Joan Harvest, one of my blog friends, gave me a great set of interview questions that she wanted answered. 

1. You have done an amazing job with your reviews of certain TV shows. Have you ever thought of doing this for a living?

I would love to actually get paid for writing!  I wanna be the next Diablo Cody, without the stripper background.  (I was a flight attendant and a cocktail waitress in Vegas, close enough, lol.)  But, I live in Michigan, and most television writers live in New York or L.A.  Way back in the early nineties, I was a Telecommunications Major at Michigan State, and had big plans to work in educational television.  I wanted to work on children’s educational shows, and Seasame Street was my dream job.  (Back then I was kid crazy!)  My professor had worked for Seasame Street and was getting me an internship there when my great-grandma died (She was going to help me out, financially.) and I switched my major, because I knew you had to have experience to get a job in the field.  I’ve always wanted to write for magazines, papers, write my memoir, write screenplays, and write teen books, etc … but have no experience other than this blog and the knowledge that I can do it.  Perhaps the right person will find me and offer me work!  I look for writing jobs all the time.  Have only found jobs that don’t want to pay me AND I can’t pick what I want to write about.  So, I just decided to begin writing here.  With the Michigan film industry hopefully blossoming soon, perhaps I will luck out and get a job somehow with them.  I just want to do something creative for a living.  I have a degree, so I’m definately trainable.

2. I know you have had many health problems and just found out you have a disease I can’t even pronounce. How are you handling the stress that goes with this?

Its pronounced Dis-Auto-no-Me-a!  To be honest, I am a big stress eater.  Love to eat for my stress.  It is also how I medicate for my Arthritis pain.  Probably not the best thing health-wise, but, what the hell.  I’d rather be addicted to subs, pizza and chocholate rather than alcohol or drugs.  Don’t do either, but I do miss drinking quite a bit.  I also started this blog in January of 2008 to help deal with all the stress I have, and it really helps.  Not only do I get to stay what I think, but I meet other people like me, which helps to know I’m not the only person in the world who feels stressed out. 

3. You are well traveled. What is your favorite travel destination and why?

I was just going through some of my travel pictures last night.  I love to take pictures, and landscape photos are my favorite.  I’m no Ansel Adams, but I do a decent job, and have pictures all over the house.  I’ve been everywhere from England, Scotland, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Germany, and even Vatican City, which I count as a country because you go through customs with your passport.  I’ve also been to Cancun and Tiajujana, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Canada, as well as forty states in the US.  As far as America goes, I love New York and San Fransisco for city travel, and Utah and Wyoming for my nature shots.  But, my heart is in London, and I seriously wish I could move there.  Beautiful, traditional, and pleasant, where dogs ride in cabs and there is no smoking, and everyone has charming as hell accents.  Italy is my close second, because the food there is TO DIE FOR, and my husband and I are both Italian, so its nice to go to a place where we can sort of understand the language.  (Although I stick out like a sore thumb becuase I am a tall blonde.)

4. What is the one food you cannot live with out?

That is a tough one.  I’m not sure I can just pick one.  I equally love bread in all forms & chocholate, so I guess its a tie between both!  Pizza and cheeseburgers are a close second. 

5. Do you think the life you lived as a child made you a stronger woman?

To quote Mr. Big, Abso-fucking- lutely.  First of all, I have survived many horrible things.  My mom was bipolar, and she’d starve me, beat me, torture me and lock me in my room for hours at a time.  And, my stepfather was a comlpete ass and a bit abusive to me, but mainly he and my mother had notorious fights where the cops would come to our house weekly.  If you count the mice and my psychotic brother, thats a lot of stress for one kid to handle.  If I didn’t learn at a young age that LIFE ISN’T FAIR, then I would never been able to handle all the bad stuff I’m not saying here, plus not being able to pay for college and leaving Michigan State my senior year, knowing that I am a very smart person who could be successful if I had a chance, not to mention getting very sick ONE MONTH after finally getting married at age 35.  I try to tell myself that I am giving enough strength that I have been handle everything that life has dealt me.  I’ve went from being a meek, scared child to an outgoing, opinionated woman who stands up for what she beleives in … I’m not jealous that people have more money, have healthy bodies, great jobs, have kids, nice houses, whatever.  Glad for them, not envious.  I just look at it as “Fuck it, get over it, keep moving.”  And I make jokes, even at my own expense, whenever I can.  Because life is both funny and tragic all at once. 

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