...a great felicity with words...

Here are some great lines from films. If you can identify them, I'm yours:

• "Everything is a-okay."
• "When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with someone, you want the rest of your life to begin as soon as possible."
• "Life finds a way..."
• "...country don't mean dumb!"
• "Cameron is so uptight that if you put a lump of coal up his ass, you'd get a diamond."
• "You want to live forever??!"
• "Who's the best pilot you ever saw?"
• "What you call discovery, I call the rape of the natural world."
• "What are you prepared to do?!"
• "Come with me if you want to live."
• "Princeton could use a guy like Joel..."
• "They cut the power? How could they cut the power, they're animals..."
• "Carpe diem, sieze the day. Make your lives extraordinary."
• "You must chill! You must chill!"
• "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father, prepare to die."
• "People will come, Ray..."
• "Wolverines!!!"
• "Mediocrities, I absolve you..."
• "Demented and sad, but social."
• "Here endeth the lesson..."

piu forte

As a child I listened to a lot of classical music due to my ballet training. I heard a lot of Tchaikovsky ballets, but came to love almost everyhing from Bach to John Williams. My favorite classical piece is Mozart's "Eine Klein Nachtmusic." I didn't listen to pop music until I was in high school, and in 1982 I found U2, Big Country, the next year all of what we called in the 80s "modern rock," and in college Peter Gabriel, Sting and Mellencamp. I followed U2 around during the second leg of the Joshua Tree Tour, was somewhere in two videos from Rattle and Hum and even did some limited groupie-ing during the Zoo TV Tour. I've met (and kissed) Bono and all of U2, Big Country, Sting, Billy Idol and James Brown, and I had a tour bus v. car chase with Peter Gabriel (security was NOT happy). Today I have little time to listen to music and get to hear a lot of DisneyMania II (the boys favorite), but I have found occasional gems like better than ezra, kd lang, Mary Chapin Carpenter and three doors down. I'm finally ignoring the fear of being labeled a religious nut and enjoing some christian rock, which is both uplifting and slammin. Always classics: The Who, the Stones, the Doors, Jimi, the Police, Patsy Cline, Cole Porter, Aretha Franklin, the Clash, Billy Joel, Clannad, Van Halen (and Van Hagar), Ray Charles, Bruce Springsteen and Elvis.

stranger in a strange land

I have had scattered travels for both business and pleasure, including a month in France with my French class in high school, cruises to Mexico and Alaska, summer trips to Canada, Mexico and Hawaii, military training and exercises in Texas, Wisconsin, Colorado, etc. and Job's Daughters visits and camps throughout California. My lifetime goal is to visit all 50 states (I have 18 so far...) and trips I am dying to take are an RV to Roswell, New Mexico, a houseboat on Lake Powell, Arizona, a train to Salt Lake City, Utah and a convertible up the Avenue of the Giant Redwoods. I take lots of commuter flights to LA and I prefer to fly Jet Blue, where I can watch TV and forget about the deplorable records of commercial aircraft maintenance. If I can emotionally handle the extended flights, things I hope to see are Sydney Australia, a New Years sunrise on Kiribati, the Giza Plateau, the Tower of London, Lourdes, poet's corner at Westminster Abbey, Florence Italy, Red Square and St Joan of Arc. I have seen the tomb of Napoleon and the Mona Lisa--the Winged Victory is better.

