I was born in New York City and worked at a bunch of different jobs before going into journalism and then creative writing. The worst low-wage job I ever had was probably bike messenger, because it entailed at least one near death experience per hour. Coat check girl at a Soho club was the best: I could sit on a stool, openly reading a book, and usually ended the night with more tips than the bartenders.I have a beagle, a ginger cat, a black cat, and five fish. We used to have a hamster but the cat...yeah, he ate it. My daughter and I recently, on impulse, purchased a zebra finch from Petco and released it because I really can't stand to see birds in cages. Later found out it's native to Australia. Whoops.Some random but semi-interesting things about me:I have my diving license but you could never get me into an underwater cave because I would literally die/explode from claustrophobia.I can do handstands, although I still fall a lot.I've been to the Pyramids at Giza and rode a camel.I was a punk rocker in the eighties, so I got to see bands like the Bad Brains, Dead Kennedies and Motorhead live. Drawback: my haircut was hilarious.I've been carjacked by masked bandits with guns in El Salvador. When I travelled in Europe after college, I pretended to be Canadian. People are a lot nicer to you.