Hello and welcome to our THEN and NOW survey, in which we reflect upon where we were when the Parodyverse was born in September 1998. We therefore require answers to the following questions:

1a. Where were you in September 1998? What were you doing at the time?

1b. Where are you now and what are you doing?

2a. What was your favourite media character, book, song, and/or comic in 1998?

2b. What is it now? And how do you feel about the things you liked in 1998?

3a. If we’d have asked you in 1998 to predict what would happen to you and the world in the next ten years what would you have said?

3b. How right would you have been?

4a. If you could go back to 1998 and give yourself a piece of advice what would it be?

4b. If future you came back from 2018 what one question would you ask him or her?

5a. What were your Parodyverse characters doing in 1998?

5b. Where are they now, and what’s going to happen to them next?

Keep tuned for more anniversary events this week, and don’t forget you’re allowed – nay, encouraged - to comment on other people’s replies.

I was four. I was in the same house I'm still in now and doing all the usual four year old things. As I recall I'd gained a brother earlier that year but I think this was just before the crawling stage so he hadn't started to be so much of a nuisance at that point.


I'm still trying to adjust to having a brother, he's ten now and at an all time record for being annoying, fortuneately he's off at scout camp this weekend so I've got a bit of quiet. I actually got to sleep in yesterday.
In other parts of my life, namely school, I've started my GCSE years and had my first test on Friday. I've also entered my rebelling phase but am doing it differently by starting a campain against the removal of the majority of the books in the library.


I have no idea. Do you remember who your favourite character was when you were four? I'm not sure I even had a favourite character since I only started taking a more than passing interest in stuff when I was six.


I still have no idea. I like loads and loads of stuff, mostly books, how am I supposed to choose between all of them? As a general ule I most often favour whoever's in whatever book I'm reading at the given time someone asks me.


I'd most likely have given whoever asked me this a blank stare. Partly because I was, you know, four, but also a bit because I'm not really big on planning more than a week or so ahead and still answer this sort of question with blank stares, or sarcasm. If really pushed I'd probably waffled something about going to school because that was about as much as I knew about what likely possibilities there were.


Well I have gone to school as predicted, so I suppose on that count I was right.


There is no point looking forward to the time you will start going to school. Once you get there you'll wish you were still here anyway so make the most of it.


How does time travel work? (It would be really useful for stuff like homework.)


Being four. Lily was just starting to get into trouble for the seeing fairies thing, Teresa was starting to notice that not everything that happened to her was normal or happened to anyone else and Aella was just a normal girl living by the sea and learning to swim.


Lily is on a bus in the rain which has been time whatevered by fairy magic so she's missed about a year or something, the whole Parody War really, Teresa is wondering what just happened to the rest of the Earth's population and recovering from what she did to the front door as really little, fiddly Awakenings take a lot out of her, she's also a bit worried about how to explain all this to her parents, Aella is on a beach with absolutely no idea about what's going on with the rest of the world though she may have noticed the lack of big fish.

Is that enough answers for today?

I was working a low-paying job in IT, and using my spare time there to write just one fanfic series, "Supergirl, Private Investigator". The title was supposed to be funny. A short time later I was so annoyed with the new Batgirl series from D.C., I wrote my own as fanfic and posted it online. Then I co-wrote a series with an artist friend of mine, it was called "Girls In White" - it nearly made publication, but fell through. I had one failed online series called "Third Realm" that turned out to be really bad, so I put it out if its misery.

Also I wrote one or two fanfic stories for Aurora Universe (now defunct - the owner shut it down) and for shared universe called the Continuum. Sadly with the latter since I had no perception of how RPG's and their rules worked, I was voted out for being uncooperative.

I also believe around that time the software running the PVB was in its infancy, and didn't work all that well, but better than wwwboard, which used to run the Batgirl and Supergirl boards at strike-two.com. Originally those boards were supposed to replace list groups to discuss the two, but it never worked out that way.



Sadly still struggling in the IT industry. My two fanfic series ended, and Girls In White never really made print. I'm writing a new series called "World Class" which has a tiny following, that I'm hoping gets better. And I'm writing for the PVB. Also occasionally I try to learn how to draw, but the progress on that is slow to nonexistent - I'm still terrible at it.

