ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A Chronological Accounting
April 23, 1976: Baby girl of European mutt heritage born in a New Orleans hospital under a Taurus sun and an Aquarius moon. Temporarily given the name "Jessica".
a week or so later: Adopted by a medically-trained couple from Destrehan. First name changed to "Nicole" and added to the Cajun family name "LeBoeuf". The apellation means "The Bull", coincidentally enough.
Sorta-Kinda 1979ish: Learned to read, sing along to various Jim Croce tunes ("workin' on tha car wash boos"), and was introduced to Grandmama's piano, swimming pools, a false pair of front teeth, and Michigan snow, not necessarily in that order. Began to attend a series of preschools ("Eye to Eye", Threshold) until...
September, 1981: Began kindergarten at Metairie Park Country Day School. Parents' second choice was Newman, which might have changed the course of history. Let's all breathe a sigh of relief.
Early November, 1981: A second child, Richard P. LeBoeuf, Jr., was adopted into the LeBoeuf family household. He was first to relieve his older sister of her only-child loneliness blues, then of much of the family's attention, then of almost all of her privacy when he became tall and mobile enough to turn doorknobs. Little brothers are a lot of fun, but we love 'em anyway.
1985-86 school year: Braces tacked on. Teeth not happy.
September, 1986: Country Day sadly left behind for a more affordable school. St. Catherine of Sienne came as quite a shock after the private school's more liberal ways.
"What are you doing? How DARE you break line to visit the water fountain? Do you think you can do anything you want? Well? Answer me!"
-Sister Ironlung (real name withheld to protect author)
August, 1987: Routine blood test revealed an obscene amount of white blood cells running around. Diagnosed with leukemia (the AML variety), which explained the sixth-grader's light weight and tendency to bruise easily.
September, 1987: First round of chemotherapy ends with patient safely in remission. Only ten or fifteen chemo sessions left to go. Braces off. Re-enrolled at Country Day. Hair just a memory. A lot of other stuff not even memories.
Early 1989: Last round of chemotherapy celebrated over a family dinner at Red Lobster. Hair has been growing back in profusion (see next entry).
1988-1989 school year: My worst class photo ever, nick-named "The Bozo picture". You are not going to see it. Ever.
June, 1992: Met the man of my dreams at an academic summer program in Natchitoches. He was cleverly disguised as Just Some Guy Playing The Piano; his true identity was not to be revealed until several years later. Met also my soul sister and bestest friend, masquerading as Random Roommate #3.
The Later High-School Interim: Discovered modems, BBSs of the WWIV variety, *Prodigy, Unix, and the Internet (in order of appearance). This, compounded with subject's choice of religion, guarantees an enternity in Hell. Party downstairs at Doomsday, anyone? The sagelike Peter Fellows would not forgive the author should she neglect to mention her frolics through the AP Basement. If you weren't there, get your mind out the gutter and resign yourself to ignorance.
May, 1994: Graduated from high school. Grades more than acceptable. Simultaneously celebrated: parent's 25th anniversary, grandparents' 50th.
June, 1994: Enrolled at the University of Washington in Seattle. New Orleans bid a fond farewell. On the night before take-off, taken bar-hopping by a neighborhood friend. Bar-hopping is really overrated.
May, 1995: Aforementioned man of my dreams revealed. Much happiness, a blissful Memorial Day Weekend, and lots of love letters to ensue.
November, 1996: First car, followed within the year by first bumper stickers. First car used on first road trip: Seattle to Sacramento and back on the occasion of An Evening With Rush. Second and third road trips ensured heightened exposure to Mr. Right.
December, 1996: B.A. in English/Creative Writing earned. Seattle evacuated. Stuff U-Hauled down to an apartment outside Grants Pass, Oregon currently occupied by Mr. Right. (We're actually located in Selma.) Drove cross-country to New Orleans, to enjoy a three-month vacation and relief from homesickness.
March, 1997: Returned to Grants Pass. Settled in with husband-to-be. Job search, jewelry making, and much short-story writing to begin. Currently plotting to getting this happy couple back to New Orleans.
June 20, 1998: Aforementioned happy couple finally handfasted in New Orleans, thus bringing the first phase of our plot to completion. Random Roommate #3 (long ago revealed as Very Wonderful) and John's best friend Todd played the roles of Bride's and Groom's Witness, respectively. Reverend Velvet Rieth, HPS, from Covenant of the Pentacle Wiccan Church, officiated.
August 4-6, 1999: Aforementioned happy couple drove themselves, their two cats Uno and Null, and a U-Haul 5 x 8 trailer full of their worldlies all the happy way to Boulder, Colorado via Sacramento, Salt Lake City, and Cheyenne. Gathered salt for ritual purifications from the Great Evaporation Basin, which is an eerie place to drive through. Dropped off a lot of money with the property managers, got the key, cleansed the apartment, entered an unpacking frenzy, turned in the U-Haul, all in a Friday afternoon. Whoosh. We slept well that night.
These days... Niki's working for Wall Street On Demand, where the employers act like their privileged to have employees (a new one in her experience! and pleasant); John's finishing up his Associates Degree via e-mail to Rogue Community College; the both of them are enjoying being in the same city with Random Roommate #3 and her current beau whom we will call Reall Cool Guy; the cats are contemplating the complete takeover of Boulder, starting with the University of Colorado, which both the Happy Couple are planning to attend come Fall 2000.
ALL FOR NOW.
There. Now aren't you glad you asked?
Other Personal Information:
- Niki used to work on this web site: http://www2.rogue.cc/
- And does jobs for these folks from time to time: http://www.ideacafe.com/ (most recently at this page)
- She used to sing with this chorus, and still manages the web page: http://www.littlebull.com/rvchorus/
- And she now sings with this chorus: http://www.oocities.org/~coloradospirit/
- She got married -- er, handfasted: http://members.tripod.com/~vortexae/Midsummer/
- She's Wiccan (in case you hadn't guessed from the Handfasting Scrapbook): http://members.tripod.com/~vortexae/
- She's a writer: http://www.oocities.org/BourbonStreet/7728/Library/portfoli.htm
- And she still wants to be self-employed: http://www.littlebull.com/
