About MeHi there! My name is Elli England and this is my blog site - welcome!
Like many of you, I've been using Facebook as my sole blogging outlet, but I feel it's time to make something more, well, permanent. A place where I can keep track of the books I've read (and the ones I'm reading) and some of my favorite things without them moving about or disappearing based on their popularity and number of Likes. It's simply time to try something different. I currently live in Old Town Tustin, CA., in a house built in 1924 (it has a basement, but no ghosts) with my husband, three cats (two of which are black) and a rescued Boston Terrier. My day job (and usually night time job, too) job is teaching English Composition at Fullerton College. My side job lets me play with purses. However, I'm beginning to get the feeling my true nature, and bliss, is found in things more...mundane. This site is an exploration of things both great and small, but most definitely mundane: |
About Reluctant CrowReluctant Crow is my personal space to reflect, experiment, create, share and even perhaps inspire.
It's an outlet after a day of grading papers and an effort to live consciously, albeit hectically, while not losing my sense of self in a world filled with extroverts. I myself am only one part-time. This site is an attempt at what one of my friends has labeled "extreme downtime". My vision is muddy at best (a clear vision would require to-do lists and a need to achieve -- exactly what I'm trying to avoid) and will likely change, but for now, I hope this is the perfect environment in which to Play. With a capital P. And that's a good place to start. I invite you to join me. I can't guarantee where we will go, only that we will begin. |
If you are still reading, here are 100, no,
60 Not-So Random Things About Me:
60 Not-So Random Things About Me:
- I was born in 1968 in Arizona - and adopted 3 days later.
- I'm an Aries. I like change, shiny objects, the color orange, and fire.
- My childhood nickname was Elrod. And Rotten.
- I love animals and have always been surrounded by them: cats, dogs, sheep, birds, lizards, skunks, raccoons, even tarantulas.
- Even before I could read, I loved the smell of books.
- As a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut (and so drank lots of Tang), a belly dancer (no mom, that's NOT ballet dancer), and Indian.
- I once became "blood brothers" with a tree.
- I'm great at starting things, but not finishing them (hence the pile of books by my bed and see #60 below).
- My childhood home was next door to my grandparents, and across the street from a haunted Victorian House. At sunset, the colony of bats that lived there would make a dramatic exit.
- I was 9 when Star Wars came out and saw it 5 times the first week. Im still a die hard fan.
- My family moved to California the same year - I was so excited thinking I'd become a "California GIrl" like in the Beach Boy's song.
- Instead, the recurring tidal wave nightmares began. I still have them when I'm feeling overwhelmed.
- In the fourth grade my parents wanted me to pick out a musical instrument to play. I picked the drums ("no"). Then I picked the trumpet ("no"). I settled for the clarinet, only because it was black.
- We lived in Cypress, CA., just a block away from Forest Lawn Cemetery which we visited often, just because.
- My first boyfriend was Henry (who I just now Googled and found on Facebook). I met him in Jr. High band (he played drums). He asked me to be his girlfriend then walked me home, carrying my books. All very sweet until he tried to kiss me under a tree. My Aries nature took over and somehow the tryst ended with me punching him the stomach and running all the way home. He broke up with me the next day.
- Some things I remember from Jr. High: Jordache Jeans (with combs in the back pocket), parrot-printed shirts, and roller skates.
- My second boyfriend, Brent, asked me to be his girlfriend at the Mall. His parents drove us to Magic Mountain for the day where I had my first kiss (that didn't result in a punch) on the gondolas -- and almost fainted. Really.
- In 1982 I went to Ireland with the John F. Kennedy high school band.
- I love mashed potatoes and crunchy hash browns.
- I also like to avoid discussing high school. I was a catastrophe.
- My parents moved to Anaheim, but kept a fake address so I wouldn't have to change schools my senior year. I would have gone to Savannah High School.
- In fear of having to be a dental assistant after high school, I enrolled myself in classes at Fullerton College.
- Cycling became my passion and I dreamed of going to the Tour de France. I was also afraid to drive a car.
- I was a oceanography major, psychology major, business major, religious studies major, etc.
- The cycling club of which I was a part, hung our president's bike up the flagpole on campus, making it on to the front page of The Hornet.
- I was introduced to The Golden Bough which had a profound impact on me - and which I "borrowed" from the library for many years.
- I've studied four religions/spirituals rather deeply.
- I was a waitress at Mimi's Cafe in Anaheim where my biological cousin came in every Sunday. I worked most Sundays, so the chances that I waited on him (before I knew him) was quite high.
- After my dad had a heart attack and was forced into medical retirement, my parents moved back to Arizona. I chose to stay and finish school. They are still there, and I am still here.
- I took a semester off of school which turned into 5 years.
- During that 5 years, I studied under Native American spiritualities (based on Lakota teachings). The sweat lodge is an amazing experience.
- For 10 years I was a grant writer.
- I'm not well suited to an 8 to 5 job in an office with a boss, so I went back to school for "fun".
- I married my hairstylist in 1997 after just 3 months. Just for "fun".
- First marriage was on an ocean cliff - at midnight.
- That ended. But we stayed great friends and most importantly, he stayed my hairstylist for 8 more years until he moved to Australia.
- Bacon is good. And it's better with dark chocolate.
- I raved in San Francisco before most kids these days were born. Flights were cheaper in those days.
- I found my birth mom, in Riverside. Her sister (my aunt) had been the local Fullerton historian and worked in a small Catholic gift store which I had frequented. Again, I'm sure we had run into each unknowingly at some point.
- I turned 30, alone, in New Orleans. I can't think of anything better. A claw foot bathtub at an old plantation, and a cigar smoked in a squeaky rocky chair on the front porch. I dipped my toes in the MIssissippi and all was well.
- My birth mom and aunt both love dark chocolate, cemeteries, and New Orleans as much as I do.
- I made a pilgrimage to Ireland to visit the sacred wells of St. Brigid, 6 months after 9/11.
- I majored in American Contemporary Literature (I love the Beats), graduated, and kept going to get my masters. By then learning had become an addiction.
- I've considered working towards a PhD on and off. But mostly off. Unless I win the lottery.
- I met my now husband online - at Match.com. He is also adopted.
- We met at the Olde Ship in Fullerton on our first. He proposed to me there 5 years later.
- Our vows and first dance took place under an old oak tree -- at the arboretum of Cal State Fullerton.
- I've never liked breakfast. Unless on a road trip, or on vacation.
- I love to sing, although I don't sing well.
- I tend to be competitive. And a type A personality. Although I'm aiming for a B+ personality these days.
- My husband and I both made major career changes at the same time (me from grant writer to college professor, he from artist/graphic designer to special education instructor). During this time, we sacrificed sushi Fridays which made us sad.
- My favorite stores are Ikea, The Container Store, and Staples.
- I'm good at starting things, but not great at finishing them. This includes books.
- I get exceptionally tired when I'm tired or have been forced to be social for too long.
- Writing takes me a really long time. Especially writing work emails.
- I hope to write a children's book next summer.
- Costumes are fascinating to me and my favorite time periods are Renaissance/Elizabethan, Regency, Victorian, Edwardian and 1930-40's
- I love foot and hand massages.
- I also love crows. And bats.
- My husband is forcing me to get off the computer and go see Les Miserables right now (see #8 above).