› identity
I consider myself a mother to my daughter primarily, all other things are secondary. In no particular order (there really is no significance to this order, all of these are important in various times of the day/week/month) I am also a spouse, a mommy (Hey, I am allowed to mention it twice!), singer, a gardener, a bird watcher, a daughter, a sister, a lyricist, a songwriter, a voice coach, the middle one of three (in two contexts), an Everquest paladin, an artist, a do-it-myself fanatic, a mystic, a perpetual student, a motorcyclist, a camper, a Systems Administrator, a teacher, a political conversation avoidance expert, an amateur astronomer/physicist, a pet owner, an optimist, a voracious reader, a lover, a talker, a conversationalist (they are different) and an armchair philosopher.
› life history
I'm quite sure you don't really care about this, do you? If I must put something here, let it be known that I was born in the hills of south eastern Ohio when my father was in graduate school at OU, spent a few very early years in central Iowa, grew up in a suburb of Buffalo, New York, and have spent the majority of my adult years in central Ohio for a run of about 25 years. In high school I went first to Springfield Christian (which no longer has a high school) and then to a boarding school called Ashland Academy (at Ashland University, Ohio) from which I graduated in 1985 with honors. I studied geology in college and really loved it, getting good grades for the most part and finding that studying chemistry and physics was just as fun as studying planets. I was married once, while in college (not good timing, I don't recommend it), in 1992, to a good friend. My former spouse, Jay Stueve, probably would agree that we should have remained good friends without marrying. Separated since 1993, we divorced in 1998. I have a daugher who was born in 2006. Her father (who I get along with very well) is Rob Mowery, prominent guitar teacher in Springfield, OH. Chloe and I live in Kettering with my fiancee, Dwight Bowden, who is also the primary lead singer in Crystalfish. I've been singing in front of people since I was 3 years old. I've been singing professionally since I was 15 years old. My parents were singing while I was growing up and we all sang in the car on family vacations ( that is, all of us except my younger brother Tom who always sat out of those sessions and probably hated every second of it, the poor dear!). So singing is dyed into the very fabric of my life. The other major aspect of my life: I've been involved with computers since I was very young. My late father was an early computer scientist, before they had a name for that career. I am now senior systems administrator for a precision manufacturing company, due in part to my dad's influence and the constant presence of all that fun PC hardware in our home, rather than training or intent. I like building my own gaming systems and I actually use them for gaming. Although I haven't been playing lately, I historically have played Everquest and still have many friends there, several across the pond. After more than a decade play, I have only one "main" character, a paladin named Brynwen on the Xegony server. Of my real world family, my siblings are scattered, my older sister and nephew are in Connecticut and brother and his partner are in Las Vegas. My father is deceased (2001) and my mother has remarried and lives in a semi-retired fashion in the quiet Amish country of Pennsylvania with her preacher husband. My daughter and I moved to Kettering in April 2012 to be close to my office (Dwight joined us in early 2016) and I just LOVE LOVE LOVE working on my wonderful 1957 cape-cod-style house. It's pretty much all that Dwight and I do when not at work, doing family stuff or jamming.
› current thoughts
See my blog page to find out what's up right now. Assuming I've actually posted to it, that is. I'm terribly neglectful of my poor lonely blog.