Seven Fast Facts

Al Hsu tagged me with this meme:

Here are the rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

FACT #1:
I'm obsessed with anything coconut. Tropicoco soda. Gamesa Baras de Coco (cookies for the non-Hispanohablante). Coconut-based curries. Coconut Bacardi. Coconut-scented lotion. Agua de coco. Fruit salad with shredded coconut. I think coconut is absolutely amazing, closely followed by figs, mango, guava, soymilk, and curry powder.

FACT #2:
Before there were blogs, I had multiple websites, complete with amateur graphics and handwritten HTML and CSS. No one except my other HTML-geek friend Christina ever visited, besides a couple really bored people that passed out "awards" to ugly pages they thought were cute. I also became a "Community Leader" on GeoCities (before they were bought by Yahoo!) helping enforce various rules, etc. I think I was technically too young for the job, so finally, I felt bad and quit. (This was right about the time all the rules about 13-year-olds online were being developed.) I also discarded the websites soon after starting high school.

FACT #3:
One of my absolute favorite experiences with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship during college was attending the Urbana 06 missions conference. Not only did I enjoy the speakers, seminars, and worship, but every aspect of its development--from the use of the TNIV Bible to decisions about what to sell at the bookstore to the way communion was served--fascinated me. I'm excited to now be a part of an online focus group helping out the Urbana Director of Operations. Essentially, he emails occassional questions to a group of us that attended Urbana last time so they can improve Urbana 09. Unfortunately, I've only received one email since I joined the group a month or two ago, but I'm hoping they'll send us more as we approach the conference date!

FACT #4:
I did my high school senior project with my orthodontist, and for my presentation I walked my audience through my own case (completed a few months earlier--I had braces late, from 10th-12th grade), which, yes, essentially meant sharing with them way too many up-close pictures of my teeth. I had a long-distance boyfriend at the time named Jim, and I sent him my entire presentation-- I mean, it was an important part of my life, right? When we both got to UNC we ended up having some friends in common, and what was one of the first things he told them about me? "We dated for a while... she showed me all these pictures of her teeth!?!" (I seriously considered dental school for about a year and a half, until I took Analytical Chemistry at UNC and became interested in social justice.)

FACT #5:
I still sleep with a bear. I can't remember a day I haven't slept with a stuffed animal, save a couple in college, I suppose. One time, when on an urban project over spring break that required a "poverty simulation," I could only keep three items with me over a 24-hr period. I did not opt for a bear, but I did cuddle with my Nalgene. I have to hold onto something to fall asleep, so you make do with a pillow, blanket, or hard plastic bottle, if you must.

FACT #6:
While I regrettably must admit I all too often find prejudice lurking in the dark corners of my heart, generally, one easy way to capture my attention and goodwill is to mention some international connection. My college roomie Kate and I watched the Oscars this past year, and I practically melted on the futon every time someone with an accent reached the stage. They clearly deserved to win the most--after all, they were foreigners! I love malls and airports where different languages and cultures swirl about: any kind of diversity brings me glee. But I especially love people that aren't from the U.S.! One of the prayers that always comes most naturally for me is a quick blessing for an immigrant family I encounter in a public setting. I want to see them succeed and be happy, for their countries to prosper, for their kids to receive the wisdom and grace necessary to navigate bicultural living, for them to see the Kingdom and its King.

FACT #7:
My feet are absolutely impossibly tiny. I wear a size 5 or 5 1/2, and can sometimes manage up to a 6 1/2, depending on the style. Many times shoes are just too big for me, but they don't feel so awful after breaking them in. My current Ecko sneakers, as well as my Nikes for working out, are both size 4 in kids. People think my feet are cute, and women that wear 10s and 11s envy me. But they shouldn't. It's ridiculously difficult to find shoes that fit that aren't covered in Hannah Montana decals.

Whew! Those is some long facts!

I'm tapping...
- Liz Hundley's Writing the Unwritten
(the soon-to-be-movie-producer who doesn't post enough)
- Whitney Pierce's give yourself wholly
(because she's leaving my house and moving to Kentucky!)
- Margot Starbuck's Thoughts of Hair, Shoes, & Other Stuff
(haven't heard much from her since she turned in her manuscript to IVP)
- Diane Benbow's Sleepless in Greensboro
(her stories are always entertaining and enlightening)
- Marshall Benbow's Joy in the Margins
(who did not pick up the phone the other night when I called him on behalf of the UNC Phonathon)
- Elana Schuster's It Will All Be Worth It
(my GUPY pal that is going to change the world someday)
- Alex Kirk's Piebald Life
(world-renowed extrovert and "Baby Shark" performer)