The software that started as a small side project has expanded to the PVB, and added features until it's now the primary software at Comicboards (though the Supergirl and Batgirl boards are long gone). Whether that'll be worth anything on the open market has yet to be seen. Also my web sites badly need remodeling.



I believe I only read Supergirl at first, and then picked up Batgirl later. After that I followed comics and books Peter David wrote until I decided to try others.



I still like Peter David's writing, but I don't follow everything he writes anymore. I read a few comics but I'm not really into them - if I miss a few issues, big deal. The events these days are bad enough that I can't bring myself to care about them.

Fanfic, I gave up on because the audience shrunk to nothing, so essentially writing using borrowed material/characters isn't worth doing anymore, though I still remember I had fun doing it. Plus I realize that my characters/stories deviated so far from the changes the real ones made...maybe that's why I lost the audience.



I probably would have predicted that I'd be a lot more successful than I actually am.



Wrong!



Get out of the IT industry.



If all the time I spend writing was worth it.



Only two I use now existed at the time, and one is barely in the PV at all.

Lara Night used to be part of the Continuum, and then Third Realm. It's what made my exit from the Continuum rather ugly, because she was my character but they wanted to keep her. When I objected heartily, they went to great effort to rewrite all the stories she used to be in to remove her from memory. When Third Realm was cancelled, Lara graduated to a rewrite, "Raiders", which also featured Sharon Holmes. That series moved so slowly, because I started it at the same time as World Class and the PVB, that Lara ended up featured elsewhere also.

Sharon Holmes was originally created to poke fun at Lara Croft. The problem was, a few weeks into her stories, she was not only better than the video game character (yes, that is a bold statement), she also was a lot more like Indiana Jones. Sort of a cross between what you now know as Yuki Shiro (thrill seeking adrenaline junkie) but with a very deep emotional background. She's one of my favorite accidentally good characters.

There are other bit characters that I recycled either names or parts from.

Anna's dramatic escape was a recycle of a short story I did where another highly advanced android escaped an evil corporation (one with its own advanced army, no less).

Shen Rae is based on a Star Trek fanfic one-shot I did, and her first officer, Jai Yoon, is from the same short story as the android (and turned out to be a better character there).

A nameless rock star I briefly mentioned in a PV story long ago was based on another character in the same short story as Jai Yoon - and that rock star was a purple-haired cyborg, like Yuki. Except her calm personality is now the Psychic Samurai's instead (and the sword skills used to be Jai Yoon's).



See 5a.

I was living in Colorado, married, and drawing in the spare bedroom of the condo. We didn't have home internet, so I would go to the local library to check things online. At first, I had to write any story I might want to post on the spot, into the reply field on the "new post" forms. And man, did the board move fast... We had on average 10 people checking the board every 5 minutes or so, and it played out closer to a chat than a regular message board sometimes.



Now I'm living in Maryland, divorced, and the art director of an entertainment company making movies and video games. I take forever to write my stories now, and can do it from the comfort of my home. (I recently got a laptop computer as well that I can use in the living room in front of my TV. I'm doing that now.


Hmmm... I'll have to check online to see what was going on in 1998...

I was still excited about the possibilities of Marvel's Avengers by Perez and Busiek... My favorite character from childhood, the Vision, had been rescued by Bob Harras from spoiled-milk retconning and was back on a team with Hawkeye and Wanda and Cap... Things were looking good! Shame how that one turned out.

Checking the movie rankings for that year, it wasn't a very good summer for flicks. No wonder I was heading to the library for entertainment.

I believe I was given a number of book recommendations that first fall from other posters, including "Bridge of Birds" from Shaper of Worlds and the Miles Vorkosigan novels from Dr. Moo. Both ended up being very good reads.



Now, sadly, I have very little free time to read novels. I miss reading quite a bit, and I'm quite sure my writing and overall intelligence has suffered for it.

Movie wise, we had a pretty good summer. "Blade" had just come out in '98... Comic book movies sure did make a come back in the intervening years.

As for comics, I've pretty much drifted away from them. I have mostly negative opinions about the Avengers run that I was looking forward to back then. While I think it was, overall, a solid series, I think it paved the way to the sorry state that the Vision ended up in today.


