Straight No Chaser

Fireworks

i doubt anyone's read the first set yet, but here's the next fifth:

21. i don't drink, and i probably won't even when i turn twenty-one. this is for a number of reasons, some of which i've been told are ridiculous, but i'm not convinced that my life is any worse without alcohol in it. i have drunk, so i'm more or less familiar with both sides of the coin, but i still have to defend that decision to pretty much everyone in my life.

22. i'm not materialistic, but i have been known to collect and hoard things, and i get very freaked out when anything i own goes missing.

23. i have a twenty-inch waist.

24. i've always thought of myself as a moderately ugly person. it's taken me twenty years to believe that i have a nice figure and a decent complexion, and i still think all the rest is a small disaster. i've been through the typical phases of wishing for lighter skin and longer hair, not looking in the mirror and disregarding my appearance out of complete frustration, but now i don't do that anymore. i just do the best i can and ignore the fact that it's not really enough.

25. i am less domestically adept than the leading kindergartener. i don't like cooking, cleaning or doing laundry, and i've never been good at any of them. my mom despairs for her future grandchildren.

26. i love to fly. in airplanes, that is. before college i hated it, but now that i have to do it approximately twelve times a year, i love it.

27. i get really turned on by sound, particularly marcus's breathing. i guess that's somewhat true of everyone, though.

28. i also get really turned off by sound, particularly loud chewing and lip-smacking and the like. i've had to sit through speeches that almost moved me to tears, not because of content but because of how unbearably dry the speakers' mouths were. my high school graduation was hell for that reason.

29. i fantasize about growing my hair into an afro. it will almost definitely never happen, though.

30. i dream very vividly and symbolically, and i almost always remember at least one dream sequence in detail every morning. almost all of my dreams are nightmares, and in many of them, i'm a criminal smuggling goods from one place to another.

31. i'd never kill anyone, even in self-defense, but if i had to, i'm pretty sure i could do it without being caught.

32. when i write a story, i have to try very hard not to make the protagonist a pregnant woman, and i typically fail. most people notice right away that fertility is a huge theme in my writing. this is an extension of another weird quirk of my personality, but i'll skip trying to explain it.

33. i can cry pretty much at will, but i never do it in front of people. the only person who sees me cry on a regular basis is krystle, my roommate, and that's never on purpose.

34. i get criticized a lot for being extremely judgmental. it's probably one of my biggest social weaknesses--that i try to hold my friends to standards of morality and behavior that exactly match mine, which of course is impossible. most of the time, though, my tendency to judge comes from worry, another of my uglier habits. i hate to see people make bad decisions, and when they do, i fret endlessly about their consequences. i take offense when people don't treat themselves well.

35. i believe in a higher power and the need for spirituality, but have my doubts about organized religion itself. i think it does wonders for some people, and truly enriches their lives, but that that's not the case for everyone, and that it, if anything, should be rooted in personal choice and belief rather than coercion and propaganda. it should never be a source of negativity or oppression.

36. i'm always cold, even when it's hot outside.

37. with the exception of episode four, i love star wars. i guess that doesn't say much about a person, but i thought i'd include it anyway, since i saw revenge of the sith over the weekend.

38. i wanted to be an obstetrician until i discovered that i hate (and am terrible at) science.

39. to fall asleep, i either need the tv on or complete silence. there is no in between.

40. this entry is named after something i've always hated.