Ok, so you've probably guessed by now that I'm not really a fish... at least I -hope- you have! Anyway, here's some information about the person behind the fish.
In real life, my name is Vicky and I'm a happy resident of the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area - California. In my humble opinion, it's the best area in the state ... surrounded by mountains, not far from the coast, and great weather to boot! In previous lifetimes I have lived in Florida (born there), Kansas (spent most of my life there), and North Carolina (fled there after getting divorced). Half of my family lives in Florida, while the other half lives in Kansas. I'm the only one in my family who gets to enjoy the awesome weather we have here in northern California.
So how did a girl who lived most of her life in Kansas end up in California? You really need to ask?! Well, truth be told, I moved here because I was in love. I met my fiance, Amit, over the internet back in the summer of '93 while I was living in Kansas. We finally met in person in May, 1995 and I decided at that time that I would move to be closer to him. We have been together ever since and are planning to be married on May 18th, 2000. Yay!! Amit has been a graduate student at Stanford University since Fall, 1994, and though he is technically still a student, he is working full-time for a start-up called Google, Inc., in Palo Alto while also trying to finish writing his thesis. Once the writing is complete, he will have his Ph.D. in Computer Science. I'm really proud of him, too!
Of course, there are several other people in my life who are also very important to me. Three of those people are my kids, Brandi, Traci, and Ryan. If you've read any of my prose, you'd know a little bit more about them, but just in case you haven't, I'll fill you in.
Brandi, soon to be 15, is my oldest. She's turning out to be quite a punk, but she's a good kid. Her friends (mostly guys) are the focus of her life, as it generally is with teenage girls. She's into music - the louder the better - and likes groups such as Limp Bizkit, KoRn, Tool, and who knows what else. I've given up trying to keep up with who she listens to and have learned to just smile and nod when she mentions a new group to me. :) In addition to music, she's ga-ga over skater dudes and is wanting to learn how to ride a board someday. Oh, she's also wanting to learn how to play drums. I'm afraid it might be one of those things that she may actually learn to do. As for getting along with her younger brother and sister she seems to be the typical teenager there, too. We get to experience the usual yelling and screaming at each other which is a great delight. So far she and I haven't had any major blow-ups of the sort that seem to occur around this age, which is nice. Heck, I even taught her how to drive last summer, so she thinks I'm pretty cool. My only question is, what do I do for an encore?!
Traci is 13 and a twin. She's about the enter her last year of middle school and seems to be the only one of my three kids who truly enjoys school. One of her joys in life is finding out anything she can about the cast of Dawson's Creek. I think she eats, sleeps and breathes DC. I have to admit that it was me who got her hooked on the show, but it could be worse... she could be a fan of Ally McBeal, or something! Her other passions are playing soccer, and hanging with her friend, Ian. Between her, her brother and her sister, she's the one who is the most sensitive, and the one who is most eager to please. She's also one cool kid who can make even the suckiest of times seem okay. I wouldn't trade her for the world! :)
Last, but not least, is Ryan. He's my "one and only" son, and the twin to Traci, which would also make him 13. What can I say about this kid of mine? He walks and talks sports ALL THE TIME! One of these days he'll probably be a sportscaster, though I'll hope for better... Seriously, he can tell me the stats on pretty much any player, even players I've never heard of! His all-time favorite basketball team is the Kansas Jayhawks, and I don't think he'll ever become disloyal to them. When he's not talking sports, he's using his head dealing with economics. More specifically, he's always wanting to know how much money I make so he can guide me on how to save it and invest it. I think his goal is for me to have a lot of money so he can live off of it once I'm no longer around to enjoy it. Just kidding... he's not really that evil and calculating.
I have to give credit for the nickname "lady_grouper" to my good friend and confidant, Chris Hynes (aka cricket). We originally met on the internet back in March, 1994 and met in person in the summer of 1994. At that time he had a nasty habit of trying to get me to laugh when my mouth was full of food. When I would try to keep my mouth shut so food wouldn't come flying out, he laughed and claimed I looked like a grouper. So far, his claims have been unsubstantiated, but nevertheless, the nickname holds.
In my spare time I enjoy reading and trying my hand at arts & crafts, but my true passion is photography. I prefer to shoot mostly landscape and scenic pictures and have been accused of having a penchant for photographing dead trees. So far, I have been pleased with most of the resulting photos (whether they include dead trees or not!). To date I have sold a couple of these prints and hope to be able to sell more of them soon. The pictures that are currently available can be seen in my Photo Gallery.
I'm a Socialite on the iVALS personality test!