Lord only knows. I wouldn't have seen the changes coming in my personal life. I think working in the video game industry would have been a surprise as well, although it may have made a certain amount of sense. If anything, I probably would have hoped to have been in the comic industry, professionally.

I really would have hoped for flying cars by now.



I'm still driving the same car I was then, so that answers that one.

I think things were more optimistic then... We were coming to the end of the Clinton years, and we'd known little but peace and prosperity the majority of the time. Our big political debates were about funding for the arts or interns under desks. We were getting along pretty well with the majority of the world. I really don't think I could have predicted where we'd be just ten years later, nationally or internationally.


Just one? Maybe to invest in something called "Google". Or to go ahead and buy up that Marvel stock was it was dirt cheap. Or to not expect much from the big conspiracy on "The X-Files". Really, there's a lot to choose from.



Know any good stocks?

Actually, I'd want to know about the important people in my life.



Characters? There was pretty much just Visionary, having recently taken up residence at Baron Zemo's Lair in order to join the fun. He was still looking to find his niche in the big scheme of things, and trying to decide if he should be a villain or not, with the guidance of his patient, off-screen wife.

Before the year was out, he would be a regular character in the Parodyverse, and eventually on Jarvis' newly renamed "Lair Legion". Hallie had been introduced as Baron Zemo's computer, and had moved out on her own. And Cheryl had become introduced as Visionary's wife and ended up taking a job as the Legion's Public Relations specialist.

Wangmundo, though not yet created until 1999... or was it 2000?... was likely hiding in the local Library happily reading books.

Masamune had just been introduced as a supporting player in "International Incident". We knew she was in organized crime and owned a nightclub.

Zebulon and Rabito were introduced right at the end of the year, in the first Christmas story.

I'm not really sure who else is worth a mention.




Visionary is now single, with two children by an alien former sex-slave, and about to take a new position (hopefully in a story to be penned during the anniversary week.)

Hallie is now the Legion's computer sentience, and has evolved a great deal. She also incubated Vizh's kids, helping bring them all the way to term, making her one of their two moms.

Cheryl left the Parodyverse forever in a moment of self-sacrifice. She is happy and healthy in her new life in a different universe.

Wangmundo is... well, I'm not really sure.

Masamune has been refined from being the only organized crime figure in the Parodyverse to one of many as new mob bosses have been created, leading to a further redefining of her niche.

Zebulon is appearing in last years still-to-be-finished Christmas story, starring Visionary's kids Maggie and Griffin. Rabito has been scarce in recent years.

Is that the one with Number Ten Ox? If so - I remember reading that as a teenager. It was a good read. I think I still have a copy somewhere.

Al B.

Interesting. My own perspective on children is that they're really quite boring until they can move around enough to be entertaining. But then, I don't have to live with them, so maybe it's more charming in smaller doses.



If James Dean had only been rebelling against inadequate reading materials, his story would have likely had a happier ending. Either way, good show... communities could use more people like you.




I'm pretty sure we could get a detailed response about CSFB's favorite characters when he was for. Maybe a multi-part series on it.



Obviously, you were a gifted child.



The only time that advice didn't really apply for me was during my college years... I quite enjoyed them, much more than High School, and I'd actually be fairly happy going back and reliving them again now. It's hard to beat living on your own and being free to learn whatever catches your interest at one of the great schools in the country. Frankly, it'd be a nice way to retire as well.



So long as you don't destroy the universe in the process.





It's a start, I would think. You can have your 2018 self come back and add more later.

Hello and thank you!


I was still overseas, just about to come home to Australia. Or travelling on the way home. I think it was Aug/Sept when I returned so it was close.


Funnily enough I am overseas. But just for a work trip. Currently in Boston, just across the road from MIT.


Hmm...media character would probably have been some Japanese character/identity, as that was where I had been living for the last two years. Can't recall who exactly.

Book/comic...the Avengers was big to me back then. I devoured anything about them. Not sure I read a lot of anything else at the time (oh how the times change).

Again, song was probably some J-pop thing. But I also had a liking for anything by No Doubt, in particular "Don't Speak" which I used in one of my classes. I also enjoyed Whale's "hobo humpin' slobo babe" and would play it endlessly. Which says a lot about my musical tastes back then...

