Who Am I?

When I saw this prompt, I was immediately intrigued. I tend to write like an open book, but I'm sure there are some things I have not touched upon that are integral to who I am as a person. I feel this challenge has the potential to be a great community builder and allow us to know more about each other. So, here goes nothing:

1. My first love was photography. I actually very much intended to work in film because of my love for pictures, but things changed, and I gravitated toward writing. I bought my first DSLR camera after working my first job at a movie theatre. It took me 6 months to save up, and I still own that same camera. Over the years, I've gotten better at photography, and I've collected many lenses to use with the camera body. I do intend on upgrading sometime in the future, but it's an expensive hobby.

2. I collect crystalline minerals and fossils. Not in the "these rocks have magical powers" way, but I do appreciate people who subscribe to that ideology. I just really love the way they look, and I love the history behind them. The way these things form after millions of years in very specific conditions will always be fascinating to me. My first wanna-be occupation was paleontologist, and while I own ammonite and orthoceras fossils, I'd love to expand my collection to include more animal and plant specimens. I also have a few pieces of petrified wood. My big dream would be to own a tried and true dinosaur fossil.

3. I've always been a huge fan of music, despite not listening to many artists. I have very peculiar tastes, but when talking about music, I don't want to talk about the musicians I listen to, I want to talk about the instruments I've taught myself how to play. They include guitar, ukulele, kalimba, and most recently, the organ. Ukulele is the instrument that I'm best at; I find the four strings more suitable for my little hands. But guitar was the first instrument I taught myself how to play. My parents could never afford lessons, so I've done things on my own time. I recently inherited an electric chord organ, so I've been dabbling with that and figuring out how to play it. I'd love to incorporate my writing with music someday.

4. I love old things. I'm an avid antique and vintage collector. Anything from the 1800s to the 1970s is fair game, though my favorite eras include the years between 1880 and 1930. I have hundreds of antique books, and I am always on the lookout to snag more copies for my collection. A lot of what I find is direct from thrift stores or Facebook marketplace. My most recent find is a hand-made Tiffany-style stained glass rabbit lamp, of which I picked up today.

5. I have a lot of houseplants. I've always wanted to find ways to bring the outside, inside. Over the past few years, I've begun collecting plants from the discount bins at Lowes and Walmart. I currently have 13 plants, and I've been propagating and cloning them. I've not sunk more than $100 into this hobby since its inception, as most of the plants I find are $5 or less. The most I've spent on a plant is $10, including my monstera deliciosa, which grew so big I had to split it up into three pots. I also have aloe, pothos, snake plants, Zanzibar gem, calathea orbifolia, jade plant, fiddle-leaf fig, and a cactus of which I don't know the name.

6. I don't read as much as I should. Contrary to popular belief, it's possible to be a writer without being an avid reader. Though reading a lot certainly makes one more adept in their practice. I only average about 2 books a month throughout the year. I'd love to read more, but my ADHD makes it hard for me to focus. I tend to put off a lot of things, including the things I want to do and enjoy doing. Unfortunately, this causes reading to go on the back-burner in pursuit of other hobbies.

7. I love video games. I am a Pokémon officianado. No, literally, I play the games every year when they come out. I own thousands of cards, and some of them are pretty rare. I'm hoping one day they'll pay for my kid's college tuition ;). I also enjoy The Legend of Zelda, Skyrim, The Sims 4, Animal Crossing, and Stardew Valley. I mostly play games on the Nintendo Switch, my pride and joy.

8. I love art history. It goes hand and hand with my love of literature. I'm fascinated by works throughout history highlighting the human condition. My favorite place in the world is the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. I could get lost in there for days without getting bored. It's like traveling through time to admire the work of amazing humans who have come before us. I almost minored in art history during my undergraduate degree, but I got lazy and never declared. I made sure to take at least one art history class every semester because it meant a cheap trip to NYC.

9. I love animals. My second job ever was working for a dog boarding and daycare business. I loved it so much. I got to bathe the dogs, play with them, feed them their two daily meals, give them medication, and more. Many of them were frequent flyers so I got to know them well. On my birthday last year, I found a stray that had been hit by a car. Instead of celebrating my day doing something fun, I took the dog in, cared for it, and found it a safe place at a shelter. It ended up being adopted by a loving family. I also have three dogs myself: Bandit, a chihuahua; Bo, a German shepherd mix; and Roscoe, a pitbull-rottweiler mix. All rescues :)

10. I live in the Blue Ridge Mountains. My unincorporated town is home to less than 1,500 people. I moved here in 2021 because my partner's has family from here, and we were able to buy a house. I came here from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and my hometown is home to about 32,000 people. It's been a big adjustment, but it's a beautiful place to live, and I love it. Life goes by slower here, and I feel really in touch with nature.

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