noD ?tey em llik ot tnaw t'nod uoy oS"
• "Thanks for being such a positive influence on Naperville North."
• "Thank you for all your help over the years and for being such a positive influence on the other team members."
• "Don't make any cyanide in the toilet."
• "You're not afraid to be yourself and you stand up for what you believe in."
• "The mind can do amazing things. Your mind is poised to do so. Good luck in the process."
• "You've got a lot of impressive things floating around in your head--just watch out for air bubbles."
• "Take care of yourself--you're one of the few people left who know any Latin."
• "...publish your own book. Or not. Well, just think about it. Could get mucho royalties."
• "Through twisted fates our paths crossed. It has been interesting to say the least."
I alphabetized those by author, just to prove I know who wrote them, even if you don't. I have indeed written a lot over here, as the title of this page suggests. I have also realized just how cheesy the yearbooks are. I'm glad after being on yearbook staff at ACS for three years I did not continue that activity at NNHS. I liked the heading, "Huskies Play In The Snow" for the Winter Sports section, but that is about it. I also see a few things from ACS that I did carry through, and I see that I made my mark on several people at NNHS, if not on the institution itself. Yay for me.

Still, the basic reason I put these here, as well as the basic reason for the peopletrace files, is that interpersonal relations are weird things. Sometimes I may know what I think about a given person, sometimes I don't, and sometimes I am proven wrong. Sometimes other people know what I think about them, sometimes they don't, and sometimes they are proven wrong. Rarely do I know how someone else really feels about me, however. Statements like those above, for some of those people, gives me a bit of a clue. Not that I always want to know what others think; at times, it is easier to keep pretending. But I can still look at these, and wonder.

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