about me
ten things that may shed more light on why i'm the way i am, if you're curious:
1. i'm 25 years old, born and raised in florida. adopted. this is what i look like, if you're interested:
i chose one of my classier pictures (wine), do not be fooled. also, i do have a right eye, despite my hair's insistence on obscuring it in every photo i take.
2. i have very large feet (size US 10), and they grew quickly. do you remember those tennis shoes with the lights that would blink when you put your heel down? those were popular when i was young (early 90s?), and all my friends had them, but by the time we went to buy me a pair i was already in adult-size shoes. no light-up shoes, and my life was tragic.
3. i'm a high school english teacher. i always loved school. i came home from kindergarten on the first day and had found my calling, so i lined up all my stuffed animals on the edge of my bed and started lecturing to them. it's like a holy vocation to me, i take it way too seriously, i work about 60 hours a week. i try not to talk about it, because you will probably find me annoying if i do.
4. i double-majored in creative writing and history in college. the common theme there is narrative - i love a good story.
5. i don't own a television, but not in a pretentious sort of way. i mean, i watch television once or twice a week at a friend's house - SNL or sasuke. i've never been terribly obsessed with tv, except law and order. i have probably seen every single episode of law and order at least once, many twice. but though tv makes me content, distracts me from my worries, and i can easily spend anywhere from 1-6 hours watching shows that had been DVRed, i never got up from the couch after one of those marathons feeling happy or accomplished. so three months ago, when i moved out, i left the tv. so now, i no longer have to fight the battle.
6. this is my cat, whom i love dearly.
ming, or littlecat (depending on my mood)
(vet receptionist: and what is your cat's name?
me: ming
her: ...?
me: ...like the vase?
her: ...?
me: the dynasty?
her: okay.)
7. i spent six months after college volunteering full-time at a homeless shelter in cork, ireland through the simon communities. then i found out i received a fulbright grant to teach english in south korea. i taught backcountry middle schoolers, who were amazing and wonderful, and ended up staying a second year because i couldn't get enough.
8. i am training for a half-marathon in january. my dad has always been a runner, and tried to encourage me to do so, but up until three years ago, i felt i was ill-formed for this task. when i moved to korea, though, i started running (mostly just to have somewhere to go in the evenings for a break from my homestay family), and i've been fanatical about it (on and off) ever since. don't worry, i'm not evangelical. i don't think it's for everyone, but it's good for me.
9. along the same lines, i lost about sixty pounds over the past couple of years. i played softball in high school, was in decent shape, then moved to college and gained the freshman 15 (and sophomore 15 and junior 15 and... you get the idea). i struggled a lot with it (understatement of the year), but when i moved to korea it was easy, because of running and not liking rice, fish, or spicy food (at first).
10. i really, really love superjunior. in one of the other great tragedies of my life, i only discovered my love for them only about a month before i left korea, but it was an intense month. i probably have a sungmin bias, but i also worship yesung, ryeowook, and kyuhyun (in age order). i love all of them in their own ways. this group of 15 people has brought such inexplicable joy to my life.