1. I value truth above everything else, including my own happiness.
2. Until I was 17 I thought I was a staunch Christian Republican. I am obviously not.
3. I've been an insomniac pretty much all of my life. My worst bout of insomnia was, without break, from age 14-23, where I would sleep (if I was lucky) 2-3 hours a night and on particularly unlucky stints I would go 3-4 days without sleeping, to the point of hallucinations.
4. The worst sound in the world isn't someone sobbing in unleashed agony, country music, nails on a chalkboard or even GWBush making a speech, but is instead the sound made when someone eats a banana. Unless the banana is slightly green and care is taken not to moosh it around in your mouth. It is bad enough that in the past I have envisioned taking someone's head and smacking it onto a nearby surface to render them unconscious and therefore unable to continue eating said banana.
5. Until I turned 31 I was convinced I would die before I turned 30. When I say 'convinced', I mean that I didn't bother dreaming about or setting goals around getting married, having kids, buying a house, growing old, etc. Really, what was the point? It wasn't something I obsessed over, it just something that firmly 'was'.
6. My blood is a big pain in the ass. It inflames/coagulates in my veins at the slightest thing: stress, working out, food intollerances, etc. (Yay rouleux.) It makes for some Very Annoying Badness.
7. I've had a dream every night since her passing with my grandmother in it, peripherally or actively involved.
8. I believe that everything happens for a reason, but I don't believe that some deity or force is working behind the scenes, and I don't believe in fate.
9. I am very shy - sometimes mildly and sometimes extremely - and always have been. Which sucks because I'm a definite extrovert. I work at it on a daily basis.
10. I take life way too seriously. Therefore, this year I am deliberately working to have fun and bring 'fun' into my environment. Case in point: both of my bosses will return from a crazy work trip to find their offices decorated ala Skipper & Gilligan theme. We'll see if they blame me and my cohort in crime or the man who started it all.
11. The worst and most traumatic experiences in my life have also been the best.
12. I decided a few years ago to go against my grain of choosing safe, reliable foods and try every new food I come across at least once. Since then I have eaten less strange foods than my childhood, wherein I tried caviar, fish eyeballs and sperm, whale blubber, pickled tongue and pigs feet, lutefisk, and old school blood pudding. Even so, I'm not convinced yet that I can bring myself to eat live bugs. Or live anything. Jury's still out on those.
13. One of my dream vacations is hiking the 440 km trail Kungsleden in Sweden. I have several things to accomplish in order to bring this dream to fruition. I am currently working on the 3 day, 60 mile hike training for Susan G Komen and will soon pick another adventure in physical preparation. I will need to find a partner who's stupid enough to do this with me. (I don't know if Joe'll actually be up for it.) I have to get out of debt and or find a method to save for the trip. It looks, currently, like it might be 2-3 years out. WOOO!!!!
14. Crazily enough, I think taking Sid and His Wumun and Joe on that hike would be awesome. Even if I haven't met His Wumun yet. Whaddya say, Sid?
15. Every day (yes, every day) since January - when we originally made the plans - I've squirmed in anticipation for my May trip to DC & NY. It'll be the first time visiting the east coast. I don't care about the Statue of Liberty (please don't shoot me) as much as the fact that I'll be able to walk the halls of the Smithsonian like I've wanted to do since I was a kid, when my grandma shared her experience there. And I boggle over the weirdness of my excitement. I'm pretty certain I shouldn't be this excited.
16. I'm writing a musical about zombies.
17. I fidget, which isn't anything extraordinary, mind you. I love to indulge in kinesthetic things while my mind is working, including squishing squeeze toys, playing with a slinky, clinking things for the vibrations, clicking pens, bouncing my knee, etc. What I don't get is why people say (and actually strongly believe) this is nervous energy. I don't do it because I'm nervous. And you can make the argument that it stimulates the nerves, but that's not what the majority of people are thinking when they chastise me. Dood, it helps my brain process shit. Just because it makes YOU nervous, doesn't mean it's stemming from nervousness with ME.
18. I will never live in Texas. You can't make me.
19. I am fascinated by native English speakers who have solidly learned, inside and out, the Japanese and or Chinese languages. (Yes Tyler, this includes you.) The language is so completely, fundamentally foreign in the way it was constructed, and constructed around a brain pattern (biological, chemical, historical, etc.) not at all similar to that of English-speakers, that anyone who can force-adapt their brains so thoroughly is worthy of a raised brow and handshake at the very least.
20. One of my 'dreams' is to become a neuroscientist with a focus in musicology. I say 'dream' because while I'm capable of accomplishing this, I'm not certain I want to put my other goals/dreams on hold in order to pursue this passion of mine. Now, if scientists would just hurry up and perfect the reversal of cell degeneration and dna manipulation....
21. I love finding out the 'why' about people. LOVE. What did you experience and what did you take from it and why did you take -that- from it and how do you approach things and how does your brain work and is it chemically different from the getgo (at birth) or did it form that way over time because of the neural firing based on the environmental factors (nutrients, experience stimulation, etc.) which made your networking differently or is it because...
22. I have actually watched something play out between people that brought an unexpected vivid image to my mind of monkeys throwing poo and violently grabbing their genitals.
23. I apologize to those I offend, but I don't understand why so many people can't differentiate between 'their', 'there', and 'they're'. It seriously confuses me. I refuse to believe that they (most of 'em) aren't capable of learning, which leaves (in my mind) only one logical argument: laziness. Which then confuses me further. This whole emotional process is usually summed up with a fist that shakes in the air, accompanied by 'WHY?!' when I receive emails. (Along the same lines, I remember my elementary teacher teaching us to spell 'their' as 'thier', and it fucked me up for four years.)
24. I really, -really- wish dogs didn't have nightmares. It makes me genuinely sad. They're generally such happy, loving, loyal, fun creatures. They don't deserve nightmares. (Yes, I realize how silly that sounds.)
25. I took almost a month to complete this meme, mainly because I find it difficult to imagine there's anything that someone would A) not know about me and B) find interesting. I know. Silly, too.
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