Here are about 25 facts of interest about me - this list was created in 2009; I'll update to a new list soon:
1. I used to float cups with my dad after a big rain in a creek we'd call "The Mini-Mississippi". I used to love rainy days, because it meant an outing with my dad to go race paper cups.
2. I used to do gymnastics and still have some chronic back-related issues due to the constant impact of round-offs and backflips.
3. I'm close with a lot of people, but I'm probably most at ease with being myself around my little brother.
4. I worked for Continental Airlines from 2002-2003, preparing flights for arrival & take-off. I loved being around planes, ever since I was little. Whenever I hear an APU fire up, it gives me chills.
5. I started taking flight lessons around 2003. I haven't flown for about 3 years, but I only have about 16 hours left to go. Won't take much to get that last bit done and get my FAA-approval.
6. I'm the only kid in my family with a feature that reflects a recessive genetic trait from my parents, and that's my eyes. People will stop me in my tracks, literally, to look at my eyes. My dad's eyes are an olive shade of brown, while my mom's are a very pale blue. My younger sister, Leah, has olive green colored eyes, my youngest sis & brother, Lydia & Vincent both have blue eyes, but I have combinations of all three. Immediately outside of my pupils, there's a light olive color, with the larger part of my iris being a crisp, jade color green. The very outer edge is a shade of blue. When I wear tinted blue contacts, it picks up the outer-edge blue and combines with the center green to make a pretty unique color, when the light hits them right. Or at least I'm told.
7. I'm of Italian descent (Sicilian and Napolese on my mom's side) and French, Irish and Scottish on my dad's.
8. I've toured the Hoover Dam.
9. I love all animals, especially cats.
10. I've invented two things: QuickCool, a personal cooling device with ionic technology, in 2003. I had a research & development book put together with all of the diagrams and mechanical logistics, which made it to the Underwriters Laboratories. I haven't completely given up on the idea, just need to fine-tune some of it and team up with an engineer - and someone with money for a working model prototype. I also have a product I want to create called Waterlites - something I thought of in 2005. I haven't done as much on that one as the QC, but I haven't seen anything exactly like it on the market, either, so maybe I can still work that one out. It would probably be easier & cheaper to build.
11. I'm genuinely not afraid much of anything, except being forgotten. The idea of the memory of me being lost forever in the universe is pretty chilling. Every other kind of fear can be faced & conquered, I think.
12. If I had to come up with at least two mortal, earthly fears, I guess it would be that of heights and spiders, which I've forced myself to face down both. As far as heights, well, I've taken flight lessons, as aforementioned, and I've laid face-down on the glass floor of the CN Tower in Toronto at 1,122 feet, as well as peering over the Hoover Dam and going on the rides at the top of the Stratosphere in Vegas. As far as spiders, I let a domestic pet tarantula be placed on my face. It wasn't so bad. They're like slower-moving, 8-legged hamsters.
13. I was able to perform on the legendary Vanbrugh Theatre at RADA where several of my theatre idols (Vivian Leigh, Peter O'Toole, and Alan Rickman) have trained. It made me feel part of a legacy. Despite my love of theatre, I haven't yet been to a Broadway show. Go figure.
14. I have a penchant for losing things of great sentimental value. For instance, a portfolio of almost ALL of my artwork, like sketches, paintings (including my Silver Hallmark awarded water color of persimmons) & comic books I'd created & collected up since 6th grade, a personal journal I wrote in for 11 years, the emerald ring my mom's eldest sister was given by her future husband in Italy and my baby hair, that was kept in my baby album. My dad's 60, and he still has his baby hair.
15. Partly due to the fact that I've lived near the country, and to the fact that my family couldn't really afford to buy animals (plus, there were too many that needed rescue & adoption), I've had the following wild & domestic animals as pets throughout my life: besides a variety of dogs, cats & hamsters, I've cared for a baby owl til it was grown, a squirrel, turtle, ferret, dwarf bunny, lizards, snake, scorpion (freakiest thing ever), 3 baby skunks (had for about a week), 2 baby ducks (also about a week), guinea pigs, salamander, several types of fish, including my most recent, a Betta fish, and a miniature horse that stayed on my friend's property in the country. We shared him.
16. I've never kept photos up of anyone my entire life. Not in my bedroom, in any of my apts and not in a wallet. I guess I just never got into the habit of doing it. Plus, if I love you and you've touched my life in some way, you're likely to pop up frequently in my thoughts, with or without a picture.
17. I fear that because of modern communication technology (text msgs, emails, etc.), there are too many shortcuts allowed, and I'm losing my grammatical sharpness. My handwriting is looking increasingly sloppy & unattractive, too. I don't like that so much.
18. Despite being born of globe-trotting parents, I feel a bit under-traveled myself. I've been to Canada, London, NYC, Texas, Southern CA, Las Vegas and all throughout FL, as well as most of the Southern States, but that's about it. Need to change that.
19. Stayed in Key West for a few days. Very cool place. I got to visit Ernest Hemingway's house with the twenty or so famous "Hemingway cats" - they have 6-digit paws. Relatively petite felines with huge feet. I also snorkeled North America's only Living Coral Reef while there, about 60 miles from Cuba.
20. I used to be extremely OCD. It's still with me a little bit. I'm constantly counting things in my head, I type with my toes (not on a keyboard, but there's an explanation), and I have to make touch contact with something if it catches my eye as I'm walking. If I miss stepping on a leaf, after I've noticed it, I have to run back and step on the leaf before continuing my way, or it will drive me crazy. Like I said, I'm getting better.
21. I cried hysterically all day on 9/11. My mom & her family are from NYC, and it's where my parents were married.
22. I played piano for about 14 years and won several guild awards for it. I performed once at a Bach festival for an audience close to 6,000 people when I was 12.
23. I know what it feels like to genuinely melt in a man's arms. It isn't sexual, fatherly or friendly. It's just that unique type of hug where I felt I was at home and could stay forever.
24. For a quick description of my type of humor, I have one word: Shadenfreude. (But not to a malicious degree! Only mischievous and relatively appropriate.) I welcome you to laugh at me, too! :p
25. I was inspired and moved by the films, MILK and MILLION DOLLAR BABY. Mainly because they impressed upon me that no matter how old you think you are, you're never too old to help change people's lives and do something you're truly proud of. I'm also inspired by APOLLO 13, because it shows that anything is possible if you persevere and remain positive.
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