Saturday, February 6, 2016

20 Things You (Possibly) Didn't Know About Me





GUESS WHAT

My teenage years are over. Yesterday (Friday) was my 20th birthday (!!!!) and I am no longer a teen.
This is mildly freaky.

In the tradition of Cait at Paper Fury, I thought I'd do a list of 20 things you didn't know about me in honor of my living 2 decades.

If you've been hanging around here for long enough, you probably know most of these. BUT NOT ALL! So read on to find out my secrets.

1. I like to eat everything - except squash and papaya. 

I even like eel. (Have you ever had eel sushi? If not you are MISSING OUT. Seriously.) But my absolute favorite food is Thai food.

2. I am tall, but not tall enough to not be shortest in my immediate family.

The rest of them are giants. When I am at home, my sister likes to call me a shrimp. When I am out in the World, I pleasantly remember that I can see the tops of many people's heads.

3. The household chore I ABHORE is washing dishes (and second is loading the dishwasher because that's almost the same thing).

I will gladly do laundry and UNload the dishwasher, though.

4. I was homeschooled all the way through high school. 

It was cool because I got to build volcanoes in my back yard and hatch chickens and build tree houses and go to museums on weekdays when they were empty.

5. This is my favorite number.

Firstly, my birthday is on February 5th, which, in addition to being splendidly alliterative, involves me blessing the number 5 with my birth. Once I won 5th place in a speech competition as a representative of Illinois' 5th district while staying on the 5th floor of the hotel which was just off of the I-55 expressway.

6. My superpower is reading fast.

And my kryptonite is non-narrative writing (textbooks, poetry, philosophical essays). This is why I used to read more than I do now because DANGIT COLLEGE.

7. I have an absolutely gorgeous sister who is remarkably talented at everything she does.

Her latest attempt at taking over every aspect of life is food blogging, which she obviously does just as well as playing piano, acting, sciency lab work stuff, and basically Hermione-ing through her schoolwork.

8. When I grow up, I want to be a doctor.

A pediatrician, to be specific. But also a writer, because who said you had to choose between an enjoyable, sometimes stressful, creative, relatively lucrative job, and an equally enjoyable, sometimes stressful, creative, probably not lucrative job? I choose both.

9. Traveling the world is possibly the best thing, after books.

I've been to the following countries: Japan, Canada (Quebec and Vancouver, so I've covered both ends), the UK (twice!), Italy, France, Costa Rica, and various US states including Hawaii and Alaska. And now I'm living in Denmark! I'd like to go to Australia and somewhere in Africa at some point so I can say I've been to all the continents.

10. I like dark chocolate better than milk chocolate.

If I didn't, I'm afraid my family would disown me. But I don't like it SUPER dark. 80% is nice? So is 75%? My sister eats 100% because she naturally creates her own extra sugar because she is so sweet.

11. I have only DNF'd four books in my life.

They were: Old Curiosity Shop and Bleak House by Charles Dickens (we have a love hate relationship), The White Company by Arthur Conan Doyle (I tried twice! Maybe third time's a charm?), and Ben Hur by Lew Wallace (I think I was a bit young). As you can tell, I definitely want to try them all again at some point. DNF does not equal BAD in my book. I have finished some much worse books than those I have DNF'd.

12. I love to sing!

If reading is my sedentary zen activity, singing is my active zen activity. (And to anyone who thinks singing isn't active, my choir literally does stretches before vocal warm ups so that we are physically prepared.)

13. My favorite color is somewhere in the blue/green range.

See, I don't have a favorite color. I have a favorite color palate. And this is it. I especially like the lighter ones.

14. I'm 100% Ukrainian but I have never been to Ukraine. 

And neither have my parents. We can speak the language and everything. But we have no family there, so that's why.

15. I wrote my first ever novel (i.e. chapter book) when I was eight.

It involved three children going to visit their great-great-aunt in her mansion where she lived with her butler and her maid and large collection of porcelain rabbits. Her butler was extremely mean and didn't like children but suddenly had a change of heart and gave the oldest girl a porcelain rabbit without the great-great-aunt's permission. It didn't seem to get him in any trouble. I wrapped it up quickly because I realized it had no magic in it and what fun are books without magic in them?

16. My middle name is Antonia.

It's Antonia because my dad thought it was pretty and insisted.

