community spotlight
what is your definition of happiness?
↯ this is such a deep question. i mean… does happiness only come from within us? do we attain happiness through material possessions? does happiness come from the things around us? do we need to feel comfortable within ourselves first in order to feel happiness? honestly, i have more questions than i do answers. i guess for me it varies depending on the level of happiness we’re trying to achieve, whether it being internally or in life overall. it’s a broad question with broad answers and sometimes that’s the beauty of it, that every answer is going to be subjective on how we convey it. for me - right now - the beach is a source of happiness i’ve come to enjoy a lot. being with my family and friends. love… and food doesn’t hurt. i also wouldn’t be happy in life if i wasn’t constantly being mentally stimulated and learning something new.

what’s one of your most embarrassing moments?
↯ if i’m being honest here… i try to take what people would consider embarrassing moments with stride. what embarrasses me the most is when i feel like i’ve reacted inappropriately during a bad day or because i’m irritated. those are the moments that i remember the most and feel embarrassed about once it sinks in.

how do you find your strengths?
↯ not as easy as i find my weaknesses. but really, trial and error. i haven’t really thought about this. you’ve given me something to think about.

how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop?
↯ the key to this question is speed. but then i lose count.

when you were a kid, what did you want to grow up to be?
↯ when i was four, i would walk around with my own stethoscope, asking everyone around me to let me hear their heartbeat so i could check if they were still alive or not. i was fascinated by it, curious by how our bodies worked. i was still too young to understand but that’s what kept me wondering more and more. i would watch my father finish medical school, become a doctor, and when i was lucky, i’d be awake when he’d come home. he’s a hematologist, so he studies blood, blood forming organs and blood diseases. but at that time, i didn’t know there were different kinds of doctors. after all, they didn’t sell hematologist kits at the toy store. there was no lab equipment to play with, just the general scope of what you would think a doctor does. so in my mind, i thought all doctors were the same. i didn’t know the difference until i started to get older and my dad would explain it to me. eventually i’d start to sneak into his office, skimming through his medical books out of curiosity, learning that every part of the body was complex enough to need a different doctor. my love for science came naturally in the process. i did a lot of experiments, visited laboratories, and being a medical scientist just made sense.

what’s the biggest adventure you’ve ever been on?
↯ i like to think that it’s still out there waiting for me.

what country do you wish to see and explore?
↯ i haven’t done that much exploring so i do have a lot on my list to explore. one day i’d like to take a tour of europe: united kingdom, spain, france, norway, finland, germany, switzerland, greece, italy, etc.

what are your three greatest strengths?
↯ i’m really good at being embarrassing if you don’t like hanging out with someone who’s ridiculous. i’m a hard worker, very dedicated to what i do and to my friends/family. i’m also am excellent eater who won’t ever turn anything down incase you’re looking for a place to leave your leftovers.

what are your three greatest weaknesses?
↯ i’m not the best communicator sometimes. i can hold back things, but i can also be a little irrational if something rubs me the wrong way. i’m also really bad at being on time.

what do you love about your job? what do you hate about it?
↯ i love knowing that i’m a part of something bigger, something that can make an impact in the future when it comes to making changes towards curing diseases and other illnesses. i’m not just involved with death but with life too, through diagnosis, even if it’s through a microscope sometimes. i wish i could say i hate that it’s cold, but that’s not it. i don’t know if i hate anything but there are certain aspects of the job where you need to mentally prepare yourself because it can be difficult. those are not the cases i always look forward to but at the same time i’m motivated to do my best work in those moments.

if you were a ghost, how would you haunt?
↯ i already have this figured out. i am going to live with rian when i’m a ghost, so he’ll have to endure most of my hauntings. i will make visits though, so maybe expect the fridge and cupboards to be open from time to time. don’t be scared if food is suddenly flings at you or i pull out the twister mat.

what’s the most ridiculous tattoo you’ve ever seen?
↯ i’ve seen a few at work, but the most recent was a smiley face on this guy’s penis.

