guess i'm the oldest so far... • 1979 – Born near Chicago, IL. Two parents, one 3-year-old sister. • 1980 – Met my childhood best friend (he lived across the street) • 1984 – Parents finally realized I couldn’t see anything and got me glasses. Started kindergarten. • 1985 – Wore an eye patch all through 1st grade to correct a lazy eye. • 1987 – Second grade teacher realized I should be in advanced reading/math classes; had to take an IQ test and switch partway through the year. Started taking piano lessons. • 1989 – Parents abruptly started bringing us to church. I do not get religion and hated it; fought with my mom a lot about it throughout my teen years. • 1991 – Best friend moved across town. • 1994 – 1997 - High school. Had a chance to get in with the ‘cool’ crowd partly through my very extroverted sister, who worked pretty hard at being popular, but decided they were mostly assholes and kept to the few friends I had from before. Reconnected with my childhood best friend the summer before my sophomore year (his freshman) but he totally dropped the friendship when school started; still don’t know why. After that, I kept more and more to myself until graduation. Started getting bad migraines and some other health problems. Was depressed. • 1997 – Went to college, but chose a school that wasn’t a good fit. Made a few friends and had my first serious boyfriend. • 1998 – 1999 - Switched to a different, larger university nearer my family. Broke up with the boyfriend. Did a summer abroad program in Europe. Tried psychedelics for the first time (mushrooms) which was very mind-opening. • 2000 – 2001 – Did full year study abroad in Europe; lots of travel. Migraines got a lot worse. Entered into super-unhealthy relationship with an older guy that lasted on/off for five years. • 2002 – Got my BA. Wasn’t sure what I wanted to do and was looking to get away from unhealthy relationship, so went to China & taught English for a couple of semesters. Learned a lot of Chinese and traveled a lot; also learned I do NOT like teaching. • 2003 -2004 – Back in states and got a master’s in east Asian studies with the plan to apply for a phd program in linguistics. • 2005 – first ‘real’ job; worked with lots of academics, which cured me of the desire to go into a phd program. Finally ended unhealthy relationship for good. • 2006 – Met my future husband. Managed to get pregnant just a couple months into the relationship (don’t use condoms that have been in your medicine cabinet for years!). Neither of us were ready for it and we mutually decided to terminate very early on. Rough few days/weeks, but no regrets. • 2007 – Got new job; had a really good boss & learned a lot. Left after she quit. Also had major surgery to remove a cyst, but at least it wasn’t cancerous. • 2008 – Got new job; stayed there for 7 years, mostly out of apathy and not having any idea what I wanted to do instead. • 2009 – Went to my first music festival – life-changing experience. Became a deadhead and got very into jamband scene and live music. • 2010 – Got diagnosed w/celiac disease. Can’t eat wheat/gluten or dairy, which sucked, but I’m used to it now, and it improved the migraines and a lot of other health issues. Got engaged. • 2011 – Got married. • 2012 – 2013 – mostly figuring out being married & dealing with lingering health issues from celiac disease. • 2014 – Had a detached retina. Had eye-surgery and was off work for 3 months; had to spend the first 6 weeks after surgery laying down in the same position for 23+ hours a day, and I wasn't allowed to read or use the computer or anything that required lots of eye movement, so lots of time for introspection once I got tired of netflix. Started meditating and found out I was an INTP, among other things. • 2015 – More eye surgeries; still lost more than 80% of the vision in that eye. Saw the final Grateful Dead shows in Chicago w/family and friends. •2016 – Finally left my old job for contract work in a new field that lets me be more independent and creative – and I work remotely now, so no more office politics and it’s QUIET so I can actually get things done. Figuring out what’s next (maybe moving to a different part of the country or more travel) and trying to keep good meditation & exercise habits going. Trying to be more social so I don’t turn into a shut-in with the working-from-home thing. Planning to run my first marathon this fall.