1. Hello, Human.
I am a human as well. Yes, I know it’s shocking. But I promise I’m telling the truth.
2. Food is Tasty
As a human, I need sustenance to survive day to day. Some of my favorite forms of “nourishment” are hotdogs, mac n’ cheese, meat, popcorn, quesadillas (make from the rotisserie chicken at Walmart) (What? It’s good chicken!), Spaghetti O’s, PIZZA, PIZZA, PIZZA and PIZZA. I also love sugary things! Blue Bell’s Cookie Two Step is probably my favorite. Wow, I’m getting hungry just thinking about food. Well, I guess I’m going to go make a quesadilla. I’ll be right back.
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Okay, I’m back. Where were we? Oh! I’m thirsty.
3. Drinks
I tend to get dehydrated really easily. Except, I don’t show symptoms until I’m passed out on the floor. It kinda stinks. Because of this, I’m always drinking good ‘ole H2O. I can’t get enough, literally. But other than water, I also enjoy a good Sprite, berry juice or lemonade. My first love was milk (Braums whole milk) and we are still going strong.
4. Animals
I grew up on a farm. Because of this, I have always been surrounded by critters. I love riding horses with my siblings, playing with the dogs, and taking care of the family chickens. I want to swim with dolphins one day. Elephants are incredible. I bet they’re great listeners. Hmm… what other animals am I obsessed with? I think platypuses are cool. (Perry is my favorite.) Parrots have gorgeous wings. Well, you get the point I think. Humans are boring in comparison honestly.
5. Reading
This one’s kind of a no-brainer. I became an avid reader at a really young age. I’m not exactly sure where I got it from. I have a lot of family members who like to read, but I’m not sure if any of them are quite as obsessed as I am. My reading taste buds haven’t really changed much through the years. I can still find my favorite books in the middle-grade fantasy/adventure section of any bookstore or library. I also like good PG 13 romances and historical fiction. Thriller makes me nervous, but I’d like to try one out someday.
6. Swimming
I have a mermaid tail. No joke. Growing up, my family had an 16-foot diameter (5,068 gallon) above-ground pool. My siblings and I would swim and pretend we were different sea creatures. There was this show we watched called H2O: Just Add Water. The three main characters were girls who turned into mermaids when they touched water. One day, a few years ago, I finally got up the guts to buy a tail I could swim with. My excuse is that it’s a great abdominal workout.
7. Disney
“I'm, I'm good at wasting time
I think lyrics need to rhyme
And you're not asking
But I'm trying to grow a mustache
I eat cheese, but only on pizza, please
And sometimes on a homemade quesadilla
Otherwise it smells like feet to me
And I, I really like it when the moon looks like a toenail
And I love you when you say my name
If you wanna know
Here it goes
Gonna tell you this
The part of me that shows if you're close
Gonna let you see everything
But remember that you asked for it (you didn’t actually ask for it)
I'll try to do my best to impress
But it's easier to let you take a guess at the rest
But you wanna hear what lives in my brain
My heart, will you ask for it, for your perusing?
At times confusing, slightly amusing
Introducing me”
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Why yes, I did just sing “Introducing Me” from Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam. Pun intended. Quite simply, I grew up on Disney; Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, Camp Rock, High School Musical, and The Suite Life of Zack and Cody are some of my all-time favorites.
8. Foreign Languages
I know how to speak nerd, bookworm, and sarcasm. Yes, those count as different languages! Okay, maybe they don’t.
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While I don’t know how to speak Spanish, or French, or any other real spoken language, I do want to learn. I have previously learned some Spanish and Latin. Maybe one day I will be able to speak another language fluently. But right now, I’m still confused by English.
9. The Color Blue
My mother says I came out of the womb blue, so maybe that’s why I’ve always loved the color. As a young child, I refused to wear pink. It took a while, but my family finally figured out I was no Barbie. (Although I do like those movies. The Princess and the Pauper is a classic.)
10. Laughing
And who doesn’t? But I’m talking about a specific kind. I love the kind of laughter that comes from pure wholesome comedy and the kind that makes you clutch your stomach and laugh until you can’t breathe.
11. To-Do Listing
It’s basically a sport I play at this point. My dad says part of my personality comes from him, and I’m pretty sure it’s this part. Although, he mostly has lists in his head. I like scratching things off of my list. I can’t explain why, but it’s really fun.
12. Writing
I started writing my first novel at the age of 14 (roughly). My love for reading seeped into my imaginative brain and suddenly, I knew what I want to do in life. My big dream is to become a published author of children’s books. *fingers crossed* However, I come from a very practical family. I realize I probably won’t be able to make a living off of writing novels. There are already a lot of great writers out in the world. So, I working to become a communications professional to pay the bills and write novels on the side.
13. Hoodies
I like to buy them one size too big. No, it’s not so I look like I stole my boyfriend’s. I don’t, in fact, have one at the present moment. Ya girl is really single! Sometimes I think reading has given me unrealistic expectations of boys, but oh well. I’m not going to stop reading. I think I started buying the hoodies bigger because I get cold and want to wear several layers and the hoodie needs to be able to cover those layers without making me feel like I’m suffocating. Plus, baggy hoodies are just more comfortable, and I have some growing room too.
