I was born and raised in San Francisco, CA.  I left the bay area five years ago to attend college at the University of California at Santa Cruz.  I managed to get a Bachelor of Arts degree in History with an emphasis on Asia.  Going into college, I knew that what I majored in wasn't going to ultimately be my career, so I studied what I was interested in at the time.  After leaving Santa Cruz, I decided to try something else.  I spent a year in Sacramento, CA working for Mad Science teaching science to elementary-aged kids after school.  We had the neatest curricula ever.  For instance, I taught a class on heat and its effects on different molecules and we got to make cotton candy.  Another favorite was our rocket science class where we actually got to launch rockets that soared about 400 feet in the air!  We did all kinds of fun stuff!
      

Then I moved back to San Francisco when the opportunity arose.  I got a different job as an administrative assistant at a mortgage loan company...I only lasted 6 days...it was boring!  However, it was what led me to Respiratory Therapy, among other reasons.  Being so bored at my job, I was forced to find a real career!  For sure I wasn't going to sit behind a desk and take orders!  Then, my boyfriend's 13 year old asthmatic brother came to visit us from Southern California.  He had a real hard time here because we have two cats that didn't help his asthma, not to mention all the hills he couldn't even walk up. (This guy runs a 400m in 52 seconds!)  He was doing breathing treatments every five minutes and all we could do was ask him if he was okay.  He looked like death!  I had never felt so helpless in my life!  And that's what further persuaded me to become a respiratory therapist.  And I must say, teaching that elementary science provided me with a simple refresher course!