It has been suggested to me to let people get to know me more. Specifically, it was in regards to AA mettings. However, I think it is appropriate and important for me to do so here as well. I hope this thread provides an opportunity for me to get to know others on this forum as well.

For starters, the superficial:
1) I live where I was born and raised- Midwest, USA. I wish I lived on the West Coast.
2) I own a motorcycle. It's small but fast and powerful like the driver. One more reason to move somewhere warmer.
3) I screwed around in college for three years before joining the Marine Corps. What a drunken blur all of that was. Which might be a good thing because I had more one night stands than I care to remember.
4) Lastly, tude is short for attitude. It was a nickname by a couple of college friends. I hated it at the time because it was a tough, bad attitude they were referring to. As I have grown out of that, the I still have an attitude. However, now it is good, sassy, strong, and confident.

Hi, I am Jade

I was raised on the East Coast (USA)
Now I live on the West Coast, (never lived anywhere in between)

My username, SoloJade, are the first 4 letters of my last name and first 4 letters of my first name.
My username could also mean I'm alone like 'flying solo'

I think I have had PTSD forever, since childhood, so I grew up with it.
I was diagnosed when I moved in with my Dad and he thought I had ADD, so he brought me to a psychologist to get evaluated and diagnosed, instead of getting diagnosed with ADD, I was diagnosed with PTSD

I am a student and I play guitar, I am disorganized and I procrastinate a lot

OK Here Goes! Who is Grama-Herc

I am a 60 yo female who lives in her hometown in Florida. Traveled the eastern half of the country with my rock musician hubby in the 70's. Had 1 child. Had "4" hubbies before I decided that I was not a very good judge of people. Now if I get the urge for a man in my life I will get another cat.

Was hospitalized and diagnosed with PTSD, Agoraphobie, Severe Depression and Anxiety/Panic disorder in 1997 and never been the same since.

I live with and take care of my 83yo mother. Am a new grama. And the biggest thing is I am so computer challenged that I can't figure out how I got my pictures posted so I can't do it again. Dam it ! ! ! !

Guess that is me.

I like this Tude... well done on starting it. I will come back to it soon and do mine also.

My name is Tammy and my user name speaks for itself.

I was born and raised in USA Illinois and still live here.
I've lived in a lot of different states to run from myself, but realized every where I go here I am.

I have equal amounts of anger as I do compassion. I'm looking to achieve balance in all aspects of my life.

I love to analyze dreams and help others to heal.
My favorite quote is; "Faith begins where reason and logic ends"

Sensing the truth within to avoid struggles with perception versus reality and illusion versus reality.

What you see is what you get.

My name is Evie, I'm 24. I'm a military brat, I was born overseas and during my childhood I lived in 4 different foreign countries as well as all over Canada, so I am well travelled. I speak English and Irish Gaelic. I know some French and German. I now live in rural Newfoundland with my parents and my 17 year old brother. I have a large extended family nearby.

I was diagnosed with autism at age 4, and considered low functioning at that time, but with the help of my family I am now high functioning. I have some difficulties, with social interaction especially, social nuances are still hard for me, for example, I often don't get jokes and need to have them explained to me. But I get by. I communicate very well through writing which helps. I'm somewhat of an advocate online, for other adults with autism.

I work from home, as a professional comic book penciller/inker. I'm also I'm currently taking some flight training. As a teen I was in air cadets and obtained my license but didn't keep it up.

When I'm physically well enough I like very physical activities such as climbing and martial arts, and horseback riding as well. Some of my other interests are programming, writing, robotics, and architectural design.

Hi

I am 32, female, married and am a teacher of German and Spanish to 11 - 18 year olds. Love the teaching but hate the rest of the job. Too much stress. I used to teach French too and can speak a smidgeon of Italian, and Greek. I'm trying to learn Polish but not getting very hard and want to learn Latin.

My name is mightsurvive which sounds very defeatist but its not quite what it seems. I have still to decide whether it is me who will survive or whether i will let my abuser survive or not. Maybe i will come round to the idea one day that i will allow both of us to survive.

I have lived all over - Kuwait, Qatar, Spain, Germany and UK. I also consider Crete as my second home.

