Member Bios

General
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1

Hello! I was talking to a member and new friend of mine, Robert. He gave us the great idea of members writing bios so we can all get to know each other a little bit better.

If you want to participate I think it would be nice to hear more about all of you!

You can tell as much or as little as you would like!


Hi everyone, I'm Nichole, I'm a 37 year old mom from Toledo, Ohio.

For years I worked in Loss Prevention or security (once at a nuclear plant with weapons that just about weighed more than me at the time) with a brief period of as a Certified Nursing Assistant. I was used to being the tough girl. Liked to work out and play hard. As Loss Prevention I was bit, hit, peppersprayed, lost a couple of teeth, most of the time got a couple of good swings in myself. I was forced out of my last job at a retail chain so I decided to get back into the medical field. Figured it would be a little safer.

I was accepted into the radiography program at my local college and it was a tough one. In order to get through you had to pass tests, quizzes, practical exams…and the practicals were almost impossible the first time (and second) through. So you had to count on going through them again and again until you got them right. But you only had a certain amount of time to pass. Plus you had to bring your own patient each time, not to mention the instructors were usually terrors and if you did one little minor thing wrong you would FAIL. So stress was unbelievable. So I was doing that and the clinicals at a local hospital when all of a sudden I started getting my symptoms. Red eyelid rash started in November 2011 then February 2012 I went to lift a chair up over my head and couldn't get it up two feet. It scared me. Then as the days went by I realized I couldn't walk far without sitting down and my legs were starting to swell up to three times their normal size.

Well in April I was diagnosed with the disease I couldn't pronounce for about a year, dermatomyositis. I had to quit the radiography program because I could barely walk across a room let alone a hospital.

On a good note, it has caused me to slow down and really try to enjoy life. I've been able to spend more time with my daughter than I've ever spent before. She's 10 now. And although she complains that I can't run around and do what I used to do, she does admit that it's nice to have me around because I wasn't around much when I worked and went to school.

I love to go to the movies, or sit home and watch them. I am crazy about music, any kind.

I'm a big time animal lover, the more the better! Although my husband's allergic so all we have right now is a guinea pig! Giraffe's are my favorite wild animal, they are just so beautiful.

I'm married, he's been very supportive. I was worried because we've had some horrible ups and downs during our relationship, but this has brought us closer. I know it's hard to find people who will support you in a time like this, so when you do you have to try to hang on to them.

2

Nichole, I love your bio, and it’s nice to find out more about you. For mine, I will just add a smattering of details. I was born in Los Angeles, attended college at Berkeley, and grad school at Princeton, where I met my husband 25 years ago. I worked as a teacher, writing tutor, and copy writer and editor at an advertising agency. When I had twins, I decided to become a stay at home mom, and I am not done with that job yet. :slight_smile: I homeschooled my kids for three years, which was really a lifechanger. I am a bird watcher and a gardener.

3

Thank you!
I don’t think you’ll ever be done with that job :wink:

What sort of garden? Flowers, fruits and veggies or all of the above?

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dancermom said:

Nichole, I love your bio, and it’s nice to find out more about you. For mine, I will just add a smattering of details. I was born in Los Angeles, attended college at Berkeley, and grad school at Princeton, where I met my husband 25 years ago. I worked as a teacher, writing tutor, and copy writer and editor at an advertising agency. When I had twins, I decided to become a stay at home mom, and I am not done with that job yet. :slight_smile: I homeschooled my kids for three years, which was really a lifechanger. I am a bird watcher and a gardener.

4

Perennials, shrubs, trees. I did all the landscaping at my house and even constructed a stone patio. I also mow the lawn.

5

That’s great! have no green thumb. A few years back I bought some perennials, so every time they return we celebrate. Same with any annuals if they survive.

I tried the riding mower once. There was a long patch of lawn that didn’t come back for a long time. Since then I’m banned.

