Melissa Smith:  

NEED TO UPDATE! (Old Info) Life Let's see. After high school, I got my B.A. in Psych from the Univ. of Calif. Santa Cruz (where I also met great friends, learned to drink and did a lot of body surfing with and without a wetsuit - that's "wetsuit" not "swimsuit"). I worked in the social services for a while, moving up to Sacramento to be closer to government agencies. In 1997, I quit my job, and hopped on a plane to Abiko City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan and taught public high school English for 3 years. (By the way, my plane's engine caught fire and we made a crash landing - which made it onto CNN that night. It was cool!) During that time, I traveled extensively throughout Asia, including hiking in the mountains of Taiwan, taking a boat down the Yangtze River from Shanghai and crossing the heavily guarded boarder into North Korea. After that contract ended, I came back to Sacramento and became a corporate trainer. Eventually, I left the stability of a full-time job, and went into private consulting, where I made pretty good money ... when I was working. I traveled 100% of the time, so I gave up my apartment and lived in hotels for 2 years. I met the love ...Expand for more