My turn!

I consider myself a native Oregonian, having known no other home. My birth records indicate that I was born in Omaha, which is where my father, an airman 1st class, was stationed. I don't remember anything about Omaha since we moved to Portland just after I turned a year old, but a good many of my baby pictures show my father holding me out of cockpit windows, sitting on his lap in the pilot's seat of military jets and so forth. I guess the travel bug is in the gene pool.

I was a lucky kid. I got to travel a lot starting at a very early age. When spending summers with my dad, he'd let me hang out in the control tower with him when I wanted to (gets boring after a while, actually). For my 10th birthday, he arranged to let me ride in the jump seat of a 747. (Those were the days.) He was also a private pilot and I remember that same summer doing lots of flying in remote areas of Alaska. I felt very special somehow, knowing that most of my peers had never even taken a plane ride (let alone in a private plane), sat in the cockpit of a 747 or hung out in a control tower. But it was just another day in the life for me.

There are few things more exciting to me than a taking a trip. I feel the same way now going to the airport that I did when I was a little girl. I still get butterflies in my stomach the morning of a flight. My eyes have seen such amazing, beautiful places and people. I've also seen inexcuseable decay, ugliness and unfathomable poverty. I always wonder about what's on the other end of the ticket I hold in my hand, and what I will learn about myself in the process. Returning home I am always grateful for the unbelievable wealth that I have and for the life experience I've gained while travelling. I can't think of a better education.

Enough rhapsodizing.

I work as an applications developer and backup page designer for a major metropolitan daily. I just sort of fell into this newspaper gig. I don't consider myself a journalist and in fact graduated in economics with the intention of going to law school. As much as I've enjoyed my run at the gazette, I've decided I'm finally ready to get on with a more challenging career and plan to take the LSAT next year. If I end up at my first choice of schools, the University of Chicago, I plan to apply for one of the internships offered by United. I think I'd like to practice aviation law or maybe just be general counsel at an airline.

When I'm not out earning miles, I love to cook, go out to the vineyards near my home for wine tastings and just hang out with friends. Shooting darts, pounding back pints of Guinness and debating epistemology over a fine cigar is my idea of a fun Saturday night. I used to study ballet until I blew out my Achilles earlier this year so now I just stick to running and mountain biking and the occasional hike in the summer. I hope to finish my first marathon in October. When I have time, I devour books on military and space exploration history. If I could pick any career, I'd be an astronaut. Too bad my eyes suck.

I guess that it's. Oh, and I do have a cat. The sweetest most tolerant feline in the world. No matter how long I've been gone on a trip, she's always waiting at the door, mewing at me before they key ever turns in the lock. Amazing creature.

Cheers,

essxjay

[This message has been edited by essxjay (edited 12-02-1999).]