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I was born into a family of 16 children in Maryland. A wonderful family adopted me and Virginia became my home. They had a working farm and were foster parents to 13 children. Other than that I had a normal childhood.
I have three grown children, two boys and a girl, and have been married for 31 years. My family has supported me in trying to get my degree for the last 30 years. Two years ago I received my Associates Degree and am currently trying to get a degree in Human Counseling.
Another goal in my life is to become a published writer. I have had two poems published and at this time I have three magazine articles submitted to different publishers. The rejection note is my major response from publishers.
My hobbies are varied, from baseball, to reading and including archery and shooting guns for recreation. There are so many new things to try I never get bored with life.
The most important place in my life belongs to Christ. I have worked with teenagers in the church for years. I find them honest and fascinating. They are sometimes overwhelmed with the fears and problems of life and society. The Crisis Pregnancy Center is also an organization where I have spent my time. My biggest problem is not having enough time to do all the things I would like to do.
I seek my Counseling Degree with the hope I can work in the school system to make a difference in the lives of hurting children.

I was born in Southwest Virginia but my father was in the Army and our home was mostly in Germany. I began school in Munich, Germany and graduated in Heidelberg, Germany. We had a few stateside tours in between but I would not trade the life I have had for any other. Being in Europe allowed me to visit numerous countries and learn the cultures of many.
I am a 48-year-old single mother with two daughters, ages 26 and 13. My older daughter is a graduate student at East Tennessee State University and in the ROTC, and the younger will be an upcoming freshman at Northwood High School. I decided to move back to this area when my second child was ready for kindergarten and my older daughter was ready for high school. The area in which we lived had weapon checks at the schools daily.
Returning to school has been enjoyable. I was apprehensive at first because I knew I would be older than most other students, however both young and old students all have one thing in common and that is the desire to learn. I have notice that this desire to learn supersedes any age barrier in my experience thus far.
I will be a senior in the fall in the Human Services Counseling curriculum. I am most interested in Substance Abuse Counseling, however, Domestic Violence Counseling ranks a very close second in what I see as my future. I have done volunteer work in both of these types of facilities and both, although at times frustrating, are a challenge that I am anxious to confront.

My name is Tim Balcom. I have been married for 24 years to my lovely wife Lori and we have three wonderful children. Our oldest son, Alex, is employed by Disney in Orlando, Florida and attends college part time. Our daughter, Lesley, is graduating from Christiansburg High School on June 2 and our youngest son, Jordan, is in the seventh grade.
We moved to Virginia in 1982 when I started to work for Federal Mogul in Blacksburg as an Electrical Designer. I am now a Project Engineer for the Powertrain Technology Group based in Blacksburg. I began taking classes at ODU in 1996 to complete my degree. I have only to complete three classes this summer to graduate.
I like to travel with my family. We have visited Germany, France (twice), England, Mexico and Canada, as well as most of the states on the eastern seaboard. We own two timeshares, which makes it extremely easy for us to arrange accommodations. I also travel for my job. My next trip may be to China to commission a new processing line. Hopefully I can fit it into my school schedule.
I look forward to taking this class and I think I will like the flexibility of being able to work ahead. My family and I are planning on a Myrtle Beach trip in June and a trip to see Alex in July.

On a personal level, I live in Knightdale, NC with my husband and our "four-legged" son, Undertaker. He is a three-year-old Jack Russell Terrior, or terror as my husband would say. My hobbies are working in the yard, playing with my dog, riding my bike, reading a good book, and walking/running. I also love to travel. Two years ago my husband and I went on a cruise to the Caribbean. We went to Cazamel, Mexico, Caymen Islands, and Jamaica. In a couple of years we plan to take another cruise to the Eastern Caribbean. One day I hope to visit Australia, and Italy.

I don't have any children yet, but I am looking forward to finishing school and starting the next chapter of my life. In the meantime, I enjoy playing with my seven nephews.

