25 Things
I gave in... I'm writing this after writing the list and I'm amazed how hard it was. Anyway. Here you go. Twenty five things about me.
1) I hate how my hair looks when it's short. But I am too impatient to let it grow long. So I haven't had long hair, well, ever.
2) I have a love/hate relationship with my height. I think that it gives me a bit of quirkiness (yeah, like I was really lacking there...), but I also think life would be easier if I were taller. Buying clothes would be easier, keeping my weight steady would be easier, reaching things on top shelves would be easier, etc, etc.
3) I started working on political campaigns when I was fourteen years old. I started off helping out in Russ Carnahan's campaign office in March of 2005 after having my friend Austin track down his Dad at the mall and asking him for a job, and I still work there. I worked full time in that office in the summer of 2006 and I think that that will always be the period of time I look back on as the best time of my life.
4) I get depressed when I start thinking that I peaked in 2006 and that it's all down here from there. To make up for that, I make grandiose plans that I will probably never actually carry through with. Current plans include spending the summer traveling Europe, getting back with my oboe playing and becoming part of the pit of a touring musical, getting my MBA and joining the Peace Corps.
5) I have never gotten a speeding ticket and I have never been in a car accident. I did, however, hit a parked car once when backing up. I don't think that should count though. I don't have a reason it shouldn't count, it just shouldn't.
6) I absolutely love playing in orchestra pits of musicals. I did my first show in eighth grade. Sadly, I think my playing was better then than it is now. People tell me otherwise, but I know for a fact that I was playing a good fifteen hours a week more than I play now.
7) Speaking of my middle school music experience -- I had a terrible crush on my middle school band teacher, Mr. Harris. But I guess these are supposed to be things most people WOULDN'T know about me. I think everyone -- EVERYONE -- knew about my crush on Mr. Harris. Amusingly, I still talk to him, now he's "Jason" and I don't find him remotely attractive. I joked with him during the last show that we played together that we were perfectly intellectually matched when I was twelve.
8) I think it would be interesting to live somewhere other than Saint Louis, but know that I would absolutely hate living anywhere farther than twenty minutes from my family. I already don't like living five minutes away.
9) I hate that my older brother, Phil, moved out to California last August. I always figured that I would get close with my brothers when I got older, but now that he lives thousands of miles away, I'm losing hope.
10) My other brother, Nathan, claims that the reason I'm so outgoing is because he was so mean to me growing up. I kind of believe it.
11) I am envious of how close my older brothers are and that I have never had that kind of close relationship with a sibling.
12) I am also grateful for how close my brothers are, because if I were closer with them, I might not be as close as I am with my mother.
13) I have the coolest mom ever. She is my best friend. There's a scene in Mamma Mia! that makes her cry every time we've seen it (20+ times), where the mom sings "What happened to the wonderful adventures / The places I had planned for us to go / Well, some of that we did but most we didn't / And why I just don't know ". That line always makes me happy, because my mother and I haven't missed out on any of those adventures that we dreamed of. We have done everything I could have ever wanted, and more.
14) Going to college has made me appreciate my friends from high school. I went through high school thinking I didn't have any close friends. I didn't have many, but I had way more than I do now. There are really only two people from high school I've kept in touch with, but I am so much more grateful for their friendships now, and am much more willing to work at keeping them going.
15) My four year advisor at WashU is Ray Arvidson (see: http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/arvidsonRay.php). He is the smartest person I have ever met, and I think it is absolutely awesome that he takes time to direct the undergrad environmental focus group I'm in, the Pathfinder program.
16) I'd put my Dad right up there on the list of smartest people I know, right up by Ray. But one of the things I love most about my dad? Whenever I feel bad about how I did on something, he knows EXACTLY what to say to pick me up and get me back on track. He doesn't just tell me that he thinks I'm perfect no matter what, like any good Dad says, it's that he prefaces that with understanding of how I'm feeling and his faith that I can do better. It's hard to put into words, but all I know is how I felt talking to him after getting a 29 on my first chemistry test. No one else in the world could have said anything more helpful.
17) Being a part of the Pathfinder program is a great experience, not only because of Ray's awesomeness, but also because my fellow Pathfinders are the best group of peers I could have ever asked for.
18) I love text messaging. The little noise my phone makes when I get a new message makes me inexplicably happy.
19) I made a resolution to spend more time in the dorms this semester. But the truth is, I hate the dorms. And I really don't think spending more time there is going to make me hate them any less. I love being at home. What's wrong with that?
20) I was baptized Catholic because my father's family was very religious. This did not, in any way, make me feel like any less of a heathen child when I was in the "Young Catholic Musicians" in middle school. Even if I had "really" been Catholic, I feel like the not-quite-matching bright blue bow ties and cummerbunds would have been way more than enough reason to turn against the church.
21) I had never really hated anyone in my life until last year. But I hate every person that attacked my family last July. I hate them for the pain, both physical and emotional, they caused my family most of all. But I also hate them for ruining my idealism, the genuine faith I had in the goodness of all people. That is shattered.
22) I also never loved anybody other than family and friends. I don't quite know what to say on this one, except that I know that's not true anymore. And even though nothing came from it except for one sad train ride, I am glad. It was a growing experience.
23) I love the East Village Opera Company. Yes, their music is amazing, but for me, it's the people in EVOC who make it special. They are some of the sweetest, most interesting people I know. I feel so honored to have been adopted as a member of that family. Being even the tiniest little part of EVOC is like a dream come true.
24) I love Disney World. I wish I could live in EPCOT. My dream job would definitely be being one of those people who gets to go around Disney and give out special offers to vacationers.
25) Joe Chambers, my high school history teacher, soccer coach and confidant, once said about me that I was "Entirely too excited about everything." I would really like to be entirely too excited about everything again.
