Kristen Holt

I've read similar sentiments from more than one person, but I have to say it too, "How the hell did twenty YEARS go by?! How the hell am I thirty-seven years old?" I never thought I'd make it past 25! Life is funny that way. One day, you're in high school and pissed about having to ride the bus. The next day, you're 37 and working 40+ hours a week, worried about impending case deadlines (and still riding the bus!).

I happily went off to State the summer after graduation, completely ignorant about life (but absolutely certain I knew everything), and without direction - hell, I was just happy to be away from my parents! And like a few of you, I had way too much fun, and did way too little schoolwork. After two years of school, still directionless and failing 4 out of 5 classes, I took a year off. I lived in Albuquerque for a year, worked for minimum wage and lived _ a block away from Central, and right next to the State Fairgrounds. I grew up pretty quickly that year.

I went back to school fall 1991, raised my grades, and met my soul mate in the least likely place possible - another 1987 LAHS grad! I made the Dean's list the next year. Who knew I had that in me? We graduated in 1993 - me with a BA in Theater Arts, Chris with a BA in English.

We moved to Seattle in 1994 with only a truckload of clothes and dishes, no furniture, and only $1,000.00 between us, so that I could work in theater. My first professional theater job paid $500 (pre-tax) for three months of work. I worked a temp job full time during the day, then another 5 or 6 hours each night in the theater, then Saturday and Sunday, too. My second was a little better - an internship, making $100/week (again, pre-tax). Unfortunately, this one was so time consuming, it did not allow for a secondary full time job. Working 14 hour days, six days a week for a paltry one hundred bucks was really interfering with my eating habit. So, in 1997, after much soul-searching and agonizing, I decided theater was not for me - I never really did enjoy it professionally as I had in school.

Fast forward to 2002, after two layoffs in as many jobs, I was unemployed and again directionless. Chris was about to get laid off (also his second in as many jobs), and had the opportunity to move to another section of GE, so we decided to sell our house and move to Connecticut. We hated it! People are mean out there, and the weather sucked! The only good thing I can say about Connecticut is that while there I finally kicked my ass into gear, quit smoking and lost 50 pounds.

We moved back to Seattle in 2004, both of us unemployed, but happy to be in Seattle. We moved next to a beautiful park, and enjoy walking down to Puget Sound and looking at the beautiful water and mountain views. We had such a great summer - we got a nice little taste of retirement - I cannot wait to retire! Only 27 years to go - oh crap!

Fast forward to today - Chris is a System Administrator, and I'm now a Litigation Support Specialist, working in Electronic Discovery for a large law firm downtown. I love my job. I love the people, I love the work - it's something different every day, I'm learning something new everyday, and I get to use my love of technology to solve problems.

Oddly enough, I'm fairly excited to see you all; to catch up on life, and enjoy a frosty beverage or two.

Finally, here's the body count:

0 pets
0 kids
1 husband
1 apartment
1 car (though we hardly ever drive it)
1 TiVo
1 Roomba
2 houses (bought and sold)
2 tattoos
2 TVs
2 - Geek household
6 computers (see above)
300-400 books

Kristen