I was born in Livonia, Michigan on August 8, 1969. I have 1 brother that is exactly 361 days older than I. My family moved out to the countryside of Monroe, Michigan when I was 4 years old. Monroe is about 40 miles south of Detroit, Michigan and 30 miles north of Toledo, Ohio. I spent much of my childhood enjoying the country living with my brother and our dog Catherine while riding bikes, motor bikes, swimming, climbing trees, and spending time on our boat on Lake Erie. The winters were beautiful and I have many fond memories of snowmobiling, skiing, skating, and sledding. I don't know why the cold never bothered me as a child. I often would have icicles hanging from my eyelashes and hair before my mother could convince me to come inside for dinner.
I attended Monroe High School, one of only two high schools in our small town. I found an after school job working as a dental assistant for an Endodontist (a dentist that specializes in root canals), Periodontist (gum specialist), and Oral Surgeon. It was then that I became interested in a medical profession. After graduating high school in 1987, I attended Monroe County Community College. My dental assisting job assisted me to pay for my education. I moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan (home of the University of Michigan) when I was 18 and worked full time while attending nursing school. I graduated nursing school in 1990 at the very tender age of 20 and it didn't take me long to realize that I still had so much to learn.
In 1993 I moved to Richmond, Virginia. I felt as if I had moved to another country. It is amazing how the culture here differs from that in Michigan. I married my soul mate Stan in July of 2000 and we were blessed with our first daughter Erin exactly 9 months later. My Catholic grandmother was so pleased. We were so happy with our first we decided to try for another and I am presently 14 weeks pregnant and due in November.
My hobbies include long distance biking (on hold for now) music, taking naps, and spending time with my hubby, our two dogs, two cats, in our house on the James River. I am working as a Registered Nurse, Kidney Transplant Coordinator at Henrico Doctors' Hospital. I am looking forward to finishing my BSN. I my future plans include graduation, and then taking a nice long nap.

My name is Laurie Bice. I am 24 and currently an ODU student majoring in Psychology and minoring in Criminal Justice. I hope to graduate in 2003 so that I can start law school in 2004. I work full time in the Recovery Dept. of a bank in downtown Norfolk while also attending classes when I can. I have just recently become engaged to a wonderful man named Chris, who is a chief in the US Navy stationed in Norfolk. We're planning on getting married June 7, 2003 and maybe transferring to Charleston, SC in Dec., 2003/Jan., 2004. We just recently came back from Charleston on Monday and it was absolutely great...I'm ready to move now! J
My family is somewhat large but we're really scattered between VA, NJ, and TN. I have three older half-brothers; Chris, the youngest, is ten years older than I so you can imagine the torment I received as a child! I also just recently was graced by the birth of my nephew, Austin Ray Jackson, who was born May 7, one day before I got engaged, which made everything more special. He is a healthy baby boy, who weighed 8lbs. 7oz. and was 21 inches long (big boy). My brother has already informed me that I'll be doing lots of babysitting this summer since he was mine when I was young (11 years older). Of course I don't mind this at all! I hope to have a family of my own one day, probably after being married for a year or two at least. Although I will be gaining two step sons (7 & 8) when Chris and I are married.
I hope this will be a very interesting and enjoyable class, as this is my first internet course. Good luck to all and may we all get A's!

My name is Jeanne Boatwright. I live in Charlottesville, Virginia, where I was born, and raised. I am thirty-six years old. I am a fraternal twin to a female sister. We were the largest set of twins with identical weights (6 pounds, 12 ounces). We were born six minutes apart. Our weight seems to be the only thing we have had in common. We look nothing alike, and most people don't believe we are even sisters. It is different being a twin, but interesting. We participate in a twin study for MCV. I also have two older sisters.
I work as a nurse at the University of Virginia hospital, in the medical /surgical area. It is a busy job, but interesting. I am always learning something new. I take care of a wide variety of people. I could have anything from an AIDs patient, to a patient with end stage renal disease. I see a lot of deaths. I see a lot of sick people. It makes me treasure each day more.
I am taking this class because it is my last class that I need to receive my bachelor's degree in nursing. It seems I was one class short. This was the most interesting course. I have never taken a web base class. I'm just hoping I can send this in the proper manner.
I am currently engaged. This is our first marriage, and we have no children yet. I am getting married June 1st. I realize this is only two weeks away, and I sometimes get a little panic. There is a goal to this madness. My advice is to always elope. This day is not about you, but about others, that have all sorts of ideas on how you are doing it wrong. We are going to Ireland, and I can't wait.

