Am I too late? 25 Things
Woo cross posting!
I suppose I jumped on the bandwagon a bit late, but with both some internet and some real life prodding by friends, I've decided to make one of these meems. You see what I did there?
1. In middle school I was on a bowling league for a few years, and my high score is still 176. I had a constant rivalry with my then-best friend, Andrew, and we were neck in neck until he suddenly got a 246 one day. Blast him!
2. I can trace my paternal grandfather's side of the family all the way to 1600s American colonists, European royalty, Charlemagne, and a Roman senator.
3. I became obsessed with the Mongol Empire ever since I read "The Devil's Horsemen" by James Chambers, in middle school. Since then I've gone to Genghis Khan's former capital in Mongolia, visited the sites where the Mongols invaded Japan in Fukuoka, befriended Mongolians in 2 countries, and wrote several papers on the Empire.
4. My parents used to own a small restaurant, the Franklin Street Deli, which was actually doing really well until September 11th somehow ruined it. My first job was there, and my mad sandwich making skills and love of sandwiches come from that time period.
5. Speaking of jobs, I have also worked in an LED manufacturing laboratory, an indoor amusement park, at my town hall, for a traveling VBS, in a language center, and as a teacher of English to students from the Middle East.
6. I used to be in a youth group called Roots when I was in high school. It was the first time I had more than one good friend, the first time I found something to believe in, and the first time I had something to aspire to. While my time there is over, my friends have all scattered, and some of my thoughts and opinions have changed, I'm still influenced by that period of my life and am eternally grateful for it.
7. My hair was first straightened on October 16, 2006, by Ashley Lisak while we were in Beijing. I agreed to do it as a joke, you know when girls put makeup on guys or something? But then I loved it and have kept the look since then.
8. Yeah, it's silly that I know the date for that, isn't it? But I'm obsessed with knowing when stuff happened. I date all my digital photos and make them really easy to find, and I also have a journal that I've kept since I was 11 years old.. it's on its 4th book incarnation now. I go back and look at pictures all the time and read my old journal entries, and because of that my memories from 11 years old on are extremely vivid and I can easily recall, or at least find, exact dates and sometimes even times.
9. I was in a fight once, in 6th grade. His name was Ivan Velazquez and we were acquaintances/kind of friends. He had a really annoying nickname for me though (Heywack. Really, Ivan?), and when we were on the bus together he kept calling me that. I kept asking him to stop, and then I don't know what happened but he punched me in the eye and I somehow gave him a papercut? In the end I got a black eye and a "minor" (one step away from detention), and then we became friends.
10. I used to draw mazes when I was a kid, but I made them really cool because I added things like keys, warps, color-coded lines, springs, ice and fire, and even bosses.
11. Except for once, when I was a baby and I fell? or something, I've never broken any bones. Also no cavities, no sprains, no torn ligaments, no diseases. Oh, except when I was a baby and had pneumonia when I was born and almost died. So being both me and a baby at the same time kind of sucked, I guess.
12. I hate sports, but that wasn't always the case. I used to be in a baseball league in elementary school and an informal recess basketball league in middle school, but all the athletic kids who were better than people like me who were just in it for fun ruined it by making fun of us whenever we screwed up. That plus the same asses in gym class put me off sports for good.
13. My parents used to own a pop-up, and then a nicer less-ghetto camper, when I was kid. We went "camping" all the time and even had our own lot at a campground in northern Illinois for a few years. Then September 11th ruined our restaurant and we sold everything. But it's ok, I was starting to get tired of "camping" by then.
14. My mom used to work for United Airlines about 9 or so years ago, and so my whole family got free flights anywhere in the U.S. That's how I've been to places like LA, Boston, and Minneapolis. And my mom was in New York City on September 10, 2001, and got me a shirt with the World Trade Center towers on it. I've never worn it.
15. Where were you on September 11th, by the way? I seem to have a lot of history with this day. I was a freshman in my World History class when my friend Chris came in the room and said that the Pentagon blew up and we were at war. Everyone was confused and then my teacher, Mr. Fowler, left the room to see the news for a bit, then came back and told us what happened.
16. I was once Space Lincoln in a talent show. I had a stovepipe hat made out of black spray painted cardboard. That's it.
