Get to know me... if you dare...
(insert villainous laughter... *chokes on bug* *coughs and sputters* *glances around* ... no one saw that)
Thank you kipli beautiful marshmallow. <3
What is your favorite childhood memory? My family used to go on holiday to the same small town every summer. We would swim and futz around in the sand, and we’d have bonfires. I loved it there.
Do you have a bucket list? If so, what’s one thing on it? I don’t... Not really... I sortof want to go bungee jumping or skydiving... But uh... no real list, no.
What’s your favorite thing to do? I like to occupy space with my man frand. Literally just sitting on the same couch, doing different things or watching something together. Using him as a footrest (so he’ll squish my feet)
If you could trade lives with one famous person for a day, who would it be and why? ... If I say Putin and insinuate that I’d liberate some of his money and get him gay married would that be alright?
What is a novel or story that has impacted your life? I’m going to be a total nerd here. The Lioness series by Tamora Pierce. I Love her work. She’s fantastic. But she writes very strong women and I read her stuff at just the right point in time.
What is three things you love about yourself? I’m clever. I think I’m smart, but I’ve worked my arse off to get to where I am and that is a bit more about cleverness than anything else. I work my arse off. I’ve an intense work ethic and I blame my father for that. And I’m rather intuitive. I can get the mood of a room and I read people rather well from an emotive stand point. It’s why I get thrown the really pissed off patients in the A&E so that I can calm them down. I’m quite good at that, but it’s tiring. But I like that I can diffuse things.
What is your favorite movie? What are you going to ask me next? Who my favorite child is?! I suppose it depends on genre. Legend of 1900 is beautiful, Run Lola Run is fabulous, Easy A makes me laugh and I watch it whenever I’m at home and sick, Elf and Nativity for Christmas parties, Euro Trip is absurd and horrendous and reminds me of being a dumb American, Princess Bride forever and ever and as you wish... I could go on..
If you could go back in time, what advice would you give to your younger self? Do what you want for you, not for other people. I used to do well to spite people. I had a teacher tell me that girls were bad at science when I was 10. And I had another teacher tell me that girls were bad at math when I was 8. And there were moments, like my first national award for science when I thought, “Screw you prick, girls kick ass at science.” And when I was taking college level math at 15, I was like, “Look at me being shit at math you twatwaffle.” I think I did a lot of things just to prove that I could, not because they made me happy. And in retrospect, I would have been a really brilliant mechanical engineer, but I’d entrenched myself in medicine. I finally realized this tendency before I went into surgical training... I almost did it just to prove people wrong. But then I was like... OR I could be happy with myself. And I am.
What’s one fear you wish to overcome and how? (If this causes a trigger warning, please forgive me and do not answer) Not knowing enough. In my field (and many others) there’s the feeling that you’re just pretending to know things and you’ll eventually be found out and *insert any number of bad things* It’s called the imposter syndrome. It’s so real. I have to prove what I know all the time, over and over, as I work. It saves lives. But there’s the constant fear that I won’t know enough, that it’ll cost a life. It’s so painful. It needs to stop.
What’s one thing you have done in your life and will never regret doing? Lighting bags of tea on fire and throwing them in the Louth... *side eye at man frand*
List 3 crazy or astounding things you want to do. Uh... 1. I want to help fix the Irish medical system. This is crazy as the shit is broke as fuck and people keep robbing parts from it and kicking around the ruins. 2. I’ve wanted to hike the Camino. Not necessarily all of it, but a large chunk. It’s so hard with my work schedule. 3. I want to publish something other than a scientific paper. Something I’ve written for fun.
I tag ANYONE who wants to do this!!! These are great questions!