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:
- Up until high school, I got so nervous on the first day of school that I’d end up throwing up.
- 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).
- 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.
- By the time I was in 5th grade I was reading high school books.
- I decided I wanted to be a physicist before I made it to junior high school.
- During high school and my first two years of undergrad, I wanted to be an astrophysicist and study stellar and galactic evolution.
- I’m a visual and tactile learner.
- I think in images.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- There have only been three girls that I have ever been wildly head over heels for.
- 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.
- I’ve read Lord of the Rings at least 15 times. Probably more.
- I took 3 years of food studies in high school. They were the best classes I ever took during high school.
- 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.
- I didn’t own my first car until I was 26 when I moved from Edmonton to Detroit.
- 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.
- Pizza is my favourite food group. I’ve ordered pizza for the sole purpose of having cold pizza for breakfast the next day.
- One of the guiding principles I live by is KISS – Keep It Simple, Stupid.
- I used to be an awesome dodgeball player. It was always one of my favourite games growing up. Next to hockey of course.
- When I’m depressed, I watch Star Trek.
- I can’t look at anything without seeing an equation flash through my head.
- 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.
- I’m a big science/tech geek, but am usually one of the last to acquire gadgets. I still have no cell phone.
