The 7th Annual Diary Survey!

So, as I’m sure you have all been eagerly anticipating, it is once again time for the Annual Diary Survey, which if you’re keeping score at home occurs on some random day every year in March. And this March is no different. This year I’m using a survey that I swiped from Quondam (which she undoubtedly swiped from someone else) that gives the "Story of My Life" in survey form. And off we go with Chapter 1!
 
Chapter 1: Early Childhood
Your Dad’s Name: His first name is actually Michael, though that is not what he goes by.
Your Mom’s Name: Linda
Your Name: Frankly! Ok, actually it is Matt.
Is there a story behind your name? Not much of one. My mother originally wanted to name me Michael Jr., but my dad vetoed that because he thought it would be unnecessarily confusing. He was probably right.
Where were you born? Just a normal birth in the local hospital in rural Georgia.
What is your date of birth? February 12th
Were you a day or night baby? I was born at 11:10 AM.
Does your mom describe your birth as an easy or difficult one? I don’t know that I’ve heard her do a lot of describing it, honestly. I don’t think it was too bad.
What’s your birth order? I’m an only child.
What’s your first memory? This is always a weird question to me, because although I certainly have memories from when I was quite young, it’s impossible for me to place those memories in chronological order and say which was the actual "first" one. That said, an entertaining memory of mine is that I remember when my great-grandmother died, for some reason I thought she had gone into the attic and wouldn’t come down and was quite distressed when I was told she was actually dead. Not sure if that is actually my first memory though – and I think I’ve told this story before on another diary survey.
Where did you live for the first 4 years of your life? I lived in a different rural Georgia city than I do now. There was nothing too notable about it.
What kind of a child were you (good, bad, active, idle, etc.)? I was a shy kid and spent most of my time lost in my own imagination. It’s actually a bit comical when I think back to how I spent childhood recess – I used to stand next to a tree and run my own imaginary professional wrestling organization in my head. When other children tried to get me to join them for games, I would refuse and instead continued in my promotion. I remember kids used to come and ask me what I was going to do if they ever cut that tree down, hah. Anyway, I think that is a good anecdotal summation of my childhood personality.
What song reminds you of this chapter of your life and why?
 
Chapter 2: Grade School
Name of Your Very First Best Friend: My best friend from 2nd-4th grade was named Royce, but sadly he moved away in 4th grade. No clue where he is now, I’ve tried locating him on facebook or myspace, but to no avail.
Name of Your Very First Crush: When I was in a 2nd grade P.E. class, I remember noticing a girl named Danyale stretching in front of me and how she was rather attractive when she did it, and felt an especial attraction towards her bottom. This turned into my first crush. The way I form crushes has essentially remained the same as time has progressed.
Name of Your Favorite Teacher: I really liked my Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Hobbs, though my reasoning at the time escapes me. She must have been a nice enough lady.
Did you like school? I think I liked it ok. I was stressed about social situations a lot starting at around 3rd grade. But I enjoyed the interaction with the other students for the most part.
What was your favorite subject? I honestly don’t remember having a favorite subject. I looked forward to P.E. (Physical Education) a lot, hah.
What was your least favorite subject? You remember how when you’re a kid you always make cute little things out of construction paper for your mom? Maybe a Christmas ornament? I HATED doing that stuff. I literally dreaded it. Whenever teachers would announce an assignment like that the class would all become super excited and I would slither back in my seat. I hated it because I was really bad at it and was always embarrassed that my drawing or construction or ornament or whatever looked so horrible relative to everyone else’s.
Were you popular in school? I was probably a lot more popular than I realized at the time, honestly, especially in early grade school. When I think back on myself I remember myself as a likeable kid who had a good sense of humor and who got along well enough with people. At the time though, I would have never thought I was popular, at least by when I was in 3rd grade (I’m not even sure I understood the concept of "popular" prior to that). My self-esteem was pretty remarkably horrible now when I think back on it – I thought I was hideously ugly, in particular, which is funny since when I look at pictures now I find that I am a perfectly normal looking boy. Years later, I now find myself perfectly normal looking, so I worry that one day I am going to look back on my current pictures and realize that I am actually hideous.
How were your grades? Oh, they were great in grade school. Straight A’s. Had the highest average in about half of my subjects each year. I was salutatorian when I graduated from middle school. 
Were you ever a teacher’s pet? A lot of teacher’s tended to like me because I performed well in their classes, yeah. I was never the type of student to act out the role of the teacher’s pet by wanting to do little tasks for them, though (in fact, I dreaded doing them). But I’m sure I had the perception of being a teacher’s pet from time to time,  
How many schools did you attend during this chapter of your life? I only went to one school my entire life. Well, of course I went to elementary school, then middle school, then high school, but it was all in the same school system.
Did you attend a public or private school? Rural public school. My graduating class was about 100.
What song reminds you of this chapter of your life and why?
 
