About the Author

Yes, yes. I still have too much time on my hands. Big surprise. The job search is frustrating. The class is at a lull (though about to pick up). The life otherwise contains not enough productivity.
There's been a current moving through the internet (mainly on Facebook), and OF COURSE I told myself I wouldn't join in, but OF COURSE I sat down and typed out a list despite the lie I told myself. Anyway, you are supposed to write 25 things about yourself. I did, and now that I have it, it seems a little presumptuous of me to assume anyone would want to read 25 things about me. But here it is, anyway. I spent the time typing it, so now it must be shared, I guess.


25 Brief Facts

1. My favorite ice creams are coffee, coconut, and chocolate chip. In that order.

2. I keep riding my bike places and then catching rides home, which is inconvenient, come the next time I need to ride my bike somewhere and it is neatly locked up wherever I last left it.

3. I wish it were raining.

4. Looking at me, you would assume I am the sort that loves baking or reading (which I truly do). But I love, love running. I recently discovered how fantastic it is to keep running after the customary two-mile loop. I love the pain and accomplishment (however transient) associated with running long distances. I love how consuming it is.

5. One of my main aspirations in life is to have a garden and make my own clothes.

6. I buy soy milk instead of regular milk. I hadn't put much thought into it at all. But since I've been doing this for so long, every time I drink regular milk now, it's really shockingly weird.

7. I love costume parties, but only when everyone is participating.

8. Despite the pretenses under which I may operate, I do know exactly what I want to do with my life. The trouble is, there are just too many things I know I want to do.

9. I can’t multitask, apparently. I’ve verified this on several occasions. Very recently I drove erratically while trying to air drum to a song playing on my iPod. I was including an air base drum, thus making my pedal foot more active than a normal driver’s pedal foot should be.

10. I can’t figure out how to get my nose ring out. Not that I want it gone, I just want to change it.

11. I know it is cliché and 90s: I love pizza. I had tofu pizza Saturday night, vegetable pizza for Sunday lunch, Greek pizza for Sunday dinner, and leftover tofu pizza for lunch today. That is four meals in a row. I love it.

12. Honestly, I think my love for camping is part of the reason why I prefer to keep my mattress on the floor instead of on a frame, like normal folk.

13. Spring is by far my least favorite season.

14. Listening to music can be (and often is) a visceral experience, I think. Iron & Wine and Nickel Creek are two of the greatest. And Sufjan Stevens.

15. At least 60% of my mental activity is devoted to over-analysis. At least 20% of that goes to over-analysis of hypothetical situations.

16. I keep a permanent file of the best quotes I’ve personally heard (not like.. from books or famous individuals; from real life). Unfortunately, the record is not exhaustive and I deeply regret this. But it remains one of my most important documents.

17. I secretly hope that when we all die, regardless of what happens, we are issued a Complete Series DVD of our life, complete with deleted scenes, alternate endings and special features.

18. I really quite like the Episcopal church that I usually attend.

19. I collect things, kind of like the guy in Everything is Illuminated collects things. My collection is far less interesting and meaningful, though. This tendency of mine, to keep plane ticket stubs and things of that nature, makes me fear that I will someday have a house full of boxes of little collections. This stresses me out.

20. It is very important for me to log my running times and distances every day. I don’t know why, because I rarely look back over them or analyze them to any extent, and I never show these numbers to anyone. But I have to do it, every day.

21. Bookstores and libraries are like sanctuaries to me.

22. Chris McCandless fascinates me. Not that I would emulate him, but he fascinates me.

23. My favorite job I’ve had (so far) is Human Anatomy lab assistant, for which all I did was one of my favorite activities (cadaver dissection).

24. When I’m bored or generally activityless, I take my pulse. I try to find it on arteries other than the carotids or radials.

25. I really, really wish my life would include some cinematic-quality scene. At least one, but preferably several. It would make it seem so much more meaningful. Watching things like Across the Universe, Moulin Rouge, and (the end of) Slumdog Millionaire, repeatedly, with wide, longing eyes only reinforces this desire.