I’ve signed up to the 2016 Student Blogging Challenge as a mentor to 30 students, mostly from the USA, plus one each from Australia, England and Puerto Rico.  The post topic for this week is I Am. I’ve just checked in and there are already 18 posts on-line, a diverse range of personalities and interests.

I thought if I’m peeking into their lives, they should get to peek into mine. It’s only fair!

So here is my I AM post, especially for you guys. You know who you are….

I AM me. I live in Australia, on the east coast near the ocean. It is a small town with about 5,000 people but the nearest city is only 20 mins away.

I have two very different jobs. I am an Information and Communications Technologies Consultant which means I spend a lot of my day answering questions about computers and software. I am also an author and this blog sits inside my website. Sometimes I combine these two jobs like when I teach a Minecraft Writing workshop. I use Minecraft to show how to structure a story.

My favourite sport is hockey although I don’t play anymore. Soccer and gridiron are also popular in my house. I like to write (fancy that!), read, hang out on the internet, do jigsaws and lego  and make things with origami.

My family and I all like animals. We have two Burmese cats, tropical fish and a tree frog. Past pets have included deerhounds (although there are no deer around here!), lizards, parrots, turtles, snakes, ducks, chickens and guinea pigs.

I think it’s important to be honest and to be a good friend. I like to volunteer because it feels good to help out and I get to meet new, interesting people. I am quiet but I am not shy. I often visit schools to talk about being an author.

I wish I could paint and draw manga. And play a musical instrumental. I wish I could run faster. But mostly I am happy with who I am.

I made an avatar – for the first time – but it doesn’t link to my blog. My WordPress blog sits inside my website and nothing seems to work if I post on Blogger. So I had to embed a link in my comments  while I’m working that out. I’m also learning other new things. I had to look up ‘freshman’ and ‘varsity’. We don’t use those words in Australia.

I also have an About Me page on my website.