Ten Things About Me

1. I have been married for over 12 years to the love of my life, together for over 18 years. I cannot believe how fortunate I was to have met him when I did and how fortunate I am that we are still together now. On top of that, I feel incredibly blessed that we still love one another after all these years. Who would have thought I could be happily married? Not me. (see point 2)

2. I am a mother of two wonderful children and I cannot imagine my life without them. They bring me joy (and yes, often frustration, too) every single day. The odd thing about the fact that I am a mother is that, growing up, I never thought I was going to have kids, simply because I never thought I was going to get married; being a child of divorced parents sometimes does that, I think.

3. I was born and raised in San Francisco, and though I haven't lived in "the city" for decades, I still feel like a native and I miss living there. I miss the MUNI - how easily one could travel from place to place; I miss sitting in the Presidio watching the waves roll in; I miss seeing my mother on a regular basis; I even miss the fog. I do admit that I don't miss the lack of parking. :)

4. I happened upon my career as a lecturer by chance, which proves that sometimes you just have to try things and see where you land. I knew I didn't want to work at my previous place of employment, started networking about other opportunities, and was offered this job - a job I had not originally envisioned but a dream job, nonetheless.

5. I am allergic to animals - and that makes me REALLY sad. What is frustrating about it is that I wasn't always allergic to animals. As a child, I had several dogs in my life...and was often around cats. Unfortunately, around the age of 12, life took a turn and I became allergic to animal dander. It sucks and I hate it.

6. I have always been adventurous and will strive to stay this way until the day I die. As a child, I convinced the neighborhood kids to climb rooftops with me - San Francisco rooftops, which often meant several stories tall apartment buildings. Now, I make safer choices, preferring to do things that have safety precautions - things like harnesses and parachutes. To date, I have gone skydiving, ziplining, and mechanical bull-riding, to name a few.

7. I don't fear death. I definitely once did fear it, but now? Not so much. While I don't hope to die, mind you, I just think that when it's a person's time, it is his or her time. I don't want to live in fear of death. I just try to live each day like it's my last.

8. I may not be afraid of death, but I sure am afraid of scary movies. I can't watch them. I still have flashbacks of movies I have either seen many years ago (like "Carrie") or even just movie snippets ("The Sixth Sense"). The other night, my husband was playing a scary videogame and I was in the other room; I made him turn the volume down. Yes, I am THAT much of a fraidy cat. So there!

9. It took me a LONG time to learn to share, probably because I'm an only child whose parents divorced when I was young. I didn't often have to share and it showed. I had issues with people touching my stuff, much less borrowing it. College was a rude awakening. Sharing a room with someone? Was that a joke? ;)

10. I am the queen of procrastination. One would think as a person gets older, she would become more responsible and do things immediately, rather than waiting until the last moment. In my case, thinking would be wrong. I have been known to pull all-nighters to get work done. As much as I love my job - the teaching part - I hate to grade and often put it off until the last possible moment. I'm getting better, but I'm still a work in progress.