I was "tagged" on Facebook to write "25 Random Things About Me" so I thought it would be interesting to share it here. I turned it into "26 Random Things About Me." You are supposed to" tag" 25 others and include the sender so they can read your list as well. I ended up using the list as a writing exercise - so sorry about some of the length ;(
1. I was a vegetarian for over 10 years, and actually made the decision to do it when I was eleven. The “political” side of me started VERY early. I started eating meat again at twenty-four. A few years ago, I was macrobiotic – and it made me feel the healthiest and most energetic I have EVER felt. After I was hit by a car (while training for Pan-Mass Challenge), I stopped. I am working my way back towards a macrobiotic lifestyle.
2. I have a "life motto” that I made up in my Latin class in high school: "Ad astra per infinitum." It means "To the stars for infinity." Basically means, keep your dreams in sight, and always try to achieve them. As Immanual Kant once said, "To be is to do."
3. When I was a kid in California, I was absolutely convinced that I would either be a singer (a la Annie Lennox) or an astronaut (a la Guy Bluford). Sadly, I am neither – but my love for music and science is very much alive. I will say, I did try – that’s for a real life conversation (anyone interested in my audition stories or how frustrating calculus for scientists and engineers had gotten by sophomore year).
4. From the day I could talk, even when I had no idea what it was (even all the way on the West coast), I have loved New York City and it’s been the source of my most consistent love, affection, and creative fantasy. I flee to New York whenever I need to heal. It is my island, tropical in it's own unique splendor.
5. Art, science, and humanity bind me to this world – it is a combination that transcends any language and needs no translation, I think this is why I feel so deeply for these things.
6. I have been writing since I was eight. The inability to write – for me, would be like a slow, suffocating death. Writing is how I color and translate my world.
7. In summer 2003 I rode my bike 346 miles and rose funds to help fight AIDS. That's how endurance riding started for me. I try to ride at least once a year for charitable causes and have also ridden for: Lance Armstrong’s Tour of Hope, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society: Team in Training, Pan-Mass Challenge (Jimmy Fund), and Food & Friends. Eventually, I would like to start my own Non-Profit Organization (NPO), enabling others to raise money and raise awareness for issues that are important to them. At some point I would also like to do a cross country ride, 3000 miles in 30 days.
8. My dreams have a profound impact on my waking life, although it seems less so as I get older. Oddly, most of the characters in my dream don’t even exist “here.”
9. I really am not great at anything athletic, despite my “resume” - varsity crew in college and now, endurance cycling. I have never been the fastest or the strongest – my skill lies in perseverance and endurance. I can keep going like an energizer bunny, even if I have been injured – pain or broken bones have never stopped me (yet). My mind is strong, even when my body is not.
10. I am a foodie because of the sensual pleasure great food invokes. A wonderful meal with the “right” company will actually have me dancing in my chair, giddy with glee. Everything about dining and drinking (and cooking when I have the chance) is a completely sensory experience, and I enjoy every moment of it - the taste, the aroma, the texture, the colors, the sounds…When I get a nibble of something I really enjoy, I like to say it is dancing on my taste buds. Sometimes, I can tell you what parts of my palate are becoming excited by the dance. Anything having to do with food is pleasurable for me. Any conversation about food, review of food, story of food, picture of food, thought of food…
11. I have psoriasis. Since I was ten, and to get into the impact it has had on my life would require more than 25 statements. On a positive side, I am more humble and do not pass superficial judgment on anyone – ever, period. Making comments on bad fashion is one thing – making comments on someone’s physical (i.e. biological) appearance, that’s a big “no-no” around me.
12. Lilies are my favorite flowers – every variety.
13. I was a rave girl – used to go to the clubs in Baltimore, NYC, and Philly by myself – just to dance. Now, I pretty much dance in my house – to Madonna. Even saying that I used to be one of those chicks with a pacifier, wide jeans, and a tube top – makes me feeeeel uber old. I was also a grunge girl – but that was high school and I was a model then. Needless to say, during that time – there was much time spent “lying” to the parents to go out to concerts, the seed for tattoos had been planted, I started piercing myself – thinking I could hide it, ah and the combat boots that I was convinced were appropriate for ANY outfit. I was the “out” girl always on the “in.” What a weird time.
14. Once I love a product line, I become an unofficial spokesperson – orbit gum comes to mind (life changing gum), as does Target (the Neiman Marcus of general stores).
15. One of my favorite memories as a child was visiting my grandparents in Thailand during Monsoon season. They were farmers and had a house on stilts over water, in a small town (about 2 hour from Bangkok). I would sit at the entrance and swing my legs over the water below me – while rain poured on my skin, surrounded by the darkness of the clouds. I was completely entranced by the sound of thunder, the strong bursts of lightening, and the sounds of monkeys going wild in the naked jungle across from me. These were the most simple, beautiful times in my memory. Sleeping under a mosquito net, in candlelight – bathing (quite literally) in the jungle with water from a tho naam (I also once climbed into one and got stuck).
16. My grandfathers (both of them) are deeply entrenched in my mind as some of the strongest, most heroic men I have ever seen (my koon-tha had the most chiseled body you could imagine, even into his seventies). As a child, they seemed like characters from a Stan Lee comic book– they were the good guys, the strong guys, the great guys (both were also military men, my grand pap having fought in the "good fight" in WW II). Likely a good time to add that I grew up reading comic books - well into the college years. I still love the smell of a comic book store.
