Cecilia Sullivan:  

jewelry from sheet silver. That stupid, ugly, homemade tattoo of a heart that my friend and I inked on to my right pinky finger with black India ink and a piece of thread wound 'round a sewing needle. At age 16, I had no comprehension of how long "permanent" meant. (I had the tattoo removed.) Freaking out at the thought of the Year 2000...when I'd turn 43 (gasp!) It seemed unimaginable...I mean, reading Orwell's "1984" was weird enough. And Huxley's "Brave New World" was preposterous...I mean, really now...CLONING??? As if!! Music that takes me back to those times: Pink Floyd; Jethro Tull; Joe Walsh; Elton John; The Eagles. College College. Talk about a contrast! If High School could be summarized as The Lost Years...in college I was a straight-A student. It's just amazing what a difference *listening* can make. This would turn out to be invaluable when I went on to become a college instructor and mentored a number of students, several of whom were young women with domestic hardships or doubts about their abilities. It was immensely rewarding to be able to "give something back". Oh, who am I kidding? My students gave me as much, if not more, than I gave them. I still keep in touch with many of my former students. Music I associate with that period: Fleetwood Mac; Roxy Music; Peter Frampton; BeBop Deluxe; David Bowie. College is a turning point for many lives, so it holds a very special place in my heart. Workplace Work...hmm. Like most people, I started at the bottom rung of the ladder. And like most people, I started in food service/retail...waiting tables and other jobs that foster a nice, healthy dislike of people in general and customers in particular. After a few years of that, I joined the Army (yikes!) I can't say I was especially fond of the military way of life, but it wasn't a bad experience, either. Besides, if I hadn't joined up, the rest of my life would have turned out much differently. Yeah, I know, that's true of everyone, everywhere. Back to me. Cecilia + Army (5-10 men for every woman) = marriage, motherhood. Upon returning to work after my second child was born, I took a series of interesting positions before finally discovering my niche in 1992. I was hired as a receptionist at a small animal hospital, and from there I trained as a technician on the job. By 1998 I'd been promoted to a QA position in Portland, Oregon and became licensed in 2000. I worked as a critical care/E.R. tech at a fairly renowned 24-hour facility, where I also took on the daunting role of ordering all of the supplies for two clinics...valued at somewhere around 500K/year. In 2003, I became a college instructor, teaching the Veterinary Technology program at a career school in the San Francisco area, where I remained until September, 2006. Now I am back home in Portland, about to take on a lead technician position at a veterinary referral center. Dang! I don't think I'll ever get over the "new job jitters", although it's a definite confidence booster to update my resume and look at all the cool stuff I know how to do and the amazing people I've met along the way.