I'm filing this under Friday Five, even though it's not Friday, because it still counts if it's still the weekend, right?
Remember when Candace did the "10 Day You Challenge", those series of posts on her blog? With answering different questions that counted down from 10 and all that? I tried to do it for one post, and half-heartedly at that, and I didn't do any more of those posts, mostly because I couldn't figure out enough stuff to write about myself. I just wasn't up to the challenge. Dear readers, I had to confront the fact that I'm not that interesting a person. I know lots of interesting people and a fair number of interesting facts, but I myself am the sort of individual who is paralyzed when required to make small talk, so I end up staring awkwardly at the walls and wishing the floor would open up and swallow me. Sigh.
But anyway, one of the challenges in the 10 Day You Challenge was 10 Secrets. Now obviously, if I posted ten secrets about myself, or even just one secret, on my blog, then it would be automatically self-negating because as soon as I pushed the Publish button, the information would cease to be secret. But I thought it might be a reasonable approximation to post a few items about myself that are not actually secrets but some things that people might not know. I couldn't think of ten, so here are five.
1. I was switched at birth. No, really. It's a somewhat long and involved story and my mother tells the best version of it (I myself cannot even recall the events in question), but the gist of it is that due to a logistical error, the hospital brought two babies each to the other's mother on the day when I was born. The other infant in question was Hispanic and male, so the mix-up was readily discovered and corrected, but it does make one wonder how often those mistakes could happen without being detected.
2. I have super powers! Just kidding, my powers are pretty much useless so I'm more of a simple freak of nature. I'm a synesthete, specifically possessing grapheme-to-color synesthesia. It means that I see individual letters in particular colors. It's not a useful skill.
3. I'm extremely clumsy. This is an odd confession for a graceful dancer to make, but the truth is that I have a habit of dropping things, tripping over things, bumping or walking into them... I'm notorious for hurting myself in bizarre ways (I've sustained more than one umbrella-opening-related injury). I suspect that most of my klutziness is rooted in absentmindedness, as I always have my head in the clouds and forget to pay attention to my physical surroundings. Dancing is easy: You have steps you've learned and choreographed routines that you've practiced, and as long as your stage isn't so small that you can't move, you should be fine. Life, on the other hand, is difficult and dangerous: You never know what could be coming at you at any given moment.
4. I consider myself to be an Asian-Pacific-Islander-American. It's no secret, nor is it particularly complicated, but many people don't understand this. I am a citizen of the USA and live in the good old Midwest, but was raised in Indonesia and New Guinea. I have identity issues, I guess.
5. I'm becoming more beautiful as I get older. I've thought this for many years, and it seems to just keep getting truer and truer. I'm definitely a late bloomer, a proverbial ugly duckling. I always felt plain in high school and college, and my experience with the opposite sex didn't build my confidence at all, but now that I'm 15-20 years older, I get a lot of attention based on my looks. I'm not convinced that my metamorphosis is related to any actual physical improvement, except perhaps the cliche about someone "growing into her looks", but rather I think that many people improve with age because we become more and more comfortable with who we are and who God has made us to be. We become lovelier because we love ourselves more in the sense of accepting the self that God loves, redeems, and sanctifies day by day.
Remember when Candace did the "10 Day You Challenge", those series of posts on her blog? With answering different questions that counted down from 10 and all that? I tried to do it for one post, and half-heartedly at that, and I didn't do any more of those posts, mostly because I couldn't figure out enough stuff to write about myself. I just wasn't up to the challenge. Dear readers, I had to confront the fact that I'm not that interesting a person. I know lots of interesting people and a fair number of interesting facts, but I myself am the sort of individual who is paralyzed when required to make small talk, so I end up staring awkwardly at the walls and wishing the floor would open up and swallow me. Sigh.
But anyway, one of the challenges in the 10 Day You Challenge was 10 Secrets. Now obviously, if I posted ten secrets about myself, or even just one secret, on my blog, then it would be automatically self-negating because as soon as I pushed the Publish button, the information would cease to be secret. But I thought it might be a reasonable approximation to post a few items about myself that are not actually secrets but some things that people might not know. I couldn't think of ten, so here are five.
1. I was switched at birth. No, really. It's a somewhat long and involved story and my mother tells the best version of it (I myself cannot even recall the events in question), but the gist of it is that due to a logistical error, the hospital brought two babies each to the other's mother on the day when I was born. The other infant in question was Hispanic and male, so the mix-up was readily discovered and corrected, but it does make one wonder how often those mistakes could happen without being detected.
2. I have super powers! Just kidding, my powers are pretty much useless so I'm more of a simple freak of nature. I'm a synesthete, specifically possessing grapheme-to-color synesthesia. It means that I see individual letters in particular colors. It's not a useful skill.
3. I'm extremely clumsy. This is an odd confession for a graceful dancer to make, but the truth is that I have a habit of dropping things, tripping over things, bumping or walking into them... I'm notorious for hurting myself in bizarre ways (I've sustained more than one umbrella-opening-related injury). I suspect that most of my klutziness is rooted in absentmindedness, as I always have my head in the clouds and forget to pay attention to my physical surroundings. Dancing is easy: You have steps you've learned and choreographed routines that you've practiced, and as long as your stage isn't so small that you can't move, you should be fine. Life, on the other hand, is difficult and dangerous: You never know what could be coming at you at any given moment.
4. I consider myself to be an Asian-Pacific-Islander-American. It's no secret, nor is it particularly complicated, but many people don't understand this. I am a citizen of the USA and live in the good old Midwest, but was raised in Indonesia and New Guinea. I have identity issues, I guess.
5. I'm becoming more beautiful as I get older. I've thought this for many years, and it seems to just keep getting truer and truer. I'm definitely a late bloomer, a proverbial ugly duckling. I always felt plain in high school and college, and my experience with the opposite sex didn't build my confidence at all, but now that I'm 15-20 years older, I get a lot of attention based on my looks. I'm not convinced that my metamorphosis is related to any actual physical improvement, except perhaps the cliche about someone "growing into her looks", but rather I think that many people improve with age because we become more and more comfortable with who we are and who God has made us to be. We become lovelier because we love ourselves more in the sense of accepting the self that God loves, redeems, and sanctifies day by day.
2 comments:
1. Yes, that is a true story. I know because I was there although Northridge Hospital may not want to admit the error.
5. When we gain more self confidence, we radiate more beauty. You were always cute ;) And it helps that you look much younger than you are.
I really love what you said in #5. Thanks for writing these...they're fun to read!
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