Cast of Characters

Me.

Born June 21, 1976. Thus, I'm a Gemini-Cancer cusp, for I was born on the summer solstice two weeks for the Bicentennial. The fact that my mother's due date was, actually, July 4 of that year means that I've never been particularly patriotic, I suppose. Or maybe I was really in a hurry. I don't know.

I was born in Georgia and grew up in a town called Buford, where I currently have an apartment that I eagerly want to leave behind. I have a mild case of cerebral palsy. I went to the University of Georgia getting a bachelor's degree in newspaper journalism. While there, I came out of the closet, then went back in, then came out, then went back in and then, finally, came out and stayed out.

I see too many movies, the last one being "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of The Black Pearl," which was good (despite its title) whenever Johnny Depp was onscreen seeming to channel some kind of drunken Jamaican drag queen. Last week, I saw "Whale Rider," "28 Days Later," "The Guys," "Terminator 3," "Legally Blonde 2" and caught "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle" again. I told you I see too many movies. The Regal Cinemas Crown Club may as well consider me a gold member.

This is my first blog, though I, as stated before, write personal essays and have a long history of journal-keeping. I'm also in therapy, have a minor case of obsessive tendency, have articles and essays published in notable publications and consider myself friendly, most of the time, despite my occasionally venomous sense of humor.

My deepest, darkest secret was revealed to my best friend Kacoon last week as we left "Legally Blonde 2." Because I am no longer ashamed of my past, I will share it with you now. In the 7th grade, I had a perm so that I could have hair like those kids from New Kids on the Block. My mother, who told me at the time that I looked cute with it, still has the photos hidden somewhere. (I think she was going to sell them to the tabloids if I ever ran for public office.)

Anyway, enough about me ...

Kacoon.

Kacoon also, sadly, lives in the Buford area and wants to escape it. She has a husband and a son and a sister and a mother and me. Some of her stories, which she shares on nights out at our favorite watering holes, are better than mine. She said tonight, though, that her jaded sense-of-humor is one of the newer aspects of her personality, which surprised me because I imagined that you had to hone a good wit over time. Kacoon, in a couple months, will be a certified EMT, which means that I only need to befriend a lawyer in order for my life to follow regular soap opera cliches.

But more on that later.

CJ.

CJ and I have practically known each other since infancy, and he is one of the people who always has my back, even when I don't believe in myself. He, once the class clown, is now one of the most sincere, straight-forward people you'll ever meet. Currently on a tour of Europe, CJ will be back in a couple months to, surprise, attend law school, thus completing my life's transformation into a silly soap opera.

But more on him and other people who inhabit my life later ...