Hey guys, today I'm here with a slightly different video which is not book related, but hopefully
you will enjoy it just the same.
So, it's been a while since I've filmed a more personal video, less about books or monthly
favorites and more about helping you guys get to know me a little better.
And because there are suddenly so many new subscribers, I thought this would be a perfect
time to film a 24 Facts About Me video.
Now, I know these videos are normally 25 facts, but today is actually my birthday (I'm filming
this on my 24th birthday), so I thought I would make it thematic and make it 24 facts.
So I'm going to go ahead and get right into the facts, but let's all just keep our fingers
crossed that I can restrain myself from making this video five million years long.
1.
My parents named me Marisa partially as a compromise because my grandma wanted me to
be named Mary, but all three of my dad's sisters are already named Mary.
So, Marisa was a derivative.
2.
My dad is Chinese American and my mom is half Irish, half Lebanese, so I normally call myself
a mutt.
And when I am filling out any form I always, always check 'Other,' and then if they give
me an option I write in 'multiethnic.' 3.
As a kid I went to a school where they didn't teach us how to read until the end of second
grade, and I just remember that when we started learning how to read I was really bad at it
and I kind of hated it.
4.
I am absolutely terrified of heights and when I went to college it was kind of the cool
thing to do to take a tower tour of the steeples of the church that was on my campus.
But when I went, I got so panicky and dizzy about half up the staircase that I had to
sit down on the stairs with my head between my legs for a couple of minutes before I just
gave up on the tour and went back down.
5.
I am an avid reader and writer of fanfiction and I actually started writing fanfiction
when I was 13 years old and I didn't even know it was a thing.
Even to this day, if I'm watching a movie or a tv show and I see something that I would
either love to add on to or do slightly differently, I will make all these mental notes and then
when I get home I will actually write a piece of fanfiction.
6.
Over the years I have studied three languages: Spanish, Japanese, and American Sign Language.
When I was studying Spanish I was pretty bad at it and to this day, if somebody says something
to me in Spanish, I will unintentionally answer them in Japanese.
7.
If given the choice of what movie to watch, I will always, always pick an action or adventure
film over anything else.
For me, the more explosions or gun battles in a movie, the better.
8.
I've only ever been out of the country twice.
I went once to Mexico and once to Italy.
But I would love to travel more in the future and I am particularly interested in visiting
Japan and the UK.
9.
I used to be completely obsessed with The Pirates of the Caribbean and for my 16th birthday,
I made all of my friends dress up like pirates and took them to a dinner experience of pirates
musical theatre.
10.
The first memory of reading I have is my parents reading the Beatrix Potter books to me before
bed when I was a kid.
I had pretty much all of the books memorized, so if my parents were really tired or tried
to just skip something I was always like, "No, that's not how it goes, you have to go
back and read it right!"
11.
I am 4'11" and wear size 2.5 children's shoes.
12.
For such a small person, I am ridiculously klutzy.
I'm always crashing into things, tripping myself, or spilling things.
13.
When I was younger, I used to be absolutely terrified of the rain, to the point that I
would actually cry if I had to go to school when it was raining out.
But now that I've gone to college in San Francisco, whenever it rains it just makes me incredibly
nostalgic.
14.
I'm not a particularly athletic or coordinated person and as a kid I really hated P.E.
class and I really hated playing sports.
Now all I do for exercise if yoga and the occasional jog.
15.
I worked at an independent children's bookstore the summer before I went off to college and
that was where I first got exposed to working with different authors on marketing campaigns,
and first got my hands on an ARC.
And I don't mean ARC of the covenant, I mean advanced reader copy.
16.
I don't really care about or follow many sports, but I do really, really love baseball.
I get super into the Little League World Series every year, for some reason, and I'm a huge
SF Giants fan.
17.
Whenever I have to fly anywhere, I always, always get stopped by TSA.
And I don't understand why because, personally, I think I'm like the least intimidating person
ever!
But, normally, they actually pat down my head.
18.
I absolutely love music and I'm always listening to something.
And although I listen to a pretty wide variety of music, one of my favorite things to do
is to put on a really good sound in the background while I'm doing chores or doing work.
19.
I'm pretty much a textbook introvert in the sense that I can be really, really energetic
and really on, and great at conversation when I'm around people and I need to be.
But when I get home, I am completely emotionally drained.
So I'm definitely most happy and productive when I have plenty of time to myself to recharge.
20.
I am a total dog person and I think that's because I grew up with my grandma's really,
really big German Shepherds and German Shepherd mixes.
Now that my family has our own dogs, however, we have kind of gravitated more toward smaller
dogs and our most recent acquisition, or addition to the family, was actually a rescue dog.
21.
I've pretty much always loved drawing and making art of any kind and when I was in undergrad
in San Francisco, one of my favorite things to do was just to pick a museum on a random
day that I had off, and go and sketch some of the collection.
22.
As an undergrad, my major was in English literature generally, but my thesis project focused specifically
on Asian American literature, specifically Jhumpa Lahiri.
23.
I really enjoy doing research on things that interest me and that was probably my favorite
thing about being in school, and definitely my favorite part of writing lit papers.
24.
I have wanted to be a published author since I was about 9 or 10 years old, at which point
I was writing short stories about some of my toys and me and my friends and the adventures
we were getting up to.
Then, as an eighth grader I wrote a novella for my year end project and, in between then
and now, I've started about six different novels, but I always, always get distracted
by a new idea when I get about seven chapters in.
So hopefully, hopefully, this is the year I actually stick with a story and get something
written.
Ok, so those are the 24 facts about me that I want you guys to know and, because I feel
like these can be kind of one-sided videos, I'd really appreciate it if you guys want
to add one interesting fact about yourself down in the comments, because that way, everybody
gets to share!
Everybody's interesting.
Share your facts.
And, with that, that's all I have for this video so thank you guys so much for watching,
I hope you're having a fantastic day, thank you for checking out my channel and hopefully
I will see you next time.
Bye!