I got tagged for this on Facebook, so I decided I’d do it here, since all these post to Facebook too.
1. When I was in Pre-school, my cousin and I got in trouble and had to sit facing a wall for time out. I kept talking to him, and once, when he shushed me, the teacher saw him, and he had to stay extra long, while I walked free.
2. My kindergarten teacher was also the dedicated tooth-puller for the small elementary school I went to. She kept pliers in the closet.
3. My favorite superhero is the Green Lantern. I got a secret tattoo of his symbol on my leg, but I only kept the secret for 3 days.
4. I love my wife more than anything in the world. You mess with her, you mess with me, and while I may not match up physically, I am smarter than you, and I will make your life hell.
5. I work from home doing marketing for Shmoop.com. They’re pretty rocking people there.
6. I took 4 semesters of Spanish in college, and all I really know how to do is say my name and ask some banal questions about the weather. Sorry, Arturo.
7. I’m looking into possibilities of buying a bookstore or starting one. In either case, I’m just sort of bored and need a challenge. I think that’d be a WONDERFUL challenge for me.
8. I impulse purchased David Sedaris’s When You are Engulfed in Flames, and it’s one of the best books I’ve read in a while.
9. I was introduced to Twin Peaks, David Sedaris, and Annie Dillard all by the best English teacher I’ve ever had, Reed Wightman. I hope I can one day be like him.
10. I fancy myself a pretty decent writer whenever I’m not writing anything. Whenever I start, I find it all utter drivel. This is why I so rarely write anything.
11. My self esteem is far lower than you might imagine. I often poke fun at people and employ my dry wit, which often leaves others hurt. Whenever I do it, I momentarily feel better, then feel terrible for making someone else feel bad. It’s a vicious cycle that I’ve been trying to stop.
12. I’ve been in counseling on and off for the past 7 years. I’ve also been on and off medication since then. I take it long enough to start feeling better, then I quit, even though I know how much havoc that wreaks on me psychologically.
13. I’ve studied psychology for the past four years, and I admittedly had more fun and found those classes more interesting than most of my English ones, I just can’t stand statistics, so I only got a minor. I’ve considered going back into the field for graduate school.
14. I flat out told a PA once that she was placing me on the wrong medication, and backed it up on my next visit with academic proof. I’m pretentious that way.
15. I pride myself on my intelligence, but I constantly realize how much I don’t know, how much better other people are than me at X, Y, Z topics. While that should galvanize me, I usually just find myself despondent about it. I really should change that.
16. I went through high school bored with the work. I went through college bored with most of the work (there were some assignments that I made interesting, and some projects that I undertook on my own that were interesting), and I’m afraid that graduate school won’t be any different. When do I get to write, research, and discuss the things I like with other people who actually care?
17. For 2 years, I had (almost) weekly meetings with a professor on campus for counseling. These sessions were nearly always therapeutic, they usually consisted of me and the professor mentally sparring, which is way more than I could get out of my peers. Of everything from college, I miss that the most.
18. For about a year and a half, I always carried with me a book of Emily Dickinson poetry. Before that, I always made sure I had something by Edgar Allen Poe with me. I’ve since stopped carrying things around, though I should start again. Honestly, I’d love to be one of those people (like Abigail Adams) who could just rattle off poetry on a whim. I’d love to be one of those people, but I don’t do anything to make myself that way.
19. I wrote a paper about Sylvia Plath’s poem “Blackberrying” for class. I’m doing more research on it, and will expand it out a bit. I cannot find anyone who talks about it like I’m talking about it, and I really think I’m onto something with it. It excites me, if no one else.
20. While I may enjoy Literature and Psychology, I’m also a tech-head. I’ve been working in tech support / PC building and maintenance since 2003, and while I’ve got more experience doing that than anything else, I still can’t find a decent job.
21. I am guilty of getting stuck on stuff. Music, juice, food, whatever. Whenever I get in the mood for something, I’ll do that thing, listen to that band, eat that kind of food for weeks until I’m sick of it. I used to go through a bottle of Simply Orange about every 3 days. Now, I only drink it every couple weeks. Also, I’ve had the same Decemberists CD in my car for almost 2 months now.
22. I drove a pick-up truck for almost two years. I sold my Honda Civic and purchased that truck after my then-fiance and I broke things off. That summer, I changed a lot: New truck, new laptop, and I got LASIK so I didn’t have to wear glasses anymore. I blew every bit of savings I had.
23. I judge you whenever you use poor grammar. Even though I know there are grammatical errors scattered here and there on this site. (To defend myself: I don’t edit these posts. I type them out, and publish them. Sometimes I’ll write ahead and schedule it for later, but the only time I hit the “preview” button is whenever I’ve got some weird formatting or pictures, to make sure all the code worked right.) Despite my judgments on poor grammar, I’d be lost without a spell checker. My spelling is atrocious (and, yes, I had to use the spell checker to get that right).
24. I’m a movie fanatic, though I don’t get to watch nearly as many now as I used to. That whole life thing gets in the way, but I love movies. Old, new, they’re all good to me. I’m often accused of not being descriminating enough when I hand out praise for movies, but be sure, whenever I despise a movie, the vitriol (spell check) flows just as generously as the praise for a good one.
25. Whenever I have to whip up a quick website, I still use tables because I haven’t taken the time to learn CSS formatting. I know. I know. So shoot me. (Sorry, Ren.)