I love the sun, cats, researching my family history, travelling, scrapbooking, gardening and retail therapy but dont often have the ability to do these hobbies. For the last year and a half we have been reconstructing our house - virtually every wall has been moved. But now is the fun bit where i can spend any money i have on decoration, buying furniture and all the bits and pieces you need to make a house feel like home.

Good thread. This is somewhat difficult for me, since I fear being identified by those 'out there'. But I am learning to face fears...

My name is Lisa. I'm 22, and I was born and raised in London - the scummy part, that is. But I live away at university now, where I am in my last year of a Psychology degree. Like soloJade, I'm an awful procrastinator.

I was raised a Catholic, and had Catholic schooling, but am now agnostic. I hated school, and used to find socialising extremely difficult, though this is much better now. Like Evie, I also used to be an air cadet, however I am no pilot!

I am hearing impaired, and wear hearing aids. But you wouldn't notice anything different about me if you met me - other than the odd mis-hearing, and the fact that nobody is allowed to walk on my 'bad' hearing side (or you would be ignored!).

In 'real world' I am not an open person, and very secretive though this goes back to my childhood. Online I am much better, though still struggle with being open. I articulate myself better in writing than in person. I am not officially diagnosed with PTSD, and don't want to be as I consider myself phobic of psychiatrists; but two therapists and a Psychologist have independently identified that I fit the PTSD criteria pretty much to a T. I have lived with the impact of my past since childhood.

I like winter sports, and used to Ice Skate. I plan to one day go back to this. I also once enjoyed Chinese (freestyle) kickboxing and this is something I want to take up again also. I plan to go into psychology as a career after my degree... hopefully.

I had an imaginary friend growing up, and I (half) believed in Santa Claus until I was twelve.... !

Hey!
I am 36 years old and a single mum. I have never been married but would love to one day be able to make that commitment. I was born in a suburb of London but moved to Oxford when I was 14 then Stoke on Trent when I was 17.
I am in my second year of a single honours Psychology degree with associated education studies - like Lisa above said so too am I. I am sure that it holds me back and becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy that I will struggle academically

I have moved around a lot (about 9 times)- Canada was the farthest although I think that it was really running away hoping that my environment would change how I felt about myself. I live in a place, that I don't feel comfortable to name right now, in which I aim to stay and put down some roots. It is a beautiful place to live!
I have managed to retain one friend over the years but only because she re-entered my life initially. Friendship and trusting people or simply isolating myself is something that I have struggled with and I have always managed to rationalise why I did not want certain people in my life. Now I try hard to keep a link with someone who I feel is good for me.

I love exercising ( the gym) although I do struggle when I am there as I worry that I will have a panic attack in front of people and being breathless and feeling my heart pound is one of the triggers for this. However, I still go and do what I can at the time to keep myslef calm and in the here and now. Swimming is also great most sports actually. I love reading but for pleasure not always for Uni. I LOVE music! I love to give to others just not at my expense anymore! I love to talk about life! At the moment I have joined a meditation group - we are practising 'mindful breathing'.

I was diagnosed with PTSS the end of last year but two years prior to this my last doctor believed I fitted in with PTSD. I have lived with many of the symptoms derived from a traumatic childhood in slience for many years. I keep deleting what I was trying to write so I shall just move on......

I recently trained to be a 'learning mentor' and was asked by the co-ordinator of that to represent the course from a students perspective for the National Audit office in London and have since been given the opportunity to now become a mentor trainer to young people at high school. My long term big ambition is to become a therapist specialising in children who have suffered trauma :-) I love being with children - I am still one in many respects!

I am 43 yrs old, married to a real saint who loves me. I grew up in North Carolina, am an incest survivor by both parents, multiple rapes and other abuses, I am a 100% service-connected Desert-Storm disabled veteran. I live in New Mexico now. (That is located west of Texas and east of Arizona)
Because of my disabilities, I am sick alot, so I stay home all the time. Husband and I try to travel every year when he has vacation, so we have been to Europe 3 times and Fiji twice. I speak Spanish. I have cats and quilting fabric all over the house when I am not on the forum I am sewing. And I love to cook. I just posted photos on an album, but I don't know how to post the funny story that goes with them. I also want to know if I can use a photo of my cat as my forum icon, and how do I do that?