It's places like this where introductions are in order.






The Basic Facts:
I am Eileene Bautista Coscolluela.
I was born over 28 years ago in the Philippines, on July 11th. A Friday. I moved to the US when I was 4 1/2.
I grew up in Nutley, New Jersey.
I went to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where I received a degree in Plant Biology in 3 1/2 years. My focus was plant systematics (identification and classification of plants).
I live in Montclair (Upper Montclair, as the locals would prefer to call it, to separate ourselves from the more urban Lower Montclair), New Jersey right off the train tracks. I live, literally, on the wrong side of the tracks: the houses on the other side are worth millions.
I live with Mike, my partner for the last ten years and husband for the two years. He does not work -- his primary responsibilities are to take care of our home and to research the book he wants to write. I will provide more of his wisdom later.
I work in downtown Manhattan in the World Financial Center for the largest energy futures exchange in the world.
I'm a front-end developer, specifically an HTML/XHTML/JavaScript/CSS/DHTML/XML/XSLT person. I play with design.
I'm five feet tall and a little bit, so I round up and say I'm five one.
I don't know my weight. I avoid scales.
I've got brown hair and dark brown eyes. I've got bleached bits here and there.
I've got a permatan.
I have only one sibling: a little sister.

Beyond the Basic Facts:
I'm a country girl by heart. My four and a half years in the midwest makes me long for the wide open prairie.
I would study computer science along with botany if I had to do college over again.
I got married for the financial and insurance benefits. It was a civil service and I kept my last name. We considered having a formal 'wedding' (renewal of vows/formal exchange of vows in front of a group of people) around our 10 year anniversary, but that didn't happen. Maybe in another five years.
I spend, on average, about 12 hours a day in front of a computer.
I've got an obsession with snow. I love it. I could never live in a place without it. My first memory of seeing snow is still clear in my mind.
I always drink tea with a lot of sugar. I drink my coffee the same way I drink my tea, except with cream too.
I don't like donuts or pizza.
I love oysters.
I love sashimi (salmon, sea urchin, fatty tuna).
I get easily obsessive.
I'd like to think that if I had to live my childhood again, I would stay away from those bad boys... but then I fear I wouldn't be the person that I am today.
I'm the one reading a book in the corner at parties.
I'm allergic to alcohol.
I have the blackest thumb of anyone you will ever meet. Ever.
I've always had a goth streak in me. I just never let it out.
I almost never wear makeup.
I can never decide between glasses and contact lenses. I can wear sunglasses with contacts, but I love the nerdy look glasses give me.
I'm a gamer at heart. I love rangers.
I've got a thing for conspiracy theories, even though I am a huge skeptic.
I'm an atheist, although I don't want to admit it sometimes.
I do not watch TV because, about five years ago, a contractor came to fix the roof of our home when he knocked our antenna askew. I do not have cable. I fill my time watching movies on DVD, reading books, or playing computer games.
I'm trying to 'get' the filmmaking industry (know all the insiders, movers, and shakers), so I read Variety every week. I'm interested in what projects are moving down the pipeline and what to expect in the cinema six months or a year from now. I want to take a film course. Cinematography and editing are the two aspects of filmmaking that I admire the most.
I've been playing the harp for two years and I'm getting pretty good, although I should practice more.