Today's rambling: About Me
Written on at
while feeling a bit

Here's some stuff about me that I don't typically mention in my day-to-day diary entries...or if I do, it's all scattered around. Yes, for you I'll put everything here in one handy reference!

My nickname is Berry, given to me by Janette and shortened from Amberry (which is obviously where the 'berry' part came from). I'm 21, living with my mother when I'm not at college...I just started college in fall of 2002. People tease me about the fact that I love it so much, saying that I should have gone earlier, but I'm glad I waited. Now, I know what I want to do (educationally speaking) and I'm not wasting thousands of dollars on an 'undecided' major. Anyway, I'm about 5'7" or 5'8", I have fair skin, dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. My skin and eyes are the two features people seem to enjoy ooh-ing and ahh-ing over. My hair is very thin and I'm in the process of trying to get some kind of help for that. I'm also slightly overweight, but growing increasingly more comfortable with that fact (though there are times when I still feel wretchedly fat).

I'm also a Cancer (as in the zodiac sign, ha ha), and every bit as moody as we've been labeled. A part of me yearns to be domestic, but the truth of the matter is that I have no domestic skills. I can wash my clothes and bake cakes out of boxes, but nothing else. I suffer from incurable laziness and procrastination, yet I somehow manage to come out okay. I think the laziness is due in part to slow metabolism, but I'm not a doctor so I can't be sure.

Two of my loves are reading and creative writing. I've enjoyed reading ever since I knew how to do it, and I've also been writing stories since I was in about first grade (though admittedly they were terrible stories). It wasn't until about fifth grade, though, that I had dreams of someday becoming an author. I've kind of given up on that dream now, mostly due to my aforementioned laziness. 99% of the stories I start are never finished. Maybe it's because I need to have a deadline. I don't particularly want to test that theory however, in case I'm wrong and have to pay some sort of weird fine. My favorite genre is fantasy, with Terry Brooks's Shannara series topping my list. I'm known to read an occasional silly romance novel, but not too often.

I also love music. Oldies and Classic Rock are the two main genres I listen to, but if a song strikes my interest, I'll listen to it no matter what category it fits under. I like music that evokes images, or makes me feel things. That's much of the reason why I don't listen to rap or hard rock: neither of them make any sense to me. My two favorite bands are Queen and The Moody Blues, both of whom have some very stirring songs. I've started listening to Jethro Tull, and suspect that I might soon be adding that band to my list of favorites. I also like fun songs, pop-y tunes that despite their lack of intelligence make me feel good and want to get up and dance. I like music because it stirs something inside of me, not because it's considered 'cool'. Likewise, I won't stop listening to music because others think it's 'dorky'.

Much of my time is spent daydreaming. I survive on fantasies, I think. I can be silent for an entire car ride (even if that ride is several hours long), and not notice a thing that goes by because I'm so involved with my musings. During work, I'll find myself doing things robotically as my mind wanders off. Even during class I'll often come back to the lecture with a start, having not even realized that I'd zoned out in the first place. I fear to ever start driving, because I'm not lying when I say that I would start daydreaming then, too. Music is almost integral to my daydreamings. I have innumerable little stories that I've played out in my head, and certain songs will bring parts of those stories back. If there was no music playing during a car trip, I would be miserable, because I'd have no 'background music' to daydream to. I guess it's different in the car than it is at work or in class.

I love the French language. Not because it's 'chic' or stylish to like all things French, but because the language is beautiful. I've wanted to learn how to speak it since I was very little. In fact, when I was 4 I learned my first French phrase: "Polly voo fawn-say?" Well okay, I guess I didn't really learn it very well, but my grandmother's little book of foreign sayings was what made me want to learn this language. I visited Paris once when I was 15 or 16, but didn't enjoy it as much as I could have because of homesickness and a wretched fever.

For the most part, I tend to classify myself as a hopeless romantic. That may be part of the reason why I read romance novels every so often...though I could do without the sex bits. I get wistful and teary-eyed at the ends of movies like "Never Been Kissed", maybe because I see myself in those characters. I'd like to think that maybe someday I'll be involved in such a romantic, fulfilling relationship. I don't necessarily need excitement anymore: just steady, dependable love.

I'm a passionate person who lets just about everything affect her personally. Many times, that's turned out to be a bad thing. But for the most part I'm satisfied with this facet of myself. I'd hate to go through life as apathetic as some of the people I've met. I suppose "Live Life" could be one of my newer mottos.

I have a rather uncanny ability to judge character. I don't think of it as unique to me, really, as I'm sure everyone has this ability...But maybe it has to do with being more observant than most. I'm not always right with my judgments, but I'm more often right than wrong.

My sense of smell is a bit more sensitive than I might sometimes like. :P

I've become much more assertive in the past two years than I've ever been in my life. There's still a long way to go, but I'm very pleased with myself for the progress I've made. I'd never have had the courage to go after Geoff, otherwise. Hehehe...

Oh yeah, and I have the distinct feeling that my soul is that of a reincarnated hippie. In other words, I often feel that I'm living a few decades too late. I'm sure most of what I think about the 60's is totally idealized, but I still can't help feeling that I would have been better off living back then than now. Except I wouldn't have the Internet to communicate with so many fine people. :P

And I think that's it. I'll add more later if I think there's something everyone MUST know about me. *grins*