sex, religion and politics

I've had my share of good times, especially in college and the Air Force. I think everyone should be expressive about their own sexuality and comfortable enough with someone and themselves to explore those things which really excite them. Life is short and should be full of extraordinary moments. Sex, love and rock and roll dictate that reason should never win out over passion. I was forced to take after-school Roman Catholic catechism classes until eighth grade, when we had our evening Confirmation after the catholic school kids had their big, elaborate Confirmation mass. My relationship with the Roman Catholic church pretty much went downhill from there. I don't have to TELL my sins to God (or anyone) any more than I can hide my sins from God. I am completely respectful of and fascinated by all religious beliefs, but I do not tolerate people who feel hell-bent to convert you or "save your soul." Only you know what you need to do to save your soul--only you can save it. I never fear God leaving my side, because my God is within me. God is in the balance that causes every infinitessimally tiny particle to vibrate it's specific way, that they construct the awesome universe we experience, and those yet to be discovered. All matter in the universe is one. I think of myself as what they used to call a Cold War Democrat--someone big on social services, separation of church and state, gay, womens' and abortion rights and environmental protection, but someone who supports military spending (then to maintain a deterrent threat and hold the Soviet Union at bay). Today my beliefs are more conservative on fiscal policy and regulatory practices, and I continue to believe in supporting a strong full-time and citizen soldier military force to defend our country, it's people and the principles on which it was founded, from any enemy to liberty. I can recite the Declaration of Independence from memory and I have been studying the founding fathers off and on for about 10 years. My heroes are; John Adams, for his unyielding committment to the resolution and his dogged efforts to best reason, Thomas Jefferson, for his creation of documents of unprescedented socio-political significance, documents which sounded like the music from his violin, and Benjamin Franklin, for being only slightly arrogant about the wisdom and wit which made him the sage of the 2nd Continental Congress, and for setting the best example of how a mind overflowing with creative genius need not preclude a raucus sense of humor and an insatiable lust for life. On November 2nd, I'll be writing in Colin Powell. (Oh, by the way, have I mentioned that I think the current Republican administration poses a threat to our civil rights as we know them? I think the current Republican administration poses a threat to our civil rights as we know them.) This is the bottom line: I am a registered Republican.

the unexamined life is not worth living

My education...my high school experience was a greater challenge than I ever faced at a state university. Lick-Wilmerding was a competitive college prep school where we read the Iliad in poetry form as Freshman and fulfilled a grant requirement by cleaning the school ourselves on "work crew." We were also required to take shop courses. I studied wood shop, machine shop, metal shop, welding, electric shop, stained glass and glass fusing and drafting in addition to British Literature, computer programming (in 1983) and judicial history. I scraped my way out of "Lick" with less than a 3.0 and too lazy to take the ACTs, so I went to CSULB, a public commuter college best noted in my field for being the school that Steven Spielberg first attended before defecting to UCLA. In college I thrived, being invited into the Freshman Honor Society, singing with the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra Choir and spending four semesters on the Dean's Honor List and two on the President's Honor List. I dabbled in everything from microbiology to asrophysics to weight-lifting, but never settled on a minor or second major. One of my greatest regrets in life is in not following through on my interest to join Air Force ROTC with my major at my school. I graduated in May, 1990, having no idea what to do with my life and knowing that the longer I waited to go back to school for an M.A., the harder it would be to go back. My education was unexpectedly continued when I joined the Air Force in 1993. My AFSC was in Combat Camera and I attended the Defense Visual Information School at closing Lowry Air Force Base in Denver, Colorado. I had the time of my life...of my life. I learned more about videography and camera operation in four months than I had in four years in college. I excelled there, becoming a Red Rope (senior student leader) in my squadron, being selected as the director for the class production and finishing with a 99% as Honor Graduate...and being asked four times to be married... Since 1990 I have searched for a focus in continuing my education. After considering marriage/family/child counseling, television production and parapsychology, I am 200% certain that my calling is the Law. I anxiously await my opportunity to begin a law school program. I am not certain that I actually want to practice law, which makes law school a poor investment, but when asking around, "What do you do with a J.D. if you don't want to practice law?", the best answer I received was "Politics." You never know...

but what i really want to do is direct...

