Random and Obscure Facts about Me
(This originally took place on Facebook, but as it is a good account of these occurrences and a good sample of my writing style, I have migrated it here to this blog of posterity's sake)
I have been tagged in a Facebook game/activity, where I am supposed to spout 5 obscure facts about myself. And like vampires who are reputedly compelled to count anything that is strewn about in their path, I must commit to this action before trying to avoid facebook again. So, here are five obscure facts about myself (with witnesses/references included in the parentheses where available):
1) In 1997-98, back in the era of CDs, I bought the first two Spice Girls albums. It wasn't until I was sitting in the theaters, watching the opening sequence to their movie "Spiceworld" that I thought to ask myself, "What am I doing here?" (references: Darnell Gamiao, Dan Paredes)
2) In 2005, everyday I began eating the Japanese diet food called "Calorie Mate" because "Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater" had just come out and I was playing it obsessively. In that game, keeping Snakes stamina up required eating things, and Calorie Mate was a featured food item in that game. Of course, as it was a marketing tie-in, the Calorie Mate power up offered some of the best stamina recovery in the game. Subconsciously thinking that was also true in real life, I began buying and eating those awful-tasting Calorie Mates, just because Snake said they were good. (references: Franz Apostol, Jimmy Chen)
3) I both severely hate and fear E.T. the Extraterrestrial. My parents took me to the theaters to see it when I was 3, I think. I made it to the part where thankfully, E.T. dies. But then Elliot, for no good reason, brings the demon back to life with tears and hope. E.T. returned to life as a frozen, screaming monster with a hell-glow in its chest, and I believe I had to be removed from the theater. Many years later, when I was teaching at a high school in Japan (circa 2005), some of my students found out I hate E.T., so on the class trip to Universal Studios Osaka, they brought back for me a small E.T. statue to put on my desk. As it was my tradition at the time to put statuettes and toys from students on my desk, I reluctantly accepted the "gift" but faced the E.T. away from me. Then I hid it behind other things like Gundams and Gokus. (references: Chelsea Grootveld, Sofia Del Rio).
4) In 1994, right after I graduated from the 8th grade, I became falsely obsessed with breakdancing. My mom was gracious and awesome enough to take me shopping at Ross Dress for Less at Pearlridge Shopping Center so I could purchase some sufficiently baggy clothes. Phase II of this plan involved the hoarding of cardboard and the rehearsal of "moves." In the end, the only move I could do halfway decent was the "Russian Kick" and I found myself going to stupid parties in Waipahu trying to have fun in a place where I was clearly not having any fun at all. Thankfully, this breakdancing phase only lasted a few months, after which I fell headlong into Metal. (references: Darlene T. Lee, Rox Aimee)
5) Back when I used to live at home, sometimes when my brother and I have conversations, we will spontaneously begin to shadow-box imaginary opponents (different opponents, mind you--we don't gang up on the same guy, that would be unethical). Most of the time we don't even realize we are doing that, and we just keep on discussing whatever it is we were talking about while throwing punches at nothing. I did, however, one day say something like, "I guess that if someone were watching us, they would be thinking, 'WTF?'" (references: Brandon Yap, Aaron Yap)
