Software developer by trade, English Lit major by formal education, and diverse individual by nature.
Hiking
Despite a childhood spent playing in the woods, my first real hiking started in 2012 -- and geocaching was my gateway into it.
Hiking in turn led to backpacking, starting on the Lost Coast in California guided by REI. I watched and learned and asked questions of my guides, and the next year tackled the West Coast Trail with a group of friends.
Contracting COVID in 2021 and family losses that followed shortly after challenged my health, but I'm recently committed to regaining my fitness. This was made immensely easier by the discovery that my popliteus muscle was the source of a persistent knee problem. And now I've begun my triumphant return to hiking!
Literature & Theatre
Intending to be a computer programmer from high school, I started my post-secondary education with a major in Computer Science and a minor in English Literature. A gap year, a girl, and the lack of a Computer Science Bachelor of Science at my Okanagan University College (now UBC-Okanagan University) led me to switch to an BA in English Literature.
Already an avid reader, this deepened my appreciation for theatre, and I now attend plays frequently in Kelowna, the Okanagan, and even travel to Vancouver to take in Bard on the Beach.
Volunteering
I don't know if I can count donating blood to Canadian Blood Services as volunteering, but I've donated a lot over the years. I've also coached many seasons of my children's soccer teams -- right up until I couldn't kick a soccer ball any more because of a knee injury.
For the last year-and-a-half I have been volunteering at Okanagan parkrun, which hosts a free, fun, and timed 5km community event on Saturday mornings where people race, jog or walk. I volunteered for my 50th parkrun in February.
And in the past year I've participated a couple of times as a chaperone for the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport collecting samples for anti-doping testing.
Games
I grew up playing card games with my family; I still do that, but I grown to love board games even more, especially cooperative games. Favourites include: Mysterium, Fortune & Glory, Pandemic, Mariposas, and Sheriff of Nottingham.
While StarCraft II reigns as the top RTS and I still enjoy playing occasionally, back in the old days I hosted epic StarCraft LAN parties in Kelowna, including a 23-person 13-computer long-weekend tournament with friends that flew in from as far away as Vancouver, Calgary and California.
Woodworking
Over the years I've taught myself woodworking, and have built some furniture -- book shelves, a captain's bed, a medicine cabinet -- and I hope to build more. My next big project is a custom-built board game table to replace my dining table.
New Interests
The first of two new hobbies for me this past year was wine-making. I don't know if it's fate or irony because throughout high school I worked at a local winery during the summers (and sometimes when I was supposed to be in school). This year I found myself learning the art of fermentation. I've worked with wine kits, made small batches of summer fruit wines like pineapple and licorice, and experimented with yeast variations with a black currant wine.
My second new hobby also involved fermentation. Our German international student's homesickness for bread spurred me to begin sourdough baking this year, a long-held interest since hearing the Vinyl Cafe story.