What did you want to be?

When you grew up? I was thinking about this question the other day. My "ideal" occupation has shifted over the last 25 or so years I've been thinking about this question.

My first recollection of wanting to pursue a career was the obligatory "doctor", "fireman" and/or "ballerina" answer we all gave when we were six. On second thought, nix that last one, I've never wanted to be a ballerina proper because I'm one big-boned Bessy, and somehow, I just knew it would never work out. Thank God I had the ballet classes I did though, or my mother's nom du jour of "my little bull in a China shop", would have really stuck for good. I remember being 9 or 10, it was summer,and I was laying outside looking up at the stars with my best friend J. I remember thinking that the stars were so cool. I remember wanting to be able to explore the vastness of the space I saw in front of me. It was my first inkling of wanting to be an astronomer. Of course continued science classes only fed that desire, and by 8th grade, I really wanted to study astronomy. This would later morph into a desire to study astrophysics, but I get ahead of myself. I did my science project in the 8th grade on black holes. The project itself sucked, but I learned a lot. I partially blame the woefully inadequate math teachers I had growing up.

Then came high school. I remember being a sophomore - we didn't have freshman at my high school because 9th grade was part of junior high. It was the last day we could change our classes before they stuck. I had a PE class I was dreading attending. I just wasn't ready to launch into PE my first semester at high school. I needed to get acclimated to the surroundings first. So the night before class change day my mother took me to see Real Genius. Yes, this is the Real Genius with Val Kilmer, and the cute little boy who was androgynous, circa 1985. I sat and watched that movie in awe. Keep in mind, I was a very niave 15-year old Mormon. I was hooked, I came home telling my mother that I was going to pursue acting. I mean how unfair is that? You hear all these stories of actors seeing Citizen Kane, or some brilliant Jack Nicholson performance back in '84, and these movies, the moments are what spurned them on to study the great skill of acting. Me, I see some half-rate teeny bopper flick, and I think I'm Laurence fucking Olivier.

The rest, they say, is history. This acting bug carried me through the remainder of high school, two stints at two different colleges - Roosevelt University, in Chicago, where I studied musical theater, and Southern Utah University, where I got my BA in psychology and theater.

Cut to 1999 in Seattle. Ly and I had lived here for 4 years at that point. I had my second thyroidectomy, my vocal cord got paralyzed, and in the midst of healing, and seeing different alternative healthcare practitioners, one of them introduces me to the Brian Utting school. I had found the bases of my life passion - bodywork. This is truly the reason I think I am here. I want to always act, and will do so when possible. My bodywork might morph into something else, but for now, it's a very nice friend to have.