Introduction to Me

So there's this meme going around on Facebook right now - and I swore I'd never participate. Well, turns out I'm a sucker. One of my friends who's been home sick today practically begged me to fill it out.

I've been blogging for a while on Facebook, but I've been thinking about "expanding." I guess this meme gives me a good jumping-off point.

Here it goes: Twenty-five things you probably never knew about S.R. Braddy:

1 – I won my first poetry contest back in second or third grade – basically by rewriting the lyrics to a Sesame Street song performed by *shudder* Elmo.

2 – In high school, I sang bass in a five-man a cappella group called “The Grasscutters.” We got the name from my friend’s mom. On the CD we eventually cut, you can hear my voice crack during “In the Still of the Night.”

3 – To date, I’ve participated in six musicals: Oklahoma!; Kiss Me, Kate; Li’l Abner; Once Upon a Mattress; Anne of Green Gables; and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. I love doing musical theater, but I hate watching it.

4 – I also love to sing classical music (especially in Italian), but I hate listening to it.

5 – My first crush was on a girl named Angela Slagowski in sixth grade. As a result, I think everyone should have a crush on someone with a Polish surname at least once in their lives.

6 – I have trouble reading books longer than 250-300 pages. I love stories, and I’m impatient to finish one and get on to the other.

7 – I majored in English, I took an entire class on Shakespeare, I’ve been in Shakespearean plays, and I read Shakespeare for fun… and I’ve never read Macbeth.

8 – My favorite moment in video games is in Final Fantasy III (FFVI, if you’re a purist): Celes Chere, an Imperial general, performs an opera.

9 – I love lighting squirrels on fire in Psychonauts.

10 – I memorized the closing theme song to the game Portal before ever actually playing the game.

11 – Most of the love poetry I’ve written (to date) has been written about one girl. She knows who she is.

12 – I’ve written at least two poems inspired by my mom’s cooking. It’s that good.

13 – I watch The Office almost solely because I love the relationship between Jim and Pam.

14 – While growing up, I was actually jealous of how much our cat, Otis, liked my little brother. Of course, Otis probably hated me because of how often my friend Mike and I would tackle him while screaming, “Murder the cat!”

15 – Nothing makes me angrier than doing poorly at a video game.

16 – I started college as a junior with over 60 credits.

17 – I changed my major and minor about five times and still graduated in four years.

18 – Since my favorite comic book stories have been running since the 60s or longer, I pick and choose which storylines I consider to be “canon,” regardless of whatever the companies themselves say.

19 – I’m secretly glad that Pushing Daisies got cancelled before it ran out of steam, and I hope the same thing happens to The Office.

20 – I actually want to be a Sunday School teacher in my church.

21 – I practice an evil super-villain cackle when I’m by myself – even when I’m outdoors.

22 – The most rewarding thing for me about doing the musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers was learning to do handstands. I still do them.

23 – During my first year at college, two of my favorite television shows were Blue’s Clues and Hamtaro, an anime aimed at 6-year-old girls.

24 – I caught all 150 of the original Pokémon. (By the way, I must point out that Microsoft’s Spell Check actually caught the accent in the word Pokémon)

25 – I care enough about spelling things correctly to add the accent to the word “Pokémon” when prompted to by Spell Check.