Re-Introducing Myself!

July 3, 2023 6:02 pm | Life & Stuff & Things | 0 comments

After a VERY long hiatus from blogging, I’ve decided that it’s good for my mental health and sanity to put into words the experiences of my life and so here I am! I have a tendency to shut myself off from the world and while I don’t feel the need to put every little faceted detail of my life onto the internet, I recognize that it can be good to document your life journey and experiences. This is a place to share my thoughts with the world and…. it’s MY place. I make the rules. No social media to censor me, block me, or delete my posts. So folks, this is me. Let me introduce myself… again…

I’m told I am probably ADD or ADHD and likely on the spectrum to some degree. I’ve never been formally tested but my children have and three of the four have been diagnosed. That said, I have learned to cope and function reasonably well in modern society so I don’t worry about it too much. Instead, I kind of look at my quirks as my superpower! As a naturally high achiever, the thought processes that seem normal to me (i.e. doesn’t everyone think like this???) are actually quite out of the norm but are the secrets to my success.

Do or do not. There is no try. ~Yoda

So what kind of topics can you expect here? Well, anything I feel like! This is MY space after all, right? That said, I would absolutely love some comments (please keep them clean and positive, we are all adults here) and interaction from all you other lovely people.

Image of chainmaille piece with an embedded rainbow heart

Chainmaille embed I did for a friend šŸ™‚

I hail from Kansas, USA and have four grown children, a husband, an old bulldog, and two parakeets. I just turned 44 and have been married for 20 years now! I work full time for an aerospace manufacturer as the manager of a security operations center (SOC) and I serve in the Army National Guard as an assistant team lead for the state’s defensive cyber operations element (DCO-E). Prior to this I worked in various information technology roles for the previous 20 years.

So yeah, you might say I’m a nerd. But hey, nerds rule the world, right? šŸ’ŖšŸ˜

I’m also very crafty and at one point even had a business selling my wares – handmade soaps, lotions, lip balms, hand knit and crocheted items, beaded jewelry, and even chainmaille. I still do quite a bit of crocheting but not as much of the other stuff anymore. I do, however, have an entire room in my house dedicated as a craft room. šŸ˜…

I’m also a big fan of Karaoke and go once, sometimes twice, a week. Once upon a time I had aspirations of being a professional singer/musician. I even had college scholarships for it and attended university majoring in vocal performance.

About halfway through, however, I realized that it would be nearly impossible to earn any reasonable amount of money through singing alone and ended up dropping out. As a computer nerd, I thought about switching to a computer science degree, but back then (late 90’s) the only computer science degrees involved building circuit boards mostly. I did go back about 10 years later, once degree programs caught up with technology, and got my B.S. in Computer Information Systems. Then later, my M.S. in Cyber Security. But singing has always been a passion of mine so I get my fix now by singing Karaoke. Maybe someday a talent scout will recruit me or a band will ask me to join them, but I’m not holding my breath. šŸ˜œ

Another hobby of mine is bowling! This was something I was very good at in my youth but now also do just for fun. I was asked to bowl at a collegiate level back in my vocal performance days but I couldn’t feasibly do both and singing won. I take the summers off but I bowl in a fall league with some friends of mine.

A group picture of 3 females, 1 male

Karaoke with my friends!

Lastly, I teach a cardio kickboxing class once in a while and when I’m not teaching, I just participate. I grew up doing a variety of martial arts and it too has always been a passion of mine. Eventually though I gave up doing it formally due to the high injury rate I was experiencing. So this class is how I get my fix. Imagine choreographed shadow boxing using 7 different styles of martial arts set to upbeat music and you have our class! Lots of whooping and hollering too – we get pretty rowdy sometimes! But it’s a great stress reliever! And since you aren’t making contact with anyone (this is my fight space, and this is yours…. spaghetti arms!!) there is very little risk of injury. We jump, sprawl, kick, punch, do pushups, and so much more, but it’s totally scalable so that everyone can work within their limits!

So…. I think that’s all the big things about me! If you’re reading this and made it this far, please leave a message! And it’s nice to meet you! Drop a comment about yourself! Do we have anything in common?

Angela

Angela

Angela has more than 20 years of information technology experience and two years in Cyber Security. She currently works as a Security Operations Manager for a global aerospace manufacturer. She also serves as a commissioned officer in the Army National Guard for the Defensive Cyber Operations Element. She has many hobbies and enjoys bowling, cardio kickboxing, and singing karaoke. She has a husband of more than 20 years, four grown children, an English Bulldog, and two parakeets.

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