swirlspice

• born and bred detroiter.
• family unit = mom + dad + 3-yrs-younger sister.
• shs class o' '95.
• chem e class o' '99 at u of m.
• trip to oz/nz/fiji in '00.
• moved to minneapolis for job.
• quit job.
• road trip usa in summer '02.
• moved back to day-twah and sat around unemployed for a year. hated it.
• moved back to minneapolis. currently employed as a tablet monkey. hate it. currently employed as a validation engineer. surprisingly enjoyable.
• took up running. like it well enough.
• sing in a choir. best thing i've done in years.
• metblogger

mom has owned/operated a daycare for 20-some-odd years. little kids have a hard time saying "erica" so it comes out "irka" which got shortened to "irk" and there you go. shamelessly pilfered it from my sister and bastardized it for my own purposes. swirl refers to mixed folks (like us). spice is sadly self-explanatory. my sister, Emily email:
YIM: swirlspice
AIM/iChat: swirkspice
Skype: swirlspice In 2003-ish:
Economic Left/Right: -3.00
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -4.72

In 2007-ish:
Economic Left/Right: -5.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.67

1. After years in the suburbs, I finally moved into the city of Minneapolis. Should have done that in the first place.
2. As of Sep '06 I'm living by myself for the first time ever.
3. This does not count my sophomore year of college when I had a single dorm room, because I was rarely alone in it anyway.
4. I took up running after being dumped (a second time by the same girl).
6. I was one of those people that thought running for the sake of running was stupid. I never voluntarily ran anywhere.
7. I started running almost two years ago, and I've worked my way up to half marathons.
8. I may make my first marathon this year's Detroit Free Press Marathon in October. Haven't committed to that yet, though.
9. It's so nice to feel healthy again. I love feeling strong.
10. My favorite place to run (so far) is the Minnehaha Creek trail.
11. One of my goals is to bike more.
12. As long as the weather isn't too bad, I try to not drive at all on weekends if I can help it.
13. I wish I worked somewhere that was more readily accessible by public transit.
14. I could take a commuter bus to my current workplace, but my hours aren't quite regular enough.
15. That girl that dumped me twice? That was Fly Girl.
16. Eventually she dumped me a third time.
17. She was my first "real" relationship.
18. It was hard. Very much a rollercoaster, on-again-off-again sort of deal.
19. I've learned so much about myself as a result. I hate how it turned out, but I'm a better person for it.
20. Fly Girl and I still talk. We're not unfriendly.
21. I'm completely addicted to the internet.
22. I try to watch less tv to compensate.
23. I rarely channel surf anymore. I surf the web instead.
24. I could literally spend an entire day on the internet if I didn't get too uncomfortable from sitting.
25. I haven't been back to Michigan to visit since Xmas '04.
26. Xmas '05 was my first ever Xmas not with my family. I spent it in Buffalo with Fly Girl visiting her family.
27. Xmas '06 was my second ever Xmas not with my family. I spent it in Minneapolis by myself.
28. I hate traveling over the holidays. I have rarely found it to be worth the stress or the expense.
29. I love to travel.
30. For a long while I didn't travel much because I couldn't afford to.
31. I got back in the groove last year, and I have big plans for this year.
32. I was incredibly fiscally irrensponsible during my year of unemployment, as if being unemployed wasn't bad enough in the first place.
33. My tablet monkey job paid only barely enough for me to keep my head above water.
34. Now that I'm making a fair bit more, one of my top priorities is to pay off all my credit card debt.
35. It's not, however, enough of a priority to forgo traveling in the mean time.
36. It's such a rush to watch my card balances go down. It'd be nice if it went a little faster, though.
37. I swallowed my pride and went and saw a financial counselor a while back. That made all the difference in the world.
38. A significant amount of my furniture is from Ikea. I like Ikea.
39. I'm also not much of a decorator, so it's a struggle to put a room together.
