Nearly twenty years ago, I was born a conehead: my tiny ears and bald little head pointed boldly toward the sky. Eventually, my right ear and my head completely lost their points (No, they didn’t become pointless!), but my left ear retains its point. My mother told me that this proved that I was really an elf, but while I longed to believe this, I never quite did, especially after she told me that my name was Endora Smellyfoot. Endora sounded elven enough, but I just couldn’t imagine an elf named Smellyfoot. Furthermore, she told my brothers that they were named Rumplestilskin Gnarlybones and Merlin Magic, and I knew that she was their real mother because I had been there throughout her pregnancy, so she was definitely lying to them, and probably lying to me. I decided that, unfortunately, Lindsay was my real name after all.

It had actually taken a long time for me to realize that Lindsay was my name. Before she called me Endora, my mother would call me her “baby doll.” So when people would ask me my name, I would smile and say “Baby Doll.” Eventually I changed it to “Inzy Doll,” then eventually just “Inzy.” But finally I could both recognize and pronounce my name. Who would have thought it would be that difficult?! In the unlikely event that I ever have children, I will make sure that they are certain of their own names before I give them nicknames, and those names will not begin with L or R.

I had a fairly typical upperish-middle-class upbringing. My father is an automotive engineer, my mother a psychiatric nurse who became a housewife when I was born. I am the oldest of three children, my brothers having been born when I was two. I was always a bit jealous of their twinship; several of my childhood fantasies involved me having a twin of my own. Really, though, their twinship worked to my advantage: whenever we went on family trips, I got to bring a friend. The boys, on the other hand, were expected to always be each others’ friends. They are good friends to each other, but it also takes very little to get them to fight. Thus, if I’m mad at one of them, I can always get the other one to take my side.

I grew up, avid reader, excellent student, gymnast from age six to thirteen (I used a minor injury as an excuse to quit because I had evil coaches.), swimmer from age eight to seventeen (I quit because I didn’t want to swim in college, although I could have at many of the places I was looking.), actress and techie from age thirteen on. In elementary school I was in the popular circle with three other little blonde girls from my subdivision whose names, like mine, all ended with the syllable “i” (Jackie, Carrie, and Ceci). In middle school I recognized them for the mini-bitches they were, but not before one convinced me to ditch my best friend Greg, who moved to Ohio before I ever had a chance to apologize. I was completely miserable at this point, even though I had other friends. I became very quiet and withdrawn. The only bright spots I can remember from my sixth-grade year were my chance to meet and eat lunch with Gordon Korman, my favorite author at the time, and when I read Dune and its sequals, which got me interested in science fiction. By second semester seventh grade I was sick of everything. I asked my mother if there was any way I could get out of that school. She decided that my best option would be to go to high school a year early. She talked to my counselors, and BOOM! I was in eighth grade classes the next day. They were impressed with the SAT and ACT scores I had gotten when I took the tests through the Midwest talent search or whatever, and as I had very good grades, they saw no reason why not to let me skip a grade. They decided I should do it then rather than later so that I could make friends. I guess that was the right thing to do, because even though I was still quiet and shy, I got along very well with the girls in my new homeroom class, and to this day I am friends with most of them.

High school was a busy time. I was now swimming twice a day, as well as participating in the theater club, German club, and Key club. In the spring of my freshman year I was in my first community theater production, a delightful musical called “How to Eat Like a Child and Other Lessons in Not Being a Grown-Up.” I thought that theater would help me with my shyness, but it didn’t, really. It was easy for me to not be shy about pretending to be someone else, but I couldn't get over my shyness when playing myself. But the summer after my freshman year I took a three-week trip to Australia with People to People Student Ambassadors, and that did help me. There’s nothing like an loosely chaperoned trip halfway around the world to bring a girl out of her shell. A month-long school-sponsored trip to Germany the next summer helped further.

And yeah. . .that pretty much made me the girl I was when I first came to Hatrack at the start of my last semester of high school. Add two and a half mostly good years of college at Rice University in Houston and you get the girl I am today.

And for Australia bringing people out of their shell

I will proceed to read your entire post now

edit: ok, done Congrats on 2000, you are a completely awesome person. AND you're lucky, because at least you got Fairy references for your ear disfigurement...my parents called *me* Yoda.

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and when I read Dune and its sequals, which got me interested in science fiction.

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Sweet.

I am very curious about what you want in the future. Another question I have is why you didn't mention Sam? I hope everything is OK with the two of you?

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I am very curious about what you want in the future.

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I really don't know where I got the idea that Sam was your boyfriend. Guess it's that photo of you and Sam.

I'd like to learn Japanese next year, although I wouldn't have to have learned it in order to do the JET program, as I would be teaching the English classes pretty much entirely in English. We'll see what happens. I may end up going to law school straight out of college after all, or doing something completely different.

Fugu: Thanks for the info!