About Me
History
I grew up on a small family farm outside Oshkosh, Wisconsin (the town famous for the Oshkosh B'Gosh brand!) Much of my childhood and adolescence was spent caring for animals, exploring nature, and creating art. I learned to read and write at a very early age and taught my younger brother things I'd learned long before he was expected to know them. I excelled throughout my entire education, often being placed in advanced courses or left to create my own curriculum for subjects I showed particular aptitude in.
My parents encouraged creative thought and intellectual pursuits and thus limited activities such as the use of the television, instead having me focus on reading, writing, and developing my artistic skills. Being a farm family, we did not have much money so I had few possessions as a child. Most of my clothes were second-hand and I was only given toys on special occasions such as my birthday and Christmas. The majority of my playthings consisted of scratch paper, crayons, and coloring books (no paint or markers, however, because I demonstrated on several occasions a particular interest in covering the walls with my scribblings), and I spent hour upon hour drawing and writing about things that interested me. I firmly believe that being raised this way has given me a very grounded outlook on life. I appreciate the simple, beautiful things and have very little patience for insincerity and nonsense. (That isn't to say I don't enjoy silliness and fun, though. One can certainly have a good time without being offensive or obnoxious.)
In addition to being very practical about my values, I am also a dreamer; I imagine things on a grand scale and work towards achieving goals that can seem unattainable. I never sacrifice my own standards or do things halfway; I do exactly what I intend to. One very important thing I've discovered in life is that amazing, beautiful things have happened when I've followed my heart.
After traveling to Australia to meet the love of my life, Julian, I drove across America to begin a new life in Seattle, Washington. Two years later Julian joined me in Seattle and we've since become married! I am very happy with the path my life is leading down and feel very positive about my future. I hope to continue to glean inspiration from my surroundings as well as the people in my life so I can continue to create beautiful things.
"If you do follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. When you see that, you begin to meet people who are in the field of your bliss, and they open the doors to you. I say, follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be." --Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth
Traits
sincere, creative, determined, obsessive, caring, passionate, loving, devoted, observant, quiet, silly
Favorites
Movies: Young Frankenstein, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Edward Scissorhands, City of Angels, Donnie Darko, Juno, The Big Lebowski, Benny & Joon, Fight Club, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Princess Bride
Television (USA): The X-Files, Mythbusters, Battlestar Galactica, LOST, Heroes, Flight of the Conchords, The Dead Zone, The Kids in the Hall, Farscape, Dead Like Me, Arrested Development, Twin Peaks, Firefly, Animaniacs, Family Guy, Futurama, Six Feet Under, Northern Exposure, Caroline in the City
Television (UK): Top Gear, Look Around You, Doctor Who, Jonathan Creek, Red Dwarf, Black Books, Father Ted, Fawlty Towers, Spaced, Only Fools and Horses
Music: Air, A.C Newman, Akira Yamaoka, Andrew Bird, The Arcade Fire, Band of Horses, Beck, Belle & Sebastian, Ben Folds, Bitter:Sweet, Bloc Party, Burial, The Clientele, Daft Punk, Death Cab for Cutie, The Decemberists, DeVotchKa, The Dresden Dolls, Editors, Elbow, Elliott Smith, Explosions in the Sky, The Field, Figurines, Flight of the Conchords, Foo Fighters, The Frames, Franz Ferdinand, Fujiya & Miyagi, The Gathering, Ghostland Observatory, Halou, Hard-Fi, Hot Chip, Interpol, Iron & Wine, Joan as Policewoman, Jose Gonzalez, Kings of Convenience, The Knife, Ladytron, LCD Soundsystem, Lemon Jelly, matt pond PA, Mew, Midlake, Morcheeba, Mr. Scruff, Mum, My Brightest Diamond, My Morning Jacket, Neko Case, The New Pornographers, Nick Drake, Of Montreal, Patrick Wolf, The Postal Service, The Postmarks, Radiohead, Rogue Wave, Royksopp, Scissor Sisters, The Shins, Sia, Silversun Pickups, The Smashing Pumpkins, Sneaker Pimps, Sondre Lerche, St. Vincent, Stars of Track and Field, Sufjan Stevens, Thievery Corporation, Tosca, Tripod, Ulrich Schnauss, Various, The White Stripes, Zero 7, Jonathan Coulton, Fleet Foxes
Books: Ender's Game series, House of Leaves, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Number 9 Dream
Video Games: Silent Hill series, Katamari Damacy series, Guitar Hero Series, Rock Band, Catan, Puzzle Quest, Devil May Cry, Phoenix Wright series, Saint's Row, Grand Theft Auto series, Carcassonne, Castlevania series, Diablo series, Dungeon Siege, Donkey Kong Country, DDR, Fatal Frame, Jill of the Jungle, Commander Keen series, Crystal Caves, Wario Ware series, Resident Evil series, Portal, American McGee's Alice, Duke Nukem
Foods: curry, phad thai, pho, chicken katsu, chicken karaage, pizza, garlic cheese bread, bubble tea, fettucini alfredo, sushi, chocolate
Color: green, brown, grey, muted earth tones
Gadgets: Amazon Kindle, iPhone
Likes
Australia, Jules, foreign accents
video games
movies
dvds
reading
irc
thunderstorms
being barefoot
loose clothing
smell of linseed oil
smell of new electronics
warm weather
kittens
staying up late
losing myself in a creative project
connecting with a person on a deep level
talent and passion
smell of fresh lumber
geeks
being accepted for being myself
a sense of accomplishment
sincerity
being with people I love
computers and technology
Interesting Facts
I'm terrified of fire.
I carry my camera with me wherever I go.
My personality type is INFJ, which is shared among less than 2% of the population.