I was born the first of March in Milford Memorial in, go figure, Milford, Delaware. More affectionately known as Lower Slower Delaware. It was a Leap Year. Kinda glad I wasn't a day early.

I was raised by artists and musicians and I am still drawn to that energy. My grandmother was a painter. My eldest aunt is a professional artist and now a very accomplished art teacher. Her daughter, the second eldest of we kids, has a degree in theater and works in film, make up, and hair professionally. My grandfather and youngest aunt play the piano. My eldest aunt and an uncle play guitar. My youngest cousin plays and has gone to school to build and repair guitars. My choice of instrument was my voice. I have a three octave range when I manage to practice. Finances have dictated that lessons are out for the time being. I've also studied dance and if you know me, you know I can't stand still if there is music being played in any capacity. I'm also drawn to caregiver energy. Those few friends I've had who were not artists or musicians strictly have been nurses, paramedics, emergency personnel... it's that same creation energy that draws me in.

In that same vein, I studied Marine and Aquatic Science all through grade school. This included marine biology, botany, ecology and of course fresh water biology, botany, ecology, a good deal of oceanography, and other bizarre things such as experimental ecology and fundamental animal behavior. Okay, what all this means is I wandered around marshes labeling fiddler crabs and trying not to drown while measuring wave frequency. Any excuse to be outside and in the water, really. The oceans are the womb of creation and there was nowhere else in the world I wanted to be. I wanted to join the Navy and go to the Academy, but between a compacted spine (ie medical disqualification) and my severe ethical objection to dissection, that field was out.

In my Junior year of high school I got into politics. I thought Environmental Law or Policy would be a nifty alternative to actual Marine Studies. Studied one summer at Georgetown, skipped my senior year to go to college at Clarkson University. Me at an engineering school is much like an otter in the desert. Struggled through two years. Fled in panic to Buffalo. Law is evil, and don't even get me started on the practice of politics. Spent most of my time fiddling around Niagra Falls. I did, however, manage to feed my hockey fetish while I was in the North Country. Mmmm hockey.

After the move to Buffalo I tried SUNYB but my health said otherwise. This would be the point where I started working full time in the computer field. Took me eight years to correct THAT error. Computer work sucks me dry. I managed to transfer out all of my Gen-Ed requirements, so five years and a huge move later I went back to school to finish my degree. NOT politics, as politics makes me ill. I finished my degree in Religious Studies in the fall of 2003. No worries, most people ask how in hell that happened. It makes more sense if you get to know me. I started graduate school for a Masters of Arts in Applied Theology, but am on an, um, "indefinite hiatus" after serious depression and a theft kinda made life a living hell. But I can at least skillfully ruin any perfectly nice conversation with ease.

Specifics? I moved from Long Neck, Delaware to Potsdam, New York, when I was seventeen, Buffalo two years later, Long Island three years after that, and fled to Portland, Oregon, six months later. I spent nine years in Portland before circumstance landed me back in Lower Slower Delaware. It took about four months to give up finding a job there so I shuffled northward to Central Pennsylvania, to the home of some college friends. I'm here now, and go figure, it didn't take four months to find work. If those weren't the specifics you were interested in well, hehe, sorry but get over it.

That's better. I'll go away now.