autobiography

i grew up in the small village of blanchester, ohio. living in such a small town (only 2 traffic lights) made me want to live in a big city. i was bored of having nothing to do or having to drive for at least 30 minutes to get to civilisation. the closest big city was cincinnati, ohio and even that's quite small! i knew after i graduated from college that i was going to move to a city at least three times the size of cincinnati. also, music is one of my main passions so i wanted to move somewhere that had a vast selection of gigs.

after graduating high school, i went to miami university in oxford, ohio to earn my bachelor's degree in MIS (management information systems -- pretty much like computer programming plus business management). miami is known as a big fraternity and sorority school which didn't hold my interest. yet, i loved the campus at miami and oxford is home to my favourite radio station, 97X. during the second semester of my third year, i studied in my favourite city, london, and knew i had to live there again for a longer period of time. i loved the change of scenery, the different culture, the history, the architecture, the museums, the music scene, and accent! :)

after i graduated from miami, i moved to chicago and found a job as an application developer (i.e. computer programmer). currently, i am a system architect for the same company. i lived in chicago for two and a half years until my company transferred me to our london office. i lived in london for about four years. i moved back to chicago in november 2005. i feel very privileged to have lived out my dream in london and miss it very much. mainly i miss all the great friends i made there.

after less than two years in chicago, i moved back to my hometown of cincinnati, ohio. it is nice to be closer to my family and to live somewhere with an extremely low cost of living! yet, i want to move back to my favourite place in the world: london! i completed my master's in english in june 2009 from national university. i hope to get my ph.d. in english next... but probably not for a few years. i plan on moving back to london around july 2010.

i don't want to work in IT the rest of my life! in the far future, i am thinking of becoming an english literature professor at a prestigious university! haha! i have written a novel and started on my second. i am working on the final edits of my first novel and i hope to get it published in the future though i find finishing it is very difficult since it's somewhat autobiographical and focuses on a tough period in my life.

what do i like to do? i love to read, write, listen to music, go to gigs, films, and think. some would say i think too much. :) some of my favourite groups are the cure, joy division, new order, the smiths, radiohead, verve, slowdive, ride, jeff buckley, pulp, pj harvey, god speed you black emperor, sebadoh, jesus and mary chain, death cab for cutie, and many more. my favourite authors are jd salinger, albert camus, baudelaire, sylvia plath, sartre, simone de beauvoir, nick hornby, poe, kafka, fowles, and many more. my favourite poets are shelley, wordsworth, keats, coleridge, byron, wilde, and more.

hope you enjoy my site!

jennifer

all photos © 2004 by jennifer unless otherwise noted.

photos on this page © 2004 by nicci.