17. I'm terrible at math and science. Which is why Chemistry AP during my senior year of high school was the hardest class I've ever taken, and also has some of my greatest triumphs. It was actually 2 and a half classes long, SO long! I spent hours every day doing homework and trying to memorize/figure out all the math and valence electrons and everything. But in the end I got a 5 on the AP test, got 10 credits at NCC for the class (10!), and even got first place in the "Chemical ID" event of the Science Olympiad, a statewide competition of schools.
18. I love Latin America and especially South America. I love Mexican food and have tons of Hispanic friends. So I often wonder why I decided to start from scratch and learn Japanese when I was already 5 years down with Spanish, pretty good at it, and really enjoyed it.
19. I've done missions trips of one kind or another to Cabrini Green, New York City, and Jacksonville, FL.
20. Unlike Amanda, I have no talents, although I've often tried to gain some. Guitar lessons, magic tricks, rolling a coin across my fingers... all failed.
21. I have a girlfriend and her name is Amanda Beehn. And she was hard to get. I spent a drama-filled year asking her out multiple times, turning down other girls, traveling with her, praying, getting advice from friends, making her cry.. but on Valentines Day 2008 I got her. She's my other half :)
22. The only school I applied to was NCC. They gave me lots of money, had a Japanese major, and were kind of close to home. I don't regret it at all, although sometimes I wonder what would've happened if I went through with those applications to the University of Chicago.
23. Japanese? Japanese. I think I know why I decided to learn it.. once, when I was about 12 years old, someone on some message board on the internets posted a picture with some Japanese writing and asked if anyone could translate. No one could, and I thought it would be cool as hell if I were able to. That's about it.
24. I started learning Chinese on a similarly ridiculous whim; I came in for an NCC International Studies scholarship interview with Hoffert while I was still in high school, and after it was over he mentioned off-handedly that I should take Chinese. Since I had room in my schedule and all my gen-eds were already done (thanks 5 AP classes!), I decided to take it, and a love affair was born. So my college years and future careers are based off of a picture and a comment.
25. When I listen to good songs I sometimes imagine I'm the singer/guitar player/writer, and when I watch really good movies I sometimes pretend I'm the director. And then I have a big debut for all my friends and they think I'm great, and they're also surprised since I never showed any musical/filmaking talent before.
I suppose I jumped on the bandwagon a bit late, but with both some internet and some real life prodding by friends, I've decided to make one of these meems. You see what I did there?
1. In middle school I was on a bowling league for a few years, and my high score is still 176. I had a constant rivalry with my then-best friend, Andrew, and we were neck in neck until he suddenly got a 246 one day. Blast him!
2. I can trace my paternal grandfather's side of the family all the way to 1600s American colonists, European royalty, Charlemagne, and a Roman senator.
3. I became obsessed with the Mongol Empire ever since I read "The Devil's Horsemen" by James Chambers, in middle school. Since then I've gone to Genghis Khan's former capital in Mongolia, visited the sites where the Mongols invaded Japan in Fukuoka, befriended Mongolians in 2 countries, and wrote several papers on the Empire.
4. My parents used to own a small restaurant, the Franklin Street Deli, which was actually doing really well until September 11th somehow ruined it. My first job was there, and my mad sandwich making skills and love of sandwiches come from that time period.
5. Speaking of jobs, I have also worked in an LED manufacturing laboratory, an indoor amusement park, at my town hall, for a traveling VBS, in a language center, and as a teacher of English to students from the Middle East.
6. I used to be in a youth group called Roots when I was in high school. It was the first time I had more than one good friend, the first time I found something to believe in, and the first time I had something to aspire to. While my time there is over, my friends have all scattered, and some of my thoughts and opinions have changed, I'm still influenced by that period of my life and am eternally grateful for it.
7. My hair was first straightened on October 16, 2006, by Ashley Lisak while we were in Beijing. I agreed to do it as a joke, you know when girls put makeup on guys or something? But then I loved it and have kept the look since then.
8. Yeah, it's silly that I know the date for that, isn't it? But I'm obsessed with knowing when stuff happened. I date all my digital photos and make them really easy to find, and I also have a journal that I've kept since I was 11 years old.. it's on its 4th book incarnation now. I go back and look at pictures all the time and read my old journal entries, and because of that my memories from 11 years old on are extremely vivid and I can easily recall, or at least find, exact dates and sometimes even times.
