| Behind the Dimple(s) and a Smirk
A. L. Venable, Photo taken by Alicia J. Rose.
Thanks for visiting my blog. Although I’ve been blogging in this space for six years, it continues to be a work in progress. What initially started as a place to write about music and music reviews very quickly morphed into a space to write about my life.
Originally from the Baltimore, Maryland area, I moved to Washington, DC after college. After several years of working and living in DC, I grew restless and was curious to check out another part of the country. Thanks to the (now-defunct site) FindMySpot.com, I took a chance and vacationed in Portland, Oregon in 2005. I loved it and started making plans to move. In late April 2006, I boarded a flight to Portland with a one-way ticket. When I moved, I had no job, a few thousand dollars in a savings account and a place to live for a couple of months. After being under-employed (aka temp agency assignments) for seven months, I was offered, and accepted, a full-time position.
My life has changed significantly and I still can’t believe I did this by myself. In a nutshell, this blog is about that continued discovery of myself, the people who are part of that experience — whether they realize it or not, and all the seemingly random things that happen to me. Hence, my alter-ego, the Random Citizen.
Occasionally, I speak in front of people. I’ve given a talk on why you should ride the bus during Ignite Portland and participated on a panel during BlogHer’s 2009 Conference on the topic of travel and place-blogging.
Most of the blog entries feature song titles or lyrics because music is a huge part of my life. I am not a groupie, but I do go to a lot of concerts. I love music and part of my life is committed to music evangelism, i.e. sharing the music I love with others. Curious to learn about a particular artist or band that I love? I’ll be more than happy to compile a tracklist of songs for you.
Besides music, I love vodka, photography, traveling, and meeting new people. I’ll kick your ass at Scrabble™, or at least do enough trash-talking to throw off your game.
Want to know more? Keep reading or just ask.
Cheers,
A. L. Venable