Chapter 3: High School
Name of Your Best Friend in High School: I tend to remember Kyle as my best friend, but I think that memory is distorted by the fact that he becamemy best friend in college. There isn’t a clear cut other person who might have been my "best" friend, though. Probably Blake, who was also my cousin. 
Did you have a high school nemesis? No, I don’t think so. My own self-esteem, maybe.
Where did you go to high school? As I said above, it was the same rural school system that I went to grade school in.
How do you look back on the experience? It was a pretty miserable time in my life, honestly. I had a terrible reputation at my school, I thought I was disgusting, I avoided interacting with my fellow students because I wanted to avoid the potential of being mocked. So yeah, again, pretty miserable time in my  life.
What kind of a student were you? My grades were still really good, though I don’t know that I was a very good "student" in the sense of focusing on my studies and such. I was a much better student in college.
Did you have a boyfriend or girlfriend? No, nor could I even imagine what it would be like to have one. I actually knew of at least 2 girls in particular who had crushes on me and who I was attracted to, but I had no understanding of what to do about it. So, I just never had one.
Were you an awkward teenager? If this wasn’t obvious enough from my above answers, yes.
Did you attend your senior prom? Again, as  you might have guessed based on some of the things I’ve said, no. Never even considered it.
Did you graduate or drop out? I graduated.
What were your grades like when you graduated? Still mostly straight A’s, though I did have 3 B’s mixed in during my high school career. I still remember when I made my first B and how horrific that seemed at the time (mostly due to how much it upset my mother). It’s funny how little it mattered in the big scheme of things. Oh, and I was salutatorian of my high school as well – always 2nd place!
What song reminds you of this chapter of your life and why?
 
Chapter 4: First Love
Name of Your First Real Love: Heather’s really the only person that I can think of who would qualify.
How old were you when you met? When I "met" her online, she was 16 and I was 19. When we met in person, she was 18 and I was 21. Wow. That seems so crazy young (especially when I realize she was 16 when we first became friends!)
Was it love at first sight? It was essentially the opposite of that.
Was he/she your first kiss? Yeah, she was.
Did you share any other firsts? We did! We both played Bananagrams for the first time together. Heather won though, which I am still bitter about.
What were/are the strengths of your relationship? I swear every survey I do ends up being about Heather at some point! Anyway, our relationship had/has lots of strengths, one being the general level of comfort that we’ve developed with one another that allows us to share our life experiences without reservations. I think in a lot of ways we have similar worldviews too. Similar moral compasses, so to speak. And I think that’s something that is really important to me in an intimate relationship. We both also have a variety of interests and enjoy various experiences and like the ability to share that with each other.
What were/are the weaknesses of your relationship? Distance and religious differences are probably the two biggest factors that have always been there. There were times when we were both really clingy and needy. Though paradoxically, I also think the fact that we’re both extremely independent hinders our relationship in some ways – but I also think it is as much a strength as it is a weakness.
Are you still together? No. 
How long did the relationship last (or how long has it lasted)? About a year officially, though we are still very good friends to this day.
Are you still a part of each other’s lives? Yeah, we are. It is odd to think that a day will arrive when interacting with Heather isn’t a near-daily part of my life, but it’s very likely that it will eventually.
What song reminds you of this chapter of your life and why?
 
