CoreBB

HI everyone! I just freed myself from Yuki's trunk. I am in Austin right now. Here is a little about me.

I was born in Austin, TX. The daughter of hippies. I grew up an aimless child with a bad attitude. My parents divorced when I was about 10 and my mother moved us to California with her. I lived there for three years until my mother let me move in with my Dad back in Austin. This did not go as well as hoped since my Dad had gotten remarried and I resented my step mom.

So, throughout highschool I was a resentful brat. I was also convinced I was an intellectual and would go off on rants about how america is really a police state and should turn socialist. blah blah blah. Concentrating on school was very difficult for me but I did graduate in the top half of my class.

Not prepared for anything else, I applied to University of Texas at Austin and was accepted for the Spring Semester. When I finally arrived at UT I discovered that drinking, partying and playing pool were much more fun than studying and had a stellar GPA of 2.0 for the spring semester. The next semester was even more fun, resulting in a semester GPA of 0.0 (spending finals drinking in Mexico was not the best decision). I was eventually kicked out of UT for a semester. Instead of thinking on my academic mistakes, I got a job at my favorite bar (The Hole in the Wall) and partied. I came back for one more semester and did not do much better. I was expelled from UT for 3 years with a GPA of 1.444. I spent the next 4 years working in a cafe (Les Amis) and partying.

One day I was riding the bus to work and I suddenly had the feeling it was the right time to go back to school. I reapplied to UT. I spent the next 3 years in academic bliss. This time I realized what a privelage a university education is and was grateful everyday to be there. I entered the film school but transferred to anthropology after I doscovered the strength of the primatology program. I found my passion there.

I spent the next two years emersing myself in the study of primate behavior and anatomy. To this day I consider my prefessors in that department my mentors. While there I studied a colony of Vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops).

After graduating I moved to Atlanta, to work for Frans de Waal (Chimpanzee Politics, Bonobo: The Forgotten Ape, etc) at the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center. I worked at the field station and spent the next 2 years in bliss. My duties included acquisition and maintenace of all computer equipment, behavior collection from an observation tower, and teaching the chimps how to use a joy stick. The only word to describe my one on one interactions with the chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) is sublime.

I then applied for graduate school and accepted the offer from University of Southern California's PhD program in Biological Anthropology to work under Craig Stanford (The Hunting Ape, etc). While there, I spent a month in Nicaragua studing Howler monkeys (Allouta palliata) at a primate field school. I also moved to Suriname to study Capuchin mokeys (Cebus apella). While there I also had daily contact with squirrel monkeys (Samiri scurius), red howler monkeys (Allouata seniculus) and Spider monkeys (Ateles paniscus).

Frankly, I did not like that country. Being a former Dutch colony the city people were very unpleasant. Although, I did like the Maroon that I met in the jungle. Our field station was located on the Coppename river and the jungle was amazing. The people I had to live and work with were truly horrible people, but the time I spent in the jungle alone was sublime.

I was supposed to live there for 7 months but after 3 my grandmother became ill and I flew back to Austin to be with her. I had the blessing of spending time almost everyday with her for the next 2 months until she passed.

After, my grandmother died I began to think about what I was accomplishing at USC. My conclusion was that I am truly not happy there. Except for Nicaragua and Suriname I have not been working directly with primates for 4 1/2 years. While I do love my role as a teacher, working with undergraduates is not as fullfilling as working with chimps. I have decided to leave USC with my masters degree, return to Austin and do some Archaeology work until I decide what to do. Yay! Austin!.

Yuki: I actually first met Yuki in highschool - he went to a different highschool but we had mutual friends. He was the best looking guy I had met irl - GQ good looking. We remet my first year in college- another mutual friend- and dated briefly. We even talked about marriage (crazy). Things petered out and I did not see Yuki again for 15 years.

We were both in town this last xmas and our mutual friend invited me to lunch with them. We went out drinking that night and really hit it off. On New Years eve he called me (from NJ) and we ended up talking for hours. And so far we are still together. Btw, he doesn't even remember me from highschool!

sorry so long, I left a lot of stuff out. Hugs to you all. You are all really great people and I am glad I got the opportunity to meet you.