I hate those "About Me" pages, yet for some reason I feel compelled to read them. I wonder: Whose words am I reading, exactly? Is this person like me? What's their story?
My name is Andrea, and this is a journal I keep... mostly for myself and for family and friends, but anyone is welcome to eavesdrop. :)
I was born in Toronto, grew up in nearby suburban Bramalea and attended Dorset Drive PS, William G. Davis middle school and then high school at J.A. Turner SS.
I studied Journalism and English lit at Carleton University in Ottawa (Canada!). I am married to a wonderful fellow named Mark, and we have two daughters named Emma and Sarah. We live in a little house with a big garden.
I used to work as a web developer at a marketing and graphic design firm. Today I am a work-at-home mom, doing freelance web work and (most joyfully) some writing on the side. This is what I am trying to cultivate, because words bring me much joy. And when I can't find the words, I just take a photo.
Sometimes I think I'm approaching a pre mid-life crisis, and find myself wondering about who I am. What defines me? Who am I, other than a mother and a wife and a daughter? Perhaps that's the reason behind this bio page... a need to see it all written down. And perhaps, that's the deeper reason behind this website.
Our identities are made up of much more than places and dates. We are made up of a million little stories, a personal collection of experiences that combine to alter us and ultimately make up this thing we call life.
Here is a selection of things I have done (in no particular order). Each is worth relating in greater detail, but I'll save that for some other time...
- traveled to Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic
- skied down an Olympic run and not killed myself
- traveled to the far north and snowmobiled on frozen tundra
- hitchhiked
- lied about my age and identity
- gone dancing until the wee hours of the morning
- not worn a coat in the winter because it was "uncool"
- drank so much I threw up
- written bad poetry
- written good letters
- swam across a lake
- owned a dog, cats and birds
- co-produced an award-winning documentary film in my student days
- touched a human skull
- tried to make my own beer, and failed
- walked barefoot in a fountain
- burnt my hair
- sang in public at the top of my lungs
- went skinny dipping while smoking a cigar
- visited real castles
- wrote a weekly newspaper column
- developed my own film and printed my own photographs
- ran away from the police
- failed grade twelve math
- tried to cut my own hair
- seen a black bear in its natural habitat
- gone horseback riding
- walked on a glacier
- tried to contact the dead
- had my heart crushed by a significant other
- pretended to not understand English
- had my palm read
- married someone I met over the Internet
- wore white sneakers under the wedding dress
- held a firefly in my hands
- made stars out of pretty paper
p.s. Want to drop me a line? I am: andrea at quietfish dot com