I'm 39 years old, living in a suburb of Houston, Texas. I was born in New York and lived there most of my childhood. I have a husband and had two children; my first child died, my second child was diagnosed with autism at the age of 16 months (he is 7-1/2 years old now). My husband and I will celebrate our 11th anniversary in 2003 and have known each other 13 years now. I had a golden retriever since he was a puppy who recently passed away in December 2002 after a heart attack. He was almost 11. My son is learning to communicate using sign language so we've been learning that. I read "The Hobbit" in my younger years but just got hooked when a friend gave us the DVD for Fellowship of the Ring as a Christmas gift. Have now finished the books and hope to read more Tolkien wrote. I've had several poems published internationally and a song lyric I wrote was published once. Recently was 1 of 30 poets whose work was chosen to be part of an audiobook the company was publishing. Was nominated for Who's Who in Women in Business but declined (found out you have to pay a fee to be listed and that didn't sit well with me). I've authored a few articles that have been published in newspapers. Have never tried writing fiction though. Am trying to write my autobiography as suggested by my friends. I created and have run a ministry at our church for people with disabilities since 1988 and am part of a committee on a diocesan level for people with disabilities.

My job entails fixing errors (quality assurance) before anything is printed or published. My job is to identify the errors, tell them why it is wrong and return it to them for correction. My job has other duties behind it as well that stretch such a wide variety that I don't really have a job title. I report directly to the president of the company and we have over 400 employees, and provide technical and computer support to those 400 employees.

Pet peeves: People who aren't honest. People who don't take responsibility for their actions. People who think they are perfect and have no room for improvement. People who have no tolerance for others with differences (different skin, different culture, different opinions, different ages, etc.)

Pet peeves on Fanfiction: Teenagers who think this website is, as one put it "a fangirls site." I believe the LoTR section was mostly adults with some very mature teens (who have been reading the books since an early age) until Orlando Bloom hit the screen. Then this area became radically different. I've been a reader of this site for a long time, but just read stories and never reviewed. I decided to change that and I signed up just this year. I also believe that the review area is about reviewing THE AUTHOR and NOT an area to review the reviewer. It is not an area of debating someone who has a different opinion. Everyone is allowed their opinon, good or bad. Also, you are supposed to be giving a well-rounded review and just writing "great more please" is never going to help the writer in her/his craft, which then you wonder about your motivations of reading Fanfiction.

I saw this on another's site so I thought I'd do something like it:

Birthday: March 17, 1964
Eye color: Green
How much do you love your job? 100%
Hometown: Brooklyn, New York
Current Residence: The Woodlands, Texas
Favorite foods: Fried Crab Cheese Puffs from Chef Chan's, Won Ton Soup from Chef Chan's, filet mignon from two restaurants, pizza from Greek Tony's.
Ever been toilet papering? Yes
Ever streaked? Yes (as a teenager)
Loved someone so much it made you cry? Yes
Been in a car accident? Yes. severe injuries.
Croutons or bacon bits: Croutons
Favorite time of day: Afternoon (I've finally woken up and I hadn't gotten tired again yet)
Favorite word or phrase? "Special!"
Favorite restaurant: Tavern In The Woods in The Woodlands, Texas
Favorite flower: Lilacs and carnations.
Favorite Drink: Nonalcoholic: Diet Vanilla Coke. Alcoholic: Bailey's Irish Cream or Pouilly Fuisse white burgundy wine.
Favorite sport to watch: On TV: Ice skating; live: ice hockey.
Disney or Warner Brothers: Disney
Favorite Fast Food: I don't like fast food, but Blimpie's (a store like Subway) hopefully fits the category.
How many times have you failed your driver's test? Never
Class standing: I was in the top 10 of a class of 1000 in junior year; then we moved and I was #2 in a class of 100.
High school- cheerleader or politics: I was class president, but had many cheerleaders as friends. I had friends in all the cliques. I felt quite fortunate.
Do you sing in the shower? Yes. In fact, I took formal lessons for a large portion of my life. I had a recital at Hamman Hall at Rice University here in Houston back in the mid-1980's, and have a demo tape. Have written and put music to many songs since I was a teenager. Have a friend from high school who actually sings backup for Rod Stewart, Mary Blige and others, and married one of Paul Simon's drummers.
Which store would you choose to max out your credit card: Best Buy (a love gadgets)
Bedtime: Anywhere from midnight to 3 a.m. I have insomnia problems. I get up at 6:45 a.m.
Favorite TV Show: Difficult. Currently, we like Enterprise, Monk, Six Feet Under, Alias, 24, Trading Spaces, While You Were Out, What Not to Wear, American Idol. Because it is difficult to take my son out with his autism, my husband tape a lot of movies and TV shows and watch them after he goes to bed.
Hobbies: Besides being a being movie buff, my husband and I play board games together like chess, Battleship. We like the symphony, ballet, plays. Last show we went to was The Lion King and it gave me goosebumps (I've always wished I could do that in my life, performing arts, traveling with a show, but life had a different road for me to travel. We also enjoy participating in our church community and the various events.
Religion: Catholic
Favorite recording artists: I have a wide variety. I tend to stay away from country-western. I like Josh Groban to Creed and all those in between. We like a lot of 60's, 70's and 80's music. We have James Taylor and Dan Fogelberg to the Cranberries and REM. Mozart to the Rolling Stones, Kathleen Battle to Celine Dion.
Favorite animals: Golden retrievers and dolphins (actually a mammal, but that's okay).
If you could live anywhere, where would you live: Friday Harbour, Washington (or even Vancouver, Canada - beautiful)
Where would you like to go that you still haven't visited: Alaska, Hawaii, Australia/New Zealand (long before LoTR was made), Fiji, Europe.
Favorite movies: Too many to list. I enjoyed Pirates of the Caribbean, The Mummy and The Mummy Returns, Dragonheart, First Knight, A Knight's Tale, FoTR and TTT, Kate and Leopold, I like movies about knights, falling in love, medieval times; comedies, like Austin Powers; drama like Schindler's List or the Horse Whisperer; sci-fi like Star Wars, Babylon 5, Star Trek, Farscape; action/adventure like Tomb Raider, Charlie's Angels, the Matrix.
Last book read: Lovebusters
Favorite season: In Houston, winter; in the northeast, fall, in the northwest, summer.
One thing you still want to do before you die: Swim with dolphins.