Personal facts
- I only drink filtered black coffee, and it has to be sufficiently
dark roast.
- I’ve never worn jeans. I can’t tolerate the denim material.
- I can’t tolerate tight- or snug-fitting clothing generally. In the
winter I wear stretchy, baggy sweatpants. In the summer I wear stretchy
athletic shorts. If I absolutely have to dress up, I would find slacks
that are baggy and have an elastic waistband.
- I’m super picky when it comes to eating meat. I tend to
prefer meat that is lean, dry, and well-done; not bloody, juicy, and
fatty. I won’t eat pork chops, but I like the cut of pork used in pulled
pork sandwiches. If I eat bacon it has to be crispy. Steaks and beef
tenderloin that are barely cooked are disgusting to me. The only kind of
beef I tend to eat is the kind used in Italian beef sandwiches, the
arrachera skirt steak in Mexican tacos (even this is sometimes gross to
me, depending on how well it’s cooked and its fat content), and ground
beef like in chili recipes. I’ll eat corned beef and pastrami depending
on how non-fatty they are – I’ll often peel the fat off when I have a
corned beef sandwich.
- I smoke tobacco cigarettes, but I can’t stand any menthol
flavor.
- I don’t drink alcohol. I just don’t care for it taste-wise, and I
prefer to be sober-minded and in control of myself. There were some
beers that I used to enjoy in moderation, like Guiness and dark craft
brews, but I no longer see the point of being buzzed at all. I never
liked hard alcohol either.
- I’m 37 years old at the time of this writing, and I’m still a
virgin, if that means anything. I don’t see losing my virginity as a
sort of accomplishment, and I think the concept of losing virginity as a
rite of passage is sexist and patriarchal. However, I do hope to
eventually experience sex someday if I meet the right person. I’m also
not against casual sex or going to a brothel as long as it’s consensual
and legal.
- My favorite pop (soda) is Dr. Pepper and Pepsi.
- I don’t like bell peppers or plain uncooked tomatoes. The latter
makes me gag.
- I’m kind of a mysophobe. It’s not at a clinical OCD level.
- I can be super fussy about things to the point of decision
paralysis. I do tend to eventually resolve the issue, though.
- I’m monotropic, which means I can only focus on one stream of
activity or sensory input at a time. This is part of my autism.
Regarding sensory input, I find that I can focus on one main activity
with a few other non-intense sensory inputs. I can’t have a conversation
while driving. It’s also hard to drive while listening to others
talking. If there is just me in the car then I can drive with the radio
on or listen to a podcast; otherwise, it’s hard to focus on driving with
other sensory distractions.
- I find that I’m quite sensory-averse, in that I have a hard
preference for low-key, quiet, and non-chaotic environments.
- As per sensory aversion, I’m prone to misophonia with certain
sounds. This depends on various other factors, such as my mood.
- I prefer the cooler fall and winter months to the warmer months. I
hate the summer heat. I also take medication that makes me prone
to overheating.
- My favorite holidays and seasons are Halloween, Thanksgiving (United
States), and Christmas. I’m not religious, so I only celebrate the
cultural aspects of Christmas. I don’t celebrate Thanksgiving as a
colonial heritage; I just love the food lol. Halloween will always have
a special place in my heart. I love the “spooky” culture and folklore. I
don’t describe myself as a horror geek, but my older brother is, so I’ve
been exposed to the horror classics for most of my life and I enjoy them
as an integral part of the Halloween culture.
- My favorite pizza toppings are mushrooms, olives, spinach, and
garlic. I’ll take any or all. There is an Italian restaurant in Chicago
called Pompei, and they have this Sicilian style baked clam pizza that
is super good.
- I’m of Italian and German heritage. Both my parents are half Italian
and half German. Culturally we’re more Italian, though. I don’t know
much about the ancestry of my German relatives. My paternal
great-great-grandfather, Cosimo Serio, immigrated from Cefalù, Sicily.
Apparently the Serio surname is most common there. Serio means
serious in Italian. It also means serious in Spanish, and
the French version is serieux.
- I have an affinity for Latin and Greek words and their derivatives.
I excelled in two years of Spanish in high school and one semester in
college. I have a “peripheral goal” to learn the Italian and German
languages, or at least a significant amount of them.
- I hope to travel someday. I’d like to see Canada and most of Europe,
especially Italy. I’d also like to see Australia and Japan, but they are
less of a priority. I think I would need a travel partner, like a
significant other.
- I have an extreme fear of insects, especially spiders and
centipedes.
- I’m not a water person. I never cared for swimming pools. I would
describe myself as “hydrophobic” in the sense that I have a strong
sensory aversion to getting wet, not that I’m irrationally afraid of
water.
- I’m not as funny as I think I am. That’s okay. It’s valid.
- I tend to be routinized, but I try not to be too rigid. I’m not a
fan of major changes. I get cranky when my routine is disrupted
unexpectedly. I generally need a lot of time to process routine changes,
so I appreciate notices a few to several days in advance.
- I am prone to irritability spells. This involves me being cranky,
not wanting to interact with anyone, and not taking kindly to demands on
my time.