Hi! I'm Michelle. I live in San Mateo CA -- about 20 miles south of the city by the bay -- and work in Mountain View CA (the heart of Silicon Valley) for a company called the SETI Institute where I'm the "Office Systems Coordinator" (you name it, I do it). My company looks for ET. If you saw "Contact" -- that's what we do, and it has absolutely, positively NOTHING to do with UFOs. (You can check out our website at http://www.seti.org.) My tales from the trenches at SETI are what earned me the nickname "great storyteller", but I keep the title through my other stories of concerts and my life. (I'm really not that fascinating, but I guess I have a way with words!)
 
I turned 30 in October '98 and have been having the time of my life ever since. (After having stressed out completely about actually turning 30!) Who knew? I'm blissfully single (or, as I've often said, blissful enough for now!), and right now that suits me fine (most days!).
                                               
I finally got to see Journey for the first time when they played in Detroit over Columbus Day weekend in October '98 (my 30th birthday present to myeslf!) It was something I still can't believe I did! Since that memorable weekend, I've seen the boys play 11 times through1999! [And, lucky me, I have had the opportunity to meet the whole band on 4 separate occasions.  Something I still can't really believe happened, but I've got proof, so it must have!]
                                               
The tale of why I never saw Journey in their hey day is sad and funny, and much too long to repeat. For tales of my encounters with various members of Journey you can check 'em out on Jas' page  (And if you look for the review of the Detroit/Grand Rapids shows on the "Vacation's Over" '98 Tour, you can learn all about why I never saw Journey in the 80s!)
                                               
I've been a fan of Journey since 1980 (gawd, can I really be that old?) and fully credit the album "Escape" with saving my life. So, how did I discover Journey? Well, being born and raised in the SF Bay Area, I naturally heard the Journey hits of the late 70s on the radio all the time. (Heck "Lights" was used to advertise a local radio station!) But since I was only 10 the year "Infinity" was released and just discovering there were kinds of music my parents didn't listen to, I would hear these songs on the radio, and never knew who sang 'em. Leap ahead a few years to junior high school and I'm 12 years old, when one of the girls in my class brings "Captured" to a class party and plays "Lights" (but of course) and I finally have an association with the song and the band because the album is sitting right in front of me. A year later "Escape" is released and I'm hooked for life.
                                               
Obtaining a copy of "Escape" however was more difficult than one would think. I begged for it for my birthday (didn't get it) and for Christmas (didn't get it). Finally, when I graduated from jr. high in June of '82 I got some money as a gift and made my mother drive me to the mall so I could make "Escape" officially the first record I ever bought. By Christmas of '82 I'd played it so much that my parents bought me a set of head phones! All these years later, it still keeps me sane.
                                               
And now, the best part of all my Journey adventuring and on line visiting -- all the amazing friends I have made. Journey fans are some of the coolest people on the planet!