25 Random Things About Me
1. Only recently learned how to swallow pills. I can chew Tylenol unperturbed due to a lifetime of being unable to get a pill down whole. (But now that I can get a pill down without chewing, taking medication is almost fun! Especially since chewing super bitter meds like antibiotics always made me want to throw up.)
2. On a related note, I have had people count (on separate occasions) the number of times it took me to chew something because they couldn't believe how slowly I eat. A mouthful of cereal: 60. A single dumpling: 153.
3. As a child I was tested for my IQ and scored fairly well (about as much as my dumpling chewing). All that meant, though, was that I got sent to extra classes and got singled out in a way that did wonders for my social development. (I think if I were to take an IQ test today my score would be a hell of a lot lower.)
4. I learned how to drive stickshift in Japan, where they drive on the other side of the street -- so I first became adept at shifting with my left hand. When I got back to the States, having to shift with my right hand felt really weird.
5. Name of my very first pet: Meatball, a golden teddy bear hamster. Which means my porn star name (first pet's name and the street name of your first residence) is Meatball Sierra Vista.
6. Was once a devout born-again Christian who taught Sunday School and sang alto in the choir. Also was once a registered Republican (child of the eighties, what can I say?)
7. Jay Leno gave me a lift once, in one of his vintage cars.
8. Have never been to Catalina Island, even though I was born and raised in Southern California and live here now. Also never visited Liberty Island while living in New York nor Alcatraz Island while living in San Francisco. I do like islands though.
9. Warm fuzzy graduate school memories include: getting only 15 hours of sleep over the course of a week, subsisting on Doritos washed down with vending machine coffee, and going back to class a few days after surgery for appendicitis. Got my first white hairs then. Thanks a heap, Columbia J-school!
10. Made the mistake of picking up inexpensive but heavy souvenirs early on in a two-month backpacking tour of Europe, which meant lugging around empty glass Coke bottles (from various countries) and a piece of the Berlin Wall for eight weeks.
11. Can touch my nose with the tip of my tongue, and fold my tongue into a straw shape. I cannot, however, turn my tongue into a clover or flip it over.
12. When I was younger, I seriously considered eyelid surgery to make my single-lidded Asian eyes bigger. But then they developed folds on their own. Yay for aging!
13. In college, I went from never ever touching alcohol to being driven to the hospital in a squad car for alcohol poisoning. Fun times! I've since found moderation to be a wonderful thing.
14. Once wanted to be a rock-n-roll drummer so badly that I convinced my parents to let me take drum lessons. That soon ended in heartbreak, because my coordination sucks. I can't even play the drums on Rock Band without causing the band to fail.
15. On a related note, I was forced to play Michael Jackson's "Beat It" on a cello once. For an actual performance. In front of people.
16. Cannot speak or understand Mandarin, much to my regret. I've attended Chinese school on and off over the years but at the time was never interested in retaining anything. That said, I have actually found the Taiwanese I can speak quite handy on a couple of random occasions -- in the train station of Venice, Italy and on a tiny island (Gili Meno) off the coast of Lombok in Indonesia.
17. As a child, I felt bad that my dad didn't have a son, and tried to compensate in strange ways (trying to pee standing up, wanting to join Little League even though I couldn't throw or catch to save my life).
18. I generally hate dirt but can handle clutter. My germ phobia can get extreme -- I get really anal about people wearing shoes in the house, and people sitting on my bed after taking public transportation. And yet I let my two cats walk all over my bed, even the pillows. (I know, it makes no sense.)
19. I used to only like dogs and couldn't understand why anyone would like cats. My horizons have happily broadened, though I'd still love to have a dog someday. I always have to wash my hands after touching a dog though (there's that dirt thing again). The fur leaves a film on the hands.
20. I lost my fiance to cancer almost six years ago. Got the rest of my white hairs then. But not a day goes by that I don't think of him and feel grateful for having met him.
21. When I was young, I dreamed of being an Olympic figure skater. I can't do more than crossovers in one direction though, and can only stop by steering myself directly into the rink wall.
22. Until I learned the Total Immersion technique, I could not swim despite years of lessons. Running, on the other hand, I could do for miles, but my body's starting to give out on me. I hope someday to be one of those wrinkly old ladies doing dozens of laps in the pool.
23. I often get impatient with walking and prefer to run (if my shoes allow), trot (when indoors), or at least walk really really fast. On the streets of New York I found myself having to dart around slowpokes all the time.
24. I have a really hard time watching movies that even hint at violence or have a lot of suspense to them. I think I only saw 25 percent of "Silence of the Lambs" because I spent most of the time hiding behind my hands. Now I see my 3-year-old niece doing the same thing with the most innocuous of cartoons. Clearly, overactive imaginations run in the family. Or we're both just chicken.
