But I digress. I'll actually write something about myself this time. Here goes.

I was born in Mesa, Arizona. It's a great place, mostly because it's not cold in the winter and there are palm trees. We lived in a double-wide mobile home (now called "prefabricated homes" to avoid the association with trailer parks), and I had a very happy childhood. Then, just after I turned seven, we moved to Salt Lake, and I became bitter and cynical. You would, too, if it happened to you.

I was a rather short and geeky kid from late elementary school through junior high. At the age of twelve I developed Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, which I still have to this day. I was picked on a lot before I sprouted up and hit six feet tall.

After high school, I started saving up to go on a mission for my church. A few months before turning nineteen, I found out that my illness would most likely prevent me from going. Not going was one of the hardest decisions I've made. A few months later, I applied to BYU, got accepted, and started going to school once again. It felt good to be in school after a two-year hiatus.

Despite my illness, I still manage to work twenty hours a week and go to school full time, though I need to cut back the number of classes I'm taking or school's going to kill me. I'm majoring in English, though I'm going to switch to the new English language program next fall. I'm minoring in art, and I'll add a minor in editing when they make that next fall, too. I'll probably end up with a minor in English, too, which means I'll have a BA and three minors. I'll be done in three more years, which feels like a long time. I work as an editor for the Department of Independent Study at BYU, which is the largest distance learning program in the world.

I enjoy writing, language in general, drawing and painting, reading, picking nits, and squandering my precious time in various other ways.

Here are some miscellaneous facts about me:
I'm a cat person.
I want to be a Jedi Knight.
I want to be a novelist when I grow up.
My favorite band is Toad the Wet Sprocket.
I'm incapable of picking a favorite book or movie because I have too many.
I love the cartoons Pinky and the Brain and The Angry Beavers.
I'm single.

Don't wait until you grow up to be a novelist, and don't study literature to be a writer.

G'luck.

<----Agrees with Icarus. If you've got the ideas, start working with them now!

In fact, here's my resolution for the new year: write often (at least a couple times a week, if not daily). Even if it's not working on a novel, writing for fun is always a good thing. Thanks for the encouragement, guys.

Lucky you to be a cat person, if you were a dog person like me it would consume all your time and you would NEVER become a writer.

I was born in Tucson. It's ironic that I didn't care for the place much, until I moved to the planet of North Carolina.

Now I miss it most dreadfully. The spring blooms on the cactus. The smell of the desert after it rains. The monsoons. My favorite Mexican Restaurants, Miniditos and El Molinito.

CFS? Do you realize how awesome you're doing if you're able to accomplish all that you do, while struggling with this disease?

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Very few people replied to my thread, but that might have something to do with the fact that I'm a loser.

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A wise man at Hatrack..(okay it was Sal) once told me not to judge the quality of my posts and topics by the responses received.

My illness is Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. If you've never heard of it or just want to know more about it, check out www.cfids.org.

They were switching to FrameMaker about the time I left. I actually had the program on my computer, but had no idea how to use it. I've kicked myself many times since then for not getting to know it anyway.

I was one of the "formatting" editors, which meant fixing lines, bullets, and fonts throughout documents mainly imported from WordPerfect. It got old after a while. I did get to do a little more on some courses, like the Landscaping course. I coordinated all the artwork on that one.

Jon Boy, I'm glad you're around. You and a few other Hatrackers are the best possible linguine-geek insurance. I mean, knowing I could ask any English language question imaginable and have the correct answer faster than from any book! At any time of the day. Yay!

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I'm single.

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I was kidding about people not responding to my thread and being a loser. Well, it's true that not many people responded to my thread, but the loser thing probably isn't true. At least, people tell me it's not, and I like to believe them.

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I absolutely love FrameMaker, and I wish I had a copy for home. I don't know what I'd do with it, but I just want to own it.

Thanks, Sal. It's good to be around. By the way, the word you wanted is "antecedent." It's the noun that is referenced by a pronoun. For example: "I hate Bob, so I killed him." "Bob" is the antecedent for the pronoun "him."