14. BookTube
I wish I was one. A booktuber, that is. I came across the YouTubing book community when I was googling fan theories about what was going to happen in Rick Riordan’s The Blood of Olympus. What was that, 2014? Wow, that was a long time ago. Jessethereader, PolandbananasBOOKS, Ariel Bissett, Katytastic and Tashapolis have become some of my favorites.
15. AuthorTube
Yes, there is a difference. Anyway, this section of YouTube is newer to me. I’ve been perusing the community for maybe a year. It has been a great source of inspiration and knowledge for me. I’m subscribed to several different AuthorTubers but I tend to lean toward Alexa Donne and Kate Cavanaugh.
16. Musicals
I like to burst out into song when a line of dialog allows me to. The original musicals I adored where Barbie: Princess and the Pauper and Disney classics like Tarzan, The High School Musical series, and Cinderella. In the past few years, Hamilton happened, and Dear Evan Hanson, Frozen II, and The Greatest Showman.
17. Glasses
Guys, I am blind as a bat! True story: I was learning to drive when I figured out I couldn’t see squat. My dad and I were on a trip back from dropping off some animals at auction. I was pulling a trailer over a mountain.
“You need to be able to see everything around you at once,” Dad said. “You need to be able to notice those horses in the pasture beside us, the cars in front and behind us, and read all the signs you come to. Quick! What does that sign say?”
“I’ll tell you when I can see it.” I replied. A pause.
“What does it say?” My dad asked again. I leaned forward slightly and squinted. After a few more seconds I responded.
“Sixty-five mph.”
“You couldn’t see it until now?!?” For the next mile or so, my dad quizzed me on speed limit signs. After only a few minutes, my dad said, “Pull over.”
And that was how I figured out I was visually impaired. For the next week or so, I was constantly asked by friends and family if I could see things. I remember there was a huge sign hanging in our church’s gymnasium, and I couldn’t read it when I stood on the other side of the room. My friend passed me her glasses and the world got a whole lot more interesting. Now my glasses have become a part of my personality, not just my wardrobe.
18. Outlining
When I was in high school, I did not like outlines. The structure was too rigid, the format clunky, and writing felt forced when I had to follow the rubric. I despised outlines so much that when I started writing my first novel, I didn’t outline. (There was one time I wrote a sentence for each chapter I had in mind, but then I almost never looked at it.) I’m still not sure how I managed to get a whole manuscript done. Now though, I’ve learned my lesson and have outlined the other book projects I’m working on. I really like doing it this way because I get to theorize what a character is going to act like and what plot would be most entertaining. I still wing it when it comes to shorter pieces, but outlining is a must for anything longer than 10 pages.
19. Hair
And doing absolutely nothing with it. My mother and one of my sisters are both licensed cosmetologists though, so I’m covered if I need to go anywhere fancy.
20. Sticky Notes
I LOVE Sticky Notes. I use them every day: work reminders, fun reminders, bookmarks, goal tracking, et cetera. Side note: I like writing “et cetera” instead of “etc.” It guess I’m like Anne of Green Gables with this. “Et cetera” is just so much more distinguished. Anyway, Sticky Notes keep me on track. They’re also fun to stick on things. My desk is cluttered with them during the week. I put the yellow squares on my laptop, my notebooks, my books, my phone, just everywhere. I have two of those little booklet that holds several different sizes and colors of stickies.
21. Huggles and Snuggies and Swaddles, Oh My!
Similar to the hoodie obsession I have. I like to be cozy and warm. I got a gray leopard Snuggie for Christmas a few years back from my Gamma (maternal grandmother) and it was the stepping stone into my oddball comfort-piece collection. The Huggle was the next find. My brother got is for me. It’s this interesting hoodie/blanket/robe combo that comes down to my knees. It has a huge pocket and is the softest thing I own. My most recent find is an adult swaddle. Yes, I said it, adult swaddle. One of my cousins had one when I went to go see her and her family. A few weeks later, I found a package from her with one in it. On one side it’s turquoise and on the other it’s gray with little trees on it. I like swapping out these comfort pieces when I read and work on my computer at home.
22. Learning
I grew up labeled as the “smart one” of my siblings. (I mean school wise by the way. My siblings all have more than enough common sense) I’m also competitive. So over time, I’ve developed a strong need to be smarter than I was the day before. I try to teach myself new things as often as I can. I also grew up liking school (gasp!) for most of my life. I did stop liking math when the alphabet go involved though.
23. Friends
I don’t have many. But the ones I do have are extremely important to me. I tend to be an open book, so if someone likes me enough to hang around, I try to keep them close to my heart for the long haul. That’s not to say I don’t know a lot of people. I do, I just get really picky regarding my friend group. In the circles I run in, people tend to know me before I know them. It comes from being in a big family, I think.
24. Family
Whether it’s the big-farm-family-mentality or the way my parents raised me, family comes before a lot of things. We stick together. Sometimes we don’t like each other much, we may even despise each other for a day or two, but we always love each other.
25. Jesus Christ
I saved the best for last. From the day I was born, I was taught the Bible. I’m Baptist, if you want to get really technical. As I grew up, my parents’ faith became my own, and I couldn’t thank them enough. I’m still learning, but I try to base my decisions on the teachings of Jesus. I can’t say I always get it right. Actually, I can promise I get it wrong many many times. But I’m working on loving through actions like my Savior did.
Well, I guess we’ve reached the end of this unrequested list. I hope this was entertaining. It was for me. Bye until next time. – S.J.
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