As an adolescent, I went to charm school, where I learned to pour tea and relate to boys, which, as I recall, meant giving them the pickle jar to unscrew, whether it was too hard for me or not.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Most of the time, if I'm in a pickle, I'll call one of my brothers. They've usually got somewhat uplifting advice. One is six and a half years older and one is eight years older, so they've probably lived through whatever my problem is.
In the fourth grade, I learned how to fake walking into a door. You know, you hit it with your hand and snap your head back. The girls loved it.
At the age of 12, my parents gave me a chemistry set for Christmas, and experimentation soon became a consuming passion in my life.
A 'naughty pickle' is how I'd best describe myself. I think fun and laughter is the whole point of life.
When I speak to people I worked with when I was young, they constantly tell me they wish their students would work half as hard as I did. I was always one to get a lot more out of myself, seeing the glass as half-empty rather than half-full.
I wish somebody would have told me, 'Don't try too hard,' because when I was younger I wanted to try really hard. I wanted to please everybody and be this perfect, polite little girl.
When I was a kid, I thought it was tough.
I kind of picked up the game at an early age. The way that other kids would learn what a fork or a spoon is.
I got out of difficult situations when many of my classmates didn't because I was smart, and I was lucky, and my parents were amazingly literate and helpful.
As a kid, I remember taking apart whatever I could get my hands on.