I am a native Virginian I have seven sibling, I was born in 1949 I am old enough to be mother to most the student in this class. I was have spent my entire life living in Virginia. I receive my secondary education in Princess Ann County and later farther continue my education at Norfolk State University, however, I did not finish because of a condition I at that time I did not realize I had a learning disabilities. At this time of my life when most my friends are talking about retiring I am talking about reentering the job market. I was enjoy the field of psychology I like be a child psychotherapist.
I have four children whom I am very proud of they all are in there twenties; two them graduated from Old Dominion University and one from Mary William College. I have three girls and a one boy. I was a stay-at-home-mom until my last child was ready to go to daycare we went together. I worked in commercial daycare for about nine years. One
Day I became very bore with all the commercial daycare and I decided to do daycare out of my home and developed my own program.
I live in theKempsville area of Virginia Beach; I have enjoyed living in this area of beach, however, one day I would love to own property on the waterfront. I have loved to visit the beach and sitting on the beach. I love to sit and watch the ocean and listen to the ocean roar. I love traveling to different countries and observing different cultures.
Most of all I love to be home I enjoy my fireplace and sitting on in my favorite chair after a long day.

I was born in Dinwiddie County, Virginia in 1953 and given the name Margaret Ann Stone. My parents nicknamed me Peggy and to this day that is what everyone calls me, most people don't even realize that my name is Margaret. I had a wonderful childhood, growing up on a tobacco farm with four brothers (I didn't realize how good it was until much later in life). I was very active in high school sports including softball and basketball. I graduated from Dinwiddie County High School in 1972 and that fall attended Southside Virginia Community College. In January 1974, I married my husband of 28 years, J. N. I graduated from SVCC in June of 1974 with an AS in Secretarial Science (the word secretary is now obsolete). My first son, Jamie, was born in June 1976 and my second son, Jody, was born in 1979. One of the highlights of my life, other than my family, was playing softball in a mixed league and winning the world USSSA in 1989. This was a moment I will never forget. When my youngest son graduated from high school, I decided it was time to get my degree. Since I had been working for several years in the accounting department, I decided to go for an Accounting Major. I am presently working full time for an Australian mineral sands mining company (titanium minerals) and taking night and weekend classes to obtain my degree. I enjoy Winston Cup Racing (Elliott Sadler fan), reading, gardening and I love the beach.

My name is Sarah Matthews and I am a senior at Old Dominion University. I am a psychology major and am graduating in December. I am involved in a few research teams at ODU, including traffic safety with Dr. Porter (involving tailgating, aggressive driving, and red light running), Human Factors type research with Dr. Baldwin, and will be involved in research with Eva Clark, in the fall, on children and computer usage and women with technology and how they are portrayed in the media. Dealing with school and research keeps me pretty busy during the school year, so over the summer I head home to northern Virginia. I was born and raised in Arlington, VA. My parents, sister, and two half brothers, moved to Ohio and Michigan for a little bit, but always returned to northern Virginia. My brothers are both married and have two kids each. My sister still lives at home with my parents, milking them for all they've got. She attends community college and has been dating the same guy for about 5 years. Currently, my parents, sister, and I live in Stafford, which is about 45 minutes from Washington, D.C. I work full time at a hotel in Manassas, VA and that keeps me pretty busy. This summer, I'm taking this class, and two at Northern Virginia Community College. After graduation in December, I am probably going to take a semester off to make some money to pay off all my credit cards and student loans. Then, hopefully, I will attend George Mason University to get my masters degree in Educational Psychology.

I was born in Arlington, VA and grew up in and around the Washington D.C. metro area. I started college as an accounting major at George Mason University in 1988, after 3 semesters I enlisted in the Navy, which brought me to Norfolk in the spring of 1992. I began attending classes at ODU part time in 1995. I moved back to the metro area in the summer of 1998 when my father was diagnosed with cancer. I spent that summer with my father and began working with my current firm in the fall of 1998 after my dads' cancer was in remission.
I am pursuing a degree in accounting and hope to finish next semester. I currently reside in Northern Virginia and work in Georgetown as the financial analyst for a strategic communications firm (GMMB). GMMB handles a variety of political and public education campaigns that (fortunately for me), I stand behind.
I love to travel; each year I go on a "girls only" vacation with three close friends, we typically pick an island. In October we went to Aruba and we all agree that it is worth a second visit. I love my vacation with the girls it is very relaxing, two of my girlfriends are married and have children; our vacation is a chance to reconnect. I am an avid biker and runner, I will be in back in Norfolk in June for the D.C. Aids ride (#7), which will be my third ride. The ride will start in Norfolk and end in D.C. 4 days later.

