Hello world!

After some observation - and much persuasion - I am dipping my toes into the steembath. There have been many nascent, shortlived attempts at alternative social networks over the years (Ello anyone? I've got eight or nine free invites left...!) but STEEM is by far the most promising I've come across, both in terms of its execution and its philosophy and vision.

 

I am a 33-year old creative professional (yeah, another one of "those" LOL) currently based in the New York City and Hudson Valley region. I graduated from NYU with a degree in journalism and spent 4 years abroad in New Zealand, England, France and Wales. I freelanced for most of my 20s to finance my travels - I worked for the New Zealand Herald, the media department of the NZ Police Force, the Public Health department of the NHS, and many other assorted roles. After I returned to the States I moved to the Hudson Valley where I've worked with a glassblower for the past five years.

I am also a freelance model; I go by Pixie Galore and do most of my networking on Model Mayhem, where you can view my full portfolio. I shoot primarily in the city but I also do location shoots in more rural areas, and occasionally in locations like abandoned buildings or structures (what I refer to as "guerilla shooting" since frequently the locations are technically off limits to the public...I've only been caught once!).

I have epilepsy. I was diagnosed, suddenly and unexpectedly last summer, when I began to have seizures about once a week for almost two months. I was hospitalized twice; one time after I fell, I bashed the entire left side of my face in, chipped my two front teeth, and needed seven stitches to close the cuts above and below my eye. I was on six different medications at one point, while the neurologists tried to figure out what was going on and how to fix it. Ultimately I was left with a diagnosis - myoclonic epilepsy with tonic-clonic seizures - but no explanation as to why it had suddenly reared its head at age 32, after a lifetime of perfect health.

I get totally geeked out in the kitchen and as a wannabe-pro food blogger (I have a particular niche obsession for canning and jam- and jelly-making) I spend way too much time taking pictures of the food I make before I eat it. (The photo you see is a chocolate cherry-filled cupcake I made topped with whipped vanilla frosting from a recipe I purloined - probably illicitly - from Magnolia Bakery. If you ask nicely I might tell you how to make it...it will change your life, and the lives of everyone around you, provided they aren't diabetic or on the Atkins diet.)

I look forward to sharing these and my many other interests, hangups, neuroses and "talents" with the  STEEM community. <3