How do you do?

I'm the older sibling by 5 years, female. I suffered through Catholic school and I moved from the Midwest -where I lived from the ages of 5 - 17, to the hustle-and-bustle of the East Coast. It was a bit of shock, but I think it was just fine in the end. I don't have any wistfulness for the high school days. College is a totally different story.

I watch and follow college football and now, the NHL. My brother is a HUGE hockey fan, and we share a love of at least one team.

What we don't have in common: physical health. I'm a year in to finding out just exactly what degenerative disc disease actually means. Today it meant a cervical pain block epidural. Feels like a bee sting my ass.

I'm also a singer, been singing since I was 11 years old. All types of music: pop, jazz, classical.

Now my new thing is learning social media. I'm learning that it is youth driven (duh). All sorts of abbreviations, the most recent I learned was "SMH". Had no idea what it meant and it's used like an article on Twitter. Means "Shaking My Head". It's a nice, sensible abbreviation - particularly because there is no emoticon for rolling eyes. That would be my 'go-to' response, as I'm sarcastic and a bit of a cynic, but not in an unapproachable way. I do not like what texting is doing to the English language - especially spelling.

I am my father's daughter: in appearance, in humor - even our handwriting is similar. I have a dark sense of humor and will often chuckle at the borderline unacceptable. Sometimes I'll laugh out loud about it.

I'm kind of over organized religion. This is not something I broadcast, but nowadays, I find it pretty unappealing. For me, the thought of politics and religion merging scares me. I am not a fan of freedoms lost. Read what you want, say what you want and don't worry about others. I find that most people who have a problem with some political point and complain vociferously really are just looking for validation.

I don't really have any hobbies to speak of. I'm getting into yoga and really liking it. I don't like art with people in it. No faces.

Lest I lead you astray, I'm not as serious as all that. I'm a girly girl. I love clothes, shoes, makeup, perfume, jewelry, handbags. The human body as art. I love gadgets - my iPhone, iPad, iPod - love.

I do NOT like jello.

And I'm in love love love with my dogs. I have three and the total weight of all three is approximately 230 pounds. I own multiple tape rollers to remove the huge white hairs off my clothes.

But mostly, I'm a faceless, nameless drone in the federal contracting arena (private), which in the DC area is a large component of what keeps a lot of people employed. I've gone through many, many jobs that have turned into disaster and have found one that I might like, but I'm kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop, so to speak. I'm working very hard on keeping a positive attitude about that, but my formative experience keeps me wary.

This blog is for my Dad, who encouraged me to write because I have something to say. I don't know what that is yet, but hopefully you'll take the trip with me.