Chapter 5: Work
Are you current employed or unemployed? Employed, though I have given notice to the school that I am leaving (see last entry!)
Have you, or are you currently, worked a job in what you’d call your career field? I have, though only about 4 months, assuming my career field is accounting. That said, I don’t know that I have a very clear vision of what my "career field" is going to be or that I even want something that could be described as a career field. I like diversity in my life. I doubt I’d be very satisfied just working in a traditional accounting position for the rest of my life, but there are other ways I can utilize my background (teaching being one that I’ve already used).
If you are employed, do you like your job? I love teaching, enough that I will probably return to it at some point in my life when it is more financially feasible. As I said before, I definitely want to look at different things I can do with my degree in a broad perspective and not just stick to working at an accounting firm because that’s what my degree is in.
If you are unemployed, what kind of job are you looking for? Well, I’m not officially unemployed yet, but I am still looking for jobs. What I’m looking for has broadened with time, not surprisingly since finding a job has been difficult. Originally I was looking for a job at a public accounting firm, then any job that I could gain CPA experience from, and now I’m basically open to any accounting job.
Do you typically get along with your co-workers? At the school, I don’t really have much interaction with other instructors, though when I have it’s all gone pleasantly enough. My students are by far who I interact with more and they generally love me and my teaching style, though I do occasionally get complaints in the Microsoft Excel class (which I am not too sensitive too, since I generally agree with the complaints about the class structure – unfortunately it’s something out of my control!)
Would your boss call you a good employee? Oh, god, yeah she would. Finding reliable adjunct instructors isn’t always the easiest thing to do, since it’s just part time work and for most people it’s not a job they really need. So, the fact that I show up on time and follow half of the rules of the school would be enough for my boss to say I’m a good employee. I also think that I’m a really good teacher, but I don’t think that would factor into her evaluation much (it’s bothersome to me actually how little emphasis is placed on being a good teacher at the college, but I suppose when you’re struggling to just find reliable people to do the job, actually being a good educator does become secondary).
Are you good at your job? Yeah, I think I’m a really good teacher and I get almost entirely positive feedback on my evaluations done by the students. Admittedly, this is probably also partially because a lot of other teachers at the school are pretty lousy.
What song reminds you of this chapter of your life and why?
 
Chapter 6: The Here and Now
Are you single or involved? You know, I’ve basically been single my whole life. I’ve had a long-distance, mostly online, relationship and I had whatever I had with Calesha. But yeah. I’m single. As usual. I honestly like it that way.
Do you have children? Definitely not.
Have you, will you, or are you currently going to college? I went to college for four years for my bachelors, went another year for my masters, then turned around and started teaching college when I got done. I’m pretty comfortable with the classroom environment.
Have you done any traveling in your adult life? Yes, some.
If so, where to and for what purpose(s)? I’ve been to California a few of times (San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz) with the primary reason being to visit Heather, though there have been other reasons. I’ve also taken trips to Charleston a couple of times (once with Heather) and Savannah and Jacksonville, both with Heather. I’ve never travelled anywhere interesting for any reason other than vacation, though my first job at the accounting firm did involve some travel around Georgia. 
Favorite Vacation Spot: Charleston. Love the history, love the atmosphere.
What are your plans for the future? I try not to have too narrow of a vision for my life, so I don’t have lofty or specific long-term plans like "I want to be married by 28" or "I want to be a partner at a public accounting firm in Atlanta by 35" just because I don’t think it’s very wise, despite what conventional wisdom says. My current future plan is to find a job in a bigger city, move there, and see where that takes me. That’s about as specific as my plans are.
What song reminds you of this current chapter of your life and why?
 
And with that we end this year’s Annual Diary Survey. This was probably horrifically boring, but then that is the nature of surveys. I promise a more traditional update soon, though I do not promise it will actually be any more interesting . . .