I think these both came out before 1998 though. If I was back home I'd check the "Triple J Hottest 100" album of back then, I think it was about version three or four, as a lot of those songs would have been ones I enjoyed.


Strangely I've become interested in classical music. Mainly to help ease the stress in driving through Brisbane's traffic each morning and afternoon on my way to and from work. I would never have thought so back then. I still like most stuff that is "alternative" rather than "pop" though. I still like most of the music I enjoyed back then too as a result.

As for books I read a lot more widely now. And haven't read a comic in years. (Although I did find a comic shop here in Boston yesterday and Byrne-stole the Avengers and the Eternals latest issues). I'm currently reading The Six Sacred Stones by Mathew Reilly. It's not his best work if you ask me. But I strongly encourage all of you to read Ice Station by him. It's action driven without much fleshing out of characters, mainly because they die before they have time to be fleshed out, but a good enjoyable action book that you can read quickly. Should appeal to many here.

And as for media character...I finally saw the Iron Man movie on the flight over and enjoyed that take on Tony Stark a real lot.

But Ian, as I've said before, I really strongly think Mumph would translate across to mainstream media - either in novel or BBC production form...and strongly encourage you to do so for him and his associated cast one day.



I would have said I would have returned home from Japan and found a "career" where I could travel, as that was very much my goal back then and the reason I returned was to start a career...hopefully one that involved travel.


100% correct. Didn't happen straight away though. And now 10 years on...I'm not 100% sure it is what I still want to be doing 10 years from now.


Keep your Japanese language skills up by joining a conversation group or something, otherwise you'll forget it all! And go to the gym - now!


Do I ever end up going to the gym?

Who wins the Melbourne Cup this year?


Al B. was working for the man. I don't think he had yet got caught in the time-bubble thing. I think that came a year later. (ie: he hadn't appeared yet).

The Bonsai Kittens were not yet born.

Cody Harper was in the orphanage in the mid-west.

Kara Harper was with her mother in an alternate dimension (right?)

I need to create some more characters to talk about in the next quiz...



Cody and Kara are currently in comic book limbo.

Al B. is with the LL searching for answers.

Only HH and the others involved in the roundrobin can say what happens next.

The Bonsai Kittens are at Uncle what'shisname's Dojo.


Yay!!

Al B.

I was just entering High School. I was Just really getting into Comics, I had been reading them since '92 but I consider '98 to be a banner year where I started to geek out. Also, It would another 4 years before I even knew the Parodyverse existed.


I graduated High School, went to some College, have had a few jobs & geek out heavily (I go to at least one comic book store a week, if not two). I've now been with the PV since '02.


I don't know, not sure I can pinpoint it that exactly. I didn't really reading much beyond Comics in '98. I think the 2nd volume of What If series came to close that year which bummed me out a bit.


During my High School years I got into the works of Douglas Adams. I've collected a large number of the What If back issues. I got into the music group They Might be Giants.

My favorite book at the moment is the novelization of Crisis on Infinite Earths by Marv Wolfman, I read it over 2 days which was odd for me & I got a bit teary at the end which is also odd for me.


First I'd ask who you were but then I'd probaly wouldn't have given you a firm answer on my future. I probably would have said I'd graduate High School & College. Also, that I might have a job. But I probably would have said I didn't know.


Well, I still don't what I want to do. But I did graduate High School & had a few jobs, didn't graduate College.


I'd appear in a bright flash of light, I'd say Touch the Liver & Lick The Goat then disappear in another bright flash of light. But of course in doing that I don't know what present I would return to.


Have I moved out of the my Parent's house?


Nothing. I didn't discover the Parodyverse until 2002.

