"I'm a pusher"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9H12xTl_98

That's all for now folks :)

DomHistory 101

I will blog more, I will blog more, I will blog more

What will I blog about?  I'm going to talk about myself.  BORING, but I figure I should just get an introduction out of the way.

The Dom-version of Dom's life (on fast-forward)

I was born on July 21st, 1988.  I was a terrible, terrible baby.

As I started growing up, I fell into the comfort of my tiny little Catholic school.  This school allowed a bubble of happiness where I was able to be a weird, tall, skelator-skinny, book worm in absolute peace.  

I'm that odd person that isn't sure if they are more introverted or extroverted.  Online tests can never tell.  I'm somewhere in the middle, I suppose that's not a bad place to be.  I had friends and I did my own thing, life was good.

Being the daughter of a Canadian hockey player, I was on skates before I could really even walk.  I automatically became a figure skater.  I also did girl scouts, the recorder and eventually the flute and piccolo.  

I quit all of those activities because I decided I wanted to be a swimmer.  Not just any old swimmer, one of the best swimmers in the world.  Starting at 6 years old, I dedicated my life to swimming.  I practiced in the pool before and after school, my training also included running, biking, weight lifting, yoga, kickboxing, and whatever my coach said that I needed to do to make it big.  One would think that school work would fall behind with this much activity, no way.  My coach checked report cards.  Basically, I had no life.

To back up a little more, I will tell you about my family.  I had a mom, a dad, and a baby sister.  I said "had", because my dad died of Melanoma in 1999, after struggling with it for almost my whole childhood.  

We had a lot of time to discuss what was going to happen after he passed, basically it all came down to the same thing - "Dom, I'm so proud of you.  You are strong and grownup, way beyond your years."

Now, my dad wasn't quite so articulate as that, but that was his underlying meaning.

My mom is the strongest person in the whole world.  She carried us through everything.  Financially and emotionally.  We had everything we needed and more.  

So, we were left with three very strong, dominant women in one house.  Do I need to say more?  Teenage years were ROUGH.

In High School I fell down the stairs at a swim meet and fractured both of my elbows.  I landed on my hands, and being double jointed, I bent them both inside out.  

I lost everything.  Nobody thought that I could come back from that, and I did.  I came back Junior year of High School and won Massachusetts State Championships in the 500 freestyle.  I pushed myself too hard, too fast, came back, and lost it all over again.  WOW.

Now, being a teenager, that was super, duper fun emotionally.  I discovered I had all of this free time on my hands, and I started making friends that weren't on the swim team.  Being at a public school in a city at that time, I learned a lot of new things.  Do I need to say anymore?  

Regret?  None.  I would not be the person I am today without any of the above listed events.  Although I am certainly not always stable, I wouldn't change a thing about myself.

I found myself in not such a good place, and got into a program where I could start attending college in High School.  I was then left with the decision on what I was going to do about college.  My whole life I was banking on a free boat because of my swimming.  I had two easy options left - attend Franklin Pierce College for free because my mom worked there, or go to a Massachusetts State school with great scholarships because of my advanced MCAS scores.  

I chose Franklin Pierce, and I am so glad.

I had a blast in college, partying very hard, and schooling hard too.  With my strict background from swimming, it was very easy for me to wake up for early morning classes, get my homework done, and still manage to party every night.  Super important life skills. 

My first semester senior year of college I finally got into the glassblowing class.  I gave it up to study abroad in Greece.  The next semester (Fall of 2009), I managed to squeeze it into my ridiculous schedule once more.

Was I super awesome at it in every way?  HA HA HA HA HA

My arms were so weak, from my injuries and lack of serious exercise (besides lifting backpacks and beer bottles).  I thought I would never get it, I was wondering if my glassblowing class was going to bring down my GPA.  Eventually, it started to make sense, and everything started to change.  

TO BE CONTINUED! mwwuahahaha <3