Subject: Re: 10 Random Facts About Me *Please Join In* Wed Feb 04, 2009 10:28 am
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What a great thread! Thanks to everyone who shared.
Alright, 10 things about me:
1. I was born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska. And believe me, it was wild and wooly. I am a 4th generation Alaskan, and, since it has only been a state since 1959, that is very rare. My mother's side of the family is from Alaska, my father's from Colorado, where I live now. (You just can't beat 300 days of sun a year!)
2. I am told that I am an exceptional cook. I worked in kitchens while ski bumming, while in college and just after, from steak houses to a four star hotel on the National Historic Registry (it was the Stanley Hotel, in Estes Park, Colorado -- they filmed the Shining there...). I rarely use a recipe or a measuring device of any sort -- unless baking, which I could be better at. I especially like cooking Italian, but also can cook any type of seafood, bbq, love to make homemade soups, Chinese food, and of course Mexican (my green chile is flippin' killer, IMHO...).
4. I have skied naked in a snowstorm, fly fished naked with a dry fly and caught a 16 inch rainbow, rock climbed naked all except for a chalk bag and climbing shoes, and have recently cooked an elaborate breakfast in the buff.
5. I have launched a 50 foot cliff, on 210 cm skis, in a raging snowstorm, while tripping on high grade LSD, and stuck the landing. (not naked)
6. I have, at one time or another, mostly in my younger days, lived out of my car, in a tent, on a boat, in a treehouse, in an old abandoned cabin, in a simple hut in the jungle, and out of a backpack. Looking back, those were some of the best times in my life.
7. I backpacked, solo, for six months, starting on the Yucatan Peninsula, through Belize, Guatemala, and finally Honduras. I did this just after I graduated from college. I explored many remote Mayan temples and ruins, studied Spanish, got to know myself in a way one only can when traveling solo in foreign countries, became a PADI certified scuba diver, swam with sharks, smoked the most amazing joint ever -- a three footer rolled by a British guy in the middle of a Guatemalan cafe, and met many remarkable people from all over the world. An incredible trip, on so many different levels.
8. In Alaska, I have: commercial fished in Cook Inlet and Bristol Bay, been a certified National Weather Observer and lived in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE (Alaska grade "Middle of Nowhere," if you know what I mean), worked in a cannery one summer, bungie jumped illegally off the highest bridge in the state, recently completed a Master's degree in Education, was lucky enough to have fly fished many very remote streams only because my buddies were bush pilots, have had many bear encounters, have mushed a dog team on the historic Iditarod Trail (not the actual race, but just for fun), and eaten more fresh salmon, halibut, crab, clams, scallops, and moose than you could shake a stick at.
9. I am empathic, highly intuitive, and can "read" most people quickly and easily.
10. I believe in the power of a positive mental attitude, I believe in a loving God, I believe in smiling and nodding at other people passing by for no reason what so ever. I stretch every morning.
