Like many before me, my story begins with birth. I was born on October 20, 1979. Named Richard Daniel Blim, I grew up as "Dan" (and am endlessly thankful that my mother talked my father into "Daniel" over "Dewey"), namely because by dad is named Richard Blim (in fact, I am the third in a series of Richard D. Blims. There will not be a fourth). I was born, and for the most part raised in the sprawling suburbs of Kansas City, named quaint names like "Prairie Village" and "Overland Park". It should be noted that I spent a few early years in Fort Dodge, Iowa, but all I remember of that are liking the trains and not liking the ferns outside our house.

Growing up was a fairly normal period, surprising if you know me. Even more surprising is my family. Where do I come from genetically?

• My Parents- My dad is a camera store owner turned nursing home administrator (?!) and my mom is a nurse. They got divorced my sophomore year of high school. Yeah, I saw that one coming. My mom is laid back, which gets frustrating. She usually supports my decisions, but getting her to do anything active is a chore. My dad is extremely organized, which gets frustrating. He usually actively helps me with things, but often gets into arguments with me over the course of action I choose to take. My recently acquired stepmom Cindy helps to balance Dad at his most forcefully single-minded. I try and strike a balance between the two.
• My Sister- We get along pretty well since high school. She's a fairly normal kid, actually, nicely balancing school and social life. She enjoys my more offbeat movie selections, humor, and talking. Now struggling through post-high-school life, she's left one college (Emporia State) for another K-State, aiming to be a elementary school teacher. I hope it works out better for her.
• My Brother- your typical American teenager, obsessed with popularity, disdaining school, and in short nothing like me. Hence, we don't get along, think very highly of each other. I'll spare you the horror stories.
• My Maternal Grandparents- Nice people, always enjoyable spending time with them. They have good humor and cook too- my grandpa makes the best pancakes ever, and my grandma makes a comprable lasagna. They're also religious, and like to subtly hint their hope that I will be too ("I hope you find some nice friends you can go to church with up at school").
• My Paternal Grandparents- Nice people, always enjoy spending time with them. They actively have helped and taken an interest in my education. They also like to take me to shows, dinners, and even on trips. Occasionally the interest steers in a direction more along the lines of "you should be a doctor" (like my grandpa) or "you should be more conservative."
• Uncles, Aunts, Cousins etc.- Aunt Carol/Uncle Ted- They live nearby and I enjoy hanging out with them. My cousin Doug is a fellow music lover (pianist) and a techie computer geek (nobody's perfect). My cousin Erin is an IBer, who loves tea, reading, costume dramas, and Indian food and is looking for colleges now. We get along really well. My uncle John and aunt Jill live in Chicago. They're lawyers. My uncle is an literature scholar too, very smart, and the other liberal in the family. They have two young kids- Emily and Miles. They are cute, as young children tend to be.
• The obscure relatives- My dad's aunt/uncle/cousin- Jerry, Arja, and Abbie Tingstad. They live in Saginaw, Michigan (and Finland part of the year). They teach at a local community college, and lead trips. I went with them to Paris and had an amazing time. Abbie is a couple years younger and oddly like me. She enjoys music, acting, science, school, and the like. She's now at MIT.

Most of my memories are of school. The elemetary school years were enjoyable. It's all a big blur of field trips (Lanesfield- the one room school house, and Exchange City, a sort of hands-on "real life" model community thing stand out), tetherball, four-square, class kickball competitions, ice cream socials, spelling bees, geography bees, and other commonplace educational activities. The summers were filled with scout camp, education-y summer camps, and being forced to play softball, and riding my bike around the neighborhood.

There's a nice sense of community among school children, where you can always find people around. Funny how quickly that idyllic sense fades. Middle school was hell. More annoyingly stifling teachers (there were some that I loved), more boredom, more social awkwardness and plenty of people who enjoyed things like throwing me down stairs and stuff like that. Fortunately, it was only two years.

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