Random Becky Facts

Eek. So I started writing this post hours ago, and then my entire morning sort of exploded. 'Tis much quieter now, and I have managed to get my hands on a calming mug of red milk tea. I am finally approaching a vaguely human state again, and I need a silly, lighthearted post more than ever!

I've been seeing the Ten Random Facts posts crop up here and there, and I thought it looked fun. Here's mine!

1. As you may have guessed from the above, I am a bit of a tea fiend. But different kinds of tea serve different purposes! Fruit-flavored teas should be served with honey and lemon juice, sweet red or black teas should be served with milk, and you should never add anything to Japanese green tea. I have more loose-leaf tea in my apartment than I will ever be able to drink.

2. While I do the majority of my writing at home, I think the best place to write is 30,000 feet in the air! The best thing about writing on a plane is that there are no distractions, and I won't be tempted to go waste time on the internet. And on top of that, when I have a dying laptop battery on my hands, I don't spend nearly as much time obsessing over which word to use. The only problem is when the person in front of me reclines right into my laptop...

3. I took writing workshops for six straight years. I 'majored' in creative writing at an arts high school, which involved taking several classes in my 'arts area,' and then I took workshops for my first two years of college. I also did a summer course at the Sewanee Young Writers Conference in Tennessee, which was AWESOME.

4. I used to write a lot more poetry than fiction, even though I always wanted to be a novelist. Weirdly enough, the poetry that I wrote five years ago is way better than anything I can write now.

5. I am bilingual: English and Japanese. I lived in Tokyo for half a year, and I'm currently at a Japanese workplace. My reading/writing isn't that great, but in my defense, there are three different writing systems used simultaneously.

6. It is a great source of shame to me at the office that I am terrible at origami. I was so excited when I finally made something that looked vaguely bird-ish, and then my coworker looked at it and gave me the Japanese version of "What the hell is that?" Even my best crane looks like a mangled duck.


7. I. Love. Cooking. I don't cook as much now that I live by myself, but my college roommates and I used to prepare fabulous three-course meals together. The first thing I ever made was risotto, and I still love making it: there's something almost calming about all that stirring, and it's so easy to be creative and make the recipe totally different. Other things I love to make: mac and cheese, chilled cucumber soup, avgolemono, lentil stew, goat cheese and chive mashed potatoes, and Japanese curry.

8. One thing I really miss: theatre. I love being on stage, even if I don't get many opportunities anymore. I've gotten to play some really great characters, but I think I had the most fun playing Peter Pan when I was in fifth grade. They didn't hook me up to any wires for the flying scenes, much to my disappointment.

9. Some women have a shoe problem. I have a scarf problem. I have scarves in every freaking color of the wind, and I still leap to the cash register whenever I see a cute one. I'm getting better at curbing my impulses, though.

10. I love love love ghost stories, but I have absolutely zero interest in paranormal investigation or anything like that. I so do not want to know if those kinds of things exist. I would be a horrible protagonist in a horror movie, because if I moved into a haunted house, I would be out of there in the first fifteen minutes. Incidentally, the basement of the older building at work is supposedly haunted, but I have never stayed there long enough to see for myself.


And that's it for me! What are some random facts about you?