I’ve been watching this “Five things about me” post go around the blogosphere. I think the first place I saw it was Liz Lewis’s travel writing blog. Somehow, it entered Chinese blog space, and a few days ago J. reached across the Pacific from his Granite Studio and tagged me. I’m finally getting around to putting this post up. And while J. did say I could choose Five Facts or Seven Successes, I wrote most of this on the boat from Dandong to Incheon, so I did both. Here’s the dirt:

Five things about me

1. I turned down a Peace Corps invitation. I could have been in Cape Verde right now, sitting on a sub-tropical island, basically living a vacation, occasionally teaching kids how to use computers or something, in another country no one’s heard of. Peace Corps was all ready to send me, and I said nay. Two reasons for this: First, I suspect I would go crazy sitting on a small island (the entire country, 10 islands, has a land mass roughly equal to Rhode Island) for two years. Second, I have a pretty good idea what I want to do with my life. I mean, I’m not certain of this, but journalism and writing are pretty much where I’m putting my chips. I clashed a lot with the PC bureaucracy because they have a way of telling you that, whatever you say you want to do, you can’t do it. If you want it, you can’t have it. They want people who can give themselves wholly to the organization, placing all their trust in the machine and saying, “I go where I must.” I just couldn’t do it. So I came to northeast China to freeze.

2. I’ve studied a handful of martial arts for around 10 years, but I still don’t have a black belt in anything. I’ve practiced Okinawan Karate (brown belt), American Kenpo (inches from black when I left for China), Filipino stick fighting, Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, Aikido. I love martial arts. I’m a nut about this. If you ever need to kill six or eight hours, get me going on the philosophical connections between Bruce Lee, Myamoto Musashi and a few of my old teachers.

3. I’m a nerd. Maybe that was obvious. I read comics, watch cartoons, download “Heroes” off Bit Torrent. I saw the midnight show of X-Men 3 (such a disappointment) and have had long discussions with my brothers about the history of Middle Earth. I could add to this, but why condemn myself further?

4. Things I’m almost always carrying: My laptop, my passport, the US Constitution, a compass. I don’t have internet in my apartment (in Dalian), and I don’t much like being there anyway, so I lug the Mac Book with me in a brown leather satchel I’ve had for a few years now. Generally, I call this my reporter-in-a-bag bag. The Constitution is in a little booklet my old high school history teacher gave me six years ago. It makes for great airport reading. I keep it in the bag. I use the compass at least once a week, because I get lost at least that often. The passport stays on me because it’s my only real ID, and because I always know where my pants are.

5. I have the best and the worst memory. You’re going to have to tell me your name three or four times, because, I’m sorry, I just won’t remember. Tell me again, every time we meet, and it will stick eventually. Want to speed things up? Write it down. I have an almost photographic memory of things I see and read. I had a (semi-creepy, I’ll admit) habit in college of reading emails over people’s shoulders (with their permission, usually) then quoting parts back to them a week later when they needed some bit of information. I have picked up books I put down six months ago, half finished, and recalled 90% of the plot thus far. I kick ass at trivia, but this makes learning Chinese tough, because I can’t read it.

Seven Successes in 2006

1. I moved to China. This was half of my New Year’s resolution last year.

2. I started this blog. Not much trouble, really, but I’ve kept it up for six months now. Remember when I first started fretting about learning Chinese? Or when the chancellor of my alma mater killed herself by jumping off a building in San Francisco? Ah, memories.

3. I won my first and only journalism award. OK, so it was third place for education reporting from Suburban Newspapers of America, but I’ll take what I can get.

4. I started learning Chinese. Hopefully I’ll finish (if such a thing is possible) by the Olympics. If I can get to the point where I’m functional enough to read a newspaper in less than a day and not feel useless in a new city, I’ll be happy. Basically, I’d like my Chinese to be where my Italian was three years ago.

5. I reduced the contents of my life to one large backpack, one small backpack and a small satchel. Plus I left five boxes of books in my parents attic, but that hardly counts. I have this long-standing goal of owning nothing (again, books not included) that can’t be stuffed in a duffel bag and moved on short notice. I don’t have a real concrete reason for wanting this, and I’m sure someday I’ll want a house and space of my own. For now, I like being mobile.

6. I interviewed my paternal grandparents. This is one of those things I’ve been meaning to do for a long time. A week before I left for China, I sat my octogenarian ancestors down together and separately to talk on camera about their lives and our family history. Eventually, this will turn into an oral history, something I don’t have for my mother’s side.

7. I survived almost half a year in China. Then I fled to Korea. But I’ll be back. Oh yes, I will be back.

Right, so time to pass the buck. Rick beat me to the Dalian gang, so I think it’s time to move this beyond China, since I’m not there, either. This is going to be a familiar list. I tag…

James. He likes midgets and wants his own adjective (like the pope’s).

Nicole. No posts in a while, and I haven’t heard from her in longer. Maybe this will get her back on the blog.

Benjamin. I just found this blog. Or rather, he found me, commented here, and I tracked it back to him. Anyway, I like it. Call it my token China tag.

Except, I’m going to tag Alex in Beijing. He and Lindsey took me in and showed me around my first week in China.

And finally, I’ll tag Titus at Red Fence. One of the best editors I’ve worked with, and one hell of a writer. He even let me ride his motorcycle once.

Five new facts about you, or seven successes in 2006. I leave it to you.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 2nd, 2007 at 9:37 am and is filed under self-indulgence. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.