Although I’m a Leo, I really despise being the center of attention. Like, really despise it. I take-an-F-on-a-presentation-so-I-don’t-have-to-speak-in-front-of-the-class despise it. So, it’s easy to understand why I haven’t had a traditional birthday party in over ten years. Don’t get me wrong; I like celebrating my birthday (i.e. I like free stuff), but anyone, even people I love, singing a bizarre, repetitive children’s song makes me want to scamper upstairs and hide under the bed like a dog frightened of thunder.

“Regardless of any budget I may have put myself on in the past, there are three things I can always rationalize spending money on: good coffee, good alcohol and good cheese.” I wrote that a few years ago, when I was a poor college student, and it still rings true today, now that I’m a poorer college graduate. I received my B.F.A. in Creative Writing with a minor in Gender Studies from University of Maine at Farmington last May. I’ve spent my time between then and now living in Phillips, Maine, a tiny, rural town of 1,000 nestled in the mountains. I also got married and worked in the kitchen of a seasonal Maine inn.