In her own free time, Lauren can often be found her stuffing her face while watching television reruns of her favorite shows, though she does like to maintain a disciplined exercise routine to balance that. She enjoys competition in any form, whether in trivia, air hockey, arcade or board games, or arm wrestling (she often loses on that one). Other interests of hers include music (she can play the piano, the violin, and the guitar, though she’s admittedly rusty on all of them), online geography quizzes, puzzles of any variety, and drinking all the coffee and hot tea she can hold. She takes no offense when labeled as a homebody or as a creature of habit—food and entertainment are every bit as compelling and often far more enjoyable in the company of one’s closest acquaintances, away from crowds, and nothing beats old favorites. If an urge for adventure beckons, it can be satisfied by daydreaming, reading a favorite book, watching a favorite action movie, or replaying a favorite old video game for the fifth or fiftieth time.

Ironically, Lauren always hated English classes in school (she very critically found them subjective and pointless, though she always enjoyed reading and writing and grammar), but she can now count “writing a book” among the highlights of her personal achievements. She can also mark that off her “bucket list,” leaving only “appearing on a game show” and “owning a Dyson vacuum” as the remaining items thereon.