About

Who am I?  Hmm, well we are all multi-faceted, frequently only showing certain sides of ourselves when in the company of specific individuals, therefore rarely is there a quick snappy complete response to who one is.  It is my hope that I can engage and intrigue you into to hanging around and interacting with me long enough that you will get a better sense of who I am.

Suffice it to say that I am:

• In my 40’s and have been an avid observer of humanity for as far back as I can remember.
• Accepting of others and where they are at in their journey through life, so long as they are civil, genuine and open.  I am still a work in progress, in regards to being equally accepting of their points of view, should they vary from my own. I am trying to remember that opinions I hold today may have been strongly opposed to by myself as a teenager.
• Love engaging people in meaningful dialogue.  I find it’s far more enjoyable when people are civil to each other and committed to spending at least 50% of the time actively listening.
• A strong believer in the idea that we need each other, to learn and to grow.  Frequently it is only in having an honest and transparent conversation with another person that we learn most about the things that are truly meaningful to us.  It is as if we need others to draw it out of us through dialoguing.
• A believer in truth and meaning, to our lives and experiences; though in my humanness, under duress and hardship, I freely admit
  that there are moments when I forget this.

For the data oriented amongst us, I will include some 25 additional random facts regarding me:

1. My Uncle Michael was the first poster child for Muscular Dystrophy (http://www.mda.org/publications/Quest/q22memories.html)

2. I lived on Long Island in New York for a few years growing up – most of my relatives still live back there.  I am left with the impression that there is no greater place to visit for a time, but I am not sure if I would want to live there.  Summers are brutally hot and humid.

3. My grandmother was born in Algeria.  Does that make me an African American?

4. My favorite most meaningful vacation was spending two weeks in Ethiopia (2005) teaching teachers of teachers, as well as teachers directly and working with government official to create an agency to help improve the plight of children in Ethiopia.
I would strongly encourage all Americans to take advantage of any opportunity to travel and experience life on other continents.

5. Guilty Pleasure 1 – I still enjoy well scripted scary movies. I know that there are many people, even close friends, who would tell me that these types of movies do not have any redemptive value, but I find that I can find meaning in many of the stories told.  I don’t know what it is but even as an adult it amazes me when a movie can actually incite an emotion in me.  It’s strange but it appears that the older I become the more emotionally moved I become by watching others respond to life situations, in movies and in real life.  Perhaps I am getting more in touch with my feminine side.

6. Perfect lunch date: myself, a pen and a notepad

7. In a direct affront to my fear of failure, I entered the field of local community theatre for the first time several years ago, proving that perhaps it is possible to teach an old dog, new tricks.  Since then I have performed in: “The Diary of Anne Frank” as Mr. van Daan, “12 Angry Men” as Juror #7, a Dr. Who radio-drama, been part of a locally filmed movie, “Penny Candy” where I play an Australian elementary school teacher, a local play called “Ophelia Thinks Harder” (a biting satire of Hamlet) where I place Laertes, Player 1 and Woman 3 and finally performing Shakespeare in the park as Oberon/Duke in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

8. I have an amazing capacity to store huge amounts of worthless trivia that until Facebook, nobody cared about and perhaps no one actually
does, but it gives off the illusion that people do.

9. Guilty Pleasure 2 – I have an appreciation for Crooners.  I think this was maps back to my mother’s love of these guys, but from a child, I have been repeatedly exposed to the vocal talents of: Elvis Presley (Suspicious Minds, In the Ghetto and Jail House Rock), Roger Whittaker (Durham Town, The Last Farewell, New World in the Morning), Andy Williams (The Shadow of Your Smile, Taste of Honey, In the Arms of Love, Happy Heart), Lou Rawls, Tom Jones, Burt Bacharach, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., etc.    This doesn’t mean that I do not also appreciate the talents of: Weezer, The Offspring, Muse, Bob Marley, Cage the Elephant, Gorillaz, Paramore, Evanescence,
Flyleaf, Mumford and Sons, Soundgarden, Foo Fighters, The Killers, Smashing Pumpkins and Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ramones and many others.  I have a very eclectic musical library.

10. Guilty Pleasure 3 I have a love for all the old ‘School House Rock’ songs.  These were drilled into my head, Saturday after Saturday for years growing up and now I play them for my children.  I especially love: The Shot Heard Round the World, Fireworks, The Preamble, Mother Necessity, Three’s a Magic Number, Conjunction Junction, The Great American Melting Pot, I’m Just a Bill – there’s just too many good ones.

