(no subject)
I'm Liz, I'm 22, and I'm from Alabama.
1. Photos
Cliche, yes.
This was an effort to record my giddiness the night HBP came out. I forgot that I ever put that pink feather boa on poor Legolas. :p
The night Vaughn was "killed off" Alias, I made this shirt. And I was right!
2. Hobbies
Clearly, Harry Potter is one. I dress up to attend the releases, and I've got a wand and a Ravenclaw uniform, for Ravenclaw is clearly the coolest house. I plan to be Bellatrix for at least the OotP premiere; I'm undecided about DH.
I love movies (my kitty is named Jareth) and making videos (generally parodies).
I'm a pretty big fan of video games, favorites being the Kings Quest, Final Fantasy, Silent Hill, Kingdom Hearts, You Don't Know Jack, Fatal Frame, Katamari, and Donkey Kong Country series. Oh, and DDR and KR. I had a pin-the-jewel-on-the-princess (Toadstool) game at my eighth birthday party.
I love "dressing up," be it for a specific occasion (Halloween) or just for everyday wear. I was Pippin for the LotR flicks.
I think most else is addressed further down.
3. Education!
I was in the gifted program from first grade on. They gave me extra spelling words in elementary school. My high school's system for an advanced diploma didn't raise your GPA, so I came out with only a 4.0. I did take dual enrollment classes, though, and was one of six students in the county to be chosen for an all-academic team my senior year.
I always loved doing science projects (though my topics were never much - the effect an electrical current in the soil of growing plants and the differences in argon and neon, for example), and won the school fair four times, placed at regional twice, and came in third at state on one occasion (that project was on RAM).
I scored a 32 on the ACT; I had taken it once before in 7th grade and earned a 22.
I graduated college magna cum laude with a 3.91 GPA (.04 away from summa :[). I was on the President's List every semester but one, which saw me drop to Dean's List. My major was English - if that doesn't make me nerdy, I don't know what does. It essentially meant that while my friends were out socializing, I was in my room alone, reading and writing.
My favorite classes were a Tolkien special topics course I had under a brilliant professor I have since attempted to banter with on facebook (he's intimidating, but a good sport), a film and literature comparative class (I do love movies), and a non-fiction prose seminar (I've loved to write ever since I was 12 and a teacher commented on one of my papers that my "grasp on the English language" was "prodigious for one so tender in years." Surely I'm not the only one who takes instructors' comments to heart?).
My minor was music, but I'd prefer to address that in section 5.
I ache to go to graduate school, but I just haven't got the funding. :( I applied and was accepted to LSU's Linguistics program, and I still hope to work through it. I am fascinated by Linguistics (all I know is what I've been able to figure out for myself, though). I nearly minored in French and every time I meet someone who speaks another language, I try to learn all I can without seeming like a creep. I love to think about how and why languages are related and where words come from.
4. Internet time
Too much. The 8 hours while I'm at work are a given, plus at least a few after work and usually some before. Estimated daily total: 12 hours. Aside from pidgin, I spend that time on lj (of course), myspace, xanga, facebook, iilwy, and a couple of forums. I know these sites don't sound like much, but lj, facebook (believe it or not), and the forums especially have spawned a great deal of intelligent discussion on everything from politics to morality to time signatures.
5. Passions
To the music, then. I began piano when I was 6 and was singing long before that (when I was 4 I carried a tape player with a microphone around my grandfather's furniture store and sang to the customers, and my show and tell in kindergarten was singing my favorite songs from The Little Mermaid). I entered every school talent show, but didn't start winning until I was about 9; I guess I needed time to polish up. :)
Aside from church, my first real foray into choral music was in high school; I was in the concert and show choirs. I also spent a semester in band, just for fun. In college I made the top choir (the Mississippi College Singers), which was an honor and a blessing. We rehearsed five days a week, but it was worth it. The feeling of creating the beautiful music I was lucky enough to sing during those years is indescribable (a bonus for me was that we got to sing in so many languages - I really loved learning the IPA because of it).
We sang at the regional and national ACDA conventions and literally hundreds of other events, and every concert was an emotional experience because we had really learned to feel and express the music. Our two highest-profile gigs were probably in L.A. (Walt Disney Concert Hall) and New York (Carnegie Hall), but we got to perform all over the U.S. and in Italy and Slovenia.
We were fortunate enough to get to sing Eric Whitacre's "Lux Aeterna" for him and "The Word Was God" for its composer, Rosephanye Powell. Bob Chilcott directed us once and invited us to perform at a conference in England (we were already booked :[).
It kind of hurts my heart to think now that I will never again be part of such an amazing group, but I still sing whenever and however I can (like at church). And of course my love of music isn't limited to the choral variety - I've always been a fan of musicals, and pop is a large chunk of my interest core.
I suppose I could broaden this further and call my love for singing a love for performing. I was in every school play and have participated in a handful of community productions (I'm currently in rehearsal for High School Musical). I've even been in a few low-budget festival films! I began dance when I was 2 and competed up until high school (tap, ballet, jazz, lyrical, acrobatic - the works!).
Is all this stuff nerdy? Well, the drama and choir kids aren't exactly elected to the homecoming court...
6. Tidbits
1. Photos
Cliche, yes.
This was an effort to record my giddiness the night HBP came out. I forgot that I ever put that pink feather boa on poor Legolas. :p
The night Vaughn was "killed off" Alias, I made this shirt. And I was right!
2. Hobbies
Clearly, Harry Potter is one. I dress up to attend the releases, and I've got a wand and a Ravenclaw uniform, for Ravenclaw is clearly the coolest house. I plan to be Bellatrix for at least the OotP premiere; I'm undecided about DH.
