Yes, it’s self-aggrandising. But, then again, so’s most of what I see around me every day…
1. While I value friendship over all other life’s joys, I am very strongly introverted (this fact surprises most of my friends). That means the world only makes sense to me after I’ve had an opportunity to process it all completely on my own. An example: weddings. I’ve been to 103 of ‘em (including my own), and at every single one, I had to step away during the reception for at least 20 minutes to walkabout on my own and to begin to feel again like I belonged in my own skin.
2. The first six years of my life, at least one of my parents didn’t work so I’d always have a parent around during those important developmental years.
3. For Father’s Day, when I was 10 years old, I was asked for a school project to write down some things I loved about my father. I sat there for an hour and then began to cry because I didn’t know what to write. My dad had gone back to school to get his Master’s degree and then, after that, worked at a job with over an hour commute in each direction. I didn’t think I knew him.
4. I was wrong. My dad and I are EXACTLY alike in almost every imaginable way.
5. At UC Santa Barbara, there is a bike and foot path tunnel that connects the campus to Isla Vista, the adjacent community where most of the college students live. When I attended, on the north wall of the tunnel, there was spray-painted a single-line poem, stretching straight from one end to the other: “He silently drives me home in the rain. He holds open the screen door while I fumble for the keys to my life. He comes in.” It has since been painted over; I still don’t know what it means, but it’s one of the most haunting things I’ve ever read.
6. I have read the following, in their entireties, aloud: All seven Harry Potter books; Dune; all of Lord of the Rings (including the appendices); all five books of Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, all of Raold Dahl’s short fiction and children’s books.
7. For about a third of my life, I’ve lived within a quarter mile of the ocean. I love the ocean, but hate the beach (I really don’t like sand).
8. When I’m home alone at night, I often sing to my dogs.
9. Before I turned eighteen, I had spent over a year’s worth of nights camping.
10. On my eighteenth birthday, I was backpacking: the penultimate day of the planned trip. I had spent the last seven birthdays away from home, and I had much earlier and emphatically told my parents, who had planned the trip with our Boy Scout troop, that I did not want to be on the trail for my birthday. I was so upset, that I threw a fit, and pretty much forced everyone to hike out a day early. I was a very strong hiker, and in order to achieve my goal, I went back up the mountain twice to pick up the packs of the weaker hikers in the group. That day, I hiked 37 miles and ruined the end of everyone’s trip just so I could have pizza on my birthday. I deeply regret having done this not only because it was horribly immature, but also because I haven’t backpacked since.
11. With the exception of fingers and toes, I have never broken a bone; however, when I was five years old, I was balancing on a step stool when watching TV with my parents, despite their repeated warnings to stop, lest I fall and hurt myself. I fell off on purpose to see what it would feel like. My parents and I ended up spending seven hours in the ER waiting room that night with a dislocated right elbow. I’ve never told my folks I fell on purpose.
12. I’ve broken both the big toe and little toe on my right foot over a dozen times collectively (not ONCE on purpose, I promise).
13. I detest bad grammar (though I’m far from perfect, myself), but if I could get away with it, I’d never use a capital letter again.
14. My corrected vision is exceptionally sharp, and I can see extremely well in the dark. Even if it’s completely dark, I usually can navigate a house purely from memory, if I’ve spent more than 15 minutes in it.
15. At night, I prefer to work/live in dimly lit spaces. Dim light, to me, is like a smooth glass of red wine and a Chopin nocturne playing. It just soothes my soul.
16. Teachers are my heroes: especially those who mirror Einstein’s great quote: “The greatest teacher is not experience; it is example.”
17. I own on DVD everything Aaron Sorkin’s ever screenwritten: All 7 seasons of West Wing; both seasons of Sports Night; the first and only season of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip; The American President; A Few Good Men; and Charlie Wilson’s War.
18. I’ve never hit a ball with a bat.
19. Genetically, I’m an absolute orthodontic mess: for the smile I have now, I had 14 teeth pulled and wore braces for five years.
20. I recently ran a long-distance relay with colleagues from work (187 miles total); I sprained my ankle 200 feet into my last (and shortest) leg of the race. I ran over 4 and a half miles with a sprained ankle; I could have walked it faster, but I was determined to accomplish what I’d set out to: to run the entirety of all three of my legs of the relay. It took nearly four months for my ankle to heal.
21. When I was eleven, I bought a copy of Roget’s International Thesaurus, 4th edition. It organised its word and phrases by their meaning, making it what Amazon now calls “the most efficient word finder and a cutting-edge aid in stimulating thought, organizing ideas, and writing and speaking more clearly and effectively.” I would spend many very late hours (naturally, by a dim light) thumbing through its pages, looking at the words like arcane components to a spell I might conjure, as if they possessed magical powers. I’m still convinced that, at that age, I had perceived them quite correctly.
22. I have 9 years of higher education and no degree.
23. One of my biggest pet peeves is when people stop the microwave before it counts down to zero without also clearing the timer.
24. The two most important things I learned from my dad are: “Do something you love to do so much that you’ll do it for free, but do it so well that folks will pay you handsomely to do it”; and “Better is the enemy of Good.”
25. The most important thing I learned from my mom is: “Do nice things for people who’ll never find out.” My hope is to have learned it at least a tenth as well as she’s taught it.