Sixteen Fun Facts About Me
Taking a page from Richard Hanania, Bryan Caplan, and Ilya Somin, here are sixteen fun facts about me:
1. In one of the homes as a kid I did a lot of cleaning, sweeping, raking, etc. My Mexican foster mother referred to the scouring powder Ajax as “ay-yax.” 7 years old, I saw the container but couldn’t read so I imitated her pronunciation. Now every time I see Ajax I think ay-yax. Ay-ay-ay. I’m half Mexican (and half Korean); at the last POC meeting they authorized a one-time pass for me to make fun of the accent.
2. I am 5’10.” Meeting in person with my readers and various online friends over the last few years, people have said to me “I thought you’d be taller” and “I thought you’d be shorter.” No one ever says “You’re exactly as tall as I thought you’d be.”
3. In-N-Out will always be my favorite place to eat because that’s where my social worker would take me when I was a foster kid. My In-N-Out order: double double protein style (lettuce wrap) + animal fries well-done. On the rare occasions I get the standard double double with the bun, the bun has to be extra toasted.
4. I have gone bungee jumping and skydiving and have always enjoyed heights. One of the houses I lived in as a kid had an 80 ft valley oak in the backyard which I climbed most days after coming home after school. I enjoy going to the top of various points in NYC to look out at the skyline.
5. I have a scar on my right middle knuckle from hitting a guy in the mouth and cutting the skin across his teeth (not recommended) and an indentation/split on my left pinky knuckle from hitting another guy on top of the head at an awkward angle (also not recommended). I got into a lot of fights from ages 6 to 17, and then a handful from 18 to 24. Most of the fights I document in Troubled are ones that I lose, in part because losses are more vivid and humiliating than wins, and because it’s stupid to write about winning a fight as a kid.
Everything above I'd say on a podcast or perhaps at a dinner party. Below is the stuff I probably shouldn't admit in print. Romantic incompetence, my capacity for revenge, my fat alcoholic era, and what writing a book actually feels like: