10 Things

Here’s a list of 10 things you might not know about me, but could possibly find interesting:

1. My natural hair colour is red (seriously!). I’ve been dying it very unnatural colours (pinks, blues, purples, greens, etc.) off and on for the last 8 years or so. I change colours frequently enough that I’ve been compared to Clementine Kruczynski from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
2. In high school I did a co-op placement at an animal hospital. I was like an assistant veterinarian assistant.
3. I not only speak Japanese, I also studied at Nagoya Gakuin University in Japan during my undergrad. I graduated from there with a certificate in Japanese Area Studies.
4. I have a bachelors degree in music. I am classically trained on the clarinet.
5. I have visited 25 US states in my lifetime. I plan to visit them all before I die.
6. I was a cheerleader in highschool when I was in grade 9. Just to give you some context, I went to a pretty rough school, so in that case, being a cheerleader was pretty much the equivalent of being an outcast rebel.
7. I published my first conference paper while I was still an undergraduate student. My university paid for me to travel to Italy to present my research. This is what made me want to pursue a PhD.
8. I am pursuing a PhD in communication & culture. My research mostly focusses around self-representation in virtual worlds and the avatar creation interfaces of these environments.
9. I am related by marriage to Scottish comedian Fred MacAulay. I am not related to Douglas MacArthur.
10. I met my husband Rob through a mutual friend from Yokohama. She was an exchange student at his highschool in Canada. After I met her she introduced me to her group of friends, including him. 5 years later we started dating and 10 years later we got married 🙂