I bet your yard is pretty.



dancermom said:
Perennials, shrubs, trees. I did all the landscaping at my house and even constructed a stone patio. I also mow the lawn.
6

A fellow birder -- how marvelous, suze! I just saw a white wagtail for the first time on a recent trip to Berlin. It made me so happy I wanted to dance. Thank you for sharing your bio with us. :)

7

I love the birds, we're very lucky because we get all sorts in our garden, but then we take the time to make sure they are well fed. We get, Siskins, woodpeckers (green and greater spotted), pheasants (and sometimes their chicks) all sorts of tits and finches, nuthatches, variants of the crow family, black birds, wrens and the wonderful dunnock (which has the most open minded approach to mating ever ;-)

I was lucky enough to study bird behaviour when I did a masters I evolutionary anthropology and all I can say is, they aren't that different to us really.

8

I feel the same. We had a couple of pet budgies for awhile, and I learned some of their signals for communication -- like balancing on one foot and doing a one-sided wing stretch is a "hello." Sometimes I see wild birds like mourning doves do the exact same gesture, and I say hello right back at them. I love our feathered friends.

9

I'm looking after a friends budgies soon and really looking forward to having them here, only thing is I feel a bit sad they aren't outside, do you know what I mean?

I love to hear the birds sing in the evening just before their bedtime, when I was very ill and thinking I might die, the whole bird song chorus really struck me as wonderful and made me really want life

10

I know what you mean about the budgies. And, it is anxiety-provoking having them as well. They get sick easily, and can expire before you ever reach the vet. In the end, I prefer the birds outside, too. I am glad the birdsong helped to rally you during one of your dark times.

11

I could talk to you all day about the birds, but I wont as other people might think we are both boring and mad (shame on them missing out though if they do). But one last thing. I am sitting at my desk (supposed to be working, I will in a minute) and I can hear the birds singing to their mates, spring is such a lovely time of year xx

12

Yours is a book I would gladly read, I feel like that was just a teaser!

suzedablooze said:

I have a long and complicated story of my life - many people say that not only could I write one book, but probably three. I'll give you the potted version instead (shame as some of the details are, interesting, funny, terribly sad, unbelievable and often just down right bizarre, but not for the internet).

I was brought up in the north east of England by older parents, an Irish father and English mother, who really shouldn't have had any more children. I was one of six, I'm one of four now (we're dropping like flies).

I went to university at 18 but dropped out and did other interesting and things instead and ultimately that stage ended when I had my daughter at 21. I went back to uni and did a degree in Chemistry when my daughter was 4 and ended up working as an industrial chemist for a few years before then becoming a science teacher for a short while. Im aware I'm missing out juicy details because it will seem that my next step, starting my own software company with my partner, was sudden, it wasn't. It became a successful software company but then went through some amazing / scary / amazing / hair pulling / disappointing / amazing / sad times as we built up our company and saw it fall (now that's a long story, involving 3 continents). I now work in software design, it's a good job, it allows me to meet people from all walks of life and all over the world. I love science, especially evolutionary theory and its application, gardening, birds (we can learn so much from birds) animals in general (although human animals not so much). I am a pantheist and believe strongly that we live in a highly connected universe and should respect everything within it.

I live with my partner of 23 years in beautiful northumberland. He is a kind, supportive, clever and handsome man and he is my soul partner.

I have a lovely daughter who is a nurse and two wonderful, wonderful grand children, whom I adore.

Oh and in 2012 I was diagnosed with dermatomyositis.

13

You two can go on and talk about the birds, even though they aren't my favorite, I'm an animal lover through and through. I pictured dancermom saying hello to the birds on one leg and was wondering how much more crazy my neighbors would think I was when I start doing it here!!

suzedablooze said:

I could talk to you all day about the birds, but I wont as other people might think we are both boring and mad (shame on them missing out though if they do). But one last thing. I am sitting at my desk (supposed to be working, I will in a minute) and I can hear the birds singing to their mates, spring is such a lovely time of year xx

14

it was ;-)

But don't we all have complicated lives