Origins and Evolution

I was born by the river, in a little tent and just like the river I've been running ever since...That's not true. Those words, the opening lyrics to Sam Cooke's A Change is Gonna Come just kind of popped into my head. I was born in a small town in South Carolina--named after a Scandinavian country of all things. I haven't lived there in a lot of years and though I cherish the memories that I have about growing up there, it's really become quite a dump. I wish my parents would move away. But, such is life. Growing and moving. Learning and adapting. I think that eventually I'll be able to get them to move away. I just hope it's not after they've become old and too feeble to enjoy life in the city where I'm living at that point in time.

I'm 32 years old and I swear, I feel more and more my age with each year that goes by. I'm fairly physically fit though my southern-ness has imbued me with a love for delectable plates of greasy, fatty food that requires that I workout often. When I fall off of the exercise wagon, it seems those extra ten pounds that stalk me like Marion Barry(allegedly) quickly find their way back into my arms and cheeks and thighs, etc. But, when I get on a workout "kick", I tend to go very hard and in no time at all, those stalkers are nothing more than an after-thought.

I am a news junkie though I am deeply disappointed in the way the media has seemed to morph into a government mouth-piece over the past 10 years or so. Fox News for George W. Bush, now everybody else for Barack Obama. It's a little scary to me. In one of Professor Halavais's posts at the Writing for Interactive Media blog, he mentions how it is bogus for a journalist to claim that she is simply reporting what she sees. I agree, but what we have witnessed in the way of media bias over the past decade is a bit nauseating to me, but I digress from the original purpose of this post--the origins of Shana.

I'm an eldest child so I admittedly tend to be just a tad bit on the bossy side...okay, maybe a bit more than a tad but that's debatable and you'd do yourself well not to argue with me. I'm pretty good at it, or so they say. The losers that is. I grew up with a deep desire to practice law. Sometimes, I still feel those pangs. I haven't ever told that to anyone else. That I still feel those pangs every now and again, but it's true. I don't think I have it in me to go to law school at present though, so unless they come up with some sort of six week correspondence course that lets one earn a law degree, I don't think I'll be heading down that path in this lifetime. Fresh episodes of Law and Order (I have a bias towards SVU) and Nintendo DS games (I own a pink one) with a legal slant will have to suffice.

I live in Maryland now and I work in Washington, DC. I love the area. I love the richness of the history of the city and what it stands for. Maybe some of it is this seemingly insatiable news jones I've got, but there never seems to be a dull moment in this town. There's no bright lights and glitz and glamour like New York City or Los Angeles, but my goodness when you can drive right past a hotel where you know some politician used to do his dirty deeds, the realization of the close proximity to where power corrupted its owner is breathtaking.

Speaking of breathtaking, I absolutely love traveling, especially to areas with gorgeous architecture or natural landmarks and parks and such. I haven't traveled nearly as much as I plan to before it's time to cash in my chips, but I try to get to a few places each year. So far this year, I've been to Montreal, Canada (nice) and Phoenix, Arizona (blah). Maybe my "blah" about Phoenix isn't really fair because I didn't spend as much time as I should have exploring the desert landmarks and I didn't have time to make it out to the Grand Canyon. I think I'll check the Canyon out when next I'm in Vegas. I'm hoping to make it to London or someplace similar (as if huh?) in the Fall. I tend to plan vacations with only a two to three week head start and it all comes together rather quickly, but the planning is always feverish because I hate to arrive to a location without at least some semblance of a plan.

I'm in this Interactive Communications program because I feel as though I need some new skills where public relations and communications are concerned. I just finished taking a class on Interactive Development and though it was very exhausting, it was exhilarating at the same time because I learned so much so quickly. I kind of taught myself how to use Dreamweaver, at a pretty basic level. I'm really looking forward to learning how to use that program for more than tossing up text and some pictures. I'm almost certain that it is useful for more than what I managed to use it for in the course.

When I finally hit the jackpot in either the Megamillions or Powerball, I'm going to toss my cell phone in the nearest dumpster, after I give my mother, father, brother, sister, two nieces and nephew their portion of my earnings, and hit the road. I'm not even going to buy a place. I'm just going to rent cottages or other small homes/apartments in each city or country that I visit, then turn my keys in and just keep it moving. I think life is better spent outside the box. Now, if only I could find my way back out of this one they keep putting me in... --Shana