Monthly archives: September 2010

Not a ton to say about my parents. I get my humor and love of science fiction from them. As a family, we watched Star Trek TNG, X-Files, and terrible cheesy sci fi from the 50s on Sunday mornings.

My parents met when they worked at a music store together. My mom is a nurse, and my dad owned a construction and remodeling company for a long time, and just recently changed jobs.

My mom and I didn’t really get along when I lived at home, but now we get along pretty well now after I moved out. My dad and I have always been close, and he’s still the one I tell everything to.

My first boyfriend and my first love were not one in the same. The first guy I truly fell in love with was 17 and I was almost 14. He was my friend Heather’s older brother’s friend, and I met him at her house the summer before my freshman year. I was smitten almost immediately.

He was crazy smart, in the top 10 of his class, charming, flirtatious, and very cute. He was on the cross country team, drama club, and was quite a great singer in Madrigal choir. Basically he was everything my 14 year old self could have wanted. We hung out a few times whenever Heather’s friends and her brother’s friends were both at the house together, and he was generally nice to me and pretty flirty. I think he told me he loved my blue eyes, that red hair was definitely his favorite, and that the way I did my makeup was very “cosmopolitan”. To this day I still am not quite sure what he meant by that.

Unfortunately for me, I didn’t know that he talked this way to all the girls, and I thought he was into me. I would say hi in the halls, and I’d meet him by his locker after school, even missing my bus a few times because I’d talk to him too long. I was quite young, and had absolutely no idea what I was doing, since before this I was too shy to say anything to any guy.

I remember we talked on the phone a couple of times, and in a moment of courage I confessed my feelings, and asked if he wanted to go to homecoming with me. Smashing Pumpkins’ Adore was playing in the background, and I was completely flushed and anxious. He said no in a nice way, telling me that he was flattered, but that I was a bit too young for him. I’m sure he thought “isn’t that sweet” or something.

I could not understand how he could feel that way at the time, since I was a Very Mature Lady. In retrospect 3 years is a huge difference in maturity when you are that young. He was still sweet to me, and it really could have gone much worse, but I didn’t really get over him for a long time. I was completely heartbroken, I had laid everything on the line, being direct and pouring my heart out. I had gone on vacation to Michigan with my mom and brother a few weeks later. It was overcast and cool, and I connected with the lyrics of every sad song playing out of my discman, and I walked on the beach along Lake Michigan without even noticing how far I had gone.

I saw this on a friend’s blog, and I thought it would be interesting to fill out for myself.

Day 01 – Introduce yourself

My name is Ashley Elva Lankenau (formerly Hasse). I was born in Logansquare in Chicago on August 1st, 1983. My parents and I lived in the city until my brother was born in 1987, then we moved out to the suburb of Hinsdale.

I was a good student all through grade school. I was a voracious reader, came in first in all the spelling bees, and played clarinet in the school band. When I was a kid I either wanted to be a writer or a rainforest botanist.

My family moved to Clarendon Hills, only a few towns over, during the summer between 5th and 6th grade. I think this is when I stop giving a shit about doing well in school, and became even more shy then I already was. I hated middle school a lot, which I think everyone does.

High school was a bit better, I had a good group of nerdy friends who started the anime club at school, and I joined the drama club and did set building, tech, sound, lighting, et cetera. I started playing the guitar, got a job at the local hardware store, and started sewing like crazy. During high school I wanted to be a fashion or costume designer, and I took nearly every art class my school offered.

For my first year of college, I went to the University of Kansas, enrolled in the textile arts program. I was very homesick and dorm life was probably not for me, since I never partied or drank (to this day I still have not gotten drunk to the point of being sick, and I’m happy with that fact.) I had no car and a shrew of a roommate who never went out. I came back home after only one year away. It was at this point that I start listening exclusively to Japanese indie rock.

When I came back home I got a job at EB Games, bought more video games that one person could need, and started taking Japanese classes at the local community college. I started doing well in school again, since I was really into Japanese class.  Its pretty easy to get an A in something you love when its your only class and you’re working 15 hours a week.

Around 2004 I started hanging out with the other Japanese majors, since the classes were small and we were all progressing through the program together. This is where I met Russ, and we became good friends. We hung out all the time, playing video games, listening to Queen and ELO records, going on late night taco bell runs, and studying together.

We never really had a first date, since I was at his house every other day anyway. I just remember sitting on the couch in his basement, watching a movie and he was laying on the floor. I asked if he wanted to sit on the couch, he said “no I’m ok, I like the floor.” So then I said something like “do you want to sit on the couch with me?” and he gave me a look like he had just figured things out. It was sweet.

Around this time I start knitting, and it becomes my hobby and obsession. I kept going to College of DuPage, took more Japanese classes, baking classes for fun, and I got a job at the school library. Russ transferred to North Central College to finish his degree in computer science. We moved in together in 2006, into a crappy 2 bedroom apartment in Naperville with no AC or dishwasher, and the smallest kitchen someone who loves cooking should ever have. We moved to a new apartment the next summer that was much nicer, but unfortunately much more expensive.

We got two cats, Sam and Valla, named after Stargate SG1 characters, since we were watching a crazy amount of that show at the time. The following summer, we decided to buy a townhouse since it would be cheaper to buy than our crazy expensive rent.

We got engaged, move 40 minutes west to Batavia to our new home, I stopped going to school for a bit, and we got married in September of 2009. In January of this year I went back to school to get my library technical assistant degree, and in August I got a job I love at a local public library.

I think that brings it up to date.