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An Introduction to Aislínge
A Brief SummaryI spent the first three years of my life in Demarest, New Jersey, until my parents divorced. Then Ma met Ray Kellogg and we moved to Wallington, NJ where I spent ten years growing up. Wallington is in Bergen County; it is a very small town (about a mile across) and tucked in between Passaic and Lodi. We lived in the Jasontown Apartments, a complex close to the train tracks. This stands out because I remember when we moved from Wallington I missed the sound of the 0600 train! Odd, the things one remembers. Wallington's only claim to fame is having Farmland Dairies there, right across from the apartment complex. I went to school in Wallington from first grade to third in the Jefferson School, a tiny rectangular building that only housed kindergarten, first through third grades. Next I went to the Frank J. Gavlak School for fourth through sixth grade. After that I went to the seventh grade in Wallington High School. I was there for just that one year. In the seventh grade I had Mr. John Markey for science - he was an incredible teacher. He made us take copious notes and had us do dissections and blood typing and I loved it. He is the one who really sparked my interest in other sciences than just astronomy! Then we moved. I also spent all week-long and longer school breaks and summers in Trucksville, PA, a tiny rural town in northeastern Pennsylvania. I went up to stay with my paternal grandparents and I loved it. It was a house instead of an apartment with beautiful full woods and paths to walk along. I used to help my grandfather in his garden and my grandmother in the house. We also took trips to the Dutch Country in Lancaster County, PA and the St. Lawrence Seaway in New York/Canada. This is back when front doors were not locked and seat belts were only worn on long road trips! Their car had a bench seat in the front, so I was always allowed to sit up front. The good old days...! When I was 13 my parents bought a house in Wayne, NJ. Wayne is a much large township, about 30 miles or kilometers west of Wallington. It is about 98 square miles - much bigger than Wallington's meager square mile. I spent the next nine years living in Wayne, where I went to the eighth grade through graduating high school. I had the eighth grade in the George Washington Junior High, where I had a wonderful science teacher (Mrs. Arthur) and a great math teacher (Mr. Lebrenz). Please note that I have always hated math, so for me to mention a math teacher - well, you know he had a great impact, then! I went to Wayne Valley High School, where I majored in art and minored in creative writing and science. I love science and for many, many years I was determined to become an astronomer. However I have no aptitude for math and so shifted my interest to art. This is also around the time I began to read about volcanoes and plate tectonics (don't get me started on this - I can go on for hours about volcanoes!).I graduated in 1986, and after that I discovered a whole new world. I declined to go to college, feeling that after spending twelve or more years getting through the clique-filled angst of school life, I'd had enough of that and it was time to find out what the real world is like. To start with, you don't get summers off... I started working but that is a story for another page. Specifically my résumé page.The rest of these pages describe my interests and parts of my life - all of the things that make up Aislínge. I hope you enjoy reading these things, past and present, as much as I enjoyed being them! |