ABOUT ME

Hello! Welcome to my virutal space. I live in Toronto, Canada with my sweet mini-schnauzer, Dusty, and my noisy budgie, Chippie. I'm a full-time yoga teacher, a part-time professional in the legal field, a former IS Manager/Network Engineer/Project Manger and I have a master's degree in archaeology. I enjoy too many hobbies to list, but some biggies are photography, books, music and creative projects.



ABOUT THIS SITE

I started my first personal website in 1995, as a personal portal and gallery for my photography. In 1997, I purchased my first domain and continued to showcase photography and a poetry there, as well as a 'what's new with me' page.


In 2001, I started using Blogger to update my 'news' page and by mid-year, I was regularly updating a blog called "[my name] in the City." In the fall of that same year, my employer discovered the blog and I was threatened with termination. I took my blog down to save my job, started a Live Journal in rebellion and started a photoblog in the spring of 2002, which I continued to update through 2003.


In September of 2003, I started The Karma Diaries to document my journey though Yoga Teacher Training. I've continued to update the site with daily thoughts, poetry, book reviews and creative tidbits. For the first two years, the site was closed to the public.


Last spring, I purchased the karmadiaries.com domain and opened up the main page (with the current day's entry) to public view. The archives and comments remain restricted to members. At the time I did this, it was fairly unusual, but thanks to the comment spammer, many bloggers no longer keep archives or public commenting systems.


The Karma Diaries documents my day-to-day life, creative pursuits and, of course, my yoga practice and career in yoga. I also post various reviews, personal thoughts and the occastion silly meme.


100 THINGS ABOUT ME

1. I lived on a sailboat when I was young
2. I ski well, but I hate it.
3. I gain weight easily, but also lose it easily.
4. Running in the rain is one of my favourite sensual pleasures.
5. I had jaw surgery when I was 21 - I have fascinating scars.
6. I have fantasies about selling all that I own and living out of a knapsack.
7. I often like animals better than people, dogs particularly.
8. At night, I have dreams that are as colourful and vivid as a good T.V. show.
9. I'm a secret fan of Barbara Streisand.
10. I rescue worms from the sidewalk after rainstorms.
11. Flying a kite makes me feel powerful and powerless at the same time.
12. I chew on my cuticles when I'm nervous.
13. I have a small, liver-coloured mole over my belly button.
14. I sing along with the soundtrack to 'My Fair Lady'.
15. I love my feet.
16. I eat spagetti for dinner at least once a week, often more.
17. I hate my paintings but I paint anyway.
18. I played tuba in the highschool marching band.
19. My belly button is an 'innie.'
20. My eyes turn greenish-blue when I cry.
21. I play ice hockey as a right defence.
22. I'm a dual-citizen, Canadian and American.
23. I love going to brunch.
24. I'm extremely tidy and organised.
25. The first film I ever saw was 'Bambi' I remember it vividly.
26. I've always wanted to speak another language fluently, but I'm bad at learning languages.
27. I feel guilty whenever I buy something for myself.
28. If I had a child, I would want a daughter.
29. I've voted in every election since I was 18.
30. I avoid telling people that I'm American because I'm ashamed.
31. I love 'Hawaiian Punch' flavoured Koolaid.
32. I've never broken a bone.
33. I can recite a lot of poetry by Robert Frost.
34. When I was six, I stole my best friend's silly putty. I still feel bad about it.
35. I worked for years as a professional archaeologist. I don't really miss it.
36. I used to be terrified of public speaking. Working as a teacher cured me.
37. When I was a teenager, I used to tell people I was Peter Cetera's love child.
38. I hate the sound of my own voice.
39. I loved school. If I could, I would have become a career student.
40. Money really scares me.
41. I use a light-therapy lamp in the winter.
42. I saw the film 'Rosemary's Baby' when I was 8. It gave me nightmares for years.
43. I've had a crush on Jodie Foster for as long as I can remember.
44. I'm afraid of crowds.
45. My favourite chocolate bar is Toffee Crisp, but I've only seen them in the U.K.
46. I love the idea of dresses, but hate the way they look on me.
47. I have five older half-siblings, four sisters and a brother.
48. I don't want children.
49. I like eating cookie dough more than I like eating cookies.
50. PMS hormones make me feel paranoid.
51. I don't undertand people who are obsessed with buying shoes.
52. I meditate every day.
53. My father passed away when I was 20. We hadn't spoken in years.
54. I love the ocean - a part of me feels incomplete living inland.
55. My first favourite book was 'The Pokey Little Puppy.'
56. My favourite author is Pat Conroy. The way he uses language feels like poetry to me.
57. I used to own over 1000 books. I now own just over 300.
58. I'm not pictured in my senior high school yearbook.
59. I've always wanted to go skydiving.
60. I refuse to drink Coca Cola products - I had a negative experience working for the company.
61. I have a navel piercing.
62. I dislike gusty winds.
63. I never tire of riding the subway. I always feel a little-kid thrill when I'm on a train.
64. I love skittles and eat them one at a time so I can savour each flavour.
65. Snow makes me happy - even in February!
66. I would rather be poor and happy than rich and miserable.
67. I'm a vegetarian.
68. Politically, I'm very left-leaning but my vote is determined by issues rather than parties.
69. I've lost track of how many times I've read the Bhagavad Gita.
70. I'm a very mediocre guitar player.
71. I love walking. I'll often walk up to 10k/day in summer.
72. I like cats but hate the shedding.
73. I used to have every rose ever given to me, dried, kept in a shoebox. I threw the box away last year.
74. I had a pet mouse when I was 9. He died because I forgot to give him water. I still feel horrible guilt about this.
75. I love flying kites.
76. I have my mother's eyes.
77. I still own the last trowel I ever used as a professional archaeologist.
78. My favourite beach is Virginia Beach.
79. I love southern Virginia and still daydream about living there someday.
80. I cut my own hair (I cut my dogs hair too!).
81. I love the way sunblock smells because it reminds me of summer.
82. I hate playing volleyball.
83. My score on the math section of the GRE was absurdly low.
84. I'm a member of a labour union.
85. I walk a labyrinth at least once a month.
86. I don't like wearing shoes.
87. I've been journaling since grade six and journaling daily for six years.
88. I prefer to paint with watercolours, but I recently started learning to paint with acrylics.
89. I love maps - a map is the first thing I get when I arrive in a new city.
90. I deeply admire the Dalai Lama.
91. When I was a child, my nickname was 'Tigger'
92. I wear or carry my rosewood mala beads with me nearly everywhere.
93. I'm a connoisseur of good peanut butter cookies.
94. I went to university as a music major, to study jazz and electric bass.
95. I have two pets, a dog named Dusty and a budgie named Chippie.
96. I own four musical instruments: an electric bass, a trumpet, a djembe drum and an acoustic guitar.
97. I find playing the djeme very spiritual.
98. There are no chairs in my home. At my desk, I sit on a balance ball.
99. I love wearing silk scarves because they make me feel vaguely European.
100. I've lived in Toronto for almost eight years - that's the longest I've lived anywhere.