So, here goes... more random trivia about your favorite disgruntled Ph.D. student!
- I am extremely left-handed. I use my left hand for everything except holding my toothbrush. One of my biggest fears is that I am going to severely injure myself someday at the fault of non-left handed kitchen utensils... mainly my evil vegetable peeler.
- Since I don't really drive, I don't get road-rage... but I do get sidewalk-rage. I really, really, really hate people who do not give pedestrians the right of way when pedestrians have the little walking-man flashing indicating that the pedestrian can go, particularly when it is raining/snowing/hailing/some form of foul weather and the pedestrian is stuck outside, and the person in the car is not. I also really hate it when drivers are lazy shits and leave their car blocking the sidewalk in an ally because they can't pull up an extra 4 feet and walk the extra 5 steps, causing the pedestrian to have to squeeze between the tightly parked cars on the street, just because you had to block the sidewalk with your car. One of my other biggest fears is that I am going to severely injure myself by getting run over by a car walking to or from the lab one day, since there seems to be a near miss on a very regular basis.
- When I was 5 years old, I started taking piano lessons and continued through graduating high school. At the end of third grade, I started playing flute, and gradually added on oboe, clarinet, mellophone, and french horn. At the end of high school, I swore I was going to be done with music, but at "freshman orientation" for my college (which was done in the middle of the summer, and included parents) my parents spotted the table for the music department, with a giant sign overhead advertising scholarship, and immediately simultaneously elbowed me to the table. Thus, I played french horn and mellophone for four years of college in university band, wind ensemble, basketball band, and a year of orchestra... and earned quite a bit of scholarship money (more than enough to make up for all those years of music lessons). Despite owning a piano in my little condo and still having a french horn, I have not touched either since graduating, however. I think I have been music-ed out, though someday it would be nice to pick it up again.
- I really enjoy being crafty (of the arts-and-crafts variety, not being sly and cunning). I silkscreened my own wedding invitations, I've been knitting and crocheting since I was 5, I always handmake my own holiday cards, etc. My family and family-in-law is convinced that I should drop out of graduate school and just do crafty things full time. Lately, I've started to think that maybe they are right... at least, I'd be a whole lot happier!
- I have disproportionally small feet in comparison to my height. I'm 5'7, and wear size 5.5 to 6 shoes. Though, since shoes are often picked over in smaller sizes because they carry fewer of them, I have a lot of 6.5 to 7's in my closet, and I just stuff them full of extra padding to make them fit on my foot and not slip as best as possible.
- I am really, truly disappointed that Proposition 8 passed in California. So, so unbelievably upset. While I believe in respecting others, and their opinions, first and foremost, and I will not put down anyone for supporting the ban for their own personal reasons, it just makes me so very sad that this kind of discrimination exists. I am disappointed at the kind of world in which we live. At my own wedding, a few of our friends came up to me and said that they hoped that someday they would have the right to have a wedding of their own, and that my husband and I would be able to attend, but this was a big step backwards towards this happening. It makes me so sad that some of the kindest people that I know may always be treated as second class citizens.
I heart Julie for thing 6. Oh, and I'm 5'7" too and I've been told I have small feet (size 7.5) so I can imagine what sort of comments people make about yours.
ReplyDeleteHow do you take pictures? I was just thinking the other day about how all cameras are right hand oriented.
ReplyDelete"I do get sidewalk-rage. I really, really, really hate people who do not give pedestrians the right of way when pedestrians have the little walking-man flashing indicating that the pedestrian can go, particularly when it is raining/snowing/hailing/some form of foul weather and the pedestrian is stuck outside, and the person in the car is not."
ReplyDeleteOMG, this is totally one of my pet-peeves too. I mean seriously, if you are INSIDE a CAR and WARM and DRY, and getting wherever you're going faster anyway, why the hell do YOU need to push your way in front of a pedestrian who is wet and cold and miserable!?!
I'm completely with you on #6.
ReplyDeleteI played piano in elementary school, but went on to play the saxophone in middle and high school. I still enjoy playing, but I never played formally after high school.
I could have inserted my own name into #2. I really developed an evil eye to give drivers who were cutting pedestrians off in the US, and I always wondered if it was just some weird issue that I had with people. (Thank you for sharing!!)
ReplyDeleteIt's really cool in Germany, though, because cars always yield to walkers. I can't get over it. Cars stop and wait for me. It helps, too, that they can't make right turns on red lights. No one in the US thinks to look for pedestrians when they turn wildly. Grr!
Julie, are you on Ravelry yet? It's an AWESOME place for knitting and crocheting. If you're on there, look me up - I'm Kelly42. :)
ReplyDeleteIf you're not, then you should put your name down for an account! It's addictive and you'll love it.
I particularly like to use it when I feel stuck - I can search for the yarn I've got and see what people have been making with it.
Ha, I love lists like this! I'm so envious of your talents in crafts, music and science. I wish I could do ONE of those things :) Nice list!
ReplyDeleteScienceWoman and Amanda -- thanks for your support on #6. I only wish more people in CA agreed with us!
ReplyDeleteJenna -- Since there are no "left-handed" cameras, I never had any option but to learn right handed. The same goes for lots of technological equipment (the original BlackBerries with the thumb scroll wheel on the side, for example, though I still have never had a BB), but when you are forced to learn to use it from the first time you pick it up, you make do. At least I am never going to slice off a finger with a camera, like I very well may do with a vegetable peeler! But, it does get a bit awkward and when I used to use my father's old SLR camera back in the day, it involved a lot of setting it down on my knee to adjust things with my left hand. I guess I could never be a pro-photographer!
Physics*Chick and Katie -- Also glad I'm not the only one who gets run over on a regular basis. Katie, the funny thing is that being in DC (I know you lived here at one point) is actually really safe compared to other places... I am positive once my husband makes me move to Philadelphia, I am going to be run over in my first 10 minutes, because they REALLY don't even look for pedestrians there!
Kelly -- I am on Ravelry! You have been added as a friend. :) Anyone else on Ravelry can find me as julieulie.
ka1t_lyn -- Ha! Consider yourself tagged for this meme!
Zappos.com! Now that I am in the middle of nowhere, I have no choice but to order shoes online. I was very skeptical, but the returns are easy. Did I mention that shoes arrive 2 days after you order them (even if you live in the middle of nowhere).
ReplyDelete