Peer pressure...
1. I won a writing contest at Marshall Field's when I was ten for writing a rhyming, metered poem about Rudolph having Frango-coated antlers.
2. I've only broken one body part. It was my right pinky. It was during gym class basketball freshman year. And all I did is receive a bounce pass.
3. My left thumb is significantly shorter than my right thumb. It looks like a toe. My Mom says it's because I played too much Mario growing up, and by making Mario go I stunted my growth. The jumping "B-button" thumb, however, occassionally got a break. Funny Mom.
4. For a few years when I was younger, I sang in three different choirs at once. In one I was a soprano, one a mezzo-soprano/alto I, and in the third an alto II/tenor.
5. I could identify every CFA-recognized breed of cat by the time I was eleven...and tell you all about it.
6. I was very bossy as a young child. I would form several clubs then not let people join. One time I made every kid in the neighborhood watch me do a magic show in my backyard. I am ashamed.
7. I also started two companies, whose products I would sell at family birthday parties and eventually at a real craft show.
8. My favorite food since I could chew has always been noodles with butter and plenty of parmesan cheese. I always have and always will eat it several times a week.
9. I would dump parmesan cheese on almost anything and call it good.
10. I watch AMC, TCM, We, and Oxygen movies very happily and without shame.
11. I am addicted to Europe and have sent myself to Italy, England, France, Germany, Sweden, Scotland, and Ireland.
12. I like to organize things. If you're not careful, I'll try to organize your things.
13. I feel unusually close to good friends from my past, even after years and miles have separated us.
14. I feel a strong tie to my memories and think that they continually influence who I become as a person. I remember insane details from how I felt in the past and one day hope to write about them in a way that others can relate to.
15. For a few years when I was younger, I would read a book a day no matter where I was. I even used to read while walking around school, the neighborhood, and the grocery store.
16. I'm feeling nerdier by the second.
17. Mostly because of my Dad, I have a deep love for and connection with music and nothing can really touch me the way it can. I've been exposed to so much of it that sometimes I feel like a human jukebox, though I know virtually nothing outside the many sub-genres of rock and what I think of as old movie music (i.e. Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong, and any musicals).
18. I feel extremely blessed to have become friends with so many different, incredible people along the way and I like to think I would stand up for them under anything.
19. I feel like my list is getting a bit pretentious at points. Let's level it out a bit.
20. When called on in second grade to give an answer to a states question, I responded Ar - KAN - sas, as if "Ar" was merely a prefix to the state of Kansas.
21. I have had thirteen teeth pulled, two gum surgeries, an expander for two years, and braces for five. Six of those extracted teeth and the expander occurred at the same time. It was not attractive.
22. I can cry at the drop of a hat, about both happy and sad things.
23. My family is literally crazy and sometimes speaks only in movie and TV quotes. Only the four of us understand what we're really saying. And not just any movie quotes. Stellar films such as The Mighty Ducks, Cool Runnings, While You Were Sleeping, and Home Alone. Shows like The X-Files, Seinfeld, and Home Improvement make a regular appearance as well.
24. I have lived in close quarters with forty different people in college who were strangers to me before I moved in with them. And generally it has rocked.
25. I have only been in one car accident. It was at the corner of Broadway and 4th in Libertyville and I still don't like to talk about it.
26. I can be extremely over-sensitive and overly self-conscious at times.
27. I grew up Lutheran and as a result, I love to sing endless numbers of hymns in harmony and always feel like I need to be helping someone else at my own cost.
28. I have felt randomly fainty and light-headed for years, but had not fainted once until September of this year when I was taken in an ambulance to the ER.
29. I study by re-writing everything I think I'll need to know out of all my material. It's an extremely time-consuming process, but it has almost always worked.
30. I love chocolate and cheesecake to an unhealthy level.
31. I have a strange and obsessive fetish for people playing with/brushing my hair.It calms me.
32. I am addicted to coffee.
33. I am politically quite liberal and idealistic.
34. I once had someone convinced that Mariah Carey was my aunt for at least half an hour.
35. Both my first and middle names are spelled oddly, and as a result constantly misspelled. Kristin, not Kristen. Maralyn, not Marilyn.
36. Despite all the amazing and deserving music I know, my favorite album remains "Recovering the Satellites" by Counting Crows and my favorite song "Motorcycle Drive-By" by Third Eye Blind.
37. I have become an indie music and movie kid, but refuse to try and become an actual indie kid.
38. When I pound Guinness and other similar porters people look at me funny.
39. Baily's on ice is the perfect end to any night.
40. I like to try strange and unique beers.
41. I love words and often toss lengthy/archaic/unknown bits of vocab into everyday conversation. Not usually on purpose, though.
42. I hate scary movies. I am using the word hate about movies that attempt to scare. Why put all that time into something that doesn't represent anything beautiful in life?
43. On the other hand, I love rollercoasters and will get on just about anything.
44. From one day to the next, I go from eating extremely healthy to eating obscene portions of anything I want, and then back again.
45. If it weren't for Val, I would not be able to sew and thereby never have really assimilated into LHS life through Stageplayers; I would still never attempt to put my hair up; and I would still wear a different shade of blue most days out of the week.
46. If it weren't for MC, I would have rarely calmed down from stress in high school; I most likely would have fainted several times after senior year gym class; and I would never know why my stomach growls at me all the time.
47. If it weren't for the LHS guys reading this, I probably would never have hung out with guys outside school during high school, and would today not have a team of online guy support and insightful political battle.
48. If it weren't for my sister, I would never see how two children coming from the exact same place could become such different adults, and how both ways could work.
49. If it weren't for my parents, supporting me every day of my almost twenty-two years, I honestly believe I would have nothing.
Cue the Oscar music.
