Although this September seems to be coming in a very close second for most of us right now. T.S. Eliot was born on this day in 1888, and although I tend to agree with Adrian C. Louis’ opinion of "The Waste Land," "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is one of my favourite poems of all time, and Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats was, of course, the inspiration behind the musical Cats, which was in turn a huge obsession of my childhood crush. Time for the friday5.org Friday Five.

1. When did someone last break something of yours?
I can’t remember the last time, but the most vivid was when I was a teenager and my sister, while cleaning my room without my permission, cracked the screen of my Game Gear while throwing a bunch of things into a little plastic bucket I kept on one of my windowsills. She still hasn’t gotten it repaired, although I don’t exactly play my Game Gear much these days.

2. When did you last play hackysack, if ever?
I tried it in high school since a few other students were playing it, but I have no real dexterity with my feet, although I guess all these years of DDR might have changed that.

3. What was your most dramatic haircut like?
Dad always took me to BoRics for my haircuts, and it never failed that he’d get the cute hairstylist, something that always ticked me off. Well, the summer between seventh and eighth grades I finally got the cute one, and of course she wound up cutting off nearly all of my ponytail, tapering it to a fine point. I got one more haircut a few months after that, and haven’t had one since; it’ll be twenty years since my last haircut next year.

4. Hacking is basically breaking through the security that protects a computer or a website. What’s the closest you’ve come to doing something similar in real life?
Do they expect honest answers to this question? I don’t feel like answering it for fairly obvious reasons.

5. In the world of stand-up comedy, a hack is a comic who steals jokes from other comics. Have you ever known a hack in your own field?
Teachers borrow techniques from other teachers all the time; we’re all trying to figure out readings and activities that will help our students learn and that might actually interest them. I think the "hacks" in our field are the ones who use the Powerpoints and lecture notes and tests that come with the teacher’s edition textbooks and don’t even try to address the students personally aside from answering an odd question here and there.