These lists have continually amazed me since the first time I perused one. They have tended, in my experience, to detail some of the very private emotions and ideas people have about life and their experiences. I have created one such list before, though I kept it very superficial—things most of my friends already knew about me.
In an attempt to rectify this, I have created another list, which more accurately describes me and who I really am. I believe this is an extremely useful exercise in introspection and I think anyone who truly believes they know themselves (and their friends) should spend a half hour or so coming up with 15 things most people don't know about them.
- The greatest influences on my career choice have been the music staff at Woodside High School. Prior to entering Woodside, I wanted to be a computer programmer with a mathematics degree. I look back and think to myself what an awful decision that would have been. My life is music and the only time I am truly happy is when I am making it.
- I have known my sexual preference is for men since late elementary school. I have hidden it for nearly a decade and when I finally came out of the closet I felt relieved. My friends didn't leave me or view me any differently. I still had my life together exactly as I wanted it. Unfortunately, despite my joy at being openly gay finally, I still feel like it's not what I really wanted. I have spent hours contemplating my life if I were "normal." Maybe I'd have had my first kiss already. Maybe I wouldn't feel so damned alone sometimes.
- When it comes to school, I wish I could give my abilities to someone who could use them more constructively. I dislike math, but I'm doing quite well in both AP Calculus and AP Physics B. I don't like social studies classes, yet I have no problems with Government. And then I have friends who study for hours a day and struggle for grades my parents would kill me for. It seems mightily unfair.
- Despite how much I fawn over Corbin Bleu, Jake Silbermann, Jake Gyllenhaal, Russian accents, etc. I am really not that superficial. They are admittedly quite good-looking, but aesthetics are fairly low on the list of things I am looking for in a person. Personality comes first, then your ability to hold a conversation, then your general intelligence (I'm not looking for much here, but you really gotta know the difference between a microwave oven and a toaster oven), then maybe aspirations, and perhaps then would be your aesthetic appeal.
- I am an extreme sycophant. It is very rare when someone asks me for something or to do something and I respond with a flat "no." I generally will do everything within my power to be able to do what you want me to do.
- I desperately want to spend the rest of my life with someone great, sharing my joys and tribulations, successes and failures, desires and impossible dreams with him until the day we die. I would love to one day have kids.
- It truly angers me when people are intentionally ignorant. It is the 21st century, so there is no good reason for anyone to be stupid and apathetic towards their own situation. I hate people who believe something just because they are told to believe it. I hate people who have the opportunity to do something to better themselves and yet turn it down out of laziness of mind and body. I hate people who are actually intelligent and refuse to do anything with their lives. I hate how in this day and age, people are still mistreated because of their race, gender, religion, age, sexual orientation, etc. It sickens me.
- Never once did I believe in the existence of an omnipotent being. From the first time my mother taught me about God, I questioned the probability of his existence. I determined at a very young age that there was no way I could make my brain accept the ideas of creationism. It was just too unexplainable. I have been much happier with my scientific, logically based views on life.
*NOTE: I don't care what views you have. If you know me, you'll understand that what you choose to believe in has no bearing on how I view you. - I love oldies, classic rock, pop, classical, country, and opera. Many people don't see me as a Janis Joplin, Beatles, or Queen fan, though they seem to have no problem understanding my fondness for classical music and opera. This is odd to me, since I don't believe in musical stereotyping. I have opera friends who listen to screamo and punk friends who like Beethoven. There's no way to judge a person's musical like's and dislikes.
- I think the secret to looking intelligent is simply knowing how to speak well. If you can reduce the number of times "like" and "um" appear in your sentences and try to introduce some vocabulary above the middle school lexicon, you can easily make it appear that you know what you're talking about even if you don't.
- My greatest fear is rejection. Though I am outwardly quite confident, I haven't gone a day in years where I didn't go home and privately beat myself up to be better. I don't know what my reaction to rejection would be if the rejector were something important, i.e. a college.
- … And that is something only my closest friends will ever know more about.
- My favorite animal is the wolf. Beautiful, beautiful creature.
- I haven't cried in 6 years. The last time was when I was at a birthday party and, while dancing, someone kicked me in the balls. Quite hard. Needless to say, they were tears of pain, so I don't think that counts.
- I don't lie. I deceive. Yes, there's a difference. Lying completely defaces a truth by presenting something not true as if it were fact. I simply answer the questions literally. Ask the right questions and you'll get the right answers. Therefore, if you ever want to know something about me, I'll always tell you the answer to the question you ask.
