25 Things

I caved. Here are my 25 things. I hope they're informative AND entertaining.

1. My brother Justin and I have both respectively saved one another from serious danger. The first time was when we were quite young. We were jumping in one of those bounce houses at a carnival. It collapsed on us and I had to carry him out before he suffocated from the plastic. A couple of years later, while playing in our backyard in NY, he screamed for me to get out of the way. I moved just in time because moments later a giant branch from a tree fell where I was standing.

2. I have been a student, actress, toy seller, book seller, circus acrobat, camp counselor, editor, administrative assistant, English teacher, and copywriter.

3. My favorite job was my editorial internship with The Journal of Beckett Studies. I loved my office and my co-workers and would love to have a job like that again one day. Incidentally, I did not love Beckett. At all. (My second favorite job was working at Waldenbooks.)

4. Three of my favorite stories from Waldenbooks include: when Santa Claus came in to purchase People magazine, when my co-worker Jeff and I watched a kid try to steal a magazine by putting it down his pants, and when we had our infamous book war. (The book war included us chucking paperbacks at one another from different aisles and shooting each other with the scan guns.)

5. I loved living in the townhouse with Sarah and Shannon. We were so close that we could tell what the other was thinking just by giving a glance, a look. We called it an understood quietness.

6. During my senior year of high school I fainted in Subway (the food place). After many tests at the hospital, it was determined that I was hypoglycemic and shouldn't go long without eating, which is funny considering I was standing in line about to order food.

7. The toe next to my big toe doesn’t move on its own. To curl it, the other toes have to force it down. If I don't, it looks like I’m flicking people off.

8. I collect old, used copies of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland." Currently I have seven.

9. I had my wisdom teeth removed in 11th grade. When going in for the operation, I had a sweater on over a t-shirt. When getting out of it, my mom took the sweater off me because apparently I was sweating. In a daze, I screamed "WHERE ARE MY CLOTHES!? I'M NAKED!" My mom was a bit embarrassed for me. Later that night all I wanted was McDonald's french fries, but due to the pain I couldn't eat them. My dad went out to get some and proceeded to cut them up into little pieces so I could swallow them.

10. I hate when syrup makes waffles soggy. When little, my parents would cut up the waffles into little pieces and arrange them around the rim of the plate. I’d then put syrup in the middle. It wasn’t until high school that I realized it wasn’t normal.

11. I've had one fish, two dogs, and three turtles. The fish was a gift from my acting partner before going to State competition. Sadly, Justin killed it while I was in Tampa competing. We had Oreo, a mutt, as a family dog for 16 years before he passed away two years ago. Jetta, our shih tzu, is still around and still adorable. My first two turtles, Donatello and Splinter, passed away within a year of me having them. One is buried in my parent's backyard and the other is buried on Landis Green, respectively. Yoshi, my third turtle, ran away from home. He, somehow, managed to escape my back porch after three years of having him.

12. I know every line to the movie Empire Records. In high school and college I participated in Rex Manning Day, where we pretended to be the characters. I was always Corey.

13. I went to three different middle schools spread out between New York and Florida.

14. When I was little, I walked in on the movie "Robocop." In one scene, a person was injecting drugs into another person's neck (this is loosely what I remember). Since then I haven't been able to sleep without blankets over my neck, in fear of the same happening to me. (I broke that finally in college.) Also, I haven't seen the movie since.

15. My dad called me ET when I was little because I was very skinny and had a long, long neck. Also, apparently I scrunched my face when I cried.

16. I met Kirk Cameron while working at Callaway Gardens as a camp counselor. Jason, my Rolla partner, and I taught him Rolla and Poi in the circus tent.

17. Some of my happiest memories are from performing. Before circus was theatre, before theatre was chorus, before chorus was band (I played the flute.) I love being in the spotlight and it's upsetting that I haven't done anything since college.

18. I met Samir, the boyfriend, in our Popular Culture Literature class my senior year of college. I came in sweaty from practice and bleeding from my ankles. I still have no clue why he liked me. Including that day, some of my best memories are with him.

19. When I was young, I was convinced that I was related to various historical figures, such as Harry Houdini, Sacajawea, and Thomas Jefferson. My mom just went along with it. I think she was proud of the fact that I liked history.

20. I have a few permanent injuries. My right elbow is especially sensitive because while in theatre, I did a front flip off the stage for a play and banged it pretty hard. My ankles will always have quarter sized scars due to ripping my skin open so many times in circus.

21. I'm a bit obsessive with locking doors. I can't sleep if I'm not 100% sure that they're locked. Jeff, my current roommate, likes to make fun of me about it.

22. I like to frame postcards. My favorite is a picture from “Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me” by Eric Carle. It reminds me of endless possibilities.

23. One of my favorite memories was the day Amy, Keith and I drove to Georgia, just for fun. After a day of walking around, we hopped on a moving train and jumped off a few feet down. It was exhilarating.

24. I really like to swing and salsa dance. I rarely get to anymore, but still - it's a lot of fun. I miss my partners Dan, Abelito, Mike, and, well, Lin just because.

25. Random things I can fit into: a mail sack, a dryer and a freezer.



**BONUS**!

I really like nicknames. I love when others have them and when I do. I feel like it's a secret club or something. In elementary school my nickname was Shorty which was seemingly appropriate. In college, Lau. I was really happy when Joe C started it and it caught on.