My name is Laura DiFiore. I'm 36 years old (November 23, 1964, Sagittarius). I was born in New York, spent my childhood in New Jersey and my teenage years in Florida. I have lived in a lot of different places - seems I'm cursed with WanderLust!

I currently live in Calhan, Colorado, USA. Calhan is a small town 30 miles east of Colorado Springs and 100 miles south of Denver.

I'm single, and yes, it's true I've never married despite my age! I am not currently "involved" with anyone although my luck with dating has greatly improved lately *smile*. I have no children, and I'm beginning to think that children are just not going to happen (sort of require a father for them after all.) But I do have two wonderful, spoiled dogs, Cleveland and Colfax, that I would probably go insane without. Cleveland is some sort of Dalmation/Labrador/Whatever mix, and Colfax is a Collie/Sheltie/Golden Retriever mix.

FreSch! The Free Scholarship Search and Information Service started out as a hobby or "personal vendetta" (depending upon your point of view) after I was scammed by a fee-based scholarship search four years ago. On top of being scammed, my own student loan experience was an absolute nightmare that continued for over 15 years until it was finally settled in March, 1999 - 11 years after paying OFF my student loan! If FreSch helps JUST ONE PERSON, all the work will have been MORE than worth it. Thanks to all of my visitors, friends, and family support, FreSch! has been successful beyond my wildest dreams, and is now a full-time business for me.

Although I do NOT consider myself an expert on *winning* scholarships, (others do!) I have spent a lot of time over the last three years assisting with and working as a scholarship judge. I do consider myself an expert on what students do *WRONG* on their scholarship applications!!

I use advertising revenue to stay online, offer scholarships to those of you who visit FreSch!, and donate to other worthy organizations. Over $6,000 has been given back to visitors to FreSch! in the form of scholarships and contest prizes, and donations have been made to the March of Dimes, Disabled American Veterans Association, North Shore Animal League, American Red Cross, Toys for Tots, and several other charities.

I am developing several other web sites - all of which are free, of course!:

• DoYouKnowMe? A resource for adoptees and birth parents. I'm adopted, and found my birth mother and birth sister through the internet - this site is my gift to all other adoption triad members who are searching!
• Search4Contests.com Like to enter contests and sweepstakes? This is THE place to find hundreds of contests you can enter - all for free!
• Search4Internships.com A searchable database of internship and co-op opportunities for students! (expected to go "live" sometime this year)
• Search4Colleges.com Yet another place to find a college or university! What will make Search4Colleges.com "different" is students who are attending a particular college will be permitted to "share" their experiences at that college, so you will be able to read what the students think of a college that you are considering attending!
• 2000bibles.com will let you compare, side by side, more than a dozen different versions and translations of the Bible, along with tons of bible-related links. Live by the end of 2000.
• Search4recipes.com will be live in early 2001.

My formal educational history is a crazy one. I've attended five community colleges, three universities, and various technical courses, continuing education courses, and lots of libraries for books for learning on my own! Yet, amazingly enough, I do not have a degree. I guess you could say I'm on the Lifetime Degree Plan.

My religious beliefs are just as widespread... I consider myself "Agnostic" or "Spiritual" although I was raised a Catholic. Yes, I DO believe in God! Very much so! I just am not involved in any one particular religion. I completely respect the beliefs of others (and have been know to come to the defense of their beliefs). Some of my friends say I should start my own religion based upon my eternal optimism and strong belief in mankind

There seems to be some confusion about my ethnic and/or cultural heritage - especially after my picture was printed in the local newspaper!! For the record, I am half German and half (depending upon which of my great- and grand-parents you ask!) Italian, Irish, Souix Indian, French and Scottish. Bottom line: I'm just another mixed-up American and while I am equally (and very) proud of all the heritages and cultures my ancestors have gifted to me, ultimately I am just Laura, and desire quite strongly not to be known as a hyphen-this-or-that. Ultimately my blood bleeds as red as yours, I am no worse nor better than anyone else by virtue of where my ancestors were born, and *grins* I honestly do not want to get into any more email debates telling me that I should change my name to "better represent" my heritage!! *laugh!* As you are you, I am I. In the Big Picture, that is all that matters.

I've traveled a LOT. I spent nearly five years (1989-1994) of my life following my dream, bumming around the world living out of my backpack, picking up odd jobs as I could. I spent time in 28 countries, 36 states in the US, and various territories. All on a VERY short shoestring of a budget. Mostly I supported myself doing volunteer work. I'd exchange room and board for several weeks of teaching English, or working on a nature trail, working with handicapped children (who taught me far more than I taught them!), working with the deaf, teaching computer skills, setting up computer systems... Sometimes I received a small (usually $50 a week) stipend, most of the time I just got to live in a wonderful country with fabulous friendly people and do the most incredibly satisfying job imaginable. More on that another time...

