Sojourner Jean profile picture

Sojourner Jean

I am here for Friends and Networking

About Me

I'm a 37 year old from Bellingham, Washington living the last couple of years amidst a swirl of transition. I spent most of 2006 and part of 2007 living abroad, traveling through Europe via train, plane, bus and bicycle. I am so looking forward to spending some quality time back in the ‘ham with my wonderful family, great friends and my favorite four-legged, snoring beast.
Some of my best moments are spent in nature - especially by the water in all it’s glorious forms (although I could do without the mosquitoes that tend to congregate in similar regions.) If I am outside and moving, I’m happy. And life really doesn’t get much better when I am able to share the adventures, sights and stories with a friend or two! An investigator of life, I experiment and ponder over life’s mysteries and pleasures as well as the challenges. Most of all, I love to learn about the people around me, especially those with the same zest for life as I.
I’m a graphic artist and web site designer and love every minute of being engrossed in an artistic endeavor or project. Logo design, illustrative work, marketing collateral, web sites, you name it -- creative work inspires me to no end. I love having the gift of turning someone’s concept, even just a little spark of an idea; into a reality. I’m an Enabler and proud of it!
I enjoy both new adventures and simple pleasures. I am more about function than fashion (high-tech sports clothes will win over designer duds any day.) People who see the beauty in life and humor in everyday situations AND who can laugh about it will have a tremendous advantage of understanding where I come from and what I value.
Bring your guitar and a bottle of wine (or a thermos of coffee) and join me in a lively discussion about current passions, future goals and life in general…for that is where I connect with individuals the best; surrounded by good music, food and spirits!
I’m not much of a MySpace person as I tend to live most of life outside and when I’m in front of the screen, I’m usually working on a specific project, but if I read even remotely like someone you’d like to connect with on a professional or mountain-hiking-coffee-drinking level, send me an email. If you don't have a MySpace account, you can still send an email to garlicqueenjean (at) yahoo.com [I write it this way so the webspiders can't collect my info and send spam].

My Interests


Being outside and being active is what I’m all about. Exploring the world and traveling. Weekend road trips to the San Juans, the coast, Olympics and Cascades. Traipsing across Europe to Spain, Italy, Austria and Germany (I always keep some Euros on my person, just in case). Y México, La Paz encantador, es uno de mis lugares preferidos a ser. Spending time conversing with friends, enjoying good food & wine and consuming fruity blended drinks in the hot tub! Dancing and carousing late into the night, multi-sport adventure races, triathlons, running, sports (playing, not watching), Hiking and camping (something about sitting around a campfire and the view from the top of a mountain...). Snowboarding, x-country skiing, snowshoeing, mountain biking, volleyball, frisbee golf. Anything having to do with being on the water: kayaking, canoeing, sailing or fishing. (Yes, I bait my own hook, but I prefer to catch them, not filet them!) And I absolutely, 100% love what I do for a living and being artistically creative..

I'd like to meet:

Other fun, open-minded, laughing, optimistic, full “participants of life” who enjoy new adventures, playing outdoors and getting off the couch are always welcome into my world. I enjoy the variety that life has to offer when it comes to meeting interesting people and learning about people’s passions and goals. I’ve found that it is amazing how great an impact that strangers can have on each other once we allow each other to enter our space.

I hope to touch and be touched by inspiring and interesting individuals - and in return I hope to equally inspire them. I also enjoy reconnecting with "lost" friends and forgotten friendships. The past is what shaped us and brought us to where we are - sometimes we learn so much by revisiting that past - if only for a quick "hello" and a laugh about the changes in the details of each others lives.

Two of my favorite quotes:
"If you hear a voice within you say, 'You are not a painter,' then by all means paint…and that voice will be silenced." — Vincent Van Gogh

"To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he has already achieved, but at what he aspires to." - Kahlil Gibran

Music:

I like a huge variety, but don't have much of a collection of anything as I spend my $ elsewhere. Blues, Rock and alternative are the styles I like to watch perform, while house, lounge or techno is the style I like to dance to. Anything with a sexy beat I can move to is game - so bring on the world music and whip up a batch of margaritas. Okay, I've been outed: I'm a closet butt rocker & goth girl. LOVE the early 90's industrial/alternative scene: TKK, NIN, Ministry - those who know, know what I'm talking about!