Starting over again is always a challenge. Starting over again on line and tackling school is really a challenge. I took a computer class last semester and got an A but I still feel lost in the fog. However, I am sure this on line class will be just what I need to get speffy at this skill. It could be no worse than a 4th marriage, which I promised I would never do.
Actually, my life has been pretty darn great. I have 5 wonderful healthy kids,2 wonderful stepkids and great friends. I have had lots of careers- golfer, horsetrainer, WW11 airplane dealer,pilot, mommy and wife.
My high school was spent here in Galax and later I attended Radford and ETSU. At the time I was more interested in guys and partying than an education.That produced a first marriage and set of twin girls right off the bat. I learned a lot about raising babies and golf. Did'nt work out, so I kept the babies and got rid of the golfer. The babies are 28 and gorgeous.
I had a kind but not too perceptive 2nd hubby. I became a trainer for East Tenn. Walking Horses and loved every minute. We raised tobacco and hay, planted a garden and raised 2 more little girls. Unfortunately, boredom became a factor in my relationship and I suspect a bit of somewhere over the rainbow on my part also. I went looking for a divorce again and wrecked a lot of lives. I had to eat a lot of crow over that later on . Worse yet, I was still raising 4 babies and had no education to fall back on. I was really cute, though.
Actually, I still am. Passion entered my life with another man. Call me lucky, I often do, my new hubby was just starting a practice and teaching career at ETSU for the new med. School. He convinced me I need to get some real book learnin. So…I went back to school, for 2 semesters. Funny thing about that, 4 children and being a Doc's wife interfered with my plan .
Eleven years, 5 miscarriages, 1 more wonderful baby (this time a boy) later,the passion that ruled my marriage was on the point of killing me or him or both. So with great regret we called it quits. Lots of good life lessons occurred during this time. I went to lots of psychologists and learned how to run a plane business and manage a Doctor's office. I collected lots of money and was very good at management. It was a gin office and I learned an amazing amount about women. Still have not placed men yet, but I'm only 49.
So 2002 rolls in and I am back in Galax. I am still raising baby 4, she is 16 and very independent and strong-willed. Babies 1, 2, and 3 are all grown but we talk all the time. Baby 5 is 12 and lives with Dad. He needs a male influence big time and I miss him terribly. So I see him every month and he will be here for 5 weeks very soon. I struggling to master computer skills and the rest of my book learnin, am very committed to finishing my college and making sure I am good at it. I enjoyed your web page, it revealed a warm and friendly kind of guy. And a challenge is the best thing to keep you growing on with life . So… I will not let this computer get the best of me!

I will be graduating from ODU this December with a degree in Criminal Justice. I will most likely go on to get a master's degree, but in what field I have yet to figure out. I also have no idea what the future may hold for me in the way of a career. When people ask me what I'm going to do with my degree, I tell them I'm not going to slam the doors of opportunity on my own feet by narrowing my choices this early in the game.
I can tell you that I'm fascinated with the subject of jury analysis, which is one of the reasons why I chose a psychology minor. I'm also interested in educational and psychological testing and the study of animal behavior-or should I say the study of the human interpretation of animal behavior.
In addition to taking social psychology this summer, I'm enrolled in a deviant behavior class at ODU, and an abnormal psychology course through the University of Nevada at Reno's distance learning program ( www.dce.unr.edu/istudy ).
Life Outside of School:
I'm a native of Buffalo, New York, but I've been calling Virginia my home for about six years now. However, I haven't taken the opportunity to venture beyond the area referred to as Northern Virginia. My husband and I hope to take a trip down to the Norfolk region later this year, at which time I plan on seeing the main campus firsthand.
We, meaning Chris and I, have been married for eight years, and have had three cats-Gabriel, Skeeter, and Randall-whom we've often referred to as our kids. We've also had two white rats named Ally and Toby, a fawn-colored rat named Butterscotch, a three-legged lizard named Pirate, and a hamster we affectionately referred to as Tadpole. We don't have any children without fangs, claws, or fur at this point in our lives.
I spent four years working at Northern Virginia Community College before the budget cuts got to me. I currently hold a job as an operator at a flowers-by-phone call center. I'll worry about finding a job within the realm of criminal justice after I graduate. In the meantime, I stay satisfied with checking out potential credit card fraud through my current job. (I, for one, was surprised to learn that a significant number of people try to buy flowers with illegally obtained credit card numbers.)

