Are there 25 Interesting Things About Me?
29 Jan
You be the judge!
1) I’m viciously asthmatic and I’m allergic to most trees, grasses, dust mites, and a lot of perfumes. For most of my life I’ve been on weekly allergy desensitization shots. It’s good times.
2) My esophagus doesn’t work, at all: I have a condition called achalasia and had to have surgery when I was in high school so I could eat.
3) I somehow managed to catch Whooping Cough when I was a sophomore in high school, despite the fact that I’d been vaccinated as a child. That was fun.
4) Natural selection has been out to get me since I was born (see 1, 2, and 3) and for the good of humanity I should probably never reproduce.
5) In high school I competed on an international level in rowing, asthma be damned.
6) I biked from across the USA last summer with two broken elbows. I’d never ridden a road bike before and while training before the trip I struggled with clipless pedals (fell a few times)… I desperately want to bike cross-country again, but I’m not sure if I’ll have the time.
7) Missouri is hands down my least favorite state in the Union.
8 ) My favorite states (that I biked through) are Oklahoma and New Mexico. Oklahoma was great because it was flat and had lots of sunflower fields. New Mexico is just gorgeous.
9) I know a LOT of dead languages (like, a lot).
10) I study the development of languages over time as a profession. By figuring out how the brain makes mistakes during acquisition (these mistakes lead to change), you can figure out how your brain is computing language, which I think is awesome. Also, since some types of language change are systematic, you can actually reconstruct how people talked 8-10 thousand years ago (you have to work backwards from related dead languages). I think that’s pretty freaking cool, which is why I’m getting a PhD.
11) My favorite dead languages are Old Irish, Greek, Hittite, Egyptian, and Akkadian.
12) I really enjoy being able to show off in museums by reading inscriptions.
13) I have three younger siblings (two sisters and a brother). My brother is the youngest and I’ve become that older sister that buys her younger brother presents for no reason. (To be fair, though, I have been known to buy the sisters random stuff for no reason.)
14) I’m half-Lebanese.
15) I lived in Cairo for a few months, but my Arabic is still pretty sad. I’d kill to be natively bilingual.
16) One of my little sisters is going to be an archaeologist.
17) I live with three roommates who are going progressively more insane (or maybe they were always insane and I’m just now noticing). And it’s not entertaining insane, either.
18) My high school boyfriend owned a jacket that looked just like Michael Jackson’s in the ‘Beat It’ video. This ex-boyfriend turned out fine, though.
19) I have a lot of body image issues I’m working through.
20) I’m also working through PTSD from an abusive relationship and can’t use/review/deal with realistic sex toys.
21) I love Mystery Science Theater 3000 and wish it was still running.
22) I’m a HUGE Joss Whedon fan.
23) I’ll eat anything with coconut in it.
24) I’m running out of things to say.
25) I went to a party at a fellow grad student’s house last night. On the way, I slipped on the ridiculous amount of ice we have here, fell on my bag which contained a bottle of wine for the party, broke said bottle of wine, and ruined my bag and everything in it (RIP, phone). I fortunately managed not to be speared in the side with broken glass.
–so let me know if it’s OK!
