Alchemy and Algebra

Factoids

-Kennedy's childhood fear was the dark. She still feels unsafe in dark rooms unless there's someone to keep her company, or she had a nightlight.

-Kennedy originally wanted to study the science of predictions, specifically political predictions made by so-called 'experts'.

-Kennedy does the elliptical machine in the school gym once or twice a week. She especially likes the word 'elliptical'. " Stationary bikes are boring: circles attached to circles. And treadmills? Just one long loop. But an elliptical machine, oh, you've got two ellipses, synchronized but a half-phase apart, plus two hands describing similar yet smaller ellipses... heaven.

-Charlie does old-school strength-training exercises, like sit-ups and push-ups at home, and goes for a long run or bike ride at least once a week. He believes that the mind and body are connected. "Healthy body, healthy mind."

-Kennedy would never want to be famous, but she wouldn't turn down a Nobel prize. She doesn't dream that big, though. She'd like to be part of a group that makes a major discovery; to have her name on a Nobel-winning paper, or a study that changes the way people predict something with real-world benefit to a large number of non-mathematicians, like tornadoes.

-Kennedy enjoys her friends and gets lonely if she goes too long without seeing them, but is perfectly happy to spend a whole weekend alone from time to time.

-After Kennedy gets a job that seems permanent, she wants to get a cat, specifically a Siamese. When she told Charlie, he remarked that the cat she wanted looked a lot like her: pale fur and blue eyes. She's never made the connection before.

-Kennedy prefers crunchy, salty snacks. She could eat her body weight in popcorn in one sitting. If she was left alone with a bag of chips as a kid, she'd eat herself sick. But with three kids, a communal bag of chips was gone pretty fast. She would buy her own with her allowance and eat it in her room. She'd get in trouble for leaving greasy fingerprints all over the hall wallpaper and the stair railing.

-Charlie is fascinated with the cultural history of each type of divination, such as the I Ching, Nordic runes, and reading tea leaves. It's a type of anthropology for him.

-Charlie has good people skills. He learned to make friends fast because of his many moves as a child. He's naturally outgoing and has a kind face, and has learned to make the most of it, polishing a non-threatening yet authoritative persona. Like a Labrador retriever.

-Charlie likes to buy locally-made clothes in natural fibers and ends up wearing the same few things frequently because of the greater expense.

-Until Charlie was about eight, he was teased as school for crying easily and often. His mom once closed up shop and moved to a new town when she thought the bullying was too much for him. She told him that no-one at the new school would know anything about him and did a cleansing ceremony for him to help him get over the bullying and, if she chose to, get control over when and where he cried.

-Through middle school, Charlie was teased about his weird mom. By age fifteen, he was teased about how many girls he got with his sweet and sensitive yet hot and manly shtick.

-Kennedy is an INTJ Meyers-Briggs personality type, which means she's logical, objective, independent and determined.

-Charlie is an ENFP , meaning his has a vivid imagination, he has enthusiasm for people and ideas, he's flexible, and he's empathetic.

-They found out that they both enjoy pub trivia nights. She likes the accuracy and the chance to do well, and he likes the enthusiasm and the chance to learn and be with people.