All About the Birthday Person

1. At what age did you have your first sleepover?
   Probably when I was eight years old.
   
2. How many jobs have you had in your life?
   Honestly…there were some jobs I started and left after a couple days for health reasons. If I counted them, I’d say: 11. That’s pretty bad.
   
3. What was your very first car?
   I can’t remember the very first one but one of the earliest was a silver Buick Skylark. My Mom shared it with us and I remember I totaled it in an accident.
   
4. What is your favorite kind of birthday cake?
   I’m old school. Vanilla with vanilla frosting.
   
5. What is your dream vacation spot?
   It had to be Karatsu, Saga, Japan, on the beach. The water was so freaking warm, and I love Karatsu. I visited there maybe four times while I lived in Japan.
   
6. What was your favorite childhood toy?
   I loved dolls. I had Barbies and JEM and the Holograms.
   
7. Do you have any hidden talents?
   I can bend the tips of my fingers downward. I’m not double-jointed technically but it looks like it might be something related to that.
   
8. What is your favorite holiday?
   Halloween.
   
9. Tea or coffee?
   Tea. I’m not really a tea drinker but I drank tea in Japan: barley tea, green tea, apple tea, and black tea. I could stomach it if I had to drink it again, even though I choose not to.
   
10. What was your favorite subject in school?
    English!
    
11. Are you a morning person or a night owl?
    I used to be a night owl but I have completely changed over the years to become a morning person. I’m usually dead by mid-day and that carries into nighttime. This is largely because of my hypersomnia and sleep apnea, I think.
    
12. What was your favorite movie as a kid?
    I think maybe The Goonies.
    
13. Pineapple on pizza: yes or no?
    No.
    
14. What is your favorite season?
    Fall.
    
15. What is your go-to comfort food?
    Ice cream or Chinese food.
    
16. Do you prefer the beach or the mountains?
    The mountains. I love hiking.
    
17. What is your favorite animal?
    Cat.
    
18. What is your lucky number?
    26.
    
19. What was your childhood nickname?
    Kris. Although one of Mom’s friends did briefly call me Krissy-poo. Yikes.
    
20. What is your favorite board game?
    Monopoly or Stratego.

Questions About This Past Year

21. What is one new thing you tried this year?
    I tried a BIPAP machine and full-face mask. It’s probably one of the worst things to have ever happened to me; I hated using it so much. It didn’t work out for me and we returned the equipment to the medical supplier.
    
22. What was your favorite memory from this year?
    Completing the first two books in The Darkening Gate trilogy (still working on the last one now).
    
23. What are you most proud of from this year?
    That I finished writing The Step and the Walk in seven months. I’ve never written that fast before.
    
24. Who made your life better this year?
    My family and friends.
    
25. If your life was a movie, what would its title be?
    So Much Shit Has Happened to Me and Yet Here I Am
    
26. What was the biggest lesson you learned this year?
    That I’m capable of writing faster without sacrificing quality.
    
27. What made you laugh the most this year?
    Our family and sibling message groups. All we do is send each other hilarious memes.
    
28. What is one thing you were afraid of but aren’t anymore?
    Well…I’m still afraid of it, and that’s my sleep apnea. My numbers were so bad.
    
29. How did you make a difference in someone’s life this year?
    I don’t know. I just know that my Mom told me that she enjoys living with me, which means a lot to me. So maybe that’s how?
    
30. If you could relive one day from this year, which one?
    Any day we went to Hong Kong Buffet.

Questions About Right Now

31. How does it feel to be another year older?
    It feels weird. I feel really old but kind of young at the same time. But thinking about the number “43” just makes me realize that I am middle-aged now.
    
32. What is your current favorite song?
    It’s not a new song, but it’s “SPECIALZ” by King Gnu. It came out a couple of years ago as the opening to the second part of the second season of Jujutsu Kaisen. I fell in love with it immediately. I have a mix CD of Japanese songs and that’s the first track on there. I listen to it almost all the time I’m driving.
    
33. What are you most grateful for right now?
    I’m grateful I’m still alive and have such a great family, and that I’m finally an author.
    
34. What is your favorite TV show at the moment?
    Witch Hat Atelier. Of course the only TV shows I ever make time to watch are anime!
    
35. How would you describe your personality in three words?
    Stubborn, creative, goofy.
    
36. What is your favorite hobby right now?
    Sewing my cosplay.

Questions About Next Year & the Future

37. What are you most excited for in the year ahead?
    Completing The Darkening Gate trilogy. My third book isn’t due until January and I very well might be writing until then!
    
38. What is one goal you want to achieve next year?
    I want to have a new idea for a trilogy or series fully fleshed out so I can write it.
    
39. What is something new you want to learn to do?
    I don’t really want to learn anything new; I just want to get better at the things I already do.
    
40. If you had one wish, what would it be?
    That I made more money.
    
41. What is a place you want to travel to next?
    I want to go back to Japan so, so badly.
    
42. How will you take better care of yourself this coming year?
    I need to try harder to lose weight. I need to figure out something that sticks. My weight gain has caused a slew of health problems and I know that if I lost weight, my quality of life would improve.
    
43. If you could meet one person from history, who would it be?
    Isadora Duncan. I did a report on her book My Life when I was a little girl, and even dressed up as her in costume. I’d like to meet her. She seems so interesting.