Discombobulated

I’m Jess. I’m 32.

I live in Wellington, New Zealand. I live with my cats Sooty & Pippi, a mob of pet fish and my lovely boyfriend, Steve.

I came back to Wellington from Dublin in 2002. Before Dublin I worked in Wellington, went to university in Dunedin, and high school in Taupo (in reverse order, of course). Prior to all of that, I lived in the US for the first thirteen years of my life. Aside from the US I have lived in Italy and Ireland and spent quite a bit of time in the Netherlands (Delft and The Hague, mostly).

I kept an online diary (at diary-x) for the three years when I was in Ireland. I lost all of those entries when diary-x crapped out in 2003. I mourn those pages to this day.

I love reading, playing music, writing, knitting and spinning, hiking in gorgeous NZ bush, travel and pottery!

I love jazz. I studied it briefly at Massey’s Jazz school, but realised I am by no stretch of the imagination a performer.

I discovered Piet Mondrian’s earlier works at the Gemeentemuseum in the Hague and the Kröller-Müller museum in Otterlo and I adore him. (see this, this, this, this, this and this.)

I work as a QA Analyst to pay the bills (and buy books, fountain pens and wool!), and in my spare time I write game reviews for NZGamer. They rule. I have some glamorous people in my life, and they seem to tolerate me just fine.

I know a little Italian. A miniscule amount of French. Swear words in Dutch.

On my days off you can usually find me at home, at my desk, in my pyjamas, gardening, stripping wallpaper in our new house, or curled up with a book.

I love books by John Bellairs and Haruki Murakami, Steve’s Thai cooking, long days with nothing to do, staying home when it’s raining, a glass of red wine, lemons, and anything sour.

P.S. If you know me in real life, please leave a comment and say hi. Hi!