My name is Amanda Reese; I go by Mandi as well. I am a single twenty-something, originally from Richmond, Virginia. I am very close with my family, especially my mom, whom I work with at Capital One. Anna, my older sister will be making me an Aunt for the first time this November. I also have a younger brother Ty, who has recently turned 16 and has coincidentally been given a drivers license.
Growing up as a Navy brat, I was given the opportunity to travel frequently. This allowed me to experience many different cultures and environments. I've been lucky enough to be able to call places like Virginia, Pennsylvania, Florida, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, Wyoming, Texas, and Hawaii my home. Hawaii was by far my favorite place to live of all time. I would move back there in a minute. I'm definitely a warm weather kind of girl, which explains my love for the beach and outdoor activities.
I graduated from College of the Albemarle in Elizabeth City, North Carolina in 1997 where I received an AAS degree in Business Administration. Upon graduation, I took some time off from school and did a bit of traveling. I was drawn back to Virginia in 1999 to be closer to my family. I signed up for classes this past January, making school a priority again. I am now pursuing a BS in Human Resource Management through Virginia Commonwealth University and Old Dominion University at John Tyler Community College. I've always known I would have an extended education and am thankful to have the luxury of the internet and online classes to help me along the way.
In recent months, I've been spending my spare time looking at houses. I currently live with my sister and brother-in-law and hope to purchase a home in the next few months.

I was born the third daughter of two very young parents in 1960. They were "on the run", so I was born in Los Angeles, CA, where I lived for two weeks. I grew up in Illinois, moving between Joliet (yes, where the prison is) and a little town called Elkville. I was the first in my family ever to graduate from high school. I'm 41 and still working on graduating from college.
I enlisted in the Air Force right out of high school. I had the opportunity of traveling both in and out of the country. My son, who is now 19 years old, was born in Torrejon, Spain. I also lived in Florida, New Mexico and Virginia. I have lived in Washington State for 7 years, and finally feel like I've found "home". No, the rain doesn't bother me. It's beautiful here! Especially the summers!
I have attended college off and on over the last twenty years. Every time I would start going, a "life-changing" experience would cause me to stop, and I always seemed to take five-year breaks. I have been attending ODU on a part time basis, consistently since the summer of 1999 and I do plan to graduate in December! I am planning to apply to the University of Washington Law School for the fall of 2003. I have worked since I was 15, but plan to go to school full time and not work if I actually get in! I'm not really sure I can do that since I'm a borderline workaholic.
I have a wonderful husband whom I enjoy spending time with. We enjoy downhill skiing, biking, hiking, in-line skating and windsurfing. We even tried snowboarding in Canada last year! Wow! I was in pain for two weeks! We take turns giving our German shepherd exercise. He takes her for runs and I take her for walks.
Currently, I am a Business Office Manager for two clinics in a large HMO. I have 45 staff and, at times, the job is extremely stressful. Although I do enjoy my work, I am looking forward to the next chapter in my life.

