i think it might be easier just to change my name to "Banh Mi".

born with birth defects, doctors have told us (my mother, my family, myself) that there was a chance i could die at practically any moment. every time i got sick or went in for surgery, death was a part of the plan. perhaps not plan A or B, but it was always in there somewhere. after a while, i just became desensitized to it. i realized that, were i to die, i'd be the one who didn't care, who wasn't sad, who wasn't afraid, etc. nowadays, i'd rather not die, as i have other plans, but i'm not afraid, so i suppose crappy doctors have some benefit.

however, that's not REALLY an experience, per se. my earliest brush with death that i can remember that wasn't in a hospital was when i was about 4. my family was at a crowded beach and i was playing in the water. i was floating out and watching clouds without paying attention to how far i was going. granted, it wasn't actually that far, but when i noticed, i panicked and sank like a stone. the water was too deep for the 4-year-old me at that point for me to pull myself up. i can still remember how badly the saltwater burned the inside of my nose and my eyes. the next thing i knew, i man scooped me up and carried me back to the beach. he made sure i was okay and walked away.

i haven't seen many movies this year. hm. i think the last one i watched was Due Date with robert downey jr. and zach galifanakis. i don't even know what's in theatres right now. :(

i'm pretty sure my first crush was on freddie mercury, and no, i never got a chance to profess my love for him. then again, he was a gay rock star and i was a 5-year-old girl. it probably wouldn't have worked out anyhow.

yup - give or take about 5lbs at any given time.

I have B+. A doctor of mine when I was younger used to say that it was my blood type and outlook on life. That all the crap I went through in the hospital, I always seemed to be positive about it. It's cheesy but pretty true.

I'm a Libra. It says that I'm a perfectionist, that I pay attention to detail, that I'm diplomatic - weighing ideas, sides of arguments, and choices carefully, that I'm generous, hate people who are cruel to others, that I'm impatient with daily routine, etc. I'm also indecisive and vain. I suppose this all describes me well enough, though I'm not really sure of what that means - if anything. Could I just as easily be an Aquarius or a Scorpio? I don't identify with them when I read their traits, but who knows if I would had I grown up thinking that's what I was.

The Mayans never said 2012 is the last days period. It's simply the end of the Long Count. What happens afterward is simply a new count. To say December of 2012 is the end of the world would be like assuming that December 31st of each year is the end of the world.
As for the catastrophes we see in the news, part of that is normal. Earthquakes and tsunamis and the like have happened for (presumably) as long as there has been an Earth. The major difference is that we are now packing people into every corner (and coastline) with such concentration that when something does happen, huge numbers of people are affected. And as connected as we are through the media, business, and commerce, we all see and feel it.

side note: I'm sorry this isn't worded more eloquently, my head isn't quite right.

ryan stiles lives in the same town as i do. i've seen him a few times (in line ahead of me at a deli, walking past at the mall, etc.). he seems cool enough, but i don't know that i've ever met him, per se. he is INCREDIBLY tall, though, and has awesome shoes.

bleu cheese all the way!!

"OM NOM NOM!" it's cheesy, but it states how i feel about fortune cookies.

i used a wash cloth or my bare hands. i've given loofahs and spongy-puffy things a try, but i get paranoid about germs and mildew and stuff after a while. i've ran loofahs through the dishwasher a few times and it works fine, but it gets to be a pain in the butt after a while. i also can't reuse wash clothes without them being laundered first. i know a lot of people just hang them in the shower to dry and use the again (i mean, why WOULD you rewash?), but i can't do it.

i LOVE cooking. i enjoy experimenting in the kitchen and try new recipes and combinations all the time. one of my favorites is fried rice, but that's only because it's fast and easy (assuming you have rice already made and in the fridge - always start with chilled rice!). i have a bunch of things i'm working on perfecting right now. i've perfected my beer bread recipe, but my sister has a gluten-allergy, so i'm working on a gluten-free beer bread recipe. i know, it sounds crazy, but i'll MAKE it work. tonight, i'm making chicken and dumplings for dinner...
i guess i don't have a signature dish. i'd get burnt out on any one thing, but i have a large handful of recipes that i can turn out at a moment's notice.

their eyes and their smile. after that, it's the rudimentary shoes, clothing, speech, mannerisms, etc., but people's eyes strike me first.

no thank you.

i "worked" in the daycare my mother had in our home, but it was largely "volunteer" work, meaning she really didn't pay me regularly but would slip me $20 every so often.
beyond that, i worked in a family-owned crab cannery in alaska for a summer. she (my uncle's wife) hired me to set up QuickBooks on their new computer, enter all of their hard-copy invoices into the program, and to be their bookkeeper for the summer. she expected that to keep me busy for three months, but it only took me a few days. after that, i handled the incoming and outgoing product, shipping, new account acquisition, hiring and firing of employees, secretarial work, worked on the floor packing product, babysat her kids, etc. i LOVED it! i was so busy all the time, worked 16hr/day, 7day/wk, and was always exhausted. it was great for me. unfortunately, i didn't get along with her and didn't like being used.

i believe (unless shown otherwise) that time travel would have paradoxic consequences. plus, i think health-wise i'd be screwed in pretty much any other time.

i used to wake up in strange places when i was a kid. i have twilight sleep/night terrors and sometimes i decide that i need to be on the move. i've woken up in the yard or in a closet or in the back seat of the car. luckily, i have george around now so i don't get very far beyond "waking up" and saying weird shit before he calms me back down.

Burial - Forgive or Nina Hagen - Unbeschreiblich Weiblich. it was def. one of those.

i don't go to the beach much. sand and wheelchairs don't mix nicely. i do like going down the oregon coast and making sand castles now and then, though. Seaside has a pretty beach, but it's really overpopulated. it's hard to make sand castles in NW washington. most of the beaches are too pebbly.