what have you done a lot but are still incredibly bad at?
↯ walking. seriously. i just fractured my toe.

what are you too old for but still enjoy?
↯ see, that’s the problem these days. i once heard that we’re always children inside, even though we grow older on the outside. but society norms have been engraved in us to let go of our childhood and become adults, like we can’t enjoy what we used to because we’ve out grown it, that it’s not okay anymore. i don’t believe that.

what’s your best one liner?
↯ wanna go on tandem bicycle with me?

what are some problems you realize are first world problems but are annoyed by them anyway?
↯ this is by far one of the most annoying ones: when your phone charger bends at a certain point, slowly breaking into its demise, causing you to twist and turn it in weird positions so that it charges until there’s no hope left.

what do you collect?
↯ shoes!

what's your creative outlet?
↯ art, usually. i like to draw and sometimes color.

if you were given $10,000 to throw an amazing party, gathering, or event, what would that look like?
↯ bouncy castles fit for adults, a ninja warrior structure with a ball pit to fall into, a glow and the dark room to play laser tag in, lots of food from around the world.

on a scale of existential crisis to living the dream how's life going?
↯ i’m near living the dream, not quite there, but inching closer towards existential crisis.

what would an exact opposite of you be like?
↯ that would be someone without determination, probably a school drop out, not interested in education, doesn’t believe in love, dislikes children, someone without a sense of humor, cold and rigid. but at least i’d be on time?

what’s your most common first thought when you wake up?
↯ who am i?

have you ever met someone who has completely altered your way of thinking?
↯ i don’t think i’ve met an individual person that’s been responsible for altering the way i think into something entirely different. but i will say that i have amazing friends, family, and professors that have taught me a lot about myself and other perspectives i might not have otherwise given much thought about. i like to think that i am who i am because of the wonderful and honest people i have in my life. i think they all make a difference.

what’s something you have given a lot of thought to lately?
↯ the future, actually.

what’s your favorite life hack?
↯ removing blood stains with hydrogen peroxide?

if you could change one thing about the world, what would it be?
↯ honestly, i can’t even tell what’s real in this world anymore. that would be a start.

if you could be anyone else for a day, who would it be?
↯ the president, so i can resign.

what’s your earliest memory?
↯ waking up saturday mornings when my parents were still together, still fast asleep, and i’d walk out of my bedroom to turn the television on. i’d sit there and watch cartoons, living such an independent life until i got hungry enough to wake everyone up to pay attention to me.

why are you so handsome?
↯ it must be because i’ve got my mom’s genes.

what if i had stolen your dog and ran off into the sunset?
↯ I’D COME AFTER YOU.

strawberries or peaches?
↯ i never known a question to be so difficult. pe….ach…es?

are you an optimist, a pessimist or a realist?
↯ i think i started off rather realist, but i borderline optimist a little more now.

what’s a show you always have to watch?
↯ things like criminal minds, how to get away with murder, game of thrones.

what three bands would you recommend to someone that would sum up your musical taste?
↯ ed sheeran, david bowie, dear evan hansen the musical...

would you rather lick the underside of a toilet seat or make tea out of a used tampon?
↯ jesus. did you come up with this yourself? i might have to lick the toilet seat.

what would the world be like without you?
↯ “at one hundred, surely you learn to overcome loss and grief—or do they hound you till the bitter end? at one hundred, siblings forget, sons forget, loved ones forget, no one remembers anything, even the most devastated forget to remember. mothers and fathers have long since died. does anyone remember?”

true or false: breakfast for dinner is da bomb?
↯ TRUE. EASY.

who’s got better abs, me or you?
↯ you.

close your eyes and picture your future in ten years. what’s it look like?
↯ hopefully a dad? that’s pretty important to me.

would you rather fight 1 horse-sized duck or 100 duck-sized horses?
↯ definitely just one horse-sized duck because at least it’s one in quantity and still a duck, as long as it’s quacking doesn’t carry a sonic ear chattering cry. or maybe i can feed it bread crumbs.