Hello to all. My name is Heather Scott. I am 29 years old. I am married to a wonderful man by the name of Joseph Kyle and I have three Himalayan cats. Their names are Brooke, Cotton and Joy. I have just recently graduated with an associate's degree in Science. I am pursuing a bachelor's degree with a major in Human service counseling and a minor in Psychology at Old Dominion University. I plan to change my curriculum this fall when I transfer to Radford University where I plan to obtain a bachelor's in Counseling Psychology. After this adventure I plan to pursue my masters. I am currently duel enrolled and I'm taking a light load this semester after carry 21 credits this past spring semester. I am active in my community; I volunteer my time between the American Red Cross and the Hostel of the Good Shepherd Homeless Shelter for the past 9 years. During the summers I work at Carroll County Veterinarian Clinic. I love animals. I find animals to be great stress relievers. I like gardening, camping and horseback riding. I value my education and strive to be the best person I can be. My mother is disabled and my father past away when I was nine years old. I have two older brothers: William and David. William has worked as a manger for Boddie Noel Enterprises for twenty years. David has been in the army for 18 years and is stationed in Florida. My husband works at an Internet Service Provider "Virginia Link" along with three friends, they have made their dreams of creating a business a success. I have taken various online courses and with my husband being computer literate I have found yet another hobby. One last note, I'm going to be a grandma this summer when my "Joy Joy "has her kittens. I look forward to taking this class and I wish everyone the best of luck.

During my sophomore year at Queensborough Community College I got married and I have been married now for seventeen years. We have five children four girls and a boy, ages ranging from sixteen to three years. After marriage I decided to be a stay at home Mom and raise my children. I have since resided in South Carolina and California. Washington has been my residence for the past seven years and I'm still not accustomed to the weather here in the Pacific Northwest.

In September 2000 I returned to college. Wow!! I didn't feel out of place as expected, for when I started attending classes many students my age were there furthering their education too. Satisfaction was rewarded when I earned an Associate Degree. I'm now taking classes from ODU at the Olympic College site. This is my first web class and also my first class at Old Dominion. My major is Human Services Counseling with a minor in Psychology. Good luck to everyone.

My name is Natasha Stovall and I'm 20 year old senior here with a major in Psychology and a minor in Criminal Justice. I'm originally from South Boston, Virginia and I now reside in the lovely city of Norfolk. I am an only child, that is well adjusted. I graduated from Halifax County High School in June of 1999. Where I was very active in organizations and also, played softball, basketball, and ran track. I started my College career here at ODU in August of 1999. I started at ODU with a double major in Criminal Justice and Psychology, then I learned that the CRIMINAL JUSTICE degree would not make a big difference in what I wanted to do. I am graduating from Old Dominion University in August 2002, a year early. Being the first on my father's side of the family to graduate from college, so everybody is looking to me to be the big shot in the family. This is the last class that I have to take to fulfill all of my requirements. I have secured a job at the Pines Residential Treatment Center in Portsmouth as a counselor. I plan to attend graduate school in May of next year. In the meantime I plan to work so that I can pay for grad school. I plan to pursue a Master's in Forensic Psychology and then get my Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology. My goal is to become a criminal profiler, maybe for the FBI.

