About Me
Where do I start?
My name is Avens O'Brien - legally and functionally. You may have encountered me under a variety of pseudonyms, though it's not because I don't like having my name known. I've never really had a nickname, so I just started picking up random alternative names for my various social outlets. Drag queens call me Avon. There's a poetry site on which I'm known as Nightingale. But generally, common knowledge is my name is Avens. Which, for those who don't know, is Irish, it means "lovely and fair" and is pronounced "Ah-vinz".
I'm a twenty-something and I live in New Hampshire. Despite the hick jokes, I really love it. I support the Red Sox, say "wicked" excessively, live with pretty much year-round construction, but no, I've never pahked my cah in Hahvahd yahd. Because you can't park there.
When I was six years old I told people at a family gathering that I'd be "famous" one day. Still hasn't happened. Deciding if I should try harder or let it go. This website, however, was a joke played off of that. I wanted a place to compile my accomplishments, and I'd watched the movie "Almost Famous" a million times, so when it came time to register a domain name, this was what I chose. Now you know the story. Go you.
One of things that people keep getting interested in is the fact that I was partially homeschooled. My parents were Libertarian hippies who dislike the idea of government being involved in education. Public school was a big no. My mother was a single Mum working two jobs, so she didn't really have the time she wanted to homeschool me, so she enrolled me in private Catholic school (scary place for the non-conformist pagan girl). I met kids my own age, went to class, and spent a good portion of the school year staying home sick where Mum would give me books to read and things to do. I had the school structure, but I'd say I did most of my learning at home.
When it came time for high school, I elected to homeschool full-time, with very self-directed learning (my mother oversaw it, and I did get a formal diploma from a high school in Maine for homeschoolers. I started college in 2002 (yes, I was young for college, yes, I was prepared), and graduated with my Associates degree in Liberal Arts (with an emphasis in Humanities) in 2005 from New Hampshire Community Technical College at Manchester.
I transferred to Saint Anselm College as a Politics/Philosophy major. The school and I did not mesh well, so I left. I transferred to Granite State College to pursue a Bachelor's in Behavioural Sciences. I'm enrolled there part-time with less than a year left. Wish me luck.
I'm highly political, but you can learn more about that in the politics part of my site. As I said, my parents were Libertarians. I was raised in the party, and I am now the Vice Chair of the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire.
I'm also a Neo-Pagan. Check out the paganism part of my site for that - but yes, while I'm at it, my parents were pagans too. My mother's a Druid High Priestess, my father is a Wiccan. I'm a Druid by tradition, but I explore and embrace the religious philosophies of many paths.
Lastly, some notes of randomness:
I...
- was born in Philadelphia, PA.
- have one younger, half-brother.
- was raised by a single mother.
- was raised as a Celtic Reconstructionist.
- have pet birds, a rat, and a cat.
- have varying shades of red hair.
- favour the colour purple.
- consider myself a pragmatist.
- have a vivid imagination.
100 Random Things
Every year I post 100 Random Things about myself. They're always true at the time I post them, but some have changed over the years.