Actually, that's just the old Hollywood in-joke. I am very happy mothering, writing and consulting. I am an addict for entertainment media--film and television. I accidentally chose Radio/TV/Film as my major in college (what I wanted to be at the time was a media journalist--duh), and wound up with a B.A. in Film. When I was at California State University at Long Beach, I gravitated to scriptwriting, not by choice but as a result of ability. One professor (affectionatly known of as "the Adonis") was impressed by my ability to create half-hour and hour-long television scripts and stories, and he took me with him to pitch scripts in town. At that time in my life, I didn't have a thick enough skin to survive the seering and cruel rejections. I wound up returning to my summer field of tourism (having been a tour hostess at Disneyland, the Queen Mary and Alcatraz Island). I was asked to be the manager of the San Francisco Bay Cruise after college. Feeling like there was no future in that position, I decided to get a "real" job, and wound up as a workers' compensation claims adjuster (one of the few things that could be considered less dignified than a Hollywood doormat). I relatively salvaged any remaining vestige of self-respect by joining the Air Force to serve as a Combat Camerman, creating video productions for a search and rescue unit. More akin to ENG (videojournalism) than film, it placed me behind the camera and expanded my view of the writer's charge. Plus, it was a blast. In January of 1997 I became pregnant with my first child. By the fifth month of my pregnancy I was bordering on every possible dangerous complication. My caseload was being increased rather than decreased and the stress was eating me up. I quit working, thinking I would go back after having the baby. That was almost eight years ago. One year, one month and ten days after Brandon was born, Truman came along. Brandon is now seven and a classic little boy who loves dinosaurs, Playstation 2 and bionicles. Truman is less traditional, into musical theater and art, but still loves dinosaurs and blatant cartoon violence. And I am Mommy. Today, in addition to the blessing of my amazing little boys, I am blessed with a great friend who owns a Hollywood production company. For him I have assisted with sript editing and writing, project creation, story production, casting and research. My greatest current challenge with regard to the industry is completing a feature-length script for hire. I will do it, and they will NOT cut my speech short with that damned orchestra music!

the truth is out there

As an avid X-Files fan, I have been encouraged to pursue life-long interests in the "paranormal." I read the story of the Borley Rectory at age seven and have been fascinated by "ghosts" and "hauntings" ever since. As a child I took (what was in the 1970s called) a "UFO class" at the local Academy of Sciences, and after being introduced to J. Allen Hynek I have been fascinated by the potential of extraterrestrial life and contact. I have been honored to take some Academy classes with Seth Shostak of the SETI Institute. From Bigfoot to La Chubacabra, from wormholes to time travel, cryptozoology, Stephen Hawking and Ron Mallett all fascinate me. From Erik VonDaniken I became interested in Ancient Astronaut theory, which led me into investigating ancient civilizations, mostly Egyptian and Mayan. I could never list all of my pursuits: the Nazca Lines, the Oak Island treasure, John Titor, the UPUAUT project, Area 51, the Philadelphia Experiment...the truth is out there.

Jemima, Kezia and Kerenhappuch

In 1981 I joined the International Order of Job's Daughters. As a confirmed goody-two-shoes, it was a place where I was rewarded, not ostracized, for being "good." It became a central focus in my life, teaching me the virtues of patience and faith, and giving me a chance to be creative, successful and social. I held several offices and the lead position of Honored Queen in Spring 1986, after which I left my Bethel for college. In 1989 I turned 20, the age of "Majority," at which time I ceased to be a member, but began my career as an adult leader. On two different Bethel Guardian Councils I have served as Promoter of Youth Activities, Director of Music, Director of Epochs, Secretary and Bethel Guardian. I was Bethel Guardian for just under two years when I was forced to resign due to complications of my first son's birth. After two years of sabatical, I returned to Bethel No. 107 where I have remained, despite moving farther and farther away from the city almost every year. From 1990-1993 I was a Leadership Camp Counselor where I created and taught the modules for "Communications" and "Problem Solving." I served on the Grand Guardian's Membership Committee and coached participants in the Miss California pageant. I am currently the 2nd Vice President of my regional Council Association.