25 random things

Ok, so I’ve been tagged a few times by this now, so I guess I might as well do it. In no particular order:

1. Up until high school, I got so nervous on the first day of school that I’d end up throwing up.
2. I played viola for 7 years starting in 4th grade. I was reasonably good too, but not good enough that I could ever make a living out of it. I somehow made it into Orchestra B as first chair though (D was for beginners, A and AA were for the really good players).
3. I studied French for 8 years starting in 4th grade. I was part of an extended French program that was supposed to go from grades 4-12. By the time I got to high school, the program was terminated and those of us left were put into the regular 6 year French program (grades 7-12). We were 3 years ahead of those students though, so I got bored pretty quickly and dropped it in 11th grade.
4. By the time I was in 5th grade I was reading high school books.
5. I decided I wanted to be a physicist before I made it to junior high school.
6. During high school and my first two years of undergrad, I wanted to be an astrophysicist and study stellar and galactic evolution.
7. I’m a visual and tactile learner.
8. I think in images.
9. In school I was one of those really smart but lazy kids. I could get good marks without having to work very hard. That changed in undergrad though. Boy did it ever change.
10. My 10th grade math teacher almost kicked me out of her class because she didn’t think I was paying attention to her. I would do the homework assignments while she was teaching, then spend the rest of the time reading. Apparently this did not make her happy.
11. I was an avid cyclist and runner until I moved to the US. There were no safe cycling routes in any of the places I lived. Working on getting back into the cycling thing again.
12. There have only been three girls that I have ever been wildly head over heels for.
13. I delivered newspapers for 5 years during junior high and high school. I still have nightmares about having to deliver papers, but not being able to remember what houses to deliver them to.
14. I’ve read Lord of the Rings at least 15 times. Probably more.
15. I took 3 years of food studies in high school. They were the best classes I ever took during high school.
16. I learn things very quickly and see patterns that help me generalize concepts that I can apply to other things. Women still confuse me though.
17. I didn’t own my first car until I was 26 when I moved from Edmonton to Detroit.
18. I’m intensely introverted. Social interactions tire me out. I can spend weeks without ever having to see or interact with anybody and not be bothered by it.
19. Pizza is my favourite food group. I’ve ordered pizza for the sole purpose of having cold pizza for breakfast the next day.
20. One of the guiding principles I live by is KISS – Keep It Simple, Stupid.
21. I used to be an awesome dodgeball player. It was always one of my favourite games growing up. Next to hockey of course.
22. When I’m depressed, I watch Star Trek.
23. I can’t look at anything without seeing an equation flash through my head.
24. I know how to use a slide rule. I used to do some of the calculations for physics assignments using my slide rule just for kicks and giggles.
25. I’m a big science/tech geek, but am usually one of the last to acquire gadgets. I still have no cell phone.