So, here I am.

Yup. I've finally joined the ranks of the masses and have culminated my existence into its pinnacle: ownership of a blog. Actually, my friend told me I need to sublimate my acerbity into more than brief moments of road rage and onstage antics, and recommended I create a blog and let it all out here.

We'll see how well that works out.

So, a little bit about me is in order, right? My name is Emanuelle Ziva, but you can call me Zee, and I live in the gorgeous state of Oregon where surfing and snowboarding are past times you can engage in nearly year round. I'm not a native Oregon, actually, and I'm not officially American yet either, but all good things come to those who wait.

I like to say I was destined to be an absolute fuck up, after all, what else can you expect when a Columbian man and a Lebanese woman have a perchance meeting in South Africa and decide to get married and set-up house and home only two days after their first utterance of the word "Hello" to each other. Just like that, my father never returned to Columbia and my mother never returned to Lebanon, and just like that they made their home in South Africa. Naturally, children followed and I am the most haggard middle child. Well, sort of. I have two older brothers and one younger brother, so I assume it's safe to say that I share my middle child syndrome with my twin brother, Matai, who is only older than me by four minutes mind you. And so we Ziva's lived happily in Soweto amongst the lions, cheetahs, and zebras, oh my! until the real world decided to bite my dad in the ass.

I should probably phrase that differently, because my dad was on cloud nine when he got word of his promotion. It was I who watched my happy little world in the bush crumble into a big black abyss of moving to a brand spanking new country. At the ripe old age of 14, my family packed up and headed east to none other than the US of A.

I've always had a mutinous edge to me. While my brothers would sit and languish at the world of dinosaurs unfolding in the books before them, I would be drawing all over the walls; while my brothers played nice in the playground with the other children, I would instigate fights; and, while my brothers excelled at all things academic, I skipped school to go do graffiti art wherever I thought appropriate. I'm a bit of a Ziva anomoly.

So, that's the gist of it. I'm a South African, half Lebanese, half Columbian, obstinate fem-fetal that lives in Oregon and has a twin brother. Pretty run of the mill, aye?

I'm also the guitarist, singer, and songwriter in a band that I'm literally putting all my faith into with regard to my financial and employment's future. Until that misplaced faith comes into some kind of fruition, I'm an artist. I currently work at an advertising firm doing drawing boards, and let me tell you there is nothing glamorous, fun, interesting, or enjoyable about it. Well, other than the fact I get to draw all day. I also live with my boyfriend of 4 years, Avery, who happens to be doing his PhD in chemistry. Much like you, I have no idea what such a brainchild is doing with me, but sometimes it's better not to ask and force people to think about things, you know? Along with Avery, I also live with our two dogs, Bernard the Bernese Mountain Dog, and Alex the 3/4 wolf 1/4 German Shepherd, and Avery's bitch of a Bengal cat, Azon. Leave it to my nerd of a boyfriend to name his cat after the world's first smart bomb. He loves the little bitch, otherwise I'd let Alex go to town on her litter-box missing ass.

And, I guess that's it. I'm sure you don't care about any of this, but it's just the first post. Sit-tight. I'll try and make this place smashing.