I Bet You Never Guessed....

I was tagged (a few weeks ago, I’ll admit) by the fabulously, amazingly witty Ellie over at The Lucky Nest in the “6 Random Things About Me” meme. On account of having to wait for the appropriate sized path-length cells to arrive for all the upcoming circular dichroism I will be doing, and the upcoming Jewish holidays (meaning I will be spending a few days out of the lab, so there’s no point in purifying the proteins that immediately begin to degrade roughly 0.2 seconds after coming off the column, if I won’t be in the lab every single day next week to use them), I’ve shockingly found myself with a few extra minutes to actually sit at my desk. Meme time!

The Rules:

1) I am allergic to mosquito bites. Seriously, seriously allergic. As in, each mosquito bite turns into a giant, rock hard, fiery hot welt that itches non-stop for the first day, and then becomes extraordinarily painful and swells to giant proportions and hurts like a bitch. I also attract mosquitoes better than anyone I know, which is apparently because I am extremely efficient at processing cholesterol, and the cholesterol by-product residues remain on my skin and attract said mosquitoes. It’s a lose-lose situation. Case in point, last Saturday, as in 10 days ago, I was outside on a deck with some friends enjoying a live band at a bar. My ankles are still so swollen from the mosquito bites I am still having difficulty walking and it is still painful, but at least after 6 days my resulting fever from the allergy went down.

2) I hate flip flips. Hate hate hate hate with a passion. Flip flips are appropriate attire at a beach or a pool, and nowhere else. I am well aware that 98% of the American population disagrees with me on this one, but there are so many footwear options that are far less hideous, and do not make the cringe-worthy thwack-thwack sound of flip flops. Loathe them.

3) I don’t drive. I mean, I can – I’m a legal licensed driver – I just very, very rarely do. When I was in high school, I drove on daily basis. But then I graduated from high school, and moved to D.C. for undergrad, and left behind my car. And at my undergraduate institution, next to nobody had a car, because a) you didn’t need one, and b) parking fees were astronomical. I think in all four years there, I knew precisely two people who had cars. And then I stayed in D.C. for graduate school, and continued my car-free existence. My husband has a car, but he is very distinct that it is HIS car, not OUR car. A big part of why I don’t drive is because I get carsick, even while driving, and I dread the day when my husband makes me pack up and move out of the city and into the suburbs where I’ll have to drive. I plan on retaliating by frequently vomiting in his nice new luxury car he will purchase for himself following the completion of his residency.

4) My favorite food in the whole wide world is eggplant. That’s pretty random, right? I mean, when you can pick from all sorts of delicious things like ice cream and goat cheese, who picks eggplant?

5) I am superbly tidy/organized. Our lab once tried to do a weekly “neatest bench” competition to try to encourage everyone to keep their personal bench space organized, but our PI gave up after a few weeks, because everyone realized that I would just win every single week, and I wasn’t even trying. It’s just how I am. Everything has a place, and that’s where it belongs. I secretly dread having children someday, because they are not going to keep everything where it belongs, and I don’t think I will be able to function.

6) I have foul fingers, but rarely a foul mouth. When I’m typing, generally because I am pissed about something and am venting to my best friend on GChat, I swear like a sailor. But in real life? Only when I have asked my husband three times to move the suitcase he left in the middle of the bedroom floor, and three times in a row I painfully stubbed my toe on the suitcase in the middle of the night (and the swearing was not so much at my husband, but the natural reaction to kicking the suitcase with my swollen, infected, mosquito-bitten toe).

Now, we get to learn 6 random facts about the following:

1) Amanda, over at A Lady Scientist, a fellow slave of the laboratory.

2) The Science Girl, at She Blinded Me with Science, kicking off the science aspect of her training.

3) Julie (with the Greatest Name Ever), at One Day At A Time, owner of the adorable Smartest Cat Ever! (and Meanest Boyfriend Ever, who is makes Smartest Cat Ever stay off the counters, couch, and all the exact places where a cat belongs!)

4) Southern Grad Girl, at The Grad Life, who should really think about weaning herself off caffeine!

5) physics*chick, at Mad Scientist, who I am convinced really must not do any work during the day, because I am amazed with the number of completed knitting projects she has on her Ravelry page!

6) You!