Meet Amy: 27 Things I've Never Told You

I feel like I'm always baring my soul for you guys because I sincerely hope that by doing so, I can help other people realize that change is possible.

This time, I thought I'd lighten the mood a little bit.I don't want to come off as a know-it-all-blog-writing-machine.  I want you all to know that I'm human, I still struggle, and I am a little bit ridiculous.I was reading through some of my favorite blogs and came upon Dave Ursillo's post, 25 Things I've Never Told You (Or a Writer Upping The Ante), which lead me to Corbett Barr's post, 33 Things I've Never Told You (or, How to Re-Introduce Yourself and Kick Your Watered-Down Self in the Ass).  Corbett's post challenged writers to introduce themselves and their personalities to readers to be more relatable, genuine, and to avoid falling into the trap of being a watered-down version of themselves.So Corbett, I accept your challenge!  This post is going to be introducing my real human self to all of you.

Here are 27 things I've never told you...

1.  I live in Los Angeles, but have always fantasized about moving to Hawaii.  I would ideally love to live half the year in a mainland city, then half the year in a tropical destination.  I'm working on visiting other tropical locales to find one in which the cost of living is a lot less than Hawaii.  Up next, Costa Rica and Thailand/Bali!2.  I live with my boyfriend who I am absolutely head over heels in love with.  He constantly pushes me to be my best self and supports me in a way that no one ever has.  He still says and does things that make me wonder, "Where did you come from, and what did I do to deserve you?"3.  I am half Chinese, half white mutt, and NO ONE can pin it down on the first try.  I don't speak Chinese, but I wish I had learned (my mother never learned either).4.  I was a punk rock raver in high school.  That means I wore spiky collars with pants that had 40" openings for each leg.  Don't ask me for pictures.5.  My favorite song of all time is 1979 by The Smashing Pumpkins.  It's been on my mix for the last couple years and I just never get tired of it.6.  From age 13-19, and again from age 24-27 I was an ovo-lacto vegetarian.  The first time I started eating meat again was because I questioned my belief system (circle of life and all that).  The second time was because my health was deteriorating on an intense lifting regimen, and after going to the Dr. for blood tests, I discovered that I was deficient in B12 and my red blood cell count was low.  It was either shots or meat, so I chose meat.7.  I lived in New York City for about a year and a half.  I moved there from Northern California less than a month after 9-11 and jammed through my theatre program at AMDA (The American Musical and Dramatic Academy) in the summer to finish sooner.  I graduated the youngest in my class.8.  I love superhero movies- my favorites are the X-Men and Spiderman trilogies.  I've always wanted super powers!9.  I am addicted to coffee- There is a Peet's in my neighborhood literally 2 blocks away, and I go there 2-3 times a day for my americano, halfway full.  If given the choice, however, I would go to Intelligentsia for an 8 oz soy latte every day.  I need to buy an espresso machine.10.  I have a little brother who I am very close to, in relationship and in living distance (he lives about a quarter mile away from me).  I was born on November 2, he was born on November 3 two years later.  I was late and he was early, so keep your wise-cracks about that romantic day for my parents to yourself! ;p11.  I realized I'm not a cat person after owning 2 kittens; I gave them to a friend.  I really love big, fluffy dogs, but one of my pet peevs is little-dog owners that assume everyone loves their dog.  I don't.  Please get it off my leg.12.  I wasn't aware of the blogging world until about a year ago when my boyfriend introduced me to a few fitness sites.  I started my first blog (Four Leaf Fitness) in April, then after attending The World Domination Summit (hosted by Chris Guillebeau in Portland) this year, decided to blog more seriously and shift my focus from fitness to personal development.13.  I LOVE surfing, but I hardly ever do it.  I don't own a board, but it is on my life list.14.  I hate cilantro- it makes everyone in my family gag except for my dad.  I think it might be a recessive gene...15.  I'm double-jointed.  I discovered this while getting ready for a band concert in middle school (yes, I was a band geek).  I was playing along with a song on my alto sax (yet another thing you know about me- I played sax for 7 years in school) when my pinky reached for a key and only my first knuckle bent to push it.  It was like when Peter Parker first discovered he could shoot webs out his wrists!16.  My favorite movie hero is Indiana Jones.  I met Harrison Ford once and he was very nice.  I just about peed my pants.17.  I think of expensive purchases in terms of traveling.  For example, I just registered for the Precision Nutrition Certification for fitness professionals, but in the back of my mind I was thinking, "I could invest in this, or I could fly to Tokyo and back!  Hmmm..."18.  My favorite thing to do every week is go to the farmer's market on Sunday mornings.  I buy flowers for myself every time.19.  The only TV show I watch religiously is Mad Men.  I can't wait until next spring when it starts airing again!20.  My guilty pleasure is ice cream or frozen yogurt.  Mmmmmmmm.21.  I worked at Disneyland for 2 years, and it was the best job outside of personal training that I have ever had.  I am a HUGE Disney dork and have been my whole life, even before I worked at Disneyland!22.  My biggest fear is singing in front of people.  I can't sing.  No, Mom, I can't (she's always trying to encourage me to sing).  I don't even do karaoke because I am so afraid of people laughing at me.23.  I've never been to Vegas, and I don't really ever want to go.  It stands for everything I've overcome, and I think I'd just be bored and hot.24.  I used to drink a lot.  I used to win drinking games against my buddies that were 30-100 pounds heavier than me.  Now I can't drink worth a damn- I had 2 frozen margaritas the other day and thought I was going to throw up a couple hours later.  It's for the best.25.  I'm currently 27 years old, but everyone I meet thinks I'm older than I am.  I don't get offended at all.  Ever since I moved to LA on my own, I've acted older than my age.26.  My favorite memory is of sitting on a surfboard in Maui with my brother, even though on that same trip, my brother lost control of his board and the nose bashed me in the chin.  It wasn't his fault, and I'm very proud of the scar I have from it.  If I get a chance to meet you, ask and I'll show you!  The Dr. glued me shut!27.  I used to say that if I could be any superhero, I would be Rogue.  Now, I think I'd be Phoenix. :)*****That's it, folks!  I hope I have successfully shed the veil of "blog writer" to reveal my real self to you.If you want to learn the serious stuff about me and why I came to write this blog, please visit my About page.Now I have a request for all y'all...I don't know my readers nearly as well as I'd like to.  Would you care to introduce yourself to the community and to me?  I'd love to learn more about you!

Introduce yourself: write 5 things you've never told me in the comments below!

Don't be shy- it's fun to think of things that would help others better understand your personality!  Think of it as an exercise in coming out of your shell!I look forward to reading more about YOU!