25 Things

Woo hoo! I know I'm probably the last one in the entire world, but I JUST GOT TAGGED for this 25 random things about you, from Facebook. Thanks Sarah!
And since you all know the deal, and since I love writing about myself, I'll just write the silly things without copying the "instructions."
1. I have an incredible memory. I remember people's names, clear details from events long past, and directions on how to get places. And once they're in my brain, they're pretty much there for good. However, I can rewatch shows and reread books ad infinum, because somehow I never remember how they end. And tell me an amount or a number, and you might have well just shouted out Sebastian's mother's name from the Neverending Story-- I won't comprehend or remember it at all.
2. I don't like ice cream.
3. In high school I wore tapered jeans and oversized T-shirts basically every single day. And I still had friends.
4. I used to think my only talent was playing the piano. Then I learned Chinese. Now I can do that too!
5. I've been pregnant 5 times. Apparently it's also one of my talents.
6. I make really really good chicken enchiladas, chocolate chip cookies, brownie trifle (a.k.a. the Yumminess), and Chinese dumplings. When I cook, it's usually pretty good.
7. I'm about as white as they come. However, nowadays about half my family is Chinese.
8. In high school, the jazz band would put on a "Senior Senior Prom" for the elderly folks in town. After a couple years of this, the Senior Center decided to offer dance classes to the teenagers in town. So I spent usually an evening per week (2 in the summers) dancing the foxtrot, swing, tango, waltz, etc, with my friends' grandparents. It was so much fun!
9. In high school, Heidi McLean and I looked exactly the same. We both were in colorguard together, had the same piano teacher, went to the senior center dance classes, and went to church activities together. I'm surprised there was anyone who COULD tell us apart!
10. I broke my leg in China. I was supposed to be teaching English songs to my students, but instead we decided to go play basketball as a class. Oops. I landed on my ankle wrong and broke my fibula (fei gu in Chinese). There was no ice, so my friends bought me some popsicles to put on my leg. I went to the doctor, who put a huge plaster cast on it, squeezed my bones back into place, and sent me home. A week later my friends found me some crutches and I could get out of bed.
11. I met my husband in Nanjing, China, on study abroad. He gave me mono. :)
12. I've lived in China 3 times. Therefore I've eaten squid, donkey, camel's foot, dog, little birdies, jellyfish, sharkfin, frog stomachs.... pretty much the whole zoo.
13. I really like dog. But I hate dogs. Go ahead, judge me. :)
14. I have this current obsession with Disneyland. For the last year or so, I've just had this urgent desire to go, but there hasn't been a good time. I've had dreams about it on more than one occasion.
15. I made a blanket for my brother-in-law and his wife for Christmas. It wasn't done, so I didn't give it to them. It still isn't done. It's not like I can give it to them in the summer, so I need to get cracking.
16. Last week I cut my own hair. I just took the sewing scissors and started chopping. Good thing choppy layers are kind of in style these days....
17. It is against my personal religion/system of beliefs to buy ANYTHING in the movie theatre snack bar. There's a special circle of Hell reserved for charging that much of a markup. However, I have no qualms about sneaking stuff in. I'm not sure how that fits into my actual religious beliefs that include honesty.... Usually I just eat before going in, and that's perfectly honest.
18. My jacket pocket is coated in BBQ sauce from sneaking a BBQ sandwich into the movie theatre last week. That wasn't (exactly) dishonesty, though. That was just plans and timing gone wrong. We would have finished them before the movie... but we didn't.
19. I really like editing. For a while I did it as a job, but it's not so fun when you're editing 40-page technical reports on planning urban transportation systems or some new genetic abnormality found in zebrafish. Blah! But at my job now, I get to grade essays and then conference with the student about what they did well or what could make it better. I love it!
20. One of my more embarassing moments: I substituted for the early-morning seminary teacher when I lived in Beijing. On my first day, it was spirit week at their high school, and many of the students had dressed up for nerd day, some of them really getting into it! One of the girls had gone all-out, and I pointed out for everyone to notice, "Look, Chelsea did a great job! She even brought her sewing! What a nerd! Hee hee hee." The class just kind of looked at me, then someone told me, "No, she just likes to sew during seminary."
21. Sewing is my nerdy hobby. I love it!
22. Actually, I have several nerdy hobbies, including watching Star Trek The Next Generation (which I own on DVD).
23. I don't like potatoes, especially when they still have their potato-ey texture. I can't stand it when you go to events where they serve dinner and it turns out to be a potato bar. Blechhh!!! But I do like French Fries and tater tots.
24. I know all the words to Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen.
25. We have this painting on our wall of a Chinese poem written in beautiful calligraphy. We got it for our wedding, and Kevin explained to me how the guy who made it is one of the few people that can still do that type of calligraphy. It's all squiggly and stylized. Oh, a few months later, Kevin was pointing it out to a neighbor and told him how each stroke of each character is a small bird. Um... it had been on our wall for months, and I had never noticed!