Numbers 3 and 5.

I used to be very outgoing. Then I was abused physically and emotionally, and kinda withdrew into a world of my own.

I used to be terrified of performing in public, because as a child, I was beaten up for "showing off", by the other kids at school and by my dad. Then my dad wanted to show me off to impress people, and he would go ballistic if I made the tiniest mistake. I was never into showing off. I wanted to share something I thought was cool, and would have been perfectly happy to share the attention.

After a lot of determined work, and almost throwing up before a few performances, I still have problems doing solos. Although now I am perfectly comfortable in duets or larger ensembles.

Music is my life. Some day, I'm going to be excited about performing, no matter what I'm doing for the performance, and no matter how many people are in the audience.

At parties, I always seem to end up in a room by myself, reading my host's entire library and checking out the music collection to see what I want to borrow. I do that for an hour or more sometimes, before going back into the noise and conversations.

I'm fine talking with people one-on-one, and have been known to start conversations with total strangers on the bus.

"There are a lot of wounds that are written off by people as 'only shyness'" - from Women Who Run With The Wolves