Introductions

I'd go into the story of my life up to this moment but A. it would be boring and B. much of the more exciting elements have become much of a blur...perhaps due to intoxication? I've thus decided to touch upon some of the more significant details that have led me to become who and what I am.

~ I was born at 5 a.m. on 21 February, 1975. I had no say in the matter, but there are myriad times I have come to regret this.

~ I was raised with pretty much everything I could possibly want (except for the degree of parental affection I felt I was entitled to) in well-to-do Lake Bluff, Illinois.

~ The first traumatic memory I have occurred whilst up in Door County, Wisconsin. I was three at the time. My family and I were visiting some friends, one of which apparently had an entire set of false teeth, courtesy of years of playing football. He decided to remove them as a means of entertaining us youngsters. I panicked and ran off, only to be stung in the stomach by a bee. Perhaps this is why I have trust issues? If you can't believe what you see, what can you believe in?

~ The remainder of my childhood was spent being bullied by the more popular kids. Somehow I never fit in. I assert that it has to do with my superior intellect, but who's to say? :) The fact of the matter is, kids are inherently cruel towards those they differ from. I doubt that will ever change.

~ As a result of the aforementioned bullying, I begged my parents to send me to Principia Upper School, a private school for Christian Scientists in St. Louis, Missouri. And I thought I didn't fit in at public school...But I made my share of friends and enjoyed my freshman year. Halfway through sophomore year, however, I grew tired of the repression and opted to go back to public school. I immediately hated it and instead went to college. I lasted a year, as I became seduced by the desire to party, and I finally realized that it is virtually impossible to make one's way in the world as a poet, which was what I had originally intended to do.

~ I thus opted to attend school to become a cosmetologist. I did that for a couple of years and was pretty good at it, although I quickly grew tired of having to partake in idle chatter - I've never been one for small talk.

~ At 19, I BRIEFLY was married to a complete loser named Sean. I remember little of our time together, as much of it was spent on either psychotropics, weed, or drunk off my ass. In fact, LSD was the reason we decided to get married in the first place....it seemed like a good idea at the time.

~ At 20, I resolved to go back to school, majoring once again in English, but this time for the purpose of teaching High School English.

~ At 22, I met my future husband Bret. We knew right away that we'd be right for each other. 7 years later (3 of which have been spent married) and I think we were right.

~ In May of 1999 I finished my bachelor's degree in English, and immediately began working for my Master's of Arts in Education at the same school, Barat College of DePaul University (may it rest in peace as DePaul has since decided to close its doors because it's no longer "economically feasible" to operate). While I finished my coursework and the bulk of my thesis, I have never finished the degree. I literally have only a few hours' worth of work to do, but still I drag my feet. Is this some sort of "fuck you" to my mother? Who's to say for sure? My therapist sure thinks so, however.

~ In January of 2000 I was diagnosed with a debilitating disorder known as fibromyalgia. It took years to learn how to effectively live with it, and sometimes I wonder how long I'll last before I simply get sick of the pain and can deal with it no more.

~ I was married on 6 July, 2001 at Lake Forest Academy in Lake Forest, IL ( http://www.lfa.lfc.edu/). It was an elegant and beautiful wedding. People still talk about it. :)Bret and I then moved out to Puyallup, Washington, as he had acquired a job at Microsoft as a computer software engineer. Big bucks. :)

~ From fall of 2001 until early winter 2003, I taught at Auburn Senior High School in Auburn, Washington. The stress about killed me. I thus took a leave of absence for the remainder of last year and tendered my resignation late last spring. I look forward to not going back to teaching.

~ In December of 2003 I got a job at Curves for Women, and quickly climbed the ranks to club manager.

~ In April of 2004 I had a horrible fall from a young horse. The bitch nearly killed me. I haven't been the same since...perhaps falling on my head wasn't such a great thing. I think it knocked a few more screws loose, as I slipped into a darkness I'd never known before, even midst the "Goth days" of my youth. I haven't really been back to work since.

There. That about leads you up to the present. I spend my days either writing, reading, drawing, or playing one of many video games. I'm finally beginning to see the depression that has consumed me of late ebb into something more...managable. At least that's what I tell myself. And to think I've only had to go through about 5 different medications to get there.

~ Dawn