My life looks pretty boring in essay form. Nothing essay-worthy has ever happened to me. My parents are still together after 25 years, no one I know has ever died - I've never even had a cavity.

I'm from a small New England town that no one has ever heard of. I have gray eyes and light brown hair that gets blond sunstreaks in the summer. People think of me as tall and skinny, but I'm only 5' 8" and I think that I've put on enough weight to qualify for thin. People also think of me as being really smart, but I just read a lot and have a good short-term memory. Last summer, I worked at an amusement park and I learned how to talk to complete strangers. I also learned how diverse people are and that you never know what kind of person you will meet next.

My friends know that they can always talk to me because I'm a good listener and I'm always willing to give advice. They rarely follow my advice which reduces my purpose to being a sounding board, but I don't mind, as long as it helps. I wait until the last minute to do everything. I have raised procratination to an art form, but I do my best work under pressure. I like to get up early on Saturday mornings and sit in my backyard with a good book because the whole neighborhood is so quiet. When nobody else is home, I sometimes sing show tunes at the top of my lungs. If I'm feeling depressed, I stand up, throw my arms up in the air and jump up and down in a circle. It always makes me feel better, probably because it's so ridiculous. I try not to care too much what other people think of me because I don't think they often do.

I don't take myself too seriously but I hope you will. I haven't bitten anyone in a long time and I hardly bark at all anymore. Really. -