1. I sometimes sleep on my couch. Usually when I am watching TV. Makes me feel less lonely, as I do live alone.
2. When I am sad, I make grape Jell-O. Reminds me of my late aunt. It makes me feel emotionally better.
3. When I am peckish (i.e. kind of hungry), I boil eggs and add lime juice and salt. Really tasty snack. Trust me, you ought to try it.
4. I hate cheese. This is a rather known fact about me, but people seem to forget quite easily.
5. Despite my hate of cheese, I *will* eat pizza. I actually will be happy to eat pizza if it has lots of meat.
6. I don’t like creamy soups. It might have something to do with my lactose intolerancy.
7. It took over 1.5 years for me to turn on my TV. I bought one and never used it.
8. I can dream in English, French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.
9. I tend to misplace my keys quite often, despite my prodigious photographic memory.
10. I tried 8different colognes (one each semester during my undergraduate degree) before I settled on my signature fragrance: Herrera for Men.
11. I am addicted to the TV show “Brothers and Sisters”.
12. I have bumped into lots of actors while I’ve lived in Vancouver. Most recently Michael Weatherly of Dark Angel and NCIS fame. Actually I saw him at brunch at Provence Marinaside in Yaletown.
13. I know how to say “I love you” in Japanese. I actually know how to say “I love you forever” – itsumo aishiteru.
14. Up until April 2008 I had never interviewed anyone in a different language. I had been interviewed in several languages, but I had never done it myself.
15. Up until a few days ago, I was on EVERY SINGLE OTHER social media platform, except for Facebook. Now, I’m also on Facebook. Yes, I know. I caved.
16. I take at least 1 hour a week to meditate. I don’t take any phone calls, nor do I check email or anything. It’s MY time and mine only.
17. I have volunteered doing adult literacy programs. I have also volunteered doing science education programs. I feel much more fulfilled with adult literacy, quite frankly.
18. My favorite food right now is Ethiopian. Not sure why, but I just absolutely adore those flavors. I used to have a fascination with Japanese, Italian and Mexican food. Right now, Ethiopian is the one.
19. I have always loved taking a different approach to things. All my brothers play basketball (quite competitively). I chose volleyball, and became a pretty good competitive volleyball player.
20. I was raised listening to classical music. Yet, I absolutely love 80′s pop music.
21. It is widely accepted that the two most important environmental challenges are water and energy. I do research on water, but have never had any interest whatsoever in energy.
22. I work better late at night. It’s really hard for me to wake up early in the mornings.
23. I have worked several times 24 hours straight. It didn’t do any good to my health.
24. I hate waiting for the bus. Sometimes I walk (and obviously, sometimes I miss the bus because it comes before I can feel it approaching!)
25. Even though I am an environmental specialist, I do eat meat. I do have a 60-70% vegetarian diet, though.

Related posts:

1. Five obscure things about me
2. TOUGH! by Twenty-Something Theatre
3. Making things happen: On why I can’t move to a different country

1.  When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Credit: Nine Inch Nails Official

You might be shocked (or not) but I seriously wanted to be a doctor. A medical doctor, that is. Now, I am a different type of doctor, but I have just as much respect for MDs as I do for PhDs. You’ll see… my grandfather on my father’s side, two of my uncles (one on my Mom’s side, one on my Dad’s) were all MDs. I grew up with this sense that I was destined to help people and cure their illnesses and mitigate their suffering. Add to this the fact that my grandmother on my mother’s side was a nurse, and I’ve got a hell of a lot of health care practitioners in the family.

Funny how things go, as I grew up, I modified my interests. My brothers are all engineers, and I thought that it would be non-sensical not to go the engineering route. First, I thought of biomedical engineering. But, at the time when I was about to start my undergraduate, I didn’t get the sense that biomedical engineering had evolved strongly enough in Mexico (and at the time, I wasn’t planning on moving from there).

So I went with the career I thought was the toughest one at the time, the most complete and the most exciting: chemical engineering. Masters and PhD degrees later, I still identify myself as a chemical engineer, although my business and social science training provide me with what I think is a much broader spectrum of career possibilities. But I can tell you one thing… if you invite me to a chemical plant (as Molson did when they invited me for a tour of their Kitsilano plant at the Brew 2.0 event) you will see my eyes brighten and my smile sparkle. I still am a chemical engineer!

2.  If you could see any one performer in concert, who would it be and why?

Credit: Ianiv and Arieanna on Flickr

Growing up, my parents raised me and my brothers in the classical music realm. I grew up with Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, Chopin. The kind of piano pieces I play (despite the fact that I don’t play nearly as well as my brothers do – they play concert-level) is very much influenced by Chopin and Beethoven.

But as I’ve grown older, I’ve become very open to other kinds of music. My very favorite artist right now, hands down, is Vancouver-based Sarah McLachlan. Every time I’ve wanted to see her in concert, there has been *something* that has precluded me from seeing her. Actually, in recent months, I’ve had such bad luck with live performances (I couldn’t go to kd lang despite the fact that I actually had tickets) that frankly, I’d be very happy seeing Sarah McLachlan this 2009. Her voice is just amazing, her music brings me to tears and moves my heart in ways that many other performers don’t. And, of course, she IS Canadian

3.  What is your guiltiest pleasure?

Credit: Eszter on Flickr

My biggest guilty pleasure is watching romantic (girlie) movies, curled up in the couch with a cup of rooibos tea and a fleece blanket. Yes, I admit it. I did watch “Sex and The City: The movie”. Not only that, I rented it. Furthermore, I have rented “27 Dresses”, “P.S. I Love You” and (hangs his head in shame) “Never Been Kissed”. Ok, somebody find me refuge… where can I hide now?

4.  What was the best present you got for Christmas this year?  The worst?

Credit: Murmull0s on Flickr

I’d have to divide these amongst material and non material. The best present (not material) I got was the chance to spend Christmas with my brother and family and Mom. Was such a wonderful time. The worst (non material) was the cold temperature in Calgary – 37 oC. Not for me. The best present (material) I got this Christmas was my trademark cologne, Herrera for Men. My Mom knows I love this cologne. My worst material present was definitely the huge amount of snow we have been getting since Christmas! And it’s been snowing for over a day now here, nonstop! ARGH!!! Somebody take me to Mexico, pronto!

5. Are you a Canucks fan yet?

Credit: Miss604 on Flickr

As many of you may know, I used to care less about hockey a year ago, but I am definitely a Canucks fan, now. Rebecca has been a primary influence on this aspect, since she is a die-hard Canucks fan. Besides, John and her (along with JJ, DaveO and Alanah) have The Crazy Canucks. Moreover, people on Twitter are *always* talking hockey. I seriously have to ramp up my game. So yeah, I am a Canucks fan. But I still need to be MORE of a Canucks fan Work in progress!

Want to get in on the fun? You can be a part of it by following a few simple steps…
Send me an e-mail with the subject line “Interview Me”
I’ll respond within 24-ish hours with 5 questions directed to you (I promise to try and be unique)
Answer the questions on your blog (or Facebook or MySpace) and link back to this original post
Invite others to participate by re-posting these steps

Related posts:

1. Was it worth doing a PhD? Part 2: Asking interesting questions
2. 7 Questions with Mojave
3. Seven questions with The Hush Now (@thehushnow)