Born an Air Force brat to career Air Force parents, except that this was back when pregnant women weren't allowed to have careers in the military, so Mom got out when I was born. Started reading science fiction in elementary school, attending science fiction conventions in high school, and after traveling from Monterey to the Wall, sojourned in the Great American Desert while being married and raising two fanbrats. Marriage crashed and burned after sixteen years, so I became a single parent until the kids graduated/dropped out from high school. Spent four more years working on a teaching certification and an anime convention before moving back to the Washington area, where I am currently learning the theoretical underpinnings of banging spreadsheets together until the money falls out and trying not to die of diabetes. So far so good.