Brave New Kitty

I’m taking a week off to move. Namaste!

I am shy, so I talk about myself with difficulty, but I thought an introduction of sorts was in order, so here it is. I am female, in my early forties, and have worked, in chronological order, as a driving instructor, a factory assembler (during which time I was a Teamster), a laboratory technician for a shampoo company, a technical writer, a blackjack card counter, and a professional poker player. I failed miserably as a poker player, which was fortunate, because it brought me back to my first love, writing. I just went bust at poker in June, out at the 2007 World Series of Poker in Vegas. My boyfriend and I left with enough money to get home and pay our bills for a month or two. Without getting into too much detail about poker (I’ll save that for another post), I’d like to say that we didn’t go broke because we suck. I am a decent player and he is a stellar player. We had a bad run of luck that just didn’t turn around. He’s going to make another run at it as soon as he gets a bankroll put together. At least I hope he does. I am probably not. I enjoy poker, but I want to write.

When we got home from Vegas, I flailed around for a few days, reluctant to update my tech writing resume as I don’t know if I can stomach another stint in corporate America. My internet research turned up a ton of non-technical writing work. But to get the work, you have to have some proven writing ability. A blog seems to be the easiest, cheapest, fastest way to showcase your writing talents. Thus, Brave New Kitty was born.

My other love is, for lack of a more eloquent term, human behavior. Everything about human development, human nature, and human relationships fascinates me. I am well read on psychology, philosophy, and spirituality. I decided that these are the things I want to write about for two reasons. The first is that I think I have something of value to share. The second is that writing about a topic is the best way to clarify and develop it in your mind. I can’t think of a better way to spend my time than focused on what really gets my motor running. I hope I can make money at it one way or another, but for now, my boyfriend is going to be the main breadwinner of the family. He’s been out of the work force for a few years too, as he was my cardcounting and poker partner, but he has ample skills to transition back in at a high level. That’s going to happen any day now.

Other stuff about me:

I am a sober person since 1992.

My favorite musicians are Bob Dylan (pre-1970), Cracker, Billy Bragg, and Steve Earle.

My favorite writer is Ken Wilber.

I like to meditate, but don’t do it regularly.

I love to travel, but I have never left North America.

I like to drive fast.

I have a very dark sense of humor.

I am not going to have children.

My two biggest peeves are probably bad driving and fundamentalist religion, not necessarily in that order.

I spend too much time playing video games.

I swear a lot.

I’ve been out of therapy for about 5 years now.

I am a very honest person, but will lie to spare someone’s feelings and occasionally because it’s easier than having a difficult conversation, but never to someone close to me.

I have a strong moral compass.

That’s about all the personal info I can share right now without feeling too exposed. It’s a weird sensation for me to hang my life out in cyberspace for all to see. Not that anyone’s looking, but nevertheless…Anyway, thanks for reading.

Brave New Kitty is going to be a collection of short posts and essays and maybe some other interesting things TBD. Most of the topics will be related to human behavior and personal growth, because those are what interest me and what I know something about. I may occasionally stray into politics and other people’s bad driving, but these posts should be rare.

Anyway, that’s my vision for the site. With the Internet, anything is possible, and these criteria might change; such infinite possibility is both wonderful and overwhelming. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Thank you for checking out my site. I’m just getting started, but I promise you there will be lots of great stuff soon!