17. The sky makes me unbearably happy.


I don't know why, but this past summer I picked up the habit of gazing at the sky. In the daytime, not at stars. I especially love it when it has clouds, but any sort of sky makes me just overwhelmed by the magnitude and beauty of this world and AGH I CAN'T <3

18. My favorite kind of cake is the really fudgy chocolate kind. 

Followed by lemon poppyseed. And carrot.

19. I'm majoring in Chemistry at my University.

Which means - Yes I know how to blow things up. Yes I know how to make luminol to detect blood stains. No I cannot make meth.

20. I have green eyes.

Which makes me a strong candidate for being a YA main character. Though I think I'm more likely that awesome secondary-character friend/sidekick.

Now I have revealed all my secrets! (Or have I?) Tell me 20 or 5 or 100 things about you in the comments! 

19 comments:

  1. It's funny I have been to the Ukraine, it has some beautiful sites, and lovely coffee shops, and the sunflower fields are exquisite. I was homeschooled as well, nothing better than being able to graduate a year early and do your homework in pajamas while drinking cocoa.

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    1. Oh that's awesome! I hope to travel after my semester ends, and Lviv is one of the places on my list of places to go then! So maybe by the end of the summer I will be able to say that I've finally been to Ukraine. :-)

      Once I did my homework outside during a summer morning in a lawn chair with a lemonade and it was perfect.

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  2. Happy birthday, Sophia! I have eaten eel sushi, and enjoyed it but I really hate the sea urchin. Ugh! My most unique food experience was when my Mexican friend gave me ants. Apparently they come out after heavy rain in the south and people collect them and dry them because they're high in protein. They were very crunchy, but there was certainly a mental block to get past before eating them. They were segmented though; if they hadn't been, I doubt I could have eaten them ..... :=Z

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    1. Oh I haven't had sea urchin yet but it doesn't sound that appetizing. ANTS! That is so weird, and I'm not sure I could eat them. Segmented might be a little better, but still! I have never yet eaten any sort of insect but my mother's coworker once ate cicadas and said they seriously tasted like chicken.

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  3. That's funny... I'm reading The Old Curiosity Shop right now... I'm finding it more tedious than most Dickens... which is saying a lot because.... Dickens! ;)

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    1. Old Curiosity Shop was possibly my least favorite Dickens I have ever read, and out of those four DNF'd books I listed, the least likely for me to return to. I think it has the least plot for the most amount of pages. Usually, serialization doesn't really hinder Dickens, but I think in this case it was kind of problematic.

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  4. HAAAAPPPY BIRTHDAY!! *sprinkles cake in your hair* And these are all such awesome facts and I'm like 99% sure you're entirely fabulous right now. The 1% is only because you're tall and since I'm like 5'1, I feel like I shall never ever stand next to you because would probably literally be a shrimp. ugh. Not kind, Sophia, not kind.
    AHEM.
    I LOVE YOUR COLOUR PALETTE. ALSO HOMESCHOOL WAS THE BEST. Also Ukraine!!! SQUEAK. That is so awesome. And green eyes are particularly fabulous too, but you'd best be a protagonist because the secondary characters always seem to die. #awkward
    ALSO I APPROVE OF THE INCLUSION OF FACT #18. Important fact that.
    100% dark chocolate even exists???? OMGGGGG. I love 85%. It is my favourite. I could literally eat it all the time, but I resist, because I'm so restrained.
    Ahem. Least to say this post was so much fun. XDXD

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    1. THANK YOU CAIIIT!! *eats hair*
      We have step stools in our house for me to use so you can borrow one and pretend. :-)

      Oh. That's true that secondary characters seems to die. Not good. Maybe I'd be a secondary character in a contemporary since there's less death that way? (Unless it's John Green.) I'm not sure if my life is interesting enough for me to be a protagonist. :-P

      The 100% chocolate my sister eats is pure baker's chocolate. She had to find the best brand though, apparently they have levels of quality.

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  5. so next year add #21. Capable of turning any noun (Hermione) into a verb. Just one thing about me...Every day at work I am guarded by armed United States Marines...that's job security. (not guarded as in they are watching me, but rather they are watching out for me)

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    1. "Verbing weirds language," as said in Calvin and Hobbes. :-)
      And that's a pretty nice job to have! An excellent arrangement.

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  6. Happy birthday!!! Hope you had a great celebration in Denmark!!!

