well, i think it's time for a more reasonable description of myself. the old tongue-in-cheek "about me" was wearing out its welcome.
to begin, i was born on a snowy february morning in 1982. at least that's what my grandma says. every year, on my birthday, she tells the story about how she almost didn't get to see me on the day i was born because of the weather. honestly, i don't remember, but i figure it's a good start, even if it is second-hand information.
i spent the majority of my youth outdoors in stanfordville, ny. i've always loved nature. i grew up with a beautiful lake right outside my front door, which provided me with the opportunity for a lot of unique experiences growing up. i caught my first frog when i was five. when i was ten i caught my first twenty-five pound turtle -- breaking my net in the process. i'm lucky i still have all of my fingers. needless to say, mom sure was proud!
growing up, my friends and i would pass the time with games of homerun derby in the backyard, adventures in the woods (including the discovery of an abandoned summer retreat called the hideaway), and endless amounts of pond hockey in the winter time. we'd also go fishing every chance we had, and knew all of the best spots.
i went to high school in poughkeepsie, ny at our lady of lourdes. i graduated in 2000, although at the time i was already attending marist college, also in poughkeepsie, as part of a high school/college bridge program. rushing into college is probably the biggest regret of my life. although i went through the college application process during my senior year, and was accepted by many schools that would have better suited me than marist, marist was the easy choice at the time. then again, i really hadn't decided on what i wanted to become at the time, so i suppose marist was as good of a choice as any.
in any event, i had a great time at marist. i met a lot of interesting people, and made a lot of great friends. i spent five and a half years there in an existential meltdown, two of which were spent living on a couch. it wasn't until i came to boston that i finished the requirements for my long awaited bachelor of science in biology.
i started college in september of 1999 and finished in december of 2005. ironically, after spending ten semesters earning my degree and selling my soul to best buy while trying to break into the science field, i've found myself employed for the past two years at boston.com using a self-taught, non-college acquired skill set. if colleges want to continue charging exorbitant fees, there ought to be some sort of money-back guarantee -- i'd be in line for mine right now.
needless to say, my learning style is a bit unorthodox. i'm an obsessive perfectionist. i'm slow, steady, and thorough. i don't do things to get them done. i do things to get them right. i do things to the best of my ability, and if my ability isn't enough to overcome the challenge, i hone my ability until it is. i'm compelled to understand. i try not to assume. i question. i'm critical. i'm creative.
what i'm glad i'm not is someone who used college as an excuse for four years of heavy drinking, meaningless sex, and financial irresponsibility, put forth the least possible academic effort, somehow graduated cum laude, bagged a $80,000/year job, and now uses "you're" in place of "your" in professional correspondence. if a simple, elementary, grammatical rule escapes you, how competent could you possibly be?
