They're called fun facts, people.
Let's make them fun!
It’s really tired outside today, y’all.
I am continuing on with the subscription donation project. For September, I am continuing on with the Entertainment Community Fund for the organization. It’s a fund that supports workers in the entertainment industry, including those who are affected by the current strikes. And, as we know, the studios are ensuring the strikes keep going.
If you are new here (welcome!) or need a refresher, you can always find more details of the project on my About page. The About page was recently updated so it is so fresh and so clean clean. Also, if you want to be a matching donor, let me know.
I have also decided to extend the paid subscription discount offer! Paid subscriptions are 10% off for the whole next year as a celebration for NYC Decade-aversary. If you want to upgrade, now is a great time.
This newsletter means a lot to me. If you are connecting with the work at all, please consider clicking the heart button and/or leaving a comment and/or sharing it. Share in real life and/or in your dreams. I’m not picky.
The thing about being a long-term resident in self-discovery central, as opposed to a visitor, is that you will get tired.
Growing, changing, learning about yourself is hard work, as I’m sure many (if not all) of you can attest to. It requires a lot of self-reflection and requires you to be present in your body and your life in a way that you aren’t always and don’t always have to be. Even sitting still, you are actively doing work. It can be so exciting and include a lot of new feelings. It can also be really sad and overwhelming, knowing that to move forward you do have to leave some stuff behind. And you, in turn, might notice that there are people who will move away from you for whatever reason—because of the change.
At least, that is how I feel. Today, anyway. Right now.
BUT, I think that has created a great opportunity to give my brain a break. To take a moment, have a little rest. To have a little, dare I say it, pure fun? What do you think?
…okay okay, you don’t have to twist my arm. Let’s have some fun.
This week is more lighthearted. And next week, to lean into the rest, I’m going to take a week off. I’ll be back in your inboxes on September 24th. (Paying subscribers will likely get an edition this week, however. So if you are missing me for the week, consider upgrading. For the whole year of NYC decade-aversary, paid subscriptions are 10% off. It means a lot to me to have the extra support, particularly now, in the time of our discontent [unemployment].)
Now to the delight!(?) Well, I guess you’ll decide if it is.
Time for some fun facts! Just a little list, in no particular order—a list of tidbits, weird things, insights into me as a human. This’ll either be pretty endearing or cause you to run screaming into the woods. Either way, I’ve done my job. Enjoy.
LISTS. I love lists. (OBVIOUSLY.)
I, both, don’t have all my adult teeth and also have a fake tooth. I do wish the fake tooth thing was a good story but it has to do with the “not all adult teeth” thing. One of the baby teeth developed an abscess when I was in my mid-20s and so I had it pulled and a fake one put in. The other baby tooth remains. I figure that means I’ll never grow up.
While I don’t plan to be buried, I do want my future epitaph to read, “She had a fake tooth.”
I also did not have wisdom teeth. [insert lack of wisdom joke here]
When eating tacos and burritos, I often eat the insides of them first and then eat the tortillas.
These days, I try to fold in vegan meals and/or plant-based eating into my diet pretty regularly. I cannot seem to give up the sour cream though. Surprisingly, I’m okay without the cheese. But the sour cream? I CAN’T.
If I can’t sleep or am having a hard time getting to sleep, I will write out sentences with my finger in the air as I think them. Helps distract my mind.
One of the ways I handle my anxiety is to lay face down for a while.
I am an iced-beverages-all-year-round sort of person.
And a windows-open-all-year-round sort of person. Well, except when I use my A/C. But dead of winter? Windows open bébé!
Whenever I lived in a place (and during a pre-internet time, I suppose) where paper fliers accompanied “For Sale” signs, I had to grab a flier every time.
Pirates. Of course, I love the idea of pirates and the lore and history of piracy. I often even talk about running off to sea and starting a whole new life. However, I am actually not a big fan of boats, particularly boats that would be on the water for a long time. I want my home to be the land with occasional visits to the sea, not the other way around.
Outer space and the deep sea feel like far too much for me. My brain cannot comprehend them, I do not like it, and am actively afraid of both of those things.
In the (mostly) irrational fears category, I also imagine I will fall down any and every set of stairs I am on.
I don’t carry umbrellas. Yesterday Samantha is not too happy with Regular Samantha about that one. But, you know, I like to keep my arms free…and not holding things up.
I subscribe to 3 poem-a-day newsletters.
If I can make a baking thing from scratch, I will. If the recipe calls for a Skor Bar, I will opt to make toffee from scratch. Even if I’ve messed it up the last few times I’ve tried. Even if I could walk 5 minutes and pick up Skor Bars. I will still…stubbornly…try.
When I sit at my desk, I take in-the-minute notes on post-its or note cards. Then I immediately recycle them. No other note-taking method will do.
While writing, if I find myself stuck on a section or certain sentence, I will write that sentence out by hand. And then I will keep rewriting it in various ways until I can kickstart my brain again. Once I’m moving fast enough, I move back to the computer.
My cellphone lives in a separate room when I am sleeping. I use an old school alarm clock to wake up.
The summer after I graduated from high school, I worked at a minor league baseball stadium. I was a soda hawker so I would walk around the stadium selling soda from a big ol’ bucket. I was recently at that baseball stadium and they have gotten rid of all the hawkers. Apparently, they don’t want people to have one very strong shoulder.
There are a few movies that I will almost always watch in a row: all three Pitch Perfects and Camp Takota followed by Dirty 30.
My top three movies are all Tim Curry movies: Clue, Rocky Horror Picture Show, and Muppet Treasure Island. It’s truly only a matter of time (read: money) before I have a tattoo based on one of those movies or themed fully around Tim Curry. Honorable mention: the 1982 Annie movie
I tend to call my style “(Queer) Hard Rock Basics.”
When I talk to myself, I find that I whisper most of the time. Why am I whispering?? I live alone!
Also, when I talk to myself, I will almost always refer to myself in a way that includes my middle name. Like, “C’mon Sammy Jean” or “That was silly, Sam Jean Coop.”
Alright, Samantha Jean, that’s probably enough for today.
Thanks for reading all these fun facts! If you’ve got any fun facts about yourself, I’d love it if you’d share them in the comments.
See y’all in two weeks!