Summary

The article is a personal revelation by the author, sharing ten unique and unknown facts about themselves to engage with the audience and reveal their personality.

Abstract

Inspired by a writing prompt and a story by Natasha Nichole Lake, the author delves into ten personal anecdotes and facts that readers would not typically know. These range from their dislike of tea to their history as a sorority member, and from their travel experiences to their comfort with public speaking. The author also touches on their first job in a chocolate shop, their athletic mishaps, their singular dating experience, their love for singing, their self-care routine involving makeup, and their lack of interest in winter sports despite living in Canada. The piece is a blend of humorous self-reflection and genuine insights into the author's life, aimed at fostering a deeper connection with the audience.

Opinions

The author has a clear preference for coffee over tea, finding tea unpalatable unless they are ill.
They are candid about their lack of athletic prowess, illustrated by a shoulder dislocation during a volleyball spike attempt.
The author values their sorority experience and the lasting friendships that emerged from it, countering common stereotypes about Greek life.
They take pride in their ability to sing on pitch and find joy in singing during routine tasks.
The author expresses contentment with their monogamous relationship, having never dated anyone other than their current boyfriend.
They consider doing makeup a form of self-care, which provided comfort during the pandemic.
The author appreciates the opportunity to travel extensively, thanks to their mother's career as a flight attendant.
Public speaking is not a source of fear but rather an enjoyable activity for the author, possibly due to their background in theatre.

10 Things You Don’t Know About Me

For those who are curious.

I only drink tea when it’s for a photo opp.

Because I love her beautiful way with words, when Natasha Nichole Lake posted a story titled, “10 Things You Don’t Know About Me”, I clicked.

And in true Natasha fashion, she did not disappoint. In addition to learning more about her, I hope she writes more stories from the secrets she shared with her audience. I’m especially looking forward to the one about her getting stung by coral while she was diving drunk in the Indian Ocean.

I then went down a “10 Things You Don’t Know About Me” rabbit hole, and discovered even more wonderful things about Iva Ursano, Sara Burdick and Klara Jane Holloway.

Each tidbit was more enticing than the last, and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know each person who participates in this writing prompt.

So I’m hopping on the bandwagon too. Here are 10 things you don’t know about me:

I don’t like tea.

I’ll take a good ol’ cuppa joe over tea anyday. I think it either tastes like watered-down juice or chewed-up grass from someone’s lawn.

I only drink tea when I’m sick, which probably explains why I’m not fond of it when I’m feeling right and dandy.

I went to afternoon tea to celebrate the birthday of a dear friend of mine recently, and only drank tea at that event because I didn’t want to be a difficult person who orders coffee at an afternoon tea. At least I got some cute photos for Instagram out of it.

I dislocated my shoulder attempting to spike a volleyball.

“Attempting” is the key word here. It was for a drill during gym, where my teacher would throw the ball up in the air so we could each take turns jumping and spiking it over the net.

He threw the ball in the air, and as I pulled my arm back to spike it, my shoulder popped right out of its socket. Fun times.

My first job was working at a chocolate shop.

Yes, I had to sample all of the merchandise (spoiler alert: everything was delicious). I also know way more about chocolate than the average person.

I’ve never gone skiing or snowboarding.

And I live in Canada. But I also lack any faith in my athletic abilities due to the dislocating shoulder incident mentioned above, so it’s probably for the best.

I’m a sorority girl.

I ended up rushing for a sorority when I was in university with a friend. It’s really not like the movies at all. I feel like most of my sorority sisters would be in bed by 10 p.m. than out partying all night.

And they’re my sisters in every sense of the word — I graduated years ago and they’re some of my closest friends to this day.

I love to sing.

I used to take singing lessons when I was a teenager and pride myself in being able to sing on pitch. I’d never make a career out of it though, it’s just something that makes me happy when I’m doing mundane chores like the dishes or laundry.

I don’t have any exes.

My current boyfriend is the only person I’ve ever dated (we’ve been together since we were both 19). I think he’s pretty great, and from the dating horror stories I’ve heard from my friends, I don’t think I’m missing out on much.

Doing my makeup is self-care for me.

When everyone else was living in sweatpants during the pandemic, I found myself donning a full face of makeup and dressing to the nines. It made me feel more like myself. I really love the process of doing my makeup and seeing a look come together.

I’ve been fortunate enough to travel a lot.

My mom was a flight attendant, and because of her perks I got to go to some incredible places as a kid. But I’ve also done my fair share of exploring the world as an adult.

Some places I’ve traveled to: Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Korea, Vietnam, Mexico, the U.K., Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Scotland, Italy, South Africa, and Argentina.

Public speaking isn’t terrifying for me.

I know some people are petrified at the thought of public speaking, but I actually really enjoy it. I was a theatre kid, so perhaps it’s the closest I can get to performing in a show nowadays.

So there you have it — you know me slightly better than you did when you started reading this!

Tagging some people I’d love to see participate in this prompt: Sarah K. Butterfield, Kimberley Payne, E. Ardincaple, Sofia Chen, Lucy Dan 蛋小姐 (she/her/她), Megan Llorente, Diana Meresc, Paul Walker, Celeste Wilson, Vytautas Ratkevičius-Vytas, Michael L Butler (I see you’ve already participated, looking forward to reading yours!), Gaurav Jain, Preeti Ramachandran, Sally Prag, Anjali Joshi, KiKi Walter, Drashti Shroff, Adelina Vasile, Erica Marie

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