Television:

Haven't in the last 15 months...

Books:

Voracious book reader:

Some titles I finished recently and liked: The Kite Runner; The History of Love, Marley & Me, My Sisters Keeper; Eat, Pray, Love; Time Travelers Wife; Blink; MiddleSex; Post Secret (most gratifying!) and Running with Scissors.

Some authors: John Irving, Erica Jong, Greg Iles, Mitch Albom, Jennifer Weiner, Bill Bryson and (for practical reasons) Rick Steeves. The list goes on, I DO love to read!

Who I really follow though are those amazing illustrators...

Heroes:

Not heroes, but verbal inspirations:
The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers. -- M. Scott Peck

Enter every activity without giving mental recognition to the possibility of defeat. Concentrate on your strengths, instead of your weaknesses . . . on your powers, instead of your problems. -- Paul J. Meyers
Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great ones make you feel that you too, can become great. -- Mark Twain
"Only passions, great passions, can elevate the soul to great things." -- D. Diderot
"The greatest happiness in life is the conviction that we are loved, loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves." -- unknown

"Find out who you are and do it on purpose." -- Dolly Parton

My Blog

Adventures through Oslo

Over a breakfast of fresh crusty baked bread with smør (butter), sweet nutty, brown geitost (goat's cheese), translucent red, fresh lingonberries, sweet yellow cloudberry jam and mugs of steaming coff...
Posted by Sojourner Jean on Sat, 08 Sep 2007 10:20:00 PST

Our Norwegian Hostess with the Most-est

Go you mustNo guest shall stayIn one place for ever.Love will be lostIf you sit too longAt a friend's fire --Viking saying   Our journey began with a ferry ride to Norway, in an indescribably sma...
Posted by Sojourner Jean on Fri, 07 Sep 2007 10:58:00 PST

Travel Map...soooo many more countries to go

...
Posted by Sojourner Jean on Thu, 06 Sep 2007 12:39:00 PST

News from Copenhagen...posted on the wire this am

By JAN M. OLSEN, Associated Press Writer COPENHAGEN, Denmark - Denmark's intelligence service early Tuesday arrested eight Islamic militants linked to leading al-Qaida figures, and said the suspects ...
Posted by Sojourner Jean on Tue, 04 Sep 2007 06:54:00 PST

Without a word, without a sign

A Friendship Poem To A Friend ~ Roy Croft I love you not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you. I love you, not only for what you have made of yourself, but for what you are ma...
Posted by Sojourner Jean on Tue, 04 Sep 2007 12:43:00 PST

Friends

Friendship is not diminished by distance or time, by imprisonment or war, by suffering or silence. It is in these things that it roots most deeply.~Pam Brown Friends, Companions, Lovers; are thos...
Posted by Sojourner Jean on Tue, 04 Sep 2007 12:29:00 PST

A lesson on lateral thinking

Many years ago in a small Russian village, a farmer had the misfortune of owing a large sum of money to the village moneylender. The moneylender, who was old and horrible, fancied the farmer's beautif...
Posted by Sojourner Jean on Fri, 31 Aug 2007 07:18:00 PST

Oslo, the Dragon Chasers and me.

We came into the harbor of Oslo early in the morning and (successfully!) dodged the lines by being the last guests off the ferry at 9am. We were starving, as food cost so damn much on the ship an...
Posted by Sojourner Jean on Thu, 30 Aug 2007 06:27:00 PST

Sex! Drugs! Scandal! Judging a culture by its headlines

In London, love and scandal are considered the best sweeteners of tea.[John Osborne]   Why is it that the newspapers of one of the biggest cities in the world scream out accusing headlines with ...
Posted by Sojourner Jean on Wed, 29 Aug 2007 12:37:00 PST

London and Portobella Delights

London is a modern Babylon.[Benjamin Disraeli] We rolled into London later than hoped and Zita met us at the Picadilly tube stop with a smile on her face and her arms open wide. Dan had met Zita, a Ma...
Posted by Sojourner Jean on Wed, 22 Aug 2007 09:22:00 PST