Basically, if you're reading this, you don't know me, or you claim to know me but you're doing some catch up work, or you're just that bored!!!

Let's start at the beginning of all beginnings:

     On the day of July 16th, 1984, Fabien André Pierre Heitz was born.  That event took place in Boston, MA, where I spent the next three years of my life.  I actually lived in Medford with my parents, Catherine and Jean-François Heitz.  On February 3rd, 1987, I got a present: a baby sister, Nathalie Jennifer. During the summer of that year, we packed up and moved to France, in a little village named Courances.

     I spent 7 years of my life there, in a house that started out as a stable over 100 years ago.  It was fun; we had a huge back yard, surrounded by brick walls.  Later during my stay in the little village of 300, my neighbor Sébastien and I got yelled at by the neighbors (on all sides) for climbing into their yards and stealing - bar that, borrowing - food from their gardens; that's another story...  Anyways, come October 20th, 1989, I got another present: yet another baby sister: Aurélia Vicky.  That made 3 of us, although usually it was the two girls against me...

     After countless fights with the sis', trips to the Riviera during the summer, to the Alps during the dead of winter, so many events I would bore even the most interested readers, and after having finished the French equivalent of the 4th grade, CM2, my dad announced to us that we would be moving to the United States of America, a place we would call home for the next two years...

     So we left Paris (Courances) for Seattle (Bellevue)...

     I had really only learned English in elementary school, so I knew how to say "hello" and "goodbye" by the time school started; I couldn't get "I don't understand" down by the first day... it was just sooo complicated!! Anyways, the first day was really one of my worst ever, so I'll tell the tale:

     My first day at "Cougar Ridge Elementary" started out bad, and then went from bad to worse.  Firstly, I was assigned to the 4th grade, and not to the 5th grade... so I did not have a desk in the room I was supposed to be in.  Second, I did not know how to speak English, so I could not explain myself; my mom was running throughout the school trying to get things fixed, so I was sitting in the classroom speechless, and not by choice.  Then, after not understanding what the teacher said, the kids were too stupid to understand my situation, so quickly came the 5th grade treatment...

     Well, 6th grade was no better: I went to this school called Eton Montessori.  Terrible school.  They make you do work at your own rate, so obviously, you get nothing done.  All I can remember from that school was playing soccer in a parking lot during recess, making a bad BAD movie during Social Studies class, trying to read "The Hobbit" (keep in mind I still couldn't speak English well, much less read HK Tolkien!!) and finishing the curriculum of 7th grade math 2/3 of the way through the year.

     For 7th grade, I went to this really good private school called "Overlake."  It was one of the best in the area, and still is for that matter.  People there were a lot nicer, but unfortunately, I did not get along well with someone who turned out to be one of my best friends: Fred.  So after a bad 5th grade, a boring 6th grade, 7th grade was not much better.  Freddy left Overlake after that year; 8th grade turned out a lot better than 7th.

     High School was just around the corner.  I stayed at Overlake, which is a 5-12 school.  9th grade will always be marked by my English teacher, Army, saying "you're in the upper school now!"   I can't quite differ between the years anymore, but I will always have great memories at Overlake.  I took part in sports such as wrestling and track in 10th grade, tennis in 11th, and cross country senior year.  Cross Country was by far and large my favorite off all sports I did at Overlake.  I did it with my best friends, so we shared a lot of good moments together at meets and elsewhere...  11th grade was the year where Michael convinced me to join choir; we were bored in math class - as always, and he told me I should audition for the Chamber Choir...  which I did, and I will never regret it.

     Senior year was one of the most eventful years of my life.  As I said before, I started the year with a punch by running Cross Country with Matt, Michael, Zach, Francesco, Sohier, Jake, Broderick... That was great practice for climbing mountains.  Michael Tomek and I climbed Mt Rainier at the end of September of that year.  That is one of my favorite achievements ever.  Then, I was also convinced to audition for the all-school musical "Cinderella."  I landed the role of the "Chef."  This is when I realized I should have done shows throughout high school... Soon thereafter I crashed my beloved '94 Thunderbird coming home from my first date with Emma.  The end of the year was right around the corner, and by that point I knew that I would be the only one from my class to attend Carnegie Mellon University, in Pittsburgh, PA.  Spring was a lot of fun: tossing the bee around campus, as well as March Mudness, were all great times.  Senior Prom was a lot of fun, too; I asked Elena to accompany me to this event, as I had done the previous year.  Our barbershop quartet was invited as a guest artist to perform for the prom: Michael, Nelson, Ross and myself comprised this fun little group.  Graduation came and went so quickly, with a singing octet of seniors and an awesome after-party throughout the night.  That marks the end of my life at Overlake, although I will come back there countless times...

     College was, like many people say, a turning experience in my life.  Freshman year, I roomed in Scobell Hall with Mark Prack, a fellow Mechanical Engineer.  Across the hall, we met Max Egan; and from the 1st floor, Fouad I. Alkisswani, Vipin Khare and his roomate Alex Chen joined us to form what is now known as "The Unit."  Majoring in MechE has had its ups and downs: ups such as a mousetrap airplane competition in Intro to MechE, building the class' strongest cardboard bridge to hold up our professor in Intro to CivE, as well as building an aluminum structure to lift a weight in Sophomore year's Stress Analysis class.  Low, such as Diff-Eq at the end of freshman year and Physics II this year have made me want to quit...  Other activities at CMU have been awesome, such as trying to learn the bagpipes with Alasdair Gillies freshman year, as well as taking part in the Kiltie Band - the school's marching band - have been interesting.  Singing in Dr Robert Page's choir has been amazing - still thanks to Michael for making me audition in h.s.  We've done works such as Carmina Burana, Bach's Magnificat, and the famous Arthur Harris Christmas songs.  I also sang Brahms' Requiem with Page during a summer tour in Germany, during 2003.  All of this musical activity has decided me to add a "Music Theory" minor to my "Mechanical Engineering" major.  After having roomed together again sophomore year in Webster Hall, with a third roomate, Vipin - of The Unit, Mark and I are set to room together again in Webster Hall for Junior year.

     My Sophomore year in college is coming to an end, and I will add more and more stories to this page as time goes on, but that's it for now.  This has been your glimpse into my past...