~ Val: March ~

I'm a geek of all trades: artist, writer, illustrator, and general IT lackey. I'm also a cancer survivor. Some people would now be writing the inspirational part of this bio and giving you an uplifting message -- something about angels and sunsets is usual, I hear -- but really, having cancer sucked fetid goat testicles, and I'm damn glad that mine's been gangpressed and sent packing off to some lab for posterity.

So when Avril asked me to help out with the limesuckers project, I agreed, in spite of an already impossible schedule of procrastination and deadlines and working on poisoning my liver. Yes, I was petrified when I had to have biopsies, but happily drink single-malt to get through my days as an art director. Hey, I've got a stereotype to live up to, you know. And that's hard work.

Irony is the operating force of the universe, so when I, a lifelong tomboy and Honorary Guy, got cervical cancer, I knew all was as it should be. I'm not a very feminine or girly sort of woman, so of course this is the cancer I get. Luckily, it's also one of the easiest cancers to have if you catch it early, which I did. After becoming more intimate with my ob/gyn than I was with my ex-husband, and three cone biopsies, I can say that I'm fine.

I consider having kicked cancer's ass one of my most notable accomplishments, right up there with winning 11 AMR awards for my designs, being accepted to grad school in eight minutes, and being the Mammoth Lakes Oktoberfest Women's Log-Sawing Champion two years in a row.

Contact Val: val@limeproject.org.