40 Random Facts

Since I haven't officially blogged in a while (I know, I'm a bad little girl), I thought I'd try and write something... and not feeling it when it comes to life updates, I figured I'd do a random facts kind of post... and since I needed a number, I chose 40 (since that's how old I am).

And now for your reading pleasure (and in no particular order)...

1. Even though I'm technically a "Heinz 57" - I'm Filipina and Caucasian.
2. I have naturally curly hair. (Yes, my hair actually grows out of my head like that.)
3. My favorite Teenage Ninja Mutant Ninja Turtle is Michelangelo. (A friend in high school said if Michelangelo were actually a guy, he'd be my perfect boyfriend.)
4. I'm a bit of an adrenaline junkie.
5. My favorite book is To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. (I really wish she'd written more than two books. It'd be cool if some long lost stories of hers were published. That would be amazing.)
6. Even though a lot of people think I have naturally black hair, it's actually a really dark brown. (My mom and brother have black hair, but my dad's hair is dirty blonde-ish so... voila!)
7. I didn't realize until I was older that my brother and I got our curly hair from our dad's side of the family. (One day at my grandmother's house, I noticed my grandma and my aunts had curly hair. I always thought I got it from the Filipino side of my family.)
8. I'm quite fond of my widow's peak. I think it gives me character.
9. My favorite games are puzzle games or adventure games (like Tomb Raider, Sanitarium, Tetris, Dreamfall, Intelligent Qube, etc).
10. I love languages, accents, and dialects.
11. When I cross my eyes, only one moves toward my nose while the other one looks forward-ish. I always forget which eye it is that doesn't move and think to bookmark it by the only eyebrow I can raise solo (which is my left) but again, I never remember if it's because that eye doesn't move or does move. And my friend Jim proved that I CAN cross my eyes - I just have to be concentrating on the tip of a pen or something, but if I just cross them, only the one moves.
12. My zodiac sign is Scorpio (Dragon in the Chinese Zodiac).
13. Many moons ago when I worked at the bookstore, a co-worker saw me signing a birthday card to a friend. I was making doodles to fill up the blank space since the greeting and my personal note took up roughly 25% or less of the inside of the card - and I couldn't stand all the empty space. My co-worker said it sounded like "horror vacui" [per Wikipedia - "In visual art, horror vacui (/ˈhɒrər ˈvɑːkjuːaɪ/; from Latin "fear of empty space"), also kenophobia, from Greek "fear of the empty"), is the filling of the entire surface of a space or an artwork with detail.] and when he explained it, I thought it was fascinating. Then I thought of my feelings about the need to fill patches of silence when hanging out with people and the way I used to decorate my room with posters and pictures perfectly covering almost all of my wall space. If it's an official condition, I think I have it.
14. I have a thing for creepy kids - like in movies, books, video games, etc. I think they're just awesome!
15. People would classify me as an extrovert, but I also have strong moments of wanting to be alone or not around a lot of people and feel I'm more of an "omnivert" since I really fluctuate between introvert and extrovert.
16. I smoke cigars, but most of the time I only smoke them with my brother when I visit my family, and he and I hang out together for "bro-sis" time. 
17. My favorite kind of beer is a milk stout.
18. I'm not a shoe person... like Carrie from Sex and the City, but I do love boots. But in general, I'm a "sneakers or flip-flops" kind of girl.
19. I'm a tomboy with the occasional feminine whim moment.
20. I LOVE to organize.
21. After reading the boo "The Vision" by Dean Koontz where the lead woman had black hair and blue eyes, I always thought I'd look better with dark, deep blue eyes. (I have brown eyes.)
22. I miss fries from Hot N Now.
23. I have insomnia (which by Dictionary.com defines as "inability to obtain sufficient sleep, especially when chronic; difficulty in falling or staying asleep; sleeplessness."
24. I have weird body chemistry. Example: meds that "might cause drowsiness" and usually do for most humans don't make me sleepy/tired. Things like caffeine that are supposed to wake you up don't have that effect on me. (Like coffee? Just tastes good.) Also, meds for when you're sick usually only work for a small period of time before my body says "try again," and I have to find something else to take. Or if sedative or stimulant does work, it usually does many hours later.
25. Even though I can be competitive, most of the time when playing games with others, I just like having fun. Most of my competitive nature comes out when I'm playing solo and am trying to reach the end of a level or beating my high score... or when someone in the group I'm playing with is a really bad loser and an even worse winner. (What? I just kicked your ass? Normally I wouldn't care, but since you're an asshole, I don't really care right now.)
26. I like all kinds of music. (That doesn't mean I like all songs in each genre. It just means I like all kinds of music... so don't get it twisted, ya here?)
27. I have what I like to call "Tourette's syndrome of the hips" - meaning if I'm out running errands and there's music playing at the drugstore or at the clothing store... or even in my car (which music is almost always playing in the car), my body will naturally move to the beat, and I'm not even aware it's happening.
28. I feel like my purpose in life is to make people happy. When I see someone not smiling or in a bad mood - and even if I don't see them on a regular basis (like the random barista or food server, etc) - if I can get them to smile even for a second, I feel like I've brightened their mood/life even for a little while. And it's not something I make an effort to do. It just happens. 
29. During my senior year in high school, I was part of a drama group that wrote/produced/directed/starred in plays that taught kids how to say no to drugs or how to deal with strangers, etc. The group had to perform before The Board of Education, and I carpooled with two other members of the group. The mother of one of the girls drove us. The three of us sat in the backseat, and her brothers sat in the front since they were being dropped off for baseball practice. We stayed in the backseat after they were dropped off, and while we were talking, the mom asked me what I wanted to be when I was older. I told her I wanted to be a writer. She liked that but said that listening to me talk, I had a lovely voice for radio. I thanked her for what I took as a compliment, and she added "or one of those adult phone lines." My friend was embarrassed, but I still took it as a compliment. LOL.
30. I wear a size 10W in shoes. (Sometimes 9-9 1/2 though very rarely.)
31. I'm an entertainment nerd. I like all things entertainment - books, comics, video games, games, theatre, music, TV, movies... etc, etc, etc.
32. Most of - if not all - the poetry I've written has been of a sad or depressing nature.
33. I like trying new things.
34. I'm open-minded.
35. I do this thing with long sleeves - whether it's a shirt or a hoodie - I'll continually push them up my arms and pull them back down again. I'm assuming it's a fidget thing, but I do it a lot.
36. I can balance pretty well on my right foot (right-body dominate), but I'm hella shaky when trying on my left leg. (Also when I try to write with my left hand, everything looks like a mirror reflection of what I write with my right hand.) Oh, how I'd love to be ambidextrous. 
37. I miss the long hair I had when I was younger and kinda wish I had it still now and that my mother didn't cut it. I also wish I knew how to take care of it better.
38. I talk to myself... A LOT. And not just when I'm working on a story and trying to sort out a scene. I will talk to myself in the sense like I'm narrating my life and life choices and experiences in an American Beauty/Fight Club/Mean Girls kind of way. I honestly think we all talk to ourselves, but I think the writer in me in cahoots with my silly, whimsical nature is at best entertaining... at least to me... and possibly those that can hear me. (I often wonder if people can hear me when I'm talking to myself and what they think... and then don't really care in the end.)
39. I always thought my perfect height would be 5'9".
40. I have never traveled outside the U.S. - and I also do not have a passport.

And there you have it. 40 random facts about myself... I honestly didn't think I could come with that many once I started but meh... I made due.

And now? To bed.

Later my lovelies.

Have Goodness!
Rae