To begin with, Sonny lived a very sheltered childhood. Born in Alexandria, Virginia, he lived there until he was almost five, before moving to a new house in Fairfax. As Sonny began school at Fairfax Villa Elementary, he excelled in mathematics-related exercises such as connect-the-dots and paint-by-number. In the middle of second grade though, the Louie family moved to Baton Rouge, Lousiana for what would be two relatively uneventful years. A few incidents stand out, such as Sonny stapling his finger and missing the bus to school numerous times, but besides that, it was hot down there. There really isn't much else to say. After that, Sonny moved back to the same house in Fairfax and continued his schooling at Greenbriar West Elementary. Unfortunately, Sonny is getting really bored talking about his childhood at this point, so he's going to change topics and fast-forward a few years. Also note that Sonny remembers very little up until about age 10, so there really isn't much to add anyway.

After those years as a Greenbriar West Panda...oh, Sonny almost forgot the school song. Let him see if he can remember...(singing) Greenbriar West, we're the best...school in all the land. Greenbriar West, we're the best. We know where we stand. Our school spirit's in the air. Panda Pride is everywhere. We're a happy school all year. Come on pandas, give a cheer.... and then you repeat it or something. But if that wasn't brainwashing, Sonny doesn't know...because they made him chant that stupid song at all the assemblies and stuff. And he wouldn't have minded, but it sucked and everyone felt like an idiot saying those words. But anyway, after that, Sonny spent two happy years at Sidney Lanier Middle School where he gave Jay Planakis his algebra homework one day in 7th grade on the bus. But Jay never went to class, so Sonny didn't have anything to turn in to Mrs.Allen, giving him his only zero for the year. Because of that, Sonny only finished with a 107% average for the year. Also that year, Sonny tied for first place in the Virginia Math League Contest with Greg Tseng. First place in the state! Not bad, huh? Greg is now at MIT being a nerd, and Sonny seems content being a complete and total academic failure. And in 8th grade, by some fluke and possibly some tampering in the ballots, Sonny was voted most friendliest of the graduating class there.

Sonny then moved on to The Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, where he hurt himself a lot. In his freshman year, during basketball practice, he was tripped by Jesse Schank and fell headfirst into a metal part of the bleachers. He needed a few stitches after that incident. Then later that year, while playing a game of pick-up basketball before school, Sonny was tripped by Jacob Braun. Instead of trying to stop his fall though, Sonny tried to maintain his dribble and kept his hands on the ball. Because of this, Sonny's two front teeth broke his fall and snapped in half. After a few weeks and almost a thousand bucks in dental costs for two root canals and a pair of crowns, Sonny was good as new. Then on the last day of football practice in his sophomore year at Jefferson, Sonny missed a tackle on Bobby Suh and spun really hard into the ground, breaking his arm. It eventually healed after a few months in a sling. Then the following year, Sonny had his first start at tailback against South Lakes because the two running backs starting ahead of him were injured. In the first drive down the field, Sonny received a huge blow to the head an his chin was split open. Being the man that he was though, Sonny stayed in the game and gained over 200 all-purpose yards and giving Jefferson the victory. After the game though, Sonny had to get about half a dozen stitches. That's all Sonny remembers of high school.

(Magical grammar-warp into the first person...otherwise known as Sonny was too lazy to rewrite the following paragraphs from the old page)

I have also included for your viewing pleasure, a few highlights from my short yet memorable high school football career. The first is my first appearance in the Washington Post. Note their enormous respect for me indicated by their spelling of my name incorrectly. The second is at the end of another post article about running back Jason Hatala. They failed to mention that I also had an interception on defense. But that's okay because they spelled my name right this time. This last clipping is from a preseason review of my team in the Journal. This was one of the first times my name appeared in a newspaper, and I guess it was pretty funny because my teammates laughed at me for weeks and they kept quoting the article throughout the season.

I ran into my buddy Nikolai a while back, and he had made double prints of some pictures taken October 1997 during the Mud Run. I took two from him and I'm posting them here because the whole thing was just soo much fun, and I want everyone else to come do it with me next year. The first picture is of the last leg of the race where we were all pretty much swimming in the mud. I can only make out three of us. That's Nikolai in the goggles, me in the middle, and Steve at the top of the picture with his mouth wide open. The other one is a post-race shot that I just wanted to include because it makes me look buff. From left to right, it's Nikolai, me, Steve, Mike, and Elliott with his back turned (together, we formed Team Discovery Channel). Anyway, that was the Mud Run - lots of fun - and here are some more pictures: front and rear shots, at the campground, the place where we ate and an after shot.

has generously provided this
space for me to express myself.