me, me & i think there's something here about me this year's birthday photo (click for more) I'm 28, proudly female, pretty feminist and/or a pretty feminist. I'm a Canadian. I likes it here. I vote, I complain, I enjoy paying taxes, I abhor guns, I'm comfortable swearing allegiance to the Queen & I eat maple syrup & bacon (sometimes together!). I live in my parents' basement (a.k.a. the Cave). (Yep, all those rumours you heard about the Internet are true!) Before this I've lived in a university, above a night club, at the sufferance of a madwoman, and - arguably the oddest place - in a university town in Nova Scotia. I live with my husband (codenamed: the Boy), our baby (codenamed: the Sprout), my parents & my brother Nic. Tiny Boy & the Big Toast In truth, I love the Boy like crazy. He's one of the funniest people I've ever met, as well as the kindest. Sleep deprivation is making our relationship a little strained these days, but I'm confident that we'll eventually be able to spend a full 24 hours without snapping at each other. Of course, the Sprout will be in university and I'll be deaf. But it'll happen. If you're wondering what he does, he studies. A lot. At the end of the year, the august U of T will award him a triple-minor degree in English, Philosophy & Botany. Then he can rest... Almost sitting pretty at 6 mo. Our baby Blake is the light of my life. I have a temper. I am high strung. I shoot my mouth off & make people mad. I hold some grudges and forgive others everything. It's pretty difficult to predict which way I'll swing. We spent two years in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. When we moved there from Toronto, I thought it was the middle of nowhere. After driving around other parts of the Maritimes, I have come to the conclusion that it isn't. Next stop: Winnipeg! I am a practising Christian (United Church of Canada brand, at that). While living in Nova Gothic, I sang in the choir & the Boy taught Sunday School. Church has been a very important part of our lives in the past, and we hope we can find a groovy congregation in the future. I am a high school English teacher on maternity leave. That means that I don't "work," but somehow or other the baby keeps me occupied from sunrise to sunset (and vice versa). When I was teaching, I awarded myself the title of "World's Worst Teacher." It was a joke until Dirk put it on a t-shirt for me. When school's on I teach my brains out during the day and in the evenings I catch up on lesson planning, housework, writing, my marriage, the web & the world. My email return rate is atrocious - it's really not your fault. My weekends used to be much more interesting. I'm always listening to music. I'm not a 24-hour goth, but I play one on film. Maybe I will again someday. I do have a section of my closet devoted to black velvet, black PVC, black lace, black fun fur, black accessories, black makeup, a black corset & several pairs of black fishnets, but I'm a suburban mom - there's very little call for it on a day-to-day basis. I adore my friends. They include a priest, a dilettante, a film maker & several students. They're mostly boys. I am sadly resigned to having a few enemies (see above, re: temper). They're mostly girls. Exception: now that I'm a mom, I spend a fair amount of time networking with other local moms. They're pretty nice, pretty smart & pretty loving. I've been careful not to show them my dark side. My family is a pretty good time, too. Dad's a businessman, Mom's a nurse & Nic's a social worker, punk drummer/promoter & grappling champion. The Boy's sisters are simply awesome. I only dated one boy before meeting my husband. You'd suppose that I'm modest & demure. You'd suppose wrong. Maintaining exercise & regular activity are battles for me. I used to do yoga. I'm trying to be more rigorous about working out, but it's an uphill battle from the couch. I have no natural grace and very little flexibility, but these things are more fun than stepping up & down off a platform. My body has been in flux since the moment I got pregnant. Or, if you prefer, from several months before that, when I was prescribed anti-depressants and watched my weight balloon. I don't know what I'm supposed to look like anymore - but was I really supposed to look this much like my mother?? I am (was) an English major, but I have no grasp of basic grammar and I like using inscrutable slang. Also, I over-use the word 'ass.' This hardly ever gets me in trouble when I teach. I love teaching. In my last full year I taught 153 kids in grades 10-12 (plus 4 kids twice!). Teenagers sometimes scare me, but they're also much fun. I hate teaching. Having my own classroom for the first time was so stressful that I started taking sedatives to control panic attacks and anti-depressants to control nightmares and insomnia. Then the administration actively tried to get me out of the profession. Then I got pregnant & was unable to change schools. Then I got a large proportion of the tough classes in my last year. Blech. "Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes." - Walt Whitman I read. A lot. I retain a lot of what I read, and I make some pretty funky connections between the two. I used to drive my Shakespeare professor crazy until I learned to shut up once in awhile. My favourite media are comics & novels. Sometimes I feel like I'm doing missionary work on behalf of Neil Gaiman. I enjoy being a girl. I also enjoy being a dame, a chick, a broad, a womyn, a lady, and of course, a tramp. originally written on october 4, 2001. updated on friday, august 13, 2004.