This is me hoping that you will be patient enough to give me at least five more sentences to figure out how to start this silly thing. As you can see, I am a realist suffering from writer's block. Despite a slight aptitude for essays and such as a child, I am a musician and that is how I prefer to express myself. I am a self-employed full-time piano teacher who also plays flute in a Celtic trio and arranges all of the music for that group. You know, that is probably the first thing you should know about me: I spend a lot, I mean A LOT of time with my piano. And lots of time rehearsing. And lots of time performing. And I LOVE every second of it. But your job is not who you are so here is the Cliff's Notes version of my user's manual:

I am the first person who will be at your side in a time of crisis and the last person you want to fix your car. I take in all of the strays that come my way, whether they be a critter, a plant, or a person. Nothing impresses me like the ability to make a good omelet (because it means I didn't have to cook). I love people but value my privacy. Laughter is supposed to prolong life so I try to keep my friends in stitches as much as possible thus keeping them around for a good long while. I collect strange, oddball, and sometimes useless hobbies like calligraphy, origami, hoop dancing, Latin, the list goes on and keeps growing at an alarming rate. This summer I am going to learn how to use a pottery wheel and find someone to teach me push hands and sticking hands martial arts techniques. When I say that I will be ready in ten minutes I will be ready in nine. Sometimes my feelings are chocolate flavored. If my the cats don't like you, give up now because they were here first and the couch belongs to them.

I get hypnotized by the stars, will travel across the country at the mere mention of a hat about to be affected by gravity, can't resist used book stores, and look forward to seeing the moon. Sometimes when I talk in my sleep, it is in a foreign language. I can fix my own computer and get along just fine with everyone in my family. Rollercoasters rock my world. I have never been cool, popular, rich, or one of the beautiful people; but I only answer to myself so I am not bothered by arbitrary classifications created by magzines. My clothes come from the Goodwill (because then I have more money for books and music). It makes me sad that I can't practice my piano at 2a.m. in my new home. If I need to get somewhere, I prefer to walk. If I don't know how to do something, I can learn. I no longer alphabetize...anything. Some strange part of me thinks it is fun to learn about physics. The world will always look better on the other side of a cup of cocoa. Over the last year, I have become addicted to being happy.

Most of all though, the sum of me is not going to fit in this box and that thought comforts me.

Definitely not what everyone expected me to do. That was the first sign I had embarked on the right track. With intense effort I have crawled out from under my six-figure education at prestigious schools and now spend my daylight hours teaching children (of all ages) to play the piano. I have never been happier. I also maintain an active performance and recording schedule, and am back at the composing.

Music - Good thing since it is my livelyhood.
Creating greeting messages for voicemail and answering machines.
Reading people - Don't get me wrong, I love to read books, but those don't change. People on the other hand, change by the second.
Working with animals - I like the fur people and they like me.
Calligraphy - I have insanely neat handwriting.
Listening - Sometimes called the Wailing Wall by my buddies. But I care about them, so I listen.
Cooking - But just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.

Well, I have conducted a brief survey and here are the results:

1. My hair
2. My eyes
3. That whatever I am doing or discussing, I am doing so with "great intensity"
4. Then they notice my eyes again because apparently they change color depending on whatever I may be feeling at the moment.

There is no such thing as a typical Friday night in my world. A sampling of some of my favorite evenings:
*Playing frisbee across the Washington/Oregon state border
*Dancing until they throw us out of the bar
*Making unusual sushi with two of my best girlfriends
*Curling up in front of the fireplace with the kitties in a nest of pillows and blankets to read Richard Brautigan (or whatever is on the top of the stack)
*Camping out in the woods
*Finding swing sets at 1 a.m.
*Organizing a cut-throat Twister tournament
*Savoring a good bottle of wine while playing and singing through a stack of old sheet music from the 1930s I found abandoned in a piano bench
*Watching meteor showers in the hot tub
*Getting a full tank of gas and driving until I am in a new state and a town I have never visited before