I love movies (my kitty is named Jareth) and making videos (generally parodies).
I'm a pretty big fan of video games, favorites being the Kings Quest, Final Fantasy, Silent Hill, Kingdom Hearts, You Don't Know Jack, Fatal Frame, Katamari, and Donkey Kong Country series. Oh, and DDR and KR. I had a pin-the-jewel-on-the-princess (Toadstool) game at my eighth birthday party.
I love "dressing up," be it for a specific occasion (Halloween) or just for everyday wear. I was Pippin for the LotR flicks.
I think most else is addressed further down.
3. Education!
I was in the gifted program from first grade on. They gave me extra spelling words in elementary school. My high school's system for an advanced diploma didn't raise your GPA, so I came out with only a 4.0. I did take dual enrollment classes, though, and was one of six students in the county to be chosen for an all-academic team my senior year.
I always loved doing science projects (though my topics were never much - the effect an electrical current in the soil of growing plants and the differences in argon and neon, for example), and won the school fair four times, placed at regional twice, and came in third at state on one occasion (that project was on RAM).
I scored a 32 on the ACT; I had taken it once before in 7th grade and earned a 22.
I graduated college magna cum laude with a 3.91 GPA (.04 away from summa :[). I was on the President's List every semester but one, which saw me drop to Dean's List. My major was English - if that doesn't make me nerdy, I don't know what does. It essentially meant that while my friends were out socializing, I was in my room alone, reading and writing.
My favorite classes were a Tolkien special topics course I had under a brilliant professor I have since attempted to banter with on facebook (he's intimidating, but a good sport), a film and literature comparative class (I do love movies), and a non-fiction prose seminar (I've loved to write ever since I was 12 and a teacher commented on one of my papers that my "grasp on the English language" was "prodigious for one so tender in years." Surely I'm not the only one who takes instructors' comments to heart?).
My minor was music, but I'd prefer to address that in section 5.
I ache to go to graduate school, but I just haven't got the funding. :( I applied and was accepted to LSU's Linguistics program, and I still hope to work through it. I am fascinated by Linguistics (all I know is what I've been able to figure out for myself, though). I nearly minored in French and every time I meet someone who speaks another language, I try to learn all I can without seeming like a creep. I love to think about how and why languages are related and where words come from.
4. Internet time
Too much. The 8 hours while I'm at work are a given, plus at least a few after work and usually some before. Estimated daily total: 12 hours. Aside from pidgin, I spend that time on lj (of course), myspace, xanga, facebook, iilwy, and a couple of forums. I know these sites don't sound like much, but lj, facebook (believe it or not), and the forums especially have spawned a great deal of intelligent discussion on everything from politics to morality to time signatures.
5. Passions
To the music, then. I began piano when I was 6 and was singing long before that (when I was 4 I carried a tape player with a microphone around my grandfather's furniture store and sang to the customers, and my show and tell in kindergarten was singing my favorite songs from The Little Mermaid). I entered every school talent show, but didn't start winning until I was about 9; I guess I needed time to polish up. :)
Aside from church, my first real foray into choral music was in high school; I was in the concert and show choirs. I also spent a semester in band, just for fun. In college I made the top choir (the Mississippi College Singers), which was an honor and a blessing. We rehearsed five days a week, but it was worth it. The feeling of creating the beautiful music I was lucky enough to sing during those years is indescribable (a bonus for me was that we got to sing in so many languages - I really loved learning the IPA because of it).
We sang at the regional and national ACDA conventions and literally hundreds of other events, and every concert was an emotional experience because we had really learned to feel and express the music. Our two highest-profile gigs were probably in L.A. (Walt Disney Concert Hall) and New York (Carnegie Hall), but we got to perform all over the U.S. and in Italy and Slovenia.
We were fortunate enough to get to sing Eric Whitacre's "Lux Aeterna" for him and "The Word Was God" for its composer, Rosephanye Powell. Bob Chilcott directed us once and invited us to perform at a conference in England (we were already booked :[).
It kind of hurts my heart to think now that I will never again be part of such an amazing group, but I still sing whenever and however I can (like at church). And of course my love of music isn't limited to the choral variety - I've always been a fan of musicals, and pop is a large chunk of my interest core.
I suppose I could broaden this further and call my love for singing a love for performing. I was in every school play and have participated in a handful of community productions (I'm currently in rehearsal for High School Musical). I've even been in a few low-budget festival films! I began dance when I was 2 and competed up until high school (tap, ballet, jazz, lyrical, acrobatic - the works!).
Is all this stuff nerdy? Well, the drama and choir kids aren't exactly elected to the homecoming court...
6. Tidbits
- I kind of love Disney, and I've sang and danced at Disney World!
- In the year since I graduated, I've been doing the next best thing to school - working at a newspaper. There's no better way to stay informed about what's going on in the world, and I like to think it keeps my grammar skills pretty sharp. A problem with this, though, is that I am a staunch supporter of the Oxford comma... while the AP is vehemently opposed. Guess who wins?
- My car is named Lysander.
- I used to be pretty heavy into role-playing, but essays for school took precedence sometime during 2005, when things started to get a little... heavy.
- I write fanfic! :x
- My college friends and I created our own "fraternity" - Gamma Epsilon Sigma Tau (the nearest we could come to LEET at the time, though I've since figured that there were probably better alternatives).
- 11-year member of Mensa.
- I think Kingdom of Loathing is fun and clever.
- When I was about 10 I became quite a fan of Star Trek. I got a set of action figures (Kirk & Co.) for my next birthday. I also have the Star Trek and X-Files "collectible" Barbies.
- I find 18th-century France to be fascinating.
- I would love to meet C.D. Payne.
