But I do have long, wavy, luxurious red hair. I've gotten a lot of compliments on it from random strangers. Also, neither of my parents are redheads (Okay, mom was a redhead, but her hair has since gone blonde, much to her frustration as now nobody can tell I got the gene from her).

Don't remember for how long, but part of a year in high school, at the very least. I assume it was mostly non-physical reasons that prompted it, mostly, so I won't go through those, but two things (one which makes for a good anecdote and the second that's just plain too classic not to share):

I never had braces, unlike a *lot* of my classmates (so many, in fact, that I have a fair idea of what living with braces is like anyway just from listening to them!)

I get along well pretty quickly with most animals, and always have. Often works with people, too--I make the acquaintance type of friend very easily if I get to the point of conversation.

That's not to say I'm perfect, and I spent probably a good few hours total trying to convince her that I wasn't a Sue, but there you have it. If I wrote myself as-is (ie, not as Dawn) into a story and didn't show the flaws, I could probably get a Sue pretty easily. It'd be the type of Sue who's relatively harmless but very, very obviously needs more balance. I'd like to think I do have that balance (despite the fact that almost-out-of-university!me has even more Sue traits, without really having lost most of the earlier ones), but, well, not quite the idea of this thread, is it?

(For more detail on how far from me Dawn is by now, and how far from me she was when I came up with her, go ahead and ask. Believe me, I'm more than willing to talk about this, and it'll probably make it into an a/n sometime even if no one asks me here--there actually already is something of the sort in an unfinished interlude wherein she visits her family. No idea when that's ever going to be finished, though.)

~Z, who also keeps being told she has a good singing voice despite a general lack of training. What a world we live in! Then again, Sues do have to come from somewhere, and I could see one part of it being​ just looking at people, especially celebrities and some classmates, and only seeing the best, most talented parts...

A term i like to use for sues' lack of brains is "sue-pidity"

Argument that I am in fact a Stu, and not a person, in a couple points.

1. I fit in everywhere I go.
(Or maybe I just feel like I do!)
I've studied acting and theatre for many, many years. I've also studied some psychology! I was an outcast through elementary and middle school, and I was horribly awkward and unsociable. Thus, I joined the local theatre programs near me, and I learned how people act like people. I also made a lot of good friends, and a lot of good tips on how to adapt to whatever situation I'm in, and how to make friends with (or mortal enemies with) near strangers, in about 10 minutes. I've fit in everywhere I've been to and made great friends, and haven't particularly stuck out like a sore thumb anywhere for the past couple of years.

2. I'm extraordinarily beautiful.
I'm very vain, wake up with great hair, and have never gotten acne.
(My ego talks here.)

3. Physical skills!
I'm strong, I'm fast, and I have a lot of endurance for being both strong and fast for long periods of times. I don't work out often either.
I'm tall and skinny, about 100 lbs. This is generally bad for people, but after long talks with my doctor making sure I'm getting the amount of nutrition I'm getting (I eat four meals a day when I can) it's just my fast metabolism, and not a major issue right now in my life.

Points against me being a Sue:
1. I make a lot of mistakes. I'm certainly not perfect at everything I do.
(2.?) I'm nonbinary. I don't think nb sues exist, and if they do, I have never seen one! (But if they do, please send proof! Also, what is the term for an nb Sue? Is there one?)

There's a particular radio in the Small Mammals building. If it's tuned in to a station and I walk too close, my body somehow reduces the transmission to static. It's only that radio, though.

I hadn't really considered this until I read Neshomeh's post, buuuuut I kind of can eat anything and stay thin. I'm maybe not super thin—130 pounds roundabouts—but the unavoidable physical activity of my job, coupled with a naturally high metabolism, mean that I eat and eat and eat and don't gain weight. While most of my coworkers bring one thing for lunch and spend the rest of lunch break talking or on their phones, I stuff a backpack full of foods and spend the whole break cramming stuff down my throat, because if I don't get enough food down, I wind up getting weak with hunger by the end of the shift. (And while I should hypothetically have a thirty-minute lunch with two fifteen-minute breaks during the rest of the day, the zookeepers in the past collectively decided to fold the whole hour's worth of break time into the lunch break so we can spend more time together. Which is a lovely sentiment, but it also means that if I get to lunch on time, I have no time left to eat later in the day.) The food I eat is mostly meats, cheeses, and carbohydrates. Oh, and actual junk food like gummy bears, Twizzlers and chocolate, because my metabolism is so fast, it basically doesn't matter. My pre-shift breakfasts are also ridiculous—either a big bowl of spaghetti with butter and parmesan, or a plate filled with tater tots—just to make sure I can make it to lunch break without losing steam due to hunger weakness. And I hate it. I hate that I have to spend so much time (and money, but mostly the time) on something so basic and meaningless as eating. I don't enjoy eating, I don't enjoy cooking or the taste. I would literally skip it all if I could, and just have more free time every day. But alas, my digestion rate won't allow it.

—doctorlit, whining about a first world problem most people would love to have

This may or may not count, but to the outside observer, I appear to have the ability to eat whatever I want and still be thin. I know because they tell me so: "Oh, you're skinny, you can eat anything!"

This is not actually true. While it is rare for me to turn down free chocolate or pastries or whatever if they're in the offing, the facts are that I'm usually sparing with portion sizes, I enjoy vegetables and salads sufficiently that outside observers also sometimes mistake me for a vegetarian, and I occasionally try to subsist solely on tea if I'm working on something and can't be bothered with solids. (Then Phobos scolds me and drags me out of the apartment to get a burger.)

I'm also not remotely fit, and I'm pretty sure my spine has an actual curve in it from my bad habit of leaning on my left elbow. I'm working on correcting this.

I'll cop to having a good singing voice, though, and have in fact used music in the process of wooing my love interest. ^_^

~Neshomeh

Does having (supposedly) brown hair that turns silver in certain lighting count? I also have that gray/green/blue color changing thing that Delta Juliette mentioned.

I definitely agree that stuff like this is fascinating to learn about on real people! Though, I'll admit that for me personally it's because I'm obsessed with mutation for comic-booky reasons. :P

My eyes do the color-changing thing too, between gray, green, and blue.

I also have the most tragic food allergy: I'm allergic to strawberries. A single slice of my particular forbidden fruit is all it takes to start my mouth itching, and an entire berry will leave me with breathing trouble for the evening.

If you want me to go all-out with the Suvian descriptions: I have jade green eyes and the pupil is ringed with gold.

That probably contributed to why that color combo is my favorite, come to think of it...

Also, my baby brother and I apparently have identical faces. My mom once took headshots of us and photoshopped them together, right down the middle. It was perfectly symmetrical.