23

I turned 23 today and I wanted to post 23 things you may or may not know about me.

1. I was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on the hottest day of the summer 23 years ago today. I spent about 6 years there. I then moved around a bunch of times in Texas and in California. I ended up going to like 6 or 7 different schools by the time I hit high school SMH.

2. I played the cello for about two years. I was a beast on them strings man! Nah not really. I’ve had very limited experience with other instruments including clarinet, saxophone, piano, guitar, and drums. But I’ve given up on music, I have god awful rhythm.

3. My favorite Michael Jackson song is Dirty Diana.

4. My top 5 favorite movies in no particular order: Life is Beautiful, Man on Fire, City of God, Gladiator, and The Matrix (1)

5. I graduated as the salutatorian from my high school. I’m sure a lot of you reading this could’ve done the same or better at the high school I went to. Not too much competition there.

6. When I had my hair long in high school, I rocked the cornrows from time to time. Don’t laugh.

7. The first 12 or so years of my life I grew up pretty damn poor. I’m talking food stamps poor.  I never had new clothes or a new pair of shoes for the longest. One time, my friend had a pair of these Nike’s with the air bubbles. Back in the day if you had air bubbles in your Nike’s, you were doing it! He handed down those to me but only after all the air bubbles had popped and ripped. But I remember being so happy that I could finally rock the Nike’s with the air bubbles in em. I can still see them, all black with the neon yellow air bubbles. Ah man, a lot has changed since and our family and I are doing sooo much better now, thank god.

8. I had the worst case of asthma up until about 7th or 8th grade and I needed to carry an inhaler around all the time. I had a  really dorky, at-home inhaler with a special, long plastic tube attached to it. They never picked me for kickball! But hey, “look at me now…” </that one Chris Brown song with Busta Rhymes> I since overcame it with exercise and I don’t even have an inhaler now. But I still feel it once in a blue moon when my allergies get real real bad.

9. My favorite food is stupid cold, dumb fresh salmon sashimi.

10. I took an official Myers Brigg Personality test, proctored by a licensed psychologist, not one of those online surveys. I’m an ISTJ (Introverted Sensing Thinking Judging). I tend to focus my attention on the inner world of ideas and impressions, prefer taking information through the five senses and focusing on the here and now rather then seeing patterns and focusing on future possibilities. I prefer to make decisions based on logic rather than values, and I like a planned and organized approach to life rather than spontaneity. Of course, these aren’t black and white and I’m probably on the other end of the spectrum at times, especially on the S and T part. But its close. The keywords to describe me, according to the test, are dependable, realistic, reserved, organized, practical, thorough.

11. R&B is my favorite genre of music by far, not rap as many seem to think. My favorite artist is Maxwell, who might be closer to neo-soul. But anyway, I also really like Donell Jones, Keith Sweat, The Isley Brothers, Alicia, and Robin Thicke.

12. Top 4 rappers: 1) Jay-Z 2) Eminem 3) BIG 4) Nas

13. I’ve set foot in every continent save Australia and Antarctica, mostly doing some kind of volunteer work. I’d really like to travel some more on leisure though. I will hit all 7 before I die. Australia should be easy. But Antarctica would be crazy if I could holla at some penguins. Oh I want to go to Brazil some day for New Year’s or Carnival, but my friend Kevin is like “nah its too crowded and the weather sucks”. What!

Yeah that’s what I said.

14. This is me the first year that I blow:

15. I never really played basketball seriously until after 8th grade. Even still, when I tried out in 8th grade, I was really confident I was going to make the team. I was talking trash and everything. Then I got cut. The next year in high school, well…you know what happens when they say I can’ t do something.

16. I collected over 30 pairs of Air Jordans, mostly through high school, then bought a few in college. Its an expensive hobby though and I’ve sold about a third of them. But a lot of people don’t know the scene of your neighborhood mall on a Saturday morning of a popular Jordan release. Its a lot like the Black Friday line. One time, my friends and I waited all night, running away from mall security, trying to sneak in the mall, eating Jack in the Crack, trying to play poker on the sidewalk. So stupid, but it was great.

17. I have a real good friend of mine who was the editor in chief at the Berkeley Political Review magazine. One of his writers wrote this article. http://bpr.berkeley.edu/?p=664 I wrote back to the editor: http://goo.gl/id16h. But he never published my letter. What a jerk! 😉

18. I’m a huge Calvin and Hobbes fan. I got the complete collection set a while back and I think I’ve read all the comics at least 3 times over. I should get a Calvin tattoo on my left forearm and a Hobbes on my right.

19. I’m also a big fan of bodybuilding. Most people see a bodybuilder and are like ewwww but I’m like hell yeah. I just don’t think people understand the kind of dedication and energy it takes to create a body like that. But guys like Serge Nubret, Frank Zane, Flex Wheeler, Ronnie Coleman, Reg Park, Jay Cutler, and of course Arnold are huge sources of inspiration for me.

20. All through high school, I wanted to grow up to be a firefighter. Our high school had a 2 year project where you research a career path and write a paper on it. I , of course, ran to the nearest Fremont Fire Station and set up an interview with a firefighter. I had a great time seeing the station and truck and I got all giddy like 5 year old. Fun fact! did you know that the reason why firefighters continue to use wooden ladders is because 1) they don’t conduct electricity and 2) You can see them charring in a fire whereas aluminum ladders tend to buckle without warning? Anyway, I realized I had competitive SAT scores so I went to college and now I’m sorta like a failed pre-med.

21. The first, and only time I received a scholarship was when I won the Marvin Moore Scholarship which recognizes a boy’s basketball player at my school for high character. It was only for $200 but that was more than what the State of California put up for me the first 3 years I went to Cal. The day that I was presented this award was definitely one of the happiest moments of my life.

22. My job as a research associate at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab last year was my first real job with a paycheck. All my other jobs, I was paid in cash under the table. And if it wasn’t that I was helping out my ma at the Quiznos. I did basketball coaching, tutoring, and even a cleaning service for about 3 years. In high school, I always walked around with $500 cash. I thought I was hella rich LOL.

23. If you want to know anything else about me , don’t ask. I don’t like divulging personal information. This is obviously an exception.