Nietzsche once said (something to this effect), "One must have chaos within to give birth to a shining star." He likely said it more than once, I bet. Regardless, that has become my struggle - to take the chaos from within (what Nietzsche called the Dionysian) and create order - something of meaning and purpose with the remainder of my life (the act of creating form and a type of order, he called the Appolonian.) Personally, I call the state of chaos within ADD. And the act of creating order, a pill called Ritalin.
Regardless, I didn't truly begin the overt act of creating meaning and purpose in my life until my mid-thirties, when I returned to ODU and subsequently earned dual degrees in philosophy and English, with a professional writing emphasis, in 1997. I graduated summa cum laude. Other points of great pride for me included winning the first Annual Undergraduate Essay Contest, sponsored by the English faculty, in 1996 for my 14-page paper, "Death and the Artist: A Nietzschean Interpretation of Thomas Mann's Death in Venice." (Got my picture on the front page of the Mace and Crown, too….Who woulda thunk it!) For another paper, titled "An Explication of Plato's Laches," I took huge satisfaction in earning a "100," along with the professor's comments indicating he had learned a lot. Amazing. I had believed, upon entering ODU, that I would dislike philosophy, and certainly Plato. But came to discover that the subject unlocked some of my identity, especially works of Plato and Nietzsche.
Please don't think I sit around reading philosophy, though. I don't. What I do enjoy reading is psychology stuff, and biographies, and really juicy murder and mayhem stories - mostly the true life, nonfiction stuff. Which brings me to my love of psychology.
It was beginning in eighth grade that I wanted to become a psychologist. Eighth grade for me took place in a small town in the northwest corner of Ohio, where I grew up with four younger siblings, three sisters and a brother. At twenty-three I immigrated to the colonial state of Virginia, settling here in the Tidewater area, where I met my husband. We have succeeded in marriage for 21 years. Amazing. I attribute much of that success to him. He is a devoted and hugely supportive friend and husband, an ISTJ, for those familiar with Meyers Briggs. I, on the other hand, am an ENFP - heavy on the "P"…. though perhaps the ADD compounds it - or maybe that's vice versa. (This might make for a good research study in psychology.) Regardless. As polar opposites on the Meyers Briggs personality scale, my husband and I conquer more in our relationship than mere Venus and Mars issues. (Concerning Meyers Briggs, I have observed that the world loves Js, especially SJs….though I can't help wondering that my NP-ness would fit right in if I lived in the Eastern part of the world, rather than here in the West.)
What I most enjoy in my life are movies, book stores and specialty coffee, remaining close with my family, and my cats…two Applehead Siamese, brother and sister Loki and Freya (named for Nordic mythology figures) and a foundling named Gus, a stunning mix of Siamese and orange tabby. Applehead Siamese are the original Siamese breed from Thailand - not the genetic hybrid bred for anexoric looks that most people recognize today as Siamese. You can see the Applehead featured in a number of movies. Bell, Book, and Candle with Kim Novak and Jimmy Stewart is one. Loki, Freya,
and Gus are an integral part of our lives for my husband and me. Singularly obedient for cats, they come to us when called (to either, "Fish Toy!" "Treat!" or "Salmon Fresh off the Grille!" It works for us.
Oh. Another huge pleasure for me are certain TV shows, in this order: Six Feet Under, the Sopranos, and Survivor. Oh, and occasionally Sex and the City, too. (There's a pun in that. Can you recognize it??!!)
One other thing I am proud of accomplishing is having worked for nearly two years for NASA's Microgravity Research Division - my first job after graduating from ODU. A rather big coup d'etat that was for me. My work involved science writing for various NASA publications, including a site on the Internet. During that period I met astronauts (including Shannon Lucid), Dr. Ruth (Yes, true! At a huge conference NASA participated in), and interviewed a Nobel Prize winner in physics and top agency officials at the Canadian Space Agency. (Many years ago I met and shook hands with Al Gore, too, when he was running against Clinton the first time for the Presidency, and got interviewed by the San Francisco Chronicle about it! Heady stuff for a small town Midwestern transplant!)
My recent job has been as a proposal writer for three years, for a behavioral healthcare company. But on Monday, May 20, I make a huge life shift by beginning training for a counseling position at one of my company's treatment centers for aggressive, behaviorally and emotionally disturbed adolescents. This promises to be huge stuff.
Oh. And before I cut this short, I am a risk taker of sorts. I've worked at conquering my fear of horses by taking lessons a few years ago. The lessons concluded after a year, when the supposedly gentle and sufficiently old mare I'd trained on got spooked and reared one evening with me on her back. I figured I'd proven enough by that point - not the least of which was that I'd remained on her back without crashing to the ground. (Hey, this horse weighed a good 1200 pounds. Not tiny by any means.)
As for conquering my fear of great, steep heights, I've developed a love of downhill skiing. Snowshoe is a favorite place, though my husband and I have yet to ski out West. I can ski single black diamonds now - though admittedly not always heroically.
Earlier this year, my husband and I did some pretty big risktaking together when we purchased a car off ebay…..What thankfully has turned out to be a magnificent Mitsubishi Eclipse…..Had to fly to Houston to pick it up, then drove home via New Orleans and toured the French Quarter. A huge experience that was.
In wrapping this up, in one way or another I am finally addressing my early dream of becoming a psychologist, with plans either to earn a Master's in Counseling, followed by certification as a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), or perhaps, the goal of all goals - try for acceptance into the Clinical Psychology Program at the Virginia Consortium. My determination for the latter choice will depend partly on how much I want to test my marriage - and finances - more so than usual, anyway.
Oh. And I live in the Churchland section of Portsmouth. And my husband and I have been involved for many years in working with the youth of our church. And two books that are especially memorable for me are Angela's Ashes and Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. (Sorry so lengthy…but I had fun!)