40. The only rooms I really have set up the way I want them are my bathroom and my dining room/office. There's not much too the bathroom, and I don't actually spend that much time in the dining room/office.
41. I sang in choir when I was in high school.
42. Two years ago I saw the Twin Cities Women's Choir in concert. I looked them up on the internet and saw that they were a non-auditioned choir. It wasn't until last fall that my work schedule allowed me to participate.
43. I leave rehearsals on such a high. It's a huge rush when we sing together and sound good.
44. I'm an Alto II. In this choir, this is the party section. We're a very tight group.
45. The vast majority of women I've met through choir are fabulous people.
46. One of my favorite parts is seeing the look of joy on everyone's faces when we're having fun and sounding good.
47. I joined choir in the nick of time. I was really in need of some friends and something to do.
48. My director very strongly reminds me of my high school choir director whom I adored. I adore my current director, too.
49. I've been wanting to move to California for years.
50. I still would like to move to California. Or maybe to Seattle.
51. Except that for the first time ever, I'm feeling pretty comfortable where I am in Minneapolis.
52. I spend a lot of time by myself. I'm okay with that. I'm on the internet a lot of that time, and going out a lot costs money I'm not willing to spend anyway.
53. I am SO OVER drinking to get drunk. I don't go to the bar much anymore and I'm fine with that. Happy hour pints or a glass of wine with conversation is fine, but if we're in some place where we can't even have a conversation, or all we can talk about is how trashed we're getting... UGH.
54. A friend of mine ditched our plans one day last summer because she had gone out and gotten drunk and was too trashed to show up. I'm still holding it against her. If it were any other reason, I probably wouldn't care so much.
55. I started going to therapy a year ago.
56. I was really resistant to the idea. Partly because I didn't know much about it. Partly because someone was insisting I go and being pushed made me that much more resistant.
57. I'm stubborn like that about things. If you're going to push me like that, I'll not do it just on principle.
58. Therapy is scary. For me, anyway, because I don't like to open up and share my feelings. Not in any meaningful way, anyway.
59. As a result I did some scary things and had some courageous conversations that I'm proud of. Maybe not a big deal for many, but it was a big deal for me.
60. I wouldn't go so far as to say that I can't imagine not going to therapy, but I really like my therapist, so I like to keep checking in.
61. I now have two tattoos, and I'm jonesing to get another one. I'm thinking something resembling a henna tattoo (except permanent) on the inside of a forearm.
62. Last summer I traded in my Grand Cherokee and went back to a Saturn. I don't miss the maintenance bills and the cost of gas, but I really miss that Jeep.
63. I've been told the Saturn Ion Quad Coupe fits my personality better, but I felt more like me in the Jeep.
64. I hate to cook. HATE IT. I don't know how I keep myself fed. Which is unfortunate, because I do really like to eat.
65. If I had more money in the budget, I probably wouldn't care so much about eating out so much. Or I'd pay for some company to deliver me all my perfectly nutritious food all ready to go and/or requiring minimal preparation.
66. Sometimes I really feel like I stick out as an anomaly at work. My path to my current job was unorthodox. I'm one of a very few chips in the cookie, if you know what I mean. There might be one other gay person, but he seems to be unwilling to come out. I'm from a place that no one else is from which in and of itself wouldn't be that big a deal, but it's unique in my immediate peer group and when you add it to all the other stuff, it's yet another point of differentiation.
67. Which is not to say that I feel like I get treated differently. I don't think I do. I just think I make people curious. I could be totally imagining this.
68. I homebrew beer. My third batch is currently conditioning. Someday I will have a kegerator.
69. I like spreadsheets. And my TI-85 graphing calculator.

