random things, x-posted to Facebook

I was tagged by two of my friends, on Facebook, for this meme, so here goes. 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about me:

1. I'm currently watching my brother-in-law Edward play the video game Call of Duty 4. I've always been disappointed in myself, both because I have no special dexterity for video games, and because I don't really like them. As a teenager I played Mario Brothers on Nintendo when I went to my cousins' house, and Sonic the Hedgehog on my Sega Game Gear, but aside from that... nothing. I never had a big game console or really got into any game after those. I don't like shoot-em-up games at all, and it seems that those dominate the market. I played Goldeneye a few times at a friend's house, and didn't hate it, but I could never be the sort of person who would get hooked on a game and really really want to win. I never developed a feeling like that about a computer game either, interestingly. It's just my personality, I guess, but I do wish I could at least enjoy one or two. Then again, given my propensity for obsession, it's probably just as well. 

2. I can speak some Korean, which I'm inordinately proud of. I probably won't improve at all in the next six months, because I don't actually plan on studying in any systematic way. And I'll no doubt forget everything I know faster than I'd like, but still. 

3. I've almost completely quit drinking regular soda, which I think is pretty awesome. I drink way too much diet soda, but nowadays I have a regular soda maybe once a month, and even then I don't need it or particularly want it. I usually just do it because we've ordered a pitcher with pizza or I just feel like it for a change. 

4. One of my goals was to submit a short story to three literary magazines while I was home. I knew I'd be rejected, but I just need to do it to have done it so that it'll no longer be something that just looms over me. I haven't done it yet, and I have a lot to do in the small amount of time before I go back, but I'm determined. 

5. I'm obsessed with Netflix. Or rather, I'm obsessed with the idea of Netflix. I've never had it. I've had some experience with it, through friends, and I just think it's the best thing ever. I can admit when I'm wrong, and I was super-resistant to the idea of Blockbuster Online, which is similar, at first. I thought one of the best parts about renting movies was going to the store and wandering the aisles. And I still would enjoy that, but it's totally outweighed by the access to a much greater selection of movies and the convenience of mail delivery, for when I don't feel like wandering. So probably the first thing I will do when I get back to America for good is to sign up. Actually, in all honesty, I'll probably sign up a week before so my first movies are waiting for me. That's my obsession. 

6. I've never wanted to be anything other than a teacher. I've recently realized that I might do something else. I'll almost certainly have to do something else for at least 8 or so months when I get back from Korea, but this is a fact that's really hard for me to come to terms with. I've just never even imagined myself doing something else. 

7. I want to run a half-marathon. Not a whole marathon, just a half. Once. After that I just want to race 5k and 10k races. 

8. I like road trips, a lot. I've taken four substantial ones in my life, and one of my dreams is to drive, alone, to Maine, then to Washington State, and California, and then back to Florida. 

9. I hope to read 50 books this year. I've been taking advantage of my free time during January, and have finished about 8 already, which puts me four books ahead of pace. 

10. I'd like to start reading more non-fiction, especially memoirs and biographies. But I can't read boring non-fiction. I can read crappy novels, although I don't usually, but I don't give non-fiction books very long to get good. 

11. I want to have an old-fashioned claw-foot tub in my house. 

12. One of my favorite novelists, who is Japanese, wrote a memoir about long-distance running, which I'd like to read, but I don't know if it's widely translated. 

13. I don't like beer. Given the choice, I would just sip cider or wine coolers. I don't like red wine, or most white wines, although I'd like to be the sort of person who does. 

14. On the same note, I wish that I liked jazz more than other kinds of music, and sometimes I pretend to, but I don't. Like they say on stuffwhitepeoplelike.com.

15. Actually, I'd say that 50% (conservatively) to 75% (possibly) of the things on that blog are true of me.

16. I don't like coffee, which dismays some people. 

17. I don't like dogs. I'm a cat person. 

18. If I could be blind or deaf, I would want to be deaf, I think. The idea of being blind, and living in darkness for the rest of my life, just seems so much scarier to me than living in utter silence. I would hate to be deaf though, too. Don't get me wrong. 

19. I cry, a lot. About the strangest things. I cry at a lot of movies. I cry at commercials. I cried watching five year olds play soccer. I don't know what it is, but I just get really emotional about things. 

20. I love Law and Order. It and The Office are the only two shows I really really love. 

21. I want to be a writer, but I'm scared of writing. 

22. I listen to Korean music when I work out. 

23. I have an Asian fetish. It's awkward. When I first went to Korea, I pretty much assumed that all Asian guys looked like Bruce Lee, so I would never be attracted to them, but how wrong I was. Now I think that lots of Asian guys are attractive, even guys that objectively are not that attractive are made more attractive by virtue of having slanty eyes. Just kidding. 

24. I love hip-hop and rap music more than is really reasonable. I like it a lot. 

25. I lost at Scrabble today for only the second time in my life, and it hurt.