(Courtesy of Nasr Ismail and Santana Westbrook via Facebook)
Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you.
To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the application) then click publish.
If I shared this list with you, it's because I wanted you to get to know more about me as much as I wanted to know more about you or it's because I think you are one of the most important people in my life worthy enough to share these things with.
1. I've had at LEAST 3 near death experiences so far in my lifetime, the first one being when I was 7 years old. When I was in 2nd grade, I spent a month in the hospital with pneumonia so bad that it got to the point that I was in an oxygen bubble because my immune system was very weak and vulnerable. One night, I went in and out of consciousness. In chronological order, I remember: someone reading me a story by my bedside, then losing touch with my surroundings, which led to seeing bright light and a silhouette of a person within that light. After that, I came back to reality, and was surrounded by a team of doctors and nurses who were trying to save my life while my dad was pacing and worrying in the hallway. I believe that, that moment was my rebirth/resurrection.
2. Along with #1, I was a physically weak child, always susceptible to getting sick or accident-prone. I was in the hospital so many times, that the doctors knew me by my first name. I've been in an ambulance, I've been in the emergency room SEVERAL times, and I spent my 2nd grade Christmas, watching holiday clay animation from my hospital bed. As a result of my frequent visits to the hospital, I discovered that green lollipops were my favorite.
3. Because of #1 & #2, I realized that I am not afraid to die and have come to the conclusion that I am happy with the life I have been given and experiences I have had thus far. From this point onward, everything is just a bonus to me.
4. Last thing about death, when I die, I want to be cremated and I want my ashes to be carried by the wind in a place that I loved to go to often, or one that I would have thought was beautiful and breathtaking.
5. When surrounded by chaotic events, people, or in chaotic/dangerous situations, I have realized that I can remain completely focused and calm, almost to a state of peace that I can navigate myself out of the situation naturally and almost unnoticeably.
6. My grandmother, my dad's mom, is the closest individual in my life to me. I only met her once. A year after she met me, she left this physical world. 10 years later, I returned to my dad's town, visited her grave site, and picked up the things that I intuitively knew she had left for me but my dad was unaware of. As I stood over her grave site, I felt my feet warming up and a continual tingling sensation in them. Her spirit has always been stronger to me, than her physical presence in my life.
7. I'm extremely sensitive to the presence of spirits in a room or physical space and can tell you if it is a negative or positive presence. If it is a heavy or negative energy, sometimes I get headaches or tightness in my chest. When it is positive or harmless, that energy fills my body as well.
8. I've always been blessed by strong women in my life and find comfort in that. While some women get intimidated, I get attracted. My mom and her sisters are very strong forces in my family and my female friends are all very strong women. I am attracted to strong female artists like Frida Kahlo and love listening to music by strong women like Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, India Arie, etc.
9. When I was a child, I wanted to be a cartoonist. I bought a "how to draw cartoons" book and 'til this day, I can still draw Fred Flinstone and Dino. Along with drawing a bunny out of a heart (my cousin, Joey, taught me that one).
10. After I wanted to be a cartoonist, I wanted to be a singer and was quite serious about this goal for a long time. In college, I took a musical theater class and auditioned for the Broadway musical "Miss Saigon". I love theater. I love the stage and know that I am a performer at heart. There's nothing like butterflies before a performance and the adrenaline rush when performing on stage in front of a live audience. That connection with your audience is irreplaceable.
11. I have been dancing since I was 5 years old yet within the last year I finally realized how much I really love it.
12. Although I am not a sweets person, tiramisu is my favorite dessert and I can never turn it down.
13. One of the things I want to do before I die is live in another country for a period of time.
14. Another thing that I want to do is sing in a funk or ska band.
15. I believe in multiple soul mates and past lifetimes. I believe that some of the close people in my life were people I knew in a past life and were just reconnecting with in this lifetime. Others that have passed thru my life and let go of are people I know I will see again in another life.
16. Dave Chapelle is my actor "crush" and I tell people if he had a clone, I would marry him. He's witty, he's funny as hell, he's extremely intelligent, attractive, he loves what he does and has become successful from it, etc.
17. I think humor is one of the sexiest qualities a person can have and that laughter is the secret to staying young.
18. I hate horror movies because I hate what goes on in my imagination after I watch them.
19. I used to be afraid of heights, until I went skydiving and conquered it.
20. In recent years, I have discovered that one of my worst qualities is my self-centeredness and I see it reflected back to me in the multiple relationships I have had within my life. Overcoming this is a work in progress.
21. If I was an animal I would be an eagle, then a lion, and after, a dolphin. Someone told me the first animal is what I strive to be like, the second is how others see me, and the last is the closest animal I resemble.
22. Although I may appear to be a "city" girl, I am a "country" girl at heart. In fact, seeing and being in the countryside of a country/place is my favorite part of traveling. I believe that is where you can find the heart of a place, the culture, and the true spirits and essence of the people that live in that country.
23. Even though, this is supposed to be a list of 25 things, I am sure it is more than that because of my love for writing, storytelling, detail, and description.
24. I find it interesting that my name/nicknames change with different ethnicities and the characters in my life that I call my friends. My Black/African American friends have called me "Shirl"; Naomi and my Latino friends call me "Cherylita"; Japanese people call me "Shereru"; Christal calls me "Esa"; Shakespeare called me "shorty"; my brother calls me "Chimppoloid" (his own original combination of a chimpanzee, hippopotamus, and the old Dominoes "Noid"); my writer/dancer alias is "LyrehC", pronounced "lyric" (my brother told me that my name backwards was pronounced that way, and I have used it ever since) and my family calls me "Jing". I won't let anyone outside of my family call me "Jing", it just sounds strange if they're not family. My mom said that she named me that because her favorite Christmas song is "Jingle Bells" and her nickname is "Ming".
25. When I was young, I was very much a daddy's girl and I clashed so much with my mom, often times despising her. As I got older, and specifically when I returned from my mom's area in the Philippines, I had found that my relationship with my mom had grown stronger while the relationship with my dad grew more distant. But, I still can tell you how I resemble them both and what I respect the most about them as individuals and as my parents.