EDIT: After looking at other's replies. Here's what my characters would have been doing in the Parodyverse in 1998:

- Lee Bookman would have been at the Moon Public Library doing all sorts of Librarian stuff. He'd go out on a few missions that would be stretching the IOL rules a bit. He might of made a few trip down to the Earth's surface but he'd try to remain anonymous. But then He would have also been in an alternate dimension. He didn't come to the PV prime until a few years back.
- Chad & Ronnie might have just recently meet each other while at *Information blacked out for your protection*. Shortly there after the duo would be traveling across *Information blacked out for your protection* attempting to get away from *Information blacked out for your protection*. They wouldn't eventually evade them & make their way to Parrodipolis. They would start looking for a place to live. I also suspect Little Cat would have come into the picture.
- Ham-Boy would have just started his super hero career around now. He would have to juggle that with his High School career (having just become a Freshmen). He might have a foe or two & would be be dreaming of one day moving away from Piney Oaks, Iowa & going to Parrodipolis.
Semi-Transparent Lad is a good half decade away from getting his power. He's lives a normal life in East Walton, New Jersey. He's in Middle School.
-Catherine is going to her senior year of High School, is thinking about going off to college & thinking about visiting her Grandpa Thomas for the first time.


Well...

- Lee Bookman is with the Lair Legion "Saving the Future".
- Chad & Ronnie are aboard the S.P.U.D. Helicarrier.
- Ham-Boy is being tortured by some of the Void Scholar's minions.
- Semi-Transparent Lad is where ever the Void Scholar sent the bulk of Earth's population.
- Catherine is wondering the streets of a deserted Parrodipolis trying to avoid Spaced Fandoms.

What next remains to be seen (read as: I have come up with that yet).

Santa Barbara, CA, attending Middle School and collecting Beast Wars Transformer toys.


Claremont, CA, attending Graduate School and working on my webcomic/OGN.


Favorite character: Dinobot

Favorite Book: Ishmael by Daniel Quinn

Favorite song: " Staring at the Sun " by U2

Favorite Comic: Some sort of X-Men


Favorite character: Spider Jerusalem

Favorite book: The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon

Favorite song: " Run to the Water " by Live

Favorite comic: Preacher

Quite the change, except in terms of music ( alternapop still appeals to me, for some reason ). Though I still hold a special place in my spark for Dinobot.


Food pills and flying cars.


Trans fats and WMDs are poor subtitutions.


Brace yourself for high school, and realize that things do get better, even if it takes a long-ass time.


Has Capcom finally made a fully 3D Mega Man game that doesn't suck?


Not existing, though developing in my subconscious.


Infinite Hiatus; while I owe a great debt to the Parodyverse and everyone here for helping me as a writer, my current projects take up too much time for a full return ( though I do enjoy sticking around to comment on things ).

I was in high school, I think just starting Grade 10.


Back in the same town, but I'm now the town Recreation Director.


If I remember correctly the Martian Manhunter series by John Ostrander was coming out at this time, which is one of my favourite solo character comic series. I believe I was also very much into the Simpsons at this time.


Comic-wise my tastes have changed somewhat; with the exception of Thor I'm more into the street-based, low-powered characters these days, like Daredevil, Iron Fist, and Captain America. I still liked the Simpsons but hardly watch it (the wife doesn't like the show); really any television show with Gordon Ramsay is my viewing priority these days.

As to how I feel about what I liked back then, with the exception of some of the music I used to listen to then, I don't really have any problem with my likes then.


I probably would have expected I'd be done or finishing university (I ended up going for only one year), and believe it or not I may have been able to predict I'd end up in the recreation/sports field. As to the state of the world, I don't know what I would have predicted.


I may have guessed broadly my work field, but that's probably it. I said in school I would like to be married when I was 25; I turn 25 in October so I pretty much got that right.


Your parents aren't as unfair as you think they may be, and you'll thank them some day for how they raised you. See about getting some Tim Horton's stock too.


Should I get Tim Horton's stock? I would be curious about how my marriage is going and if I have kids, though as I've seen Back to the Future a few times I know I couldn't tell myself.


Hatman was one of the young rookies in the Lair Legion at the time. I don't know if I had any other characters at this point; Coat Rack didn't really make it to the Parodyverse from the Comicscorner Fan Fic Board, where Hatman was created.


I'm a couple months behind, I'll let you know when I catch up.

~Hat~

nt

Well, I was at the end of a really painful long-term relationship, v. miserable and lonely and frigitened for the future, and I was lurking at the AMB and then at the BZL and never, ever showing myself. The BZL was a wondeful silly escape for me in some dark hours.


I'm helping run a health spa, with my own little clifftop chalet. Any day now I'll meet my one true love and live happily ever after. He may look a lot like Darcy or Heathcliff.


I dont really remember. I think I was listening to a lot of women singing about how bad their men were.


The main thing I liked in 1998 was my then-partner. Now I don't.


I thought I'd probably be dead by now. If not I thought I'd be working in media, theatre, something like that.


Pretty much wrong.


Get out, and take your precious possessions with you. Don't be afraid to ask for help from your friends, they're better than you know. Post on the BZL.


Have they managed to clone Sean bean yet, and do i need to start saving up now?


Dancer hadnt got her powers yet and she was travelling the world hitching and waitressing while she was waiting for her big break in showbiz. Kerry was at home in Bogall setting fire to her school and brother.


You'd better ask HH

without remembering exact specifics, i was somewhere along the lines of having a near-complete psychological breakdown.

and dealing with being in a new city, the loss of what amounted to my friends group at the time, etc, etc.
the same city and in ways still trying to pierce together remnants of what happened then.

batman will probably always remain tops in so far as media and comics, but lately it's been more about my own personal interpretation of him as opposed to what creators have done with him in comics.

musically, i actually still like a lot of what i listened to then, though i don't listen to music nearly as often anymore, which is a shame.

right now, i'd probably have to go with michael garibaldi from babylon 5.

musically, when i do have the chance now, i tend to listen to a lot more classical.

but i still have a soft spot for rock.


given that i've gone almost a complete 180 from the mindset of then, i would have completely been off.


take four to five years off, go anywhere that isn't montana--best bets being oregon or possibly seattle--and just try to relearn how to have fun again.


"do you regret the lost years?"

undergoing a transformation from the dark knight to the chronicler that still hasn't really been resolved.

which, pending available time...

>

keep your eyes to the skies, reader.

I had newly left school and arrived at the University of Glasgow, all eager to study virology. The world was my petri dish.


I live in Dundee and work as a supply (=substitute) teacher of tiny children. I did two years full-time but this suits me better - getting work is unpredictable but typically means a three-day week, so I have time for all the other stuff I pretty much haven't been able to do for ages. Internet access still through public library though.


Calvin from the Bill Watterson strip, taking on the universe with sheer force of imagination. My favourite book was The Chrysalids and song may well have been Give Me Daughters by Jonathan Fire*Eater. In September 1998 I owned a grand total of five comics, picked up for small change a few weeks earlier. Four of them were Byrne-era Iron Man and laid the foundations of a collection.


Favourite character is Flashman. I would (and hereby do) recommend Julie Phillips' biography of Alice Sheldon. Song is A Case Of You. Favourite comics are Stray Bullets and the strip Gaston, and the only one I still pick up monthly is 100 Bullets. This is despite my long ago ceasing to have any clue what was supposed to be going on. I look on my previous favourites with an approving nod.


I'd sail through my course then settle down and virologise. Couldn't say with any honesty that I thought that far ahead though.


Not much. In what could be held up as a rather poor piece of planning, I chose my courses based on which elements had been most interesting last time round, and it soon became obvious that wouldn't be virology. This steered me into a tiny niche I continue to find fascinating but which was of nil use to man or beast in the outside world, so I wandered through a few agreeable slack-friendly jobs (spend most of your free time in the library? Hey! Why not the working day as well?). Eventually teaching called. The settling down is happening by stealth.


To misquote Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by oversight. And just to make sure, don't let it get that far either.


Did you ever find those keys? Where were they?


thud and Cressida had only just met. They were finding small-town Lanarkshire too constricting and began to look over the ocean towards the bright lights of the big city.


After a long time on the run and an indeterminate period in a parking reality they have been dumped back into the Parodopolis we know and love. And next? Er... watch this space. Is that a cop-out?