17. I am a mutt. If you were to throw continents in a blender, you still might not end up with this combo. On my father’s side – my grandmother was German (hence my middle name - Anne), my grandfather Lithuanian (hence the last name). My dad is 2nd generation American and grew up outside of Philadelphia. On my mother’s side – things get slightly more complicated. The whole family was (and is) in Thailand (hence my first name). My grandfather was half French and half Laotian (another story in itself) and my grandmother is Chinese. To make things even more confusing, I was raised both Catholic and Buddhist (my mom wanted her kids to know the religion of both parents). Because I am mixed, I sometimes don't feel like I fit in on either side of my family (visually), but I am very proud of my heritage and love my family.
18. I love fashion – the designers, the photography, the “great” models, and the art of it all. Outside of being around some fabulous queens, learning how to pose, and wearing great clothes – modeling occupies a strange, dream-like memory in my mind. Fashion for me is a means of expression, every bit as much as art on canvas or a table built of pine with love. It is in many ways a means for an individual – or a group to define themselves (or conversely not) and it encompasses more than just the clothes that we wear. Although I have an absolute love for haute couture, I could never afford it any more than I could afford to hang a Frieda Khalo in my own home, but it doesn’t mean that I don’t admire the story any less. I can also say the same for many of today’s “hot” ready-to-wear (prêt-a-porte) designers whom I absolutely adore such as Galliano (who to me is the Dali of the fashion world). Then there are the models who are able to turn themselves into 2-D so elegantly and really, really wear the creations with such delicate grace – they are the ballerinas to the Swan Lake of fashion. I will forever be a girl who loved the age of the supermodel (long live Kate, Helena and Linda - but God bless Giselle). And last but not least, there are the fashion editors (Anna Wintour, Grace Coddington, Linda Wells - LOVE HER, Alexandra White), stylists (Beat Bolliger, Anastasia Barbieri, Rachel Zoe) and photographers – I am constantly stunned and following the work of Bruce Webber, Steven Klein, Steven Miesel, and Annie Liebowitz, Mario Sorrenti, Enrique Badulescu, Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin - some of my favorites whose work, in and out of the fashion, always manages to evoke a sense of magic of what light and machine and talent can do to a scene involving a person wearing what is essentially just clothes.
19. I really want to learn how to play acoustic guitar. The other day someone asked if I still sing, and I said no – not even in the shower (really). Odd thing about singing, that people don’t realize, is if you don’t practice – you lose the skill (I used to sing arias every single day). Not much different than playing piano for years, then stopping for a decade – you are never the same. There is something about guitar that makes me think I can combine my voice (maybe) with my writing and really create (something), even if it’s just for me.
20. My “dream” spot on the globe is actually Mali – for reasons, which are completely inexplicable. I have always been drawn to the music and the culture (there are certain songs, which move me to tears, every time I hear them). My third attempt at French classes begins this spring (Nadia has signed on as my tutor). There is something about western Africa that has lured me since my early teens, biophilia – maybe. I have an innate desire to be there.
21. I used to fly airplanes and search for ones that crashed (usually prop planes). That was many moons ago – one day, I’ll start flying again – probably not today. Of my “guy circle” growing up, I was the only one in the circle who didn’t complete qualifications for my solo or license. I kick myself now. Two of them went on to be fighter pilots, one jets – the other helicopters.
22. I want to “retire into” teaching – and not as a college professor. I want to work in the public school system. This is my plan within the next 15 years. Something about teaching is universally appealing to me.
23. I make “art pilgrimages.” Have traveled across the country and the globe to experience the “greats.” I paint and draw, but only as a hobby. Although I studied photography and have taken pictures my whole life, within the last four years it has become a more serious medium for me. I am up for anything creative, art is all about light and perspective - there is something truly special about that.
24. I love the art of conversation and think that it has slowly begun to die. Nothing revs me up more than philosophy, metaphysics, science, art - anything and everything outside of the minutia, outside of the bubble. In my usual "nerdiness," I have discussed starting a "circle" just to get people together and have meaningful discussions.
25. When I was a kid I was convinced I would be living a rainbow life - my brother knows all about it. Me, a "will and jack," and our adopted children from across the globe, in our brownstone in Soho. It seemed like such a perfect scenario. My mom and I used to argue about it, a lot (I was twelve, she thought it was absurd I was even thinking about these things - out loud). When I dreamt the whole thing up, there was no "Will & Grace" on TV and Brangelina wasn't casting for "It's a Small World." In retrospect, it still seems like a pretty flippin' great way to live.
26. I make a “ten” list every 2 years – this year I am hoping to cross off the longest eclipse in the last century (seeing it in China), Bhutan, Tibet, and Nepal – in one hit. I am pretty convinced that life is a series of endings and beginnings, so I “race” to close that loop – beginning things while in the midst of things that I feel are ending (or in the middle) in my life, and never sure where this loop of a roller coaster will take me. At the end of the day – outside of the minutia, the list is “predictable” and everything else is either zafa or fukú. In the end, it’s all kismet (or qismat) anyway…in the end I think I am pretty satisfied and working towards that thing called "happiness."