    1. Pad thai is the best fast food there is. I refuse to compromise.

    2. I'm very tiny (5'2''), yet I'm the tallest woman in my nearest family.

    8. See: Arthur Conan Doyle. You'll be in great company :)

    14. I think it's very cool that all of you speak Ukrainian without knowing the country! You'll just have to go to test your skills :p

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    1. Thank you! I had an excellent time - my host family took me to a THAI RESTAURANT of all places!

      Ahaha but of course! How could I have forgotten Sir Conan Doyle! There's actually a ginormous wikepedia list of Physician-authors including Chekhov and Alexander McCall Smith. I am in EXCELLENT company.

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  7. Happy birthday!! :) I'm tall, but the shortest in my family as well.

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  8. YOU'RE BIRTHDAY IS FEBRUARY 5???
    THIS MAKES ME IRRATIONALLY EXCITED!!!

    See, in my family, we have this thing with February birthdays...my dog's birthday's on the 10th, mine is on the 15th, my Nan's is on the 20th and my Mum's is the 25th.
    I have been looking for someone born on the 5th for YEARS.

    Sorry, I'm just very excited.

    And HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

    And YES! Come to Australia! Come to Sydney! Then I can meet you!!

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    1. OH I WILL JOIN YOUR FEBRUARY TEAM! (And HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY TOO) My mother is on the 14th, so you almost share a birthday?

      (Also did you know that in The Count of Monte Cristo someone gets murdered on February 5th? O.o)

      One of these days I will come! I PROMISE!

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  9. Being homeschooled sounds pretty cool... in Germany this wouldn't be allowed. You can choose the school you want to go to, but not choose to to be taught at home. Every once in a while there are stories of kids who are homeschooled illegally and it's always awkward and sad, when you see that they're forced to go to some regular comprehensive school, even though they're smart enough to go to a "Gymnasium" (which would be like a grammar school or something" but Germany is ridiculous when it comes to accepting alternative forms of education. Sometimes I wish I could be homeschooled to. But on the other hand, my parents both work, so this wouldn't work out well :D

    OMG I clicked to your sisters blog and it's so amazing and cool! Follow, follow :D

    What? I have waaaay more books I did not finish. This is amazing! I wonder how this would work for me. Though, I believe many books I've picked from the library weren't actually worth finishing. SO.

    That color palate could almost be mine. Though, in mine, I would rather go for the darker, greenish tones and I'd also add some orange for complementary reasons :D

    Some weirdness. I'm half Chinese and I've been there so many times, but I'm ashamed to tell, that I only speak tidbits of the language. The only possibility of learning it would mean to drive an hour to Stuttgart every Saturday and already the first time was exhausting and sucked so much that our father instead went to a science museum with us. (Ha! Even though I wasn't homeschooled. And it was still empty ;-) )

    I don't know if the sky makes me happy. But just love watching it all the time out of my window. So many different cloud formations, so many colors. Fabulous :-)

    Oh, and Happy Birthday subsequently, or is that the right word to say this in English? I had to use a dictionary for "subsequently" :'D but in Germany that's how we say Happy Birthday a few days afterwards :-)

    lg Mulan

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    1. Being homeschooled was a lot of fun, but it definitely would be hard to do if my mother didn't work just part time. I know in Denmark it's hard to get part time jobs - is it the same in Germany? The school system in Europe seems a little more strict than in the states (at least than in Illinois where I live).

      Orange is good. It comes in a solid second place, I think. I like it lots.

      Aww that's annoying that you don't get the chance to study Chinese. :/ But museums instead are awesome?

      Oh we say Happy Belated Birthday, like Happy "late" birthday. :-) And thank you!

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    2. I think even at those times when she worked part-time and didn't work in her home office it would have been difficult. I think it's getting better with part-time jobs in Germany and that they're easy to find. Less paid and mostly, surprise surprise, women with children...
      The German school system is crazy. I think despite Germany being so proud about our education standards, I think it's the worst in the world, because every tiny thing has standards and rules and bureaucracy. Also, it's exhausting. There used to be times, when we had no afternoon school in this country, then somebody had the glorious idea that we needed this too, but he I think that idea was executed very bad. We really get stuffed with information and skills, but we're STUFFED so we don't really learn better. And then they tell you it's at least better than the Asian system where pressure is higher, but I think it isn't much better here. Okay, I'll stop about it. I think I'm currently too often hating my school system. I can't change anything yet anyway.

      Museums are awesome. Agree :D

      Oh well. Belated. I think that sounds definitely better and less scientific and dissecting than "subsequently". Much better :D

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