I hate the idea of writing any sort of “autobiography” because I believe that defining oneself is so confining.
People are dynamic, subject to change, growth–I believe, and continually hope, that I am.

My faith is an integral part of who I am. I belive in Love–in grace and forgiveness–and that I am imperfect and in need of salvation. I do not want my faith to be something that allows people to sterotype me–I do want it to be something that is real and lived out and experienced.

The people in my life provide a good bit of motivation for me to wake up in the morning. I have been blessed with a wonderful family who loves me. My friends are [in my opinion] some of the most interesting people in the world and I love spending time with them. One of my greatest fears is that the people I love will never fully understand how much I really care for them.

I tell stories. Lots of them. Some of them I tell to excess. If you hang around me long enough you may hear the same story two, three or even four times. Sorry, habit of mine. Probably a result of my upbringing-lots of books at bedtime and a family that loves sharing information.

I am currently a student at the University of Florida. I am studying English. I love reading and writing, and while I’d love to pursue writing as a career, I don’t hold out much hope for being the next great american novelist. Career-wise I’m still unsure: teaching has always been a wonderful option, but I’m also drawn to working with non-profit/missions and humanitarian organizations, and I also love travel as well (National Geographic writer, maybe?) I have come to love Gainesville and the experiences I’ve had here, I’m sad that I’ll soon be graduating.

Politically…well…isn’t that a topic that should never be discussed at dinner? I hate arguing about politics. Talking about them, and participating in them is another matter; however, I am a firm believer that often times politics leads to more division than unification. There aree a lot of issues I believe can be placed into this category of “should be talked about, but often can’t be…”

I love: books (classics-Kerouac, Plath, Hemingway, Hugo, Dostoyevsky, Dumas…I could go on forever), music (I currently have no more room on my iPod, and there are way too many CDs and mixes in my possession), travel (I’ve been to every state except Alaska, Nebraska and Hawaii, as well as all of Canada and a good bit of Mexcio. New Zeland and Europe will hopefully be next on my list), writing (though I’m a procrastinator and a perfectionist, so when I write I often pull all-nighters), cooking, coffeshops, thrift stores, riding my bike, libraries, polaroid cameras, LPs, concerts, foreign films (so much better, I think), dresses, wood floors, dancing, The Pacific Northwest, old-fashioned snail mail, and the sound of rain.

I am a hopeless romantic, an optimist, a realist, a hypocrite, a dreamer, a believer, fragile, bold, boring, dynamic, adventurous, cautious, classic, nervous, night-owl, introspective, spective…

stream of conscious fits because i want to write in the moment–i want to write in a way that is representative of me currently, and that’s always subject to change–or at least to be in need of an appendix.