About
One of my bigger pet peeves is reading an online profile that begins:
Oh my God! How can I be expected to summarize my self in only a few sentences?!
or
I don’t fit into boxes. (Assume, of course, that they have an attached photo of themselves looking defiant and independent.)
I do, however, find the challenge of summarizing myself a bit intimidating and overwhelming. The fact is, most—if not all—people can be summarized into a small number of categories which could all easily fit into a text box smaller than this one. The tricky part is figuring out which category you fit in, which entails being really being honest and self-aware (and brave) enough to identify the characteristics of your life and personality and see them as non-unique factors which place you into those categories.
And this, I believe, is why everyone, including myself, resists filling out these about me sections. I can say with 99% confidence that I am the only “me” on earth, in so far as I am the only one sitting at this computer writing these words, while I drink my Coke and worry about getting this done in time. I’m the only one in my physical space, the only one who exited my mother on the 14th day of March in the year 1979.
But look at all of those unique circumstances that make me a unique individual. Am I the only person that is awake right now? The only one at a computer? The only one who waited until the last minute to make a blog for ADV 304? The only one currently drinking a Coke? The only person who has ever thought these thoughts? The only person born on that day? The only one who exited my mother (my brother would disagree)?
So really the only thing that makes me unique are the combination of all of these things, like a fingerprint that takes all of my everyday unremarkable (and maybe some day remarkable) deeds and characteristics and narrows them down to one person. And the next question I ask is: What are the characteristics that actually make me unique. Sure, I’m the only one who can say he was born from my mother in ‘79, but aside from that, what else? It’s very possible that just about every other unique thing was done by someone else at some point. The only things that can make me unique are my time and my space, and rarely, if ever, only one of those things alone. And guess what? The same is true for everyone else. Yet one more thing that strips away my individuality.
But I hate to sound cynical. I actually find this existentialist rant really intriguing, if I may say so myself, and only raise these questions to encourage self-awareness (in myself and any readers) and bring us closer together, which I think the concept individuality stifles.
Oh, and here’s some facts about me:
- I was born in Omaha, NB in 1979.
- I have never been back to Nebraska since I was a baby.
- I grew up in New Orleans.
- I was the only white person in my junior high school class at PGT Beauregard Middle (now Thurgood Marshall Middle).
- I moved to Austin when I was 18, back in 1997, to go to the University of Texas at Austin.
- I graduated from UT in the summer of 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts in English.
- I’m currently back at UT to get two more degrees: one in Radio-TV-Film and the other in Rhetoric and Writing.
- I only download complete albums, but for safety’s sake, I’ll leave out how many I have on my external hard drive.
- I’ve been doing my genealogy, and I found out that my mother’s family has been in the United States since the 1600’s.
- My first job was telemarketing and I’ve had several since.
- I have done at least 10 medical studies for money. I say at least because I lost count.
- I can’t think of one song (other than traditionals like “Happy Birthday”) that I know all the words by heart.
Okay, enough of that. Here is a link to my resume. There is not a link to get back, so be careful.
