“8 Random Facts About Me” Meme

Michele Martin of The Bamboo Project has tagged me to join in the 8 Random Facts About Me meme. At first I was worried about coming up with 8 things to say, but it looks like I didn’t have any trouble at all! *grin*

First, the Rules:

1) Post these rules before you give your facts

2) List 8 random facts about yourself

3) At the end of your post, choose (tag) 8 people and list their names, linking to them

4) Leave a comment on their blog, letting them know they’ve been tagged

Now, the facts:

1. My partner and I live in the Bay Area with our fabulous daughter who is almost three, and our two kittens. We are hoping to have a second child and this time we are trying for me to carry the baby! (My partner carried the first.) So right now I’m trying to stop drinking caffeine, which is not easy.
2. Photography is my passion. I love traditional black-n-white film photography, but since having a kid, color digital is the way to go for me. The ease of discovery with a digital camera has brought me to focus on new subject matter which I’m very excited about. Check out some of my work here.
3. I graduated from the University of California Santa Cruz with a degree in Art, emphasis in photography. Somehow that has led me to a job training on financial policy. Hmm.
4. After college I set out across the country in my pick-up with a very small grant, a laptop, a tape recorder, and my (film) camera. For a year I traveled from state to state searching for women who had put creativity at the center of their lives. I was looking for women who felt they were living with authenticity and realizing their true selves. I focused on women who identified as lesbian. I interviewed and photographed them in order to share their stories with others. I wanted to increase lesbian visibility and hoped to inspire others to follow in their own passions and dreams. On of my dreams has always been to publish a book of these stories and photos. I would include my personal journal which describes my own journey throughout the project. A few sample stories can be found here.
5. Ten years ago I presented to over 600 people at the National Women’s Studies Association Conference in Missouri on women’s creativity. It was one of the most exciting experiences I have ever had. (My old name was Angela Dawn.)
6. I have attempted many of my own home repair or improvement projects. I’m not saying all are complete or perfect, but I have at least attempted to learn and try. I have rewired part of the kitchen, tiled the counters, replaced the toilet parts, painted, built shelves, and installed a garbage disposal (by far the hardest one).
7. I was a major tomboy as a kid. As the other girls were going to the pool to “lay out” (whatever that means) I was in the creek, in the mud, catching crawdads and frogs. My mom and dad let me keep “Angela’s Zoo” in my garage. I had snakes, lizards, turtles, frogs, mice, guinea pigs, hamsters, rabbits, fish, and bugs. I even had a Ranger Rick magazine library where the neighborhood kids could check them out. And I charged $.05 per hold or pet of any of the animals.
8. A characteristic that I’m known for is being excited about life. (Big shocker for anyone who reads my blog.) I get what I call a “ball of joy” in my chest over interactions with people I admire, learning new things, seeing a new point of view about something, taking pictures, hearing an inspiring story, and playing with my child. Feeling so much joy can also mean BIG disappointment for me. So, I cry a lot. I cry when I’m sad and I cry when I’m happy. Or when I’m just laughing too hard.

Thanks for reading if you made it this far! Here are the 8 people I’m tagging:

Tracy Hamilton of Discovery through elearning

Tony Karrer of eLearning Technology

Wendy Wickham of In the Middle of the Curve

Janet of A Home in Mound

Isobel White of Isobelog

Whitney of Rookie Moms

Jim Bumgardner of KrazyDad

Henry Jenkins of Confessions of an Aca/Fan