Writer, Photographer,

~I have a lot of random skills, including flute-playing, pottery, and photography. Less marketable is my ability to recognize dozens of fragrances, with an accuracy of 100% at 20 feet or less. 

~I love to sneeze as loudly as I can when I’m in the privacy of my own home.

~As a kid I loved Barbies and dress-up, but also climbed trees all the time and liked to go up on the roof. My brother and I would also jump off the patio cover onto a pile of blankets on the lawn (Mom and Dad, how’d we get away with that?)

~I was listening to Centerfold when I got into my first car accident (really, my only car accident).

~My dream jobs would be: editor or some other job in children’s publishing, full-time author, or something non-depressing in an animal shelter (adoptions?). Preferably ALL of these. 

~When I was a kid my favorite books were the Wayside Stories from Wayside School series by Louis Sachar. I still love his books!

~I’ve always loved my ability to dream big, crazy, random, imaginative dreams. I feel like it tells me that my creativity runs deep and wide, and I can’t think of many other gifts I would wish for. It keeps me company.

~My absolute favorite moment of the year is singing and reflecting during a Christmas Eve candlelight service.

~I’ve been diligently journalling since I was 11 years old, and I’m so glad. Going back and reading earlier entries is hilarious!

~I’d always rather give great gifts than receive any.

~If I could eliminate one thing from myself, it would be jealousy.

~My earliest memory is just before I turned four, right after my family moved to Arizona. I remember walking along some logs around the front yard, eating one of those popsicles shaped like Mickey Mouse’s head. MAN I loved those things!

~I love to travel, and desperately want to see Sweden, Thailand, Germany, more of France, more of Italy, Venice,  and New Zealand.

~My all-time favorite song is “My Immortal” by Evanescence.

~I am terrified of roller coasters.

iCaved! Traded up to iPhone…this thing is fantastic! What was I thinking? Instinct’s commercials alone should’ve warned me.

This afternoon I was driving down to San Bernardino for an appointment, and I passed by a place that sparked a memory. Early last October when the fires raged, I was trapped down the hill by three different fires that closed freeways and downed powerlines. It took nearly four hours of inching along on the gridlocked 215 before I reached the point where police were ushering us off the freeway and telling us to fend for ourselves. But before that–before me crying on my cell phone in an overcrowded Denny’s, and before me getting lost and resigning myself to a night of sleeping in my car due to jam-packed hotels–I experienced something great.

I don’t know what first caught my attention about the car behind me in traffic, but I’m glad for it, whatever it was. One thing that’s sure to get my blood boiling is when impatient drivers veer their cars onto the shoulder during a traffic jam and proceed to demonstrate that they think their lives and time are more important than yours. The car behind me contained two younger guys who found a creative, constructive way to make their frustration with impatient drivers known. I watched as the guys would spot a car approaching on the shoulder. I’d see the guy on the passenger’s side reach into a box of crackers and pull out a handful. He waited for just the right moment to hurl the fisted crackers out his window, launching them toward the shoulder-driver’s car windshield. I’m not sure if it was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen, but it definitely makes my top ten. 

The guys became something of local celebrities among the drivers of the cars around me, and I was a little sad when they peeled off at an exit. Just for a little bit, I had a connection with a bunch of strangers all trapped in a situation none of us wanted or expected. I was lonely, frustrated, and scared, the smell of smoke etching itself into my clothes and hair, but for that little bit I was laughing myself to tears. A year and some change later, that’s what I remember. The laughter is what I choose to remember.

Exactly ten years ago tonight, I was home with my parents and my brother, sulking. My friends were all out, but my parents were a little freaked out about the possibility of craziness associated with the Y2K crash. I had to stay home, even though my big sister got to go out. Boo! My friend Andy did come over at one point, and I remember sitting on my roof watching fireworks.

Anyways. Amazing what a difference ten years makes! I’ve always loved New Year’s Eve. There’s something very appealing about starting over with something new and unspoiled. This year wasn’t great by any means…I was dealt a lot of frustration and I cried a lot of tears. I lost hope at one point, but then regained strength and purpose with the help of some new friends and great hobbies.

So here I am, still technically jobless, but a lot of other things too. I’m an artist, I’m a strong, capable, compassionate woman, I’m a creative caretaker of small creatures. And I’m happy. 

This is going to be a fantastic year. I don’t do the whole “resolution” thing, but I do have some hopes:

1. This needs to be the year that my book finds a publisher. NEEDS to be. One way or another, it will find  its way into print and I will release it into the world.  

2. I really want to purchase my own potter’s wheel and possibly my own kiln.

3. I’m something of an amateur photographer, but have always felt limited by my lack of a good manual camera and the know-how to get the shots I have in mind. I’d love to take a class this year and get my hands on a camera that can at least handle DoF shots.      

4. Along those same lines, I really need to learn the Adobe Creative Suite: Photoshop, InDesign, etc. Ames, feel like teaching me? Knowing some basic design concepts wouldn’t hurt either. These days it seems like lots of employers want something a little more than just a competent editor.

*Kitten Update*

Thanks for the great name suggestions! Dad: ALL of the kittens pee a lot, but I did name the loudest one Clancy. And Melanee, I of COURSE named another one of them Hemmingway. Yay! The others are named Frost, Homer, Dickens (the runt), and, uh, Pocket Mouse. Mamma cat is doing just fine, and we’re having a lot of fun with a house full of animals.