25. Even though I am an animal lover and believe in the environmental and health benefits of vegetarianism, I love meat too much to ever give it up completely. Sometimes I just gotta have it.
2. On a related note, I have had people count (on separate occasions) the number of times it took me to chew something because they couldn't believe how slowly I eat. A mouthful of cereal: 60. A single dumpling: 153.
3. As a child I was tested for my IQ and scored fairly well (about as much as my dumpling chewing). All that meant, though, was that I got sent to extra classes and got singled out in a way that did wonders for my social development. (I think if I were to take an IQ test today my score would be a hell of a lot lower.)
4. I learned how to drive stickshift in Japan, where they drive on the other side of the street -- so I first became adept at shifting with my left hand. When I got back to the States, having to shift with my right hand felt really weird.
5. Name of my very first pet: Meatball, a golden teddy bear hamster. Which means my porn star name (first pet's name and the street name of your first residence) is Meatball Sierra Vista.
6. Was once a devout born-again Christian who taught Sunday School and sang alto in the choir. Also was once a registered Republican (child of the eighties, what can I say?)
7. Jay Leno gave me a lift once, in one of his vintage cars.
8. Have never been to Catalina Island, even though I was born and raised in Southern California and live here now. Also never visited Liberty Island while living in New York nor Alcatraz Island while living in San Francisco. I do like islands though.
9. Warm fuzzy graduate school memories include: getting only 15 hours of sleep over the course of a week, subsisting on Doritos washed down with vending machine coffee, and going back to class a few days after surgery for appendicitis. Got my first white hairs then. Thanks a heap, Columbia J-school!
10. Made the mistake of picking up inexpensive but heavy souvenirs early on in a two-month backpacking tour of Europe, which meant lugging around empty glass Coke bottles (from various countries) and a piece of the Berlin Wall for eight weeks.
11. Can touch my nose with the tip of my tongue, and fold my tongue into a straw shape. I cannot, however, turn my tongue into a clover or flip it over.
12. When I was younger, I seriously considered eyelid surgery to make my single-lidded Asian eyes bigger. But then they developed folds on their own. Yay for aging!
13. In college, I went from never ever touching alcohol to being driven to the hospital in a squad car for alcohol poisoning. Fun times! I've since found moderation to be a wonderful thing.
14. Once wanted to be a rock-n-roll drummer so badly that I convinced my parents to let me take drum lessons. That soon ended in heartbreak, because my coordination sucks. I can't even play the drums on Rock Band without causing the band to fail.
15. On a related note, I was forced to play Michael Jackson's "Beat It" on a cello once. For an actual performance. In front of people.
16. Cannot speak or understand Mandarin, much to my regret. I've attended Chinese school on and off over the years but at the time was never interested in retaining anything. That said, I have actually found the Taiwanese I can speak quite handy on a couple of random occasions -- in the train station of Venice, Italy and on a tiny island (Gili Meno) off the coast of Lombok in Indonesia.
17. As a child, I felt bad that my dad didn't have a son, and tried to compensate in strange ways (trying to pee standing up, wanting to join Little League even though I couldn't throw or catch to save my life).
18. I generally hate dirt but can handle clutter. My germ phobia can get extreme -- I get really anal about people wearing shoes in the house, and people sitting on my bed after taking public transportation. And yet I let my two cats walk all over my bed, even the pillows. (I know, it makes no sense.)
19. I used to only like dogs and couldn't understand why anyone would like cats. My horizons have happily broadened, though I'd still love to have a dog someday. I always have to wash my hands after touching a dog though (there's that dirt thing again). The fur leaves a film on the hands.
20. I lost my fiance to cancer almost six years ago. Got the rest of my white hairs then. But not a day goes by that I don't think of him and feel grateful for having met him.
21. When I was young, I dreamed of being an Olympic figure skater. I can't do more than crossovers in one direction though, and can only stop by steering myself directly into the rink wall.
22. Until I learned the Total Immersion technique, I could not swim despite years of lessons. Running, on the other hand, I could do for miles, but my body's starting to give out on me. I hope someday to be one of those wrinkly old ladies doing dozens of laps in the pool.
23. I often get impatient with walking and prefer to run (if my shoes allow), trot (when indoors), or at least walk really really fast. On the streets of New York I found myself having to dart around slowpokes all the time.
24. I have a really hard time watching movies that even hint at violence or have a lot of suspense to them. I think I only saw 25 percent of "Silence of the Lambs" because I spent most of the time hiding behind my hands. Now I see my 3-year-old niece doing the same thing with the most innocuous of cartoons. Clearly, overactive imaginations run in the family. Or we're both just chicken.
25. Even though I am an animal lover and believe in the environmental and health benefits of vegetarianism, I love meat too much to ever give it up completely. Sometimes I just gotta have it.