would you rather date 1 horse-sized duck or 100 duck-sized horses?
↯ this is my punishment, huh? 100 of anything is too much to handle, even if their small. i’m still going with the 1 horse-sized duck, maybe it’ll snuggle.

would you rather go to meet your so’s family and navigate the complex and intricate social niceties involved in gaining their approval if they were 1 horse-sized duck or 100 duck-sized horses? none of them speak english. they all speak either horse or duck. your only choice is to communicate through interpretive dance.
↯ so he’s half horse, half duck? i’m still going with 1 horse-sized duck because then i only need to worry about gaining approval of them compared to 100 duck-sized horses. although, it might be easier to gallop with them… also, why would he even have 100 family members???

what’s your favorite color? is it the color of my eyes?
↯ there is no color like the complexity of your irises.

go back to my last post, pretend it eluded you and not that you’re too busy to take my patronus quizzes and take my patronus quizzes. what are your patroni?
↯ ….a dapple grey mare. I’M DONE WITH YOU.

do you believe in any conspiracy theories? how do you feel about the possibility that we’re all secretly lizard people?
↯ as soon as you brought up conspiracy theories, i was going to mention the lizard people. i don’t know if i believe them, but sometimes i wonder. the ones involving clones creep me out the most, though.

if we are indeed lizards, what kind of lizards would you want to be?
↯ a venomous one.

what’s your favorite memory?
↯ well rian, anything with you in it, of course. back to our dorm room days.

did you feel pressured just now to include me in your favorite memory?
↯ oh too late, it happened!

b) why or why not? c) if why not, why not?!
↯ i didn’t feel pressured! it just happened. why didn’t i feel pressured? because you already know where you stand in importance. .

what’s your favorite throwback dance moves?
↯ the running man.

you’re dead. but it’s ok, you’re not all the way dead—you’re a ghost. what do you do with your ghostly life?
↯ i thought we had planned this after-life together! i’m slightly offended you’ve forgotten i’ve already paid lease to live with you once i’m dead and here i am telling everyone about it.

why did you become a corpse doctor?
↯ hahaha! it all started with my love for science. i’ve always been interested in the human body and i’ve always been very curious about why things happen. i was the child who would observe and ask after everything “why? but why? why is that? but why?” because i needed answers and if i didn’t get them, i wanted to find them. working in pathology gives me the ability to find them, to figure out why people are sick, what can be done, and hopefully make a difference in research when it comes to diseases.

why so many shoes?
↯ everyone has their thing, right? shoes just happen to be mine. but… i also wear them out fast. it’s nice having options okay and you get free shoes out of it.

what’s your favorite pair of shoes? someone’s holding a gun to your head and you have to choose, don’t cop out.
↯ i know my favorite! they’re a classic pair of nike jordan’s high tops.

will you watch stargate atlantis with me?
↯ i will watch anything with you, if watching mummy things wasn’t obvious enough. (disclaimer: must provide snacks)

are you aware that i keep a pic of you taped to my bathroom mirror?
↯ is it the one where i’m in a trash can? is it so you can remember what not to be when you look in the mirror?

bast and i are gong to a furry convention. if we dragged you along, which cute animal would you dress up as? which cute animal should i be? what about bast?
↯ well shit! you would definitely be a koala and bast could be kangaroo. as for me, i’m not sure, but i’m definitely not going to be a horse.

what exactly is a careless whisper? theories?
↯ when you try to murmur something under your breath, but it’s loud so that the person you’re talking about hears you on purpose, even though you act like it wasn’t intentional. what a careless whisper.

if you could ask yourself any question, would would you ask?
↯ i ask myself questions every day. it’s answers i want!

you screw up at work and the corpse you’re dissecting comes back to life and insults your scalpel poking technique. you’re fired the same day. nobody in the medical field is willing to hire you. what do you do? what’s your backup job?
↯ my backup job has always been working with you at the boston police department ;)