About

March 22, 2015

Update time.  Me:   62.   This is what I look like these days:

 

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April 24, 2010 — This is what yer kindly old Auntie Tild looked like in 2010. On a good day.

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July 11, 2009

Wow. Three years have gone by since I last updated this About page. Time for an update, don’t you think?  Onward we plunge…

I am:

• 56 years old as of this date (July 11, 2009)

• a resident of Minnesota

• a mother of two, current ages 21 and 19

• married

• a US citizen of Norwegian and Swedish ancestry

• a lapsed Lutheran

• a lapsed Christian

• not an adherent of any organized religion whatsoever

• recipient of an Award of Special Merit, 1966 Twin Cities Latin Contest [for excellence in translating  excerpts from Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars commentary]

• a graduate of Washburn High School, Minneapolis, 1969

• a college graduate, having received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota, 1973. major: Russian Language and Culture. minor: English

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Jobs I’ve had over the years include:

• motel housekeeper

• bookkeeper

• payroll clerk

• accounts receivable manager

• cashier

• bookseller

• credit analyst

• account rep

• customer service rep

• bookseller [again]

• commissions analyst

• anti-fraud services specialist

• database analyst

• print vendor liaison

• reader for Books On Tape/Communications Services, State of Minnesota

Currently employed full time at one of the jobs listed above.

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I’m a published author. Doesn’t that sound quaint? That’s what we said back in the day before the rise of the intertubes: “I am a published author.” It means that somebody bought some stuff I wrote and then printed it on paper and then packaged the paper in various ways for sale to the public. I’ve had about a dozen items published in this way, including magazine articles, commentary, short fiction, poems and parodies. My biggest single payday to date was in 1998 when Entertainment Weekly paid me $600 for 400 words. Nice work if you can get it.

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I was a contestant on Jeopardy! in 1993.  Second place.  Missed Final Jeopardy! question (The answer was Brazil.  D’oh!)  Lovely parting gifts included a week at a resort on St Thomas, Centrum Silver vitamins, Klondike ice cream bars, Lee Press-on Nails and some kind of haircare products. Yep, Alex Trebek was very friendly and humorous. Yep, it was a lot of fun.

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I am an aficionada de primera. Among other things, that means that when I step into the bullring I go by my official nom de taureau

Sesitos de Tapioca de Eden Prairie

(Little Tapioca-For-Brains of Eden Prairie)

Yes, you are correct: I am completely sinverguenza

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Here’s a conveniently blurry photo of me from May 2, 2006:

And here’s a photo taken just a few days ago, July 8, 2009, that’s been transformed into a watercolor portrait (thanks, Snap Art!)

And you wonder why I’m called “Teh Fabulous” Tild?!

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If you also wonder what’s the deal with the name “Tild”, click on the following link and all of your questions will be answered:

The Origins of “Tild”

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