> Hello and welcome to our THEN and NOW survey, in which we reflect upon where we were when the Parodyverse was born in September 1998. We therefore require answers to the following questions: > > 1a. Where were you in September 1998? What were you doing at the time? > Living in a New York leafy suburb with wife, 7 year old daughter, 5 year old son and incontinent, semi-feral cat. Working as lawyer for a somewhat dodgy investment firm, and wondering when my boss would blow up at me next. > 1b. Where are you now and what are you doing? > Living in a larger house in same leafy suburb, etc., with a docile, affectionate cat. Working as lawyer for large, reputable investment bank that thank heaven got out of mortgage securities in 2004. Coping with wife's severe illness. > 2a. What was your favourite media character, book, song, and/or comic in 1998? > Sir Humphrey Appleby in the "Yes, Minister" series. Not only brilliantly funny but I've used many of his stratagems when things were desperate. They ought to teach his view on minuting in law school. > 2b. What is it now? And how do you feel about the things you liked in 1998? > The same. "Yes, Minister" is timeless. > 3a. If we’d have asked you in 1998 to predict what would happen to you and the world in the next ten years what would you have said? > The developed world will get more competitive, coarser, and experience the blowup of an asset bubble. As for me, sooner or later my boss would either get me or the authorities would get him. > 3b. How right would you have been? > I was wrong about the authorities. > 4a. If you could go back to 1998 and give yourself a piece of advice what would it be? > Get out. > 4b. If future you came back from 2018 what one question would you ask him or her?What could I do better to raise/help my children? > > 5a. What were your Parodyverse characters doing in 1998? > Beth Zemo nee' Dewdrop: Senior in high school in North Dakota, frustrated that she didn't make cheerleaders, color guard, majorettes or pompom squad and diverting her frustration into academics. Sally Rezilyant: Junior in high school in Fairfax, Va., and finding out she could be *very* popular with the football team, the track team, the soccer team . . . . Baron Ottokar Zemo: Combating a superannuated Yale professor of archaeology in the tunnels underneath a mysterious pyramid. > 5b. Where are they now, and what’s going to happen to them next? > I'll write something, sometime, somehow -- just as soon as the financial markets straighten out. I've been on Fannie/Freddie, Lehman, AIG, Merrill Lynch and Fed duty for weeks. > Keep tuned for more anniversary events this week, and don’t forget you’re allowed – nay, encouraged - to comment on other people’s replies.

> Hello and welcome to our THEN and NOW survey, in which we reflect upon where we were when the Parodyverse was born in September 1998. We therefore require answers to the following questions: > > 1a. Where were you in September 1998? What were you doing at the time? > Living in a New York leafy suburb with wife, 7 year old daughter, 5 year old son and incontinent, semi-feral cat. Working as lawyer for a somewhat dodgy investment firm, and wondering when my boss would blow up at me next. > 1b. Where are you now and what are you doing? > Living in a larger house in same leafy suburb, etc., with a docile, affectionate cat. Working as lawyer for large, reputable investment bank that thank heaven got out of mortgage securities in 2004. Coping with wife's severe illness. > 2a. What was your favourite media character, book, song, and/or comic in 1998? > Sir Humphrey Appleby in the "Yes, Minister" series. Not only brilliantly funny but I've used many of his stratagems when things were desperate. They ought to teach his view on minuting in law school. > 2b. What is it now? And how do you feel about the things you liked in 1998? > The same. "Yes, Minister" is timeless. > 3a. If we’d have asked you in 1998 to predict what would happen to you and the world in the next ten years what would you have said? > The developed world will get more competitive, coarser, and experience the blowup of an asset bubble. As for me, sooner or later my boss would either get me or the authorities would get him. > 3b. How right would you have been? > I was wrong about the authorities. > 4a. If you could go back to 1998 and give yourself a piece of advice what would it be? > Get out. > 4b. If future you came back from 2018 what one question would you ask him or her?What could I do better to raise/help my children? > > 5a. What were your Parodyverse characters doing in 1998? > Beth Zemo nee' Dewdrop: Senior in high school in North Dakota, frustrated that she didn't make cheerleaders, color guard, majorettes or pompom squad and diverting her frustration into academics. Sally Rezilyant: Junior in high school in Fairfax, Va., and finding out she could be *very* popular with the football team, the track team, the soccer team . . . . Baron Ottokar Zemo: Combating a superannuated Yale professor of archaeology in the tunnels underneath a mysterious pyramid. > 5b. Where are they now, and what’s going to happen to them next? > I'll write something, sometime, somehow -- just as soon as the financial markets straighten out. I've been on Fannie/Freddie, Lehman, AIG, Merrill Lynch and Fed duty for weeks. > Keep tuned for more anniversary events this week, and don’t forget you’re allowed – nay, encouraged - to comment on other people’s replies.