1. I'm from Detroit.
2. I have a younger sister.
3. I have a black mom.
4. I have a white dad.
5. I went to public school for kindergarten and 2nd grade.
6. I skipped 1st grade.
7. I went to Catholic school 3rd-12th grade.
8. I was a bit of an overachiever in high school.
9. I was a total goodie two shoes.
10. But quite popular.
11. And just different enough from the rest of my clique to not be disliked by the not-in people that didn't know us.
12. At senior retreat, in the honesty circle, a girl told me she had always thought less of me for being biracial.
13. That is one of two times in my life that I can think of where I've been physically stunned by something someone said.
14. The other time I was out driving and heard someone, from the confines of their truck, use the "n-word" as it was originally attended, in an apparent fit of road rage.
15. I avoid conflict.
16. I'm kinda short.
17. I have a sister who is 3 years younger than me.
18. I'm still not really sure if I believe in God or a higher power or any kind of organized religion.
19. I'm not really interested in taking the time to figure it out, either.
20. I (attempt to) collect shotglasses, postcards, and patches from everywhere I travel to. A shotglass is my standard "bring me a souvenir" gift.
21. Every time I've vacationed off the continent so far, I've gone by myself.
22. I preferred it that way.
23. My eyebrow is pierced.
24. I have one tattoo, and I'm fixin' ta get another.
25. My eyebrows cover a lot of surface area but are not thick, per se.
26. The first girl I was ever involved with was my college best friend.
27. We vehemently denied it to our friends. I still deny it to my family.
28. As soon as my sister reads this, she'll know I lied to her about it. I'm not sure why I lied to her about it, but I feel badly about that and I'm sorry.
29. I subscribe to three different health/fitness magazines, even though I don't work out with any kind of regularity.
30. I've been unemployed for the last 11 months (but only unpaid for 6.5 months).
31. I am trained as a chemical engineer.
32. My dream job is to own/operate a bed & breakfast, hostel or guest house, or my own adventure travel tour company. Or some combination of the two.
33. I don't think I want to have kids, but I'm not ruling it out.
34. I met some of my best friends on a message board on iVillage. We all group email each other every day and there are only 3 out of 20 that I haven't met in person.
35. I like beer dark and sweet, just like me.
36. I lust after Lucy Lawless, of Xena: Warrior Princess fame.
37. She's permanently listed as #1 on my Top Five List of People I Can Have Sex With Regardless of My Life Situation, but I respect her too much to actually have sex with her.
38. I don't debate very well. I always think of what I should have said after the fact. I'm more likely to ask questions about someone else's view than to try and convince them of my own.
39. I've never broken a bone or gotten stitches.
40. I still have my tonsils.
41. I fold down the pages of my travel guides to mark the things I've done/seen.
42. Two-thirds of my belongings are currently in storage.
43. I've been doing the Slim-Fast diet for about 4 months and I seem to have lost 10-15 lbs (no scale, so I'm not real sure).
44. My favorite band is Guster. I've seen them in concert 5 times.
45. Dave Matthews Band is a close second. I've only seen them in concert once and frankly, I was disappointed.
46. My tolerances for alcohol and caffeine are both on the high side.
47. I always thought I strongly preferred to have girls as friends.
48. I have more girl friends than boys, but my current "inner circle" of friends is comprised mostly of boys.
49. I played softball and basketball in high school.
50. I can no longer do either with any sort of skill. Especially softball.
51. I am also mediocre at volleyball, but I like it a lot.
52. I'm more of a team sport kinda gal.
53. I usually prefer not to talk about myself. At least not about anything that may expose my emotions or make me vulnerable in any way.
54. I've never had an "official" serious relationship.
55. I haven't gotten a relaxer put in my hair in 10 whole months. I have about 6 inches of new growth.
56. I don't really like chocolate that much.
57. I don't really like candy much, either. Strawberry Twizzlers are my favorite kind.
58. I lost a cell phone in a cab in New York City.
59. I lost a digital camera in a cab in Cleveland.
60. I lived in the Twin Cities area for a while.
61. I liked it but didn't love it while I was there. Now I really miss it.
62. I drove all the way around the country in the summer of 2002, by myself, and loved it.
63. I'm a packrat.
64. My organizational method consists of making piles.
65. I'm a procrastinator. Seriously. I'm really bad.
66. I'm an adapter, not an innovator.
67. Every online IQ test I've ever taken says my IQ is in the 135-140 ballpark, which puts me just shy of the gifted range. I have yet to see evidence of that in my own life. I took an actual IQ test when I was 4 and I have no idea what those results were.
68. My favorite alcoholic beverage is a Colorado Bulldog, but with Captain Morgan's instead of vodka. Strongbow Cider is a close second.
69. If I could never wear another shoe again, I'd soothe my soles with Birkenstocks.
70. I watch too much tv.
71. I spend too much time on the internet.
72. I'm a lesbian in case you hadn't noticed before.
73. All those patches I said I collect on vacations - I haven't put any of them on a backpack yet.
74. I use an iBook.
75. I really want to live on the west coast for at least a few years, even if I don't end up staying there.
76. I wouldn't mind living on the east coast for a few years, even if I don't end up staying.
77. I qualify just about everything I say. I use "just" and "really" and "kinda" and "sorta" and words like that a lot.
78. I have a hard time with conviction, even though I've done some interestingly risky things in my life.
79. I'm a Taurus.
80. I've worked for my mom's daycare, at Arby's, at a car wash, at an auto parts factory, at a dorm front desk, as a software QA intern, at a university library, in a university research lab, and for a packaged goods food company.
81. It's a toss up between the car wash and the software QA for Favorite Job status.
82. I drive an environmentally unfriendly, uneconomical, more-expensive-than-I-can-quite-afford Jeep Grand Cherokee and I LOVE IT.
83. I've illegally shared music files.
84. I'm not into jewelry. Diamonds and flashy stuff don't do it for me. I mostly wear my college class ring, a mood ring, a few silver rings and I used to have a hematite ring that I really dug before I broke in in the midst of a tantrum by slamming my hand down on top of my friend's cube half-wall.
85. I don't smoke, though I have smoked cigarettes once or twice and it was grody to the max. I've also smoked cloves without inhaling and pot on two occasions.
86. I still carry one of those college velcro wallet/keychain thingies. I have it on a carabiner.
87. My favorite scents are Gap Om and CK One. I also own Gap Dream and Tommy Girl.
88. I am obsessive about lotioning after bathing.
89. I'm a night person. I'm most productive right before a deadline and between the hours of 10 pm and 2 am.
90. It took me until I was 21, 2 years after that 2-year not-exactly-a-relationship that I lied to everyone about ended, to fully realize I was gay.
91. I love meat.
92. I am torn between doing what I know I can do that pays a pretty decent amount of money and doing what I really think I want to do with my life which is going to be unstable in all sorts of ways.
93. I'm not really the activist sort.
94. I can be quite passive-aggressive.
95. I think I have cute feet, even though I dislike dealing with feet.
96. I used to want to go to medical school.
97. I got accepted to graduate school for biomedical engineering and then declined because I wanted to go off and make some money.
98. I love me some McDonald's fries and whenever someone mentions them I will not be able to get them out of my head until I have some.
99. I'm allergic to cats and in fact, I hate them.
100. I only recently learned the art of thong-wearing, and I'm still not entirely comfortable with it.