1) I hate how my hair looks when it's short. But I am too impatient to let it grow long. So I haven't had long hair, well, ever.
2) I have a love/hate relationship with my height. I think that it gives me a bit of quirkiness (yeah, like I was really lacking there...), but I also think life would be easier if I were taller. Buying clothes would be easier, keeping my weight steady would be easier, reaching things on top shelves would be easier, etc, etc.
3) I started working on political campaigns when I was fourteen years old. I started off helping out in Russ Carnahan's campaign office in March of 2005 after having my friend Austin track down his Dad at the mall and asking him for a job, and I still work there. I worked full time in that office in the summer of 2006 and I think that that will always be the period of time I look back on as the best time of my life.
4) I get depressed when I start thinking that I peaked in 2006 and that it's all down here from there. To make up for that, I make grandiose plans that I will probably never actually carry through with. Current plans include spending the summer traveling Europe, getting back with my oboe playing and becoming part of the pit of a touring musical, getting my MBA and joining the Peace Corps.
5) I have never gotten a speeding ticket and I have never been in a car accident. I did, however, hit a parked car once when backing up. I don't think that should count though. I don't have a reason it shouldn't count, it just shouldn't.
6) I absolutely love playing in orchestra pits of musicals. I did my first show in eighth grade. Sadly, I think my playing was better then than it is now. People tell me otherwise, but I know for a fact that I was playing a good fifteen hours a week more than I play now.
7) Speaking of my middle school music experience -- I had a terrible crush on my middle school band teacher, Mr. Harris. But I guess these are supposed to be things most people WOULDN'T know about me. I think everyone -- EVERYONE -- knew about my crush on Mr. Harris. Amusingly, I still talk to him, now he's "Jason" and I don't find him remotely attractive. I joked with him during the last show that we played together that we were perfectly intellectually matched when I was twelve.
8) I think it would be interesting to live somewhere other than Saint Louis, but know that I would absolutely hate living anywhere farther than twenty minutes from my family. I already don't like living five minutes away.
9) I hate that my older brother, Phil, moved out to California last August. I always figured that I would get close with my brothers when I got older, but now that he lives thousands of miles away, I'm losing hope.
10) My other brother, Nathan, claims that the reason I'm so outgoing is because he was so mean to me growing up. I kind of believe it.
11) I am envious of how close my older brothers are and that I have never had that kind of close relationship with a sibling.
12) I am also grateful for how close my brothers are, because if I were closer with them, I might not be as close as I am with my mother.
13) I have the coolest mom ever. She is my best friend. There's a scene in Mamma Mia! that makes her cry every time we've seen it (20+ times), where the mom sings "What happened to the wonderful adventures / The places I had planned for us to go / Well, some of that we did but most we didn't / And why I just don't know ". That line always makes me happy, because my mother and I haven't missed out on any of those adventures that we dreamed of. We have done everything I could have ever wanted, and more.
14) Going to college has made me appreciate my friends from high school. I went through high school thinking I didn't have any close friends. I didn't have many, but I had way more than I do now. There are really only two people from high school I've kept in touch with, but I am so much more grateful for their friendships now, and am much more willing to work at keeping them going.
15) My four year advisor at WashU is Ray Arvidson (see: http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/arvidsonRay.php). He is the smartest person I have ever met, and I think it is absolutely awesome that he takes time to direct the undergrad environmental focus group I'm in, the Pathfinder program.
16) I'd put my Dad right up there on the list of smartest people I know, right up by Ray. But one of the things I love most about my dad? Whenever I feel bad about how I did on something, he knows EXACTLY what to say to pick me up and get me back on track. He doesn't just tell me that he thinks I'm perfect no matter what, like any good Dad says, it's that he prefaces that with understanding of how I'm feeling and his faith that I can do better. It's hard to put into words, but all I know is how I felt talking to him after getting a 29 on my first chemistry test. No one else in the world could have said anything more helpful.
17) Being a part of the Pathfinder program is a great experience, not only because of Ray's awesomeness, but also because my fellow Pathfinders are the best group of peers I could have ever asked for.
18) I love text messaging. The little noise my phone makes when I get a new message makes me inexplicably happy.
19) I made a resolution to spend more time in the dorms this semester. But the truth is, I hate the dorms. And I really don't think spending more time there is going to make me hate them any less. I love being at home. What's wrong with that?
20) I was baptized Catholic because my father's family was very religious. This did not, in any way, make me feel like any less of a heathen child when I was in the "Young Catholic Musicians" in middle school. Even if I had "really" been Catholic, I feel like the not-quite-matching bright blue bow ties and cummerbunds would have been way more than enough reason to turn against the church.
21) I had never really hated anyone in my life until last year. But I hate every person that attacked my family last July. I hate them for the pain, both physical and emotional, they caused my family most of all. But I also hate them for ruining my idealism, the genuine faith I had in the goodness of all people. That is shattered.
22) I also never loved anybody other than family and friends. I don't quite know what to say on this one, except that I know that's not true anymore. And even though nothing came from it except for one sad train ride, I am glad. It was a growing experience.
23) I love the East Village Opera Company. Yes, their music is amazing, but for me, it's the people in EVOC who make it special. They are some of the sweetest, most interesting people I know. I feel so honored to have been adopted as a member of that family. Being even the tiniest little part of EVOC is like a dream come true.
24) I love Disney World. I wish I could live in EPCOT. My dream job would definitely be being one of those people who gets to go around Disney and give out special offers to vacationers.
25) Joe Chambers, my high school history teacher, soccer coach and confidant, once said about me that I was "Entirely too excited about everything." I would really like to be entirely too excited about everything again.