11. Guilty Pleasure 4 Food: Sausage Egg McMuffin.  What is it with this food item?  It’s close to the perfect food item, but I prefer to make them for myself at home. They’ve got great texture and a blend of different tastes.  Drink: Slurpie (it’s a comfort food, alright and yes, I try to find the sugarfree versions).

12. I have learned to really appreciate having that long, authentic, real conversation with someone else, especially someone who’s
experienced enough of life to have started to reflect on it a bit.  Perhaps, after all these years I am learning that women may be on to something with this talking thing. 🙂

13. I prefer to travel by road than by air.  There is no better way to really see this country than by road (if possible on the back of a motorcycle). Best family vacation we had was driving to Yellowstone (rented a cabin) and then driving on to Mount Rushmore.  Along the way, we were pleasantly surprised to take some amazing unplanned side trips to see: Devil’s Tower, The Battle of Little Bighorn, see the place were Custer fell, etc.  We would have missed it all, if we had flown to our destinations.

14. I love the movie “The Hammer” starring Adam Carolla.  There, I said it and I don’t care what others think.  There is something real and wonderful about this movie that makes me want to watch it once a month for the rest of my life. It’s not pretentious or fake, it is real people struggling in an imperfect world to make something of themselves and finding out that sometimes it just takes having one other person believing in you, to make the difference.  One of my favorite lines in the movie; in response to his trainer saying that he’s one of those 95 percenters who never really gives it their all, Adam replies, “Actually I am a 75 percenter, who’s giving you an extra 20%.”

15. I was a Psych major in college and yes, it is true that most Psych majors choose that field because they are desperate to figure out
what’s wrong with them.

16. One of my goals in life is to publish a full length novel.  Yes, I am currently pursuing that dream right now after a twenty year hiatus involving something called having children. 🙂  Working title is Child at the Tide.  I hope to finish the first draft this year.

17. My first car was a ’67 Cutlass Oldsmobile which I purchased for $50.  It was a steel tank and took the guys and me to many a movie back in the day, even though the suspension on one side was shot and during the rainy season (which in Seattle is 10 months of the year), the floor in the back would be wet and moldy.  I wasn’t successful in passing on the joys, fond memories and character building experiencing of purchasing one’s own starter car and working your way up to a new car to my oldest daughter but it seems she is experiencing her own trials and tribulations with car ownership.  Hang in there, Lissie, you are just filling up a bag of memories that will keep you laughing in your 40’s
and 50’s.

18. If I could travel to anywhere…it would be to one of the “I’s: Ireland, Israel, Italy or India. Ireland: if possible, I would  like to travel to Ireland with my dad, as he was born and raised there; Israel because my grandmother is Jewish; Italy because my grandfather was born in
Italy and India because I have always been fascinated with India since I was very young.

19. In Elementary School, I wanted to be a lawyer – this is before I learned from my dad that they are second only to a living incarnation
of pure evil.  I guess I just loved verbal jousting, even back then. A kinder explanation might be that I am driven
to seek and know the truth, if at all possible.

20. Lifelong dream to find out who the first person who thought that it was an acceptable social statement to wear socks with
sandals.  Okay, it’s not a big dream, but I mean, Hippies and Beatniks aside, was this ever an appropriate fashion statement?

21. I used to bartend downtown in a frat/party bar in Post Alley called Tlaquepaques.  If nothing else, I ended up with tons of great stories from those experiences.

22. I enlisted in the National Guard in my senior year of High School.  I served honorably but was given an honorable discharge due to a medical condition.

23. In my spare time, I host interactive game shows for groups, acting as their MC (ala Alex Trubeck).  I have developed several music, movie, cultural awareness and other themed ‘Jeopardy-Style’ game shows compete with buzzers, etc.  I have found that what people are looking for these days are great shared group experiences.

24. I enjoy hiking, camping and spending time in nature reflecting on life.  There is nothing finer for bonding family and friends than sitting around a roaring campfire, telling stories and consuming burnt marshmallows.

25. My dream is to retire from the day to day grind, which increasingly is becoming more and more soul-killing, live in a remote location like Montana or countryside of Ireland and write for a living.