Hmmm. Well, yes, interesting life. Like the curse about living in interesting times. It might be easier to start with what I haven't done - I've never been in jail and I've never been committed. Yet. But I'm only 44, so there's time. I'm a late boomer - 1956.
Xan Nyfors I was born and raised in the Seattle area, on a small farm, where we raised all of our own fruits, vegetables, chickens, eggs, ducks, rabbits, goats, etc. My father was a commercial fisherman, tried a brief stint at electronics, and then a tugboatman. My mother ran the farm. Partly because of the isolation, and the fact that we didn't get a telephone or television until much later, I started out literary and stayed that way. Reading, reading, reading. Still my besetting sin.
Got out of high school when I was 16, and went immediately to the University of Washington on full scholarship, where I lasted for a couple of years before dropping out. Spent the summer between the two years in Tunisia on a fellowship. Then worked at a variety of little jobs for a few years (accounting clerk, data entry, customer service) did a lot of stuff in music, got very involved in left-wing politics, lived in communal housing, wrote for a newspaper, and eventually came to my senses. I moved to New York in 1986, where I parlayed the fact that I speak clear English and my accounting clerk jobs into a position as the Accounting Manager for Victim Services. Got married in 1988, and moved back to Seattle.
Went back to the UW. Finally graduated in 1991, with a couple of degrees in English Lit and Geography. I wanted to get a hard science degree too, but they wouldn't let me. I mean, I think everyone should have an arts degree, a social science degree, and a hard science degree. It's well-rounded. After that, I worked for awhile as a research assistant on a project measuring health effects on the kids that grew up around the Hanford nuclear reservation, which was a lot of fun and very interesting. Then I started technical writing for a series of high-tech companies. First time in my life I've been officially a 'writer' which is what I'd always wanted to be, and they've been the most difficult ten years of my life. So, I'm on the verge of a major career change now.
Oh, the marriage lasted until this spring. Twelve years. Not bad in this day and age. No kids, but I have three absolutely adorable cats, ages 13, 11, and 3. Yes, one of the cats outlasted the marriage. Comments from the peanut gallery duly noted.
So I've always loved pens, and have always written all my manuscripts by hand in the rough draft stage (except the technical writing). I used to be on the quest for the perfect pen. I'd buy tons of pens at the school bookstore - all these cheap pens - looking for one that was better than the others. I'd forgotten about the Sheaffer cartridge pen that got me through junior high school so nicely. Then I found a batch of old pens in a junk store, and the owner sold them to me for $10. They were all fountain pens, and one of them was a Waterman 52. It was pretty oxidized, uniform brown all over, but it was nice enough to figure out what it was and get it fixed up so it worked.
Well, at that point, it was all over bar the shouting. YOU try writing with a Waterman 52 if you've been using rollerballs for years! Fogedabouddid. So I started buying more pens. A Namiki Grance in burgundy was my first modern. Too skinny, but a joy otherwise. Now I have three collections - BCHR, combos (they're so weirdly amusing), and Pelikans. I adore all of them, the Pelikans in particular. Oh they are so lovely and so functional! I adore the piston filling mechanism, and the materials and workmanship. Oh, and of course, there's close to 100 bottles of ink, in all colors, a lot of modern pens that don't fit in my "real collections" and paper, paper, paper. I'm a sucker for unlined journals.
Oh, I also spend a lot of time reading (did I mention that?), doing needlepoint tapestries, and listening to music - mostly classical at this stage, although when I was the bass player in a punk band I would have cursed and reviled myself for this. *sigh* always the extremist.
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