25 Random Things about Me

So a number of my friends have sent me this list through Facebook. However, I thought that it would be more interesting here.

I will leave out my love of pugs, my cat, farmer’s markets, food/cooking, Scooby-Doo, bourbon, watching TV shows in marathon form, and bacon because if you have ever met me or read any of this blog, you already know those facts.

So here we go:

1. I am completely freaked out by clowns. I find them incredibly creepy. Especially sad clowns.


2. My two most reviled foods: ketchup and mayonnaise. However, there is very little in the way of food that I won't at least try (with the allowance of potentially spitting it out if necessary).


3. I also hate bananas...yet I love banana bread and banana muffins.


4. If I was independently wealthy, I would be a surfing-martial artist-philanthropist-small food shop owner (think Ina Garten meets Zoe Bell meets the chicks from Blue Crush meets Bill Gates).


5. Despite my driving skills making me the worst stereotype of the bad Asian female driver, one of my random talents is being a fantastic navigator...however, with the prevalence of GPS devices, this talent is now wasting away.


6. I do stupid sh*t on an hourly basis, but the only thing I've ever regretted was the perm I got in six grade. BIG mistake.


7. I have never seen The Godfather. There. I said it.


8. However, I have seen Beerfest at least 34 times. Overall, I love watching movies repeatedly (right now, I'm on an Across the Universe kick). There's something comforting in knowing what's going to happen (and it makes it easier to multitask).


9. Contrary to what people may believe, I am incredibly self-critical, overly self-conscious and sometimes paralyzingly insecure. When I do something wrong, I tend to beat myself up internally for hours/days and repeatedly overanalyze my actions. I still remember dumb things I've said to people 20 years ago. And sometimes in college (and even occasionally now), I did not speak up in fear of sounding stupid.


10. When I was in middle school, all I wanted to be was a blackjack dealer in Vegas. Needless to say, my goals changed since then...but I still don't rule that out as a future possibility (although probably not in Vegas).


11. My favorite thing in the world to eat: bread and butter. But it has to be good crusty bread and salted butter (I gained 10 pounds in culinary school from this combination...FCI has the most amazing baguettes).


12. My favorite books growing up (from kindergarten to middle school): Bread and Jam for Francis, Ramona Quimby, Trumpet of the Swan, Sweet Valley High (I really wanted to be a blond from California back then - needless to say, that didn't really work out), and Christopher Pike.


13. I love that my mother kept the Richard Scarry paper chain Christmas ornament that I made when I was five. Twenty-eight years later, it's been on their tree every Christmas (although it seems to get smaller and smaller as links break off...it is paper after all).


14. When I am with other Asians, I am often embarrassed that although I am Korean, I can't speak the language.


15. I still can't ride a bike. My parents, friends, and boyfriends have tried to teach me; but as my friend and the parked car in Germany that I crashed into can attest, it's probably a futile effort.


16. I look back at my life and all that has happened (even the breast cancer 1.5 years ago) and every day I think of how incredibly lucky I was to have been adopted by my parents almost 33 years ago.


17. When I lived in Georgia one summer, I worked as a hostess in a restaurant and got a server fired because of some unbelievably racist and offensive comments she made to and about me (and all Asians, in fact). I still don't feel bad about this.


18. My friends are incredibly important to me. While I may not always be good about the keeping-in-touch part (I'm pretty terrible at emailing people back on a regular basis), if a friend ever needed anything (job, money, place to crash, shoulder to cry on, etc.) I would do whatever I could to be there for him or her.


19. On the NYC subway, if I ever see the two guys with the guitar and accordian, I will always give them a dollar. Guaranteed.


20. When Eric and I throw parties, I sometimes use the kitchen as an excuse to escape everyone for a while. It reminds me of the line from Clerks: "You hate people." "But I love gatherings."


21. I firmly believe in what Joe Mantegna says in A Bronx Tale: you are only allowed three great loves in your life (21a. I recently found out that Joe Mantegna is the voice of Fat Tony on The Simpsons...fantastic!).


22. If I could have the same roommates I had back then, I would absolutely do college all over again...although I would get a cooler job than the Government Documents department of the library and tell myself that the difference between a 3.65 and a 3.0 is really not that big a deal (but knowing me and my competitiveness, I would probably still try for the higher GPA).


23. My first celebrity crush was John Travolta in Grease during first grade. This was followed by Jake Ryan in Sixteen Candles (still the perfect man). Today, if I had a "celebrity free pass", I'd use it on Ewan McGregor. But not Trainspotting/Star Wars Ewan McGregor...more along the lines of Shallow Grave/Moulin Rouge Ewan McGregor. And I don't feel this way because he was fully frontally nude in The Pillow Book (although that doesn't hurt).


24. I have never smoked a cigarette in my entire life.


25. This is the first time I've ever done one of these "answer questions about yourself" things (despite getting tons of them via email/Facebook). It's kind of cathartic. Like the end of Almost Famous when they're in the plane that they think will crash so they keep shouting out random secrets.

So there you have it. Twenty-five things you didn't need to know about me.