1. What do you like to do?
My interests tend to focus on creative expression. I adore working with creative personalities. In particular I enjoy sketching and sculpting. I have a small collection of strange and outlandish clothes for the moments I want to play dress up. Meditation, and reading play important roles in my life. Hiking and camping are experiences I've enjoyed since childhood. I enjoy spending my abundance of nurturing energy caring for animals. Often I can be found wiling away the night, watching foreign films, bad horror movies, or locked in conversation with the closest of friends - sometimes lost in silence, drinking in their presence.

Above all else, I love to write. I take immense pleasure, and feel a genuine sense of fulfillment in completing a poem, story or essay. It is far easier for me to express myself on paper. I take a genuine interest in knowledge, the world and people; discussion, writing and literature are my vehicles of exploration.

2. What irritates you about other people, and how do you deal with it?
I care very much about the state of humanity at large, and the well being and happiness of individuals. People who are so self absorbed that the welfare of others is not more important than their own desires upset me a great deal. I do my best not to be guilty of the same, and hope that in showing kindness and consideration to those who do not, they will see its importance.

3. What are the last books you read?
Priesthood: Parameters and Responsibilities. Rumi: Book of Love. Abelard and Heloise: A History.

4. What magazines do you subscribe to?
I subscribe to none though I read many: Psychology Today. Philosopher's Digest. National Geographic. Harpers. Times. The Economist. I scour the book stores and newspaper stands for whatever grabs my attention.

5. Was there a person in your life who really made a difference?
My childhood best friend, who encouraged every strange thought that crossed my mind.

6. What's your ideal vacation?
Visiting rustic areas, where I can both enjoy the beauty of nature, and experience unique local culture. Where I can enjoy silence and introspection, or focus on the exploration of those who travel with me.

7. What are your strengths?
I believe I have an intuitive understanding of unconscious processes, people's needs, desires, and sensing where their heart's rests. My unconventional nature has made me supremely adaptable, as my own needs and desires naturally adjust to those whom I respect and surround myself with. I take pleasure in pleasing. There is a great deal of joy in understanding the world and experiencing a day through the foot prints of another.

I am intensely passionate, though to a great extent, this side of my nature is internalized as I am never sure how it will translate in the minds of other people. I can be lost in thought for hours, swept away by the simple beauty of a bird's song, a painting, the taste of food, the words of a friend, memories of a lover, the treasures of a book. This makes my creative career and hobbies a way of life.

My nature is simple, in that happiness is not dependent on external factors, not people and things. Being able to experience is enough. Fulfillment and happiness are things bred through internal workings, not something the world can grant me. Happiness is the vehicle by which I travel through life, not the destination.

8. What are your weaknesses?

To a great extent, my strengths bleed into my weaknesses. My passion connects me deeply to my fellow man, and the pain, unkindness of the world can effect me deeply. My ability to be swept away with fascination, often leaves me scatter brained, distracted and abstract. The internalizing of my intensity leaves me lost for words.

9. Where would you like to be five years from now?
I cannot say where I would like to be five years into the future. I once planned on being a professor. I planned on being a poet. I planned on being a priest. I planned on being an archaeologist. I planned on being a psychiatrist. In the unraveling of my path, none of the many plans took root, and yet, they are all part of me and the way I live my life. I dreamed of being a lover, and it manifested into reality.

My future, whether in 5 years or 50, indeed my entire life, has always felt like the blossoming of a flower. In the presence of care, light, and sustenance, where my roots could grasp earth, the petals unfurled whatever magnificent scents or colors nature and destiny deemed fit.

I plan to loose myself to art and love. To honesty, to authenticity. I plan to nurture my happiness, and freely, earnestly meet whatever challenges and opportunities life may send me. I have stopped planning. Inspirational professions are the ones which seem to draw me, and where I find success, so I will continue to follow. A poet once said: stop weaving, and see how the pattern improves.

10. What would you do if you won the lottery?
I would dedicate my life to writing, reading, the pursuit of loving arms, and words of wisdom from exotic cultures.

11. What would you miss about your present job?
If ever my career were to end it would be devastating to loose contact with the unique personalities and challenges of my field. The informality of a creative atmosphere could never be replaced. Inventing creative solutions, and working with abstract ideas makes each work day something to look forward to.

12. What is your favorite memory from childhood?
I was raised in a poor background, where being transient was necessary. In one of the neighborhoods I lived in, at the innocent age of six, I got to know a delightful boy over the course of a few days. One day, we were playing on monkey bars. He turned to me and said: "Of all my girlfriend's, you're my favorite." Two days later, he moved away. I never forgot him.

13. What's the best movie you've seen in the last year?
Henry and June. It explores the relationship of Anaïs Nin and Harry, based on her diaries. Both writers, both in relationships, they develop a unique and powerful affair based on desire, pleasure and creativity.

14. What techniques and tools do you use to keep yourself organized?
Constant note taking and list making. I always have a little note book in my purse. The pages quickly fill up with notes, names, sketched, and random thoughts. At the end of each day, I go through the most recent writing to herd my thoughts and activities into some sort of order, preparing lists for the following day.

15. What is the most valuable thing you own?
A box of hand written letters, going back to the age of 10. From friends, crushes, lovers and people I never even met.