(Because exams are the most fun thing ever, I’m dividing the questions up sort of like a test format. Short Answer and Essay.  Which has actually given me an idea for multiple choice… Ha!  Anyway, not this time around. So, we begin with the short answer ones…)

First two are from Amber, rest from Kaya!  THANK YOU, ladies!  (FYI, I’m going to be answering all your questions, Kaya.  I’ve just got to take ‘em in sections.  Probably out of order, due to my spastic nature.  Woo!)

When do you think you’ll be able to take that step of being together full time? Just curious on your history and future.

Getting my degree had always been a huge hurdle for me because of my mental health.  I left school repeatedly, (most notably after trying to kill myself my freshman year) for treatment, and to do random things like traipse about the country, and go live on a farm in the Bible belt.  Yeah, I don’t know.  I was mental, remember?

I always felt I NEEDED to graduate, I just didn’t think I COULD. Then I met Antonio.  And it might sound corny, but being and becoming his gave me the confidence, the drive, and the support I needed to simply know I was capable without mentally breaking down.

So about a year ago, I moved back in with my father, about 1,000 miles away from Antonio. See, my university had “residency requirements” and I had no choice but to finish my remaining classes AT the  university.  (I didn’t have to live on campus, it just meant that my final 32 credits could not be transferred in from another school.)

Antonio will be visiting in about two and a half weeks now that I’m all wound down with school.  (See the third question for full details on school!) I imagine we’ll do more discussion into Future Plans then. At this point?  I’m not entirely sure about a timetable…  It’s entirely, 100% up to him.  But, give me three weeks, and I’ll have something more concrete to tell you, even if it’s “And then he said he’d been waiting to tell me, face-to-face, that he fell in love with a chipmunk while we were apart and/or decided to become a priest.  So we’re kaput.”

(Terribly likely, btw.)

And how old are you both? If that’s private, I take it back! *smiles* I am 53 this year and my husband is 43 this year so…I just wanted to know!

I’m always wanting to know ages too.  I just turned twenty-six and Antonio is thirty-six.  We’re ten and a half years apart, which seems about the same as your age difference, only in reverse!  (I’m a Pisces and he’s a Virgo, in case anyone was curious.)

What are you going to school for and how much longer will it take you?

I majored in Psychology because it fascinates me.

I minored in Statistics because I’m a nerd.

Technically, I completed all my coursework for my Bachelor’s in January.  But so far, I’m the only one who thinks I’ve graduated.   I was a transfer student (I transferred from another university when I was 19, following the “Trying To Off Myself Fiasco of 2002”), and I’ve had massive issues with the paper trail from that transfer.  I would LOVE to rant about it, but I promised myself I wouldn’t bore you too much.

What do you do for work?

Right now, I’m a residential counselor.  I took the job a year ago when I set about finishing school, because the hours allowed me to attend classes during the week and still work a full-time position.  I work awake*** overnight shifts on weekends.   This weekend I worked an 11-hour shift, had six hours off, spent two of them driving, then returned to work for an 18-hour shift.  I promptly fell asleep for the last four hours of it, and was awoken by relief staff literally AS I was supposed to be dosing medication.   According to a recent survey, conducted in my living room, I’m extremely awesome.

***FYI, “awake” is code for “and I totally sleep during”

What experience in your childhood had the largest influence on your life today?

Oh, man, that’s hard. I’m going to focus on positive here, and say being homeschooled. I was homeschooled for two years, just before entering middle school.

I learned… I learned HOW to learn.  Before being homeschooled, I already knew how to seek out knowledge, how to lose myself in books, and how to take formal tests. But after, I knew how to truly process knowledge, how to find myself in books, and how to take something away with me from formal tests.

I could ramble about it for AGES.  But I’ll sum it up this way:  It was right in every single way that public education is wrong.  And then it was right in a million more.

I want to know about your favorite type of interaction with Antonio.

This is going to sound cheesy, so I’d like to preface this by saying I am FULLY aware of the cheese factor. I just can’t seem to help myself.

My favorite type of interaction is not limited to any certain activity. It’s anything we do (or that I do for him, even if he is not present) that makes time cease to matter.

Yep.  That’s the thing.  When I do something with him or for him, and that activity siphons away time’s ability to have an impact on my consciousness?  I’m a happy, happy girl.  It means I am totally immersed in HIM. And that’s what I love the very best.

OKAY!  I’m going to cap it there, because I’m tired, and I need to sleep for about a billion and a half hours tonight.  You’re all welcome to keep asking questions.  I really like having ready-made post material!