9. I was in a fight once, in 6th grade. His name was Ivan Velazquez and we were acquaintances/kind of friends. He had a really annoying nickname for me though (Heywack. Really, Ivan?), and when we were on the bus together he kept calling me that. I kept asking him to stop, and then I don't know what happened but he punched me in the eye and I somehow gave him a papercut? In the end I got a black eye and a "minor" (one step away from detention), and then we became friends.
10. I used to draw mazes when I was a kid, but I made them really cool because I added things like keys, warps, color-coded lines, springs, ice and fire, and even bosses.
11. Except for once, when I was a baby and I fell? or something, I've never broken any bones. Also no cavities, no sprains, no torn ligaments, no diseases. Oh, except when I was a baby and had pneumonia when I was born and almost died. So being both me and a baby at the same time kind of sucked, I guess.
12. I hate sports, but that wasn't always the case. I used to be in a baseball league in elementary school and an informal recess basketball league in middle school, but all the athletic kids who were better than people like me who were just in it for fun ruined it by making fun of us whenever we screwed up. That plus the same asses in gym class put me off sports for good.
13. My parents used to own a pop-up, and then a nicer less-ghetto camper, when I was kid. We went "camping" all the time and even had our own lot at a campground in northern Illinois for a few years. Then September 11th ruined our restaurant and we sold everything. But it's ok, I was starting to get tired of "camping" by then.
14. My mom used to work for United Airlines about 9 or so years ago, and so my whole family got free flights anywhere in the U.S. That's how I've been to places like LA, Boston, and Minneapolis. And my mom was in New York City on September 10, 2001, and got me a shirt with the World Trade Center towers on it. I've never worn it.
15. Where were you on September 11th, by the way? I seem to have a lot of history with this day. I was a freshman in my World History class when my friend Chris came in the room and said that the Pentagon blew up and we were at war. Everyone was confused and then my teacher, Mr. Fowler, left the room to see the news for a bit, then came back and told us what happened.
16. I was once Space Lincoln in a talent show. I had a stovepipe hat made out of black spray painted cardboard. That's it.
17. I'm terrible at math and science. Which is why Chemistry AP during my senior year of high school was the hardest class I've ever taken, and also has some of my greatest triumphs. It was actually 2 and a half classes long, SO long! I spent hours every day doing homework and trying to memorize/figure out all the math and valence electrons and everything. But in the end I got a 5 on the AP test, got 10 credits at NCC for the class (10!), and even got first place in the "Chemical ID" event of the Science Olympiad, a statewide competition of schools.
18. I love Latin America and especially South America. I love Mexican food and have tons of Hispanic friends. So I often wonder why I decided to start from scratch and learn Japanese when I was already 5 years down with Spanish, pretty good at it, and really enjoyed it.
19. I've done missions trips of one kind or another to Cabrini Green, New York City, and Jacksonville, FL.
20. Unlike Amanda, I have no talents, although I've often tried to gain some. Guitar lessons, magic tricks, rolling a coin across my fingers... all failed.
21. I have a girlfriend and her name is Amanda Beehn. And she was hard to get. I spent a drama-filled year asking her out multiple times, turning down other girls, traveling with her, praying, getting advice from friends, making her cry.. but on Valentines Day 2008 I got her. She's my other half :)
22. The only school I applied to was NCC. They gave me lots of money, had a Japanese major, and were kind of close to home. I don't regret it at all, although sometimes I wonder what would've happened if I went through with those applications to the University of Chicago.
23. Japanese? Japanese. I think I know why I decided to learn it.. once, when I was about 12 years old, someone on some message board on the internets posted a picture with some Japanese writing and asked if anyone could translate. No one could, and I thought it would be cool as hell if I were able to. That's about it.
24. I started learning Chinese on a similarly ridiculous whim; I came in for an NCC International Studies scholarship interview with Hoffert while I was still in high school, and after it was over he mentioned off-handedly that I should take Chinese. Since I had room in my schedule and all my gen-eds were already done (thanks 5 AP classes!), I decided to take it, and a love affair was born. So my college years and future careers are based off of a picture and a comment.
25. When I listen to good songs I sometimes imagine I'm the singer/guitar player/writer, and when I watch really good movies I sometimes pretend I'm the director. And then I have a big debut for all my friends and they think I'm great, and they're also surprised since I never showed any musical/filmaking talent before.