1. I won a writing contest at Marshall Field's when I was ten for writing a rhyming, metered poem about Rudolph having Frango-coated antlers.
2. I've only broken one body part. It was my right pinky. It was during gym class basketball freshman year. And all I did is receive a bounce pass.
3. My left thumb is significantly shorter than my right thumb. It looks like a toe. My Mom says it's because I played too much Mario growing up, and by making Mario go I stunted my growth. The jumping "B-button" thumb, however, occassionally got a break. Funny Mom.
4. For a few years when I was younger, I sang in three different choirs at once. In one I was a soprano, one a mezzo-soprano/alto I, and in the third an alto II/tenor.
5. I could identify every CFA-recognized breed of cat by the time I was eleven...and tell you all about it.
6. I was very bossy as a young child. I would form several clubs then not let people join. One time I made every kid in the neighborhood watch me do a magic show in my backyard. I am ashamed.
7. I also started two companies, whose products I would sell at family birthday parties and eventually at a real craft show.
8. My favorite food since I could chew has always been noodles with butter and plenty of parmesan cheese. I always have and always will eat it several times a week.
9. I would dump parmesan cheese on almost anything and call it good.
10. I watch AMC, TCM, We, and Oxygen movies very happily and without shame.
11. I am addicted to Europe and have sent myself to Italy, England, France, Germany, Sweden, Scotland, and Ireland.
12. I like to organize things. If you're not careful, I'll try to organize your things.
13. I feel unusually close to good friends from my past, even after years and miles have separated us.
14. I feel a strong tie to my memories and think that they continually influence who I become as a person. I remember insane details from how I felt in the past and one day hope to write about them in a way that others can relate to.
15. For a few years when I was younger, I would read a book a day no matter where I was. I even used to read while walking around school, the neighborhood, and the grocery store.
16. I'm feeling nerdier by the second.
17. Mostly because of my Dad, I have a deep love for and connection with music and nothing can really touch me the way it can. I've been exposed to so much of it that sometimes I feel like a human jukebox, though I know virtually nothing outside the many sub-genres of rock and what I think of as old movie music (i.e. Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong, and any musicals).
18. I feel extremely blessed to have become friends with so many different, incredible people along the way and I like to think I would stand up for them under anything.
19. I feel like my list is getting a bit pretentious at points. Let's level it out a bit.
20. When called on in second grade to give an answer to a states question, I responded Ar - KAN - sas, as if "Ar" was merely a prefix to the state of Kansas.
21. I have had thirteen teeth pulled, two gum surgeries, an expander for two years, and braces for five. Six of those extracted teeth and the expander occurred at the same time. It was not attractive.
22. I can cry at the drop of a hat, about both happy and sad things.
23. My family is literally crazy and sometimes speaks only in movie and TV quotes. Only the four of us understand what we're really saying. And not just any movie quotes. Stellar films such as The Mighty Ducks, Cool Runnings, While You Were Sleeping, and Home Alone. Shows like The X-Files, Seinfeld, and Home Improvement make a regular appearance as well.
24. I have lived in close quarters with forty different people in college who were strangers to me before I moved in with them. And generally it has rocked.
25. I have only been in one car accident. It was at the corner of Broadway and 4th in Libertyville and I still don't like to talk about it.
26. I can be extremely over-sensitive and overly self-conscious at times.
27. I grew up Lutheran and as a result, I love to sing endless numbers of hymns in harmony and always feel like I need to be helping someone else at my own cost.
28. I have felt randomly fainty and light-headed for years, but had not fainted once until September of this year when I was taken in an ambulance to the ER.
29. I study by re-writing everything I think I'll need to know out of all my material. It's an extremely time-consuming process, but it has almost always worked.
30. I love chocolate and cheesecake to an unhealthy level.
31. I have a strange and obsessive fetish for people playing with/brushing my hair.It calms me.
32. I am addicted to coffee.
33. I am politically quite liberal and idealistic.
34. I once had someone convinced that Mariah Carey was my aunt for at least half an hour.
35. Both my first and middle names are spelled oddly, and as a result constantly misspelled. Kristin, not Kristen. Maralyn, not Marilyn.
36. Despite all the amazing and deserving music I know, my favorite album remains "Recovering the Satellites" by Counting Crows and my favorite song "Motorcycle Drive-By" by Third Eye Blind.
37. I have become an indie music and movie kid, but refuse to try and become an actual indie kid.
38. When I pound Guinness and other similar porters people look at me funny.
39. Baily's on ice is the perfect end to any night.
40. I like to try strange and unique beers.
41. I love words and often toss lengthy/archaic/unknown bits of vocab into everyday conversation. Not usually on purpose, though.
42. I hate scary movies. I am using the word hate about movies that attempt to scare. Why put all that time into something that doesn't represent anything beautiful in life?
43. On the other hand, I love rollercoasters and will get on just about anything.
44. From one day to the next, I go from eating extremely healthy to eating obscene portions of anything I want, and then back again.
45. If it weren't for Val, I would not be able to sew and thereby never have really assimilated into LHS life through Stageplayers; I would still never attempt to put my hair up; and I would still wear a different shade of blue most days out of the week.
46. If it weren't for MC, I would have rarely calmed down from stress in high school; I most likely would have fainted several times after senior year gym class; and I would never know why my stomach growls at me all the time.
47. If it weren't for the LHS guys reading this, I probably would never have hung out with guys outside school during high school, and would today not have a team of online guy support and insightful political battle.
48. If it weren't for my sister, I would never see how two children coming from the exact same place could become such different adults, and how both ways could work.
49. If it weren't for my parents, supporting me every day of my almost twenty-two years, I honestly believe I would have nothing.
Cue the Oscar music.
