characteristic #8

I have a need to save pretty much all the personal-data stuff that is naturally generated by my life. Notes with friends on scraps of paper from middle school? Yup. Random photos I took on my phone? Yeah, they are memories of sophomore year of college. Chat conversations? Well, these are auto saved by many chat services these days, but I'd keep copies manually in the days before AIM kept its own logs. I never want to delete a text message that made me smile, and it's hard to throw out even a logistical note my mom jotted down.

So what does this mean? For one I have tons of physical and digital archives of this stuff and it takes up space in those realms. Also means I can dig into some of those and have some serious floods of memories. What if maybe I should let some of this stuff go - keep what is special and unique, and tie the memories to those fewer things? I want to appreciate all the good experiences and people that are/were in my life, but I have to let go what is past to be best able to focus on what I have right now that is also so good.

characteristic #7

As my beloved friend at work observed the other morning when I walked into the office, I like drinking my coffee out of a stirrer-turned-straw.  Wawa's stirrers are, in fact, perfect for this.  I tend to be impatient with coffee -- I want to begin the wakeup process with those first few sips, and waiting for it to cool off a bit takes too long.  However, impatience leads to burnt tongues.  So, the "straw" method somewhat abates that risk. :)

characteristic #6

I love plaid pajama pants. Flannel in the winter; lighter weight in the fall and spring.

characteristic #5

I need a level of messiness in my living space.  It doesn't feel comfortably lived in if I don't have piles of assorted papers covering at least most of my desk, clothes thrown over the back of the round green chair, and bed unfixed.  And 2-4 pairs of shoes on the floor.  There is a balance between this and total slobbery, though: I want to still be able to see most of the floor, and I do put away some shoes and hang up some clothes.  It's an organized mess, you know?

close-up of my lovely face to accompany the current piling of clothes on the green chair

characteristic #4

Cereal is one of my favorite things to eat.  I enjoy it at any time of the day or night.

Favorite cereals: Frosted Mini Wheats, granola, Cracklin' Oat Bran, Quaker Oatmeal Squares, Honey Bunches of Oats, ...

(image credit)

characteristic #3

I have a thing for goatees.  I think I'm the only girl I know who does.  But really, it's true.

characteristic #2

2. Sometimes typing feels good: when you're flying through the keystrokes rather than stumbling on them and backspacing.  I notice this more often on laptops but also on my desktop keyboard at work.

characteristic #1

I have this staunch belief that I can formulate in the minds of others an all-around ad-hoc idea of who I am if I simply give out little pieces of information.  I am also interested in listing these pieces as they come to mind, over some length of time, and then seeing if put together they feel like me.

So here's the first one.

1. When people type the smiley 'XD', I pronounce it every time in my head as the two letters, one after the other: "x - d".  I've been reading it this way forever and kind of can't help it now.  Nonetheless, I find it cute.