I've been involved in computers one way or another for as long as I can remember. My father would take me to work with him when he was on graveyard shifts, and that is where I saw my first CRT unit. I was hooked, and probably around nine years old at the time! When I was a kid, we had one of those old "teletype" machines in our basement. The kind with the big roll of 1" wide yellow paper-tape that would have entire programs "punched" into them. Incredibly fascinating stuff for a kid. I wonder what ever happened to that old teletype...

When I'm not in front of the computer, I usually have my nose in a book. I'm addicted to reading, I read anything I can get my hands on. Nothing beats a good book! I read the entire daily newspaper every day, even the sports and business sections! I wish there was better international news reporting in America. I read an average of five books a week, and various magazines. My favorite is Science Fiction, I'm a big fan of Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein, and Bear.

I also read political thrillers, anything by Michael Crichton, occasional mystery novels, tons of books relating to computers, and of course, lots of college catalogs, college newspapers, financial aid books, and college geared magazines. And dare I admit... I even read a romance novel once or twice a year (for shame!)

Obviously my favorite punctuation mark is the exclamation point !!!!!

Favorite comics are Marmaduke (#1!!!), Pluggers, Non Sequitur, Cathy, Dilbert (beyond cool!), and FoxTrot. I hardly ever watch television, but when I do, it's Murphy Brown (the Best!), X-Files, Star Trek Voyager, A&E Biography, Ally McBeal, ER, Chicago Hope, StarGate, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Law and Order, anything on the SciFi channel, the History channel, and movies.

My favorite music is soft-rock from the 70's (Air Supply, Barry Manilow, Eagles, all that mushy stuff. Remember "Run Joey Run?" I still like that song!) I also listen to a lot of Country (Pam Tillis, Garth Brooks, Dan Seals), occasional pop music, (Elton John is still a favorite), and occasionally I listen to jazz, classical or new-age music.

I enjoy needlepoint, bowling (109 average, high game of 154), camping, hiking and fishing. I ride my bicycle a lot, took it with me when I was still traveling. My "Betsy" is a very beat-up Raleigh Technium, born around 1989, and has well over 15,000 miles on it. Original color is "mostly forgotten."

I like going on really long drives to someplace randomly, and stopping even more randomly. Like driving to South Carolina, eating breakfast, and turning around and going home. Ya, I know, insane, but sometimes the time alone in a car on a long, seldom-used secondary highway is the best way in the world to remind yourself of who you are, how beautiful life is, how wonderful the world is, and there is always the chance something unexpected will happen. Oops! My Wanderlust is showing again!

I use to love snow skiing, until I put a 1/2" crack in my kneecap. Ouch. Still miss it, sigh, but the old knee can't deal with it anymore. Maybe this year I'll learn cross-country skiing! I adore ice skating, and I love going sailing, even though I haven't the slightest idea what to do in a sailboat! I never get airsick or seasick *grin*

I like to explore museums (favorites: Gardner Museum in Boston, most beautiful collection of tapestries anywhere, the National Museum of Art in London, Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., and special mention goes to the planetarium in Houston - very nifty laser show!)

A Great Day is hanging out with good friends and cooking my Lasagna, which I will have you know is the best in the world!

Besides computers and reading, I'm also addicted to the game of Texas Hold 'em Poker. Trust me, you do NOT want to sit across a poker table from me! (*wicked grin*)

I enjoy spending time debating the meaning of life, the universe, and everything, and am lucky in that most of my friends are better at debating this than I am!

Despite all my interests, I do not get out all that much. I rarely if ever drink, so bars are boooorrriiinnngg. I am a natural night-owl, social activities during the daytime are pretty few and far between.

My traveling lifestyle for so many years made it very difficult to form long-term (or even medium-term) relationships, and unfortunately, for some strange reason a lot of people are intimidated by my travels (sort of "Wow, after all of that, you would never be interested in a 'normal' life!") ... it's very aggravating. However, I'm fortunate that I have good, close friends who also have night-owl tendencies at least occasionally and love and accept me for all my quirks, idiocies, and soap-boxes!

I am a Democrat, and I'm not ashamed of it either, even though I don't agree with all of their policies. When I still lived in Washington, D.C., I was fairly active in several causes, including homelessness, the environment and reproductive rights. Right now I'm not involved in any "causes" except student financial aid.

Of course, I still have dreams I've yet to achieve... I would like to travel to Asia, Greece, Russia, and Egypt. I would like to get married and have children. I dream of flying the Concorde, going on a Cruise, or meeting the President. Maybe one day I'll actually FINISH my college degree! I'd like to learn to sing (I have an awful singing voice)... I dream of once, JUST once, traveling in outer space... or walk on the moon or another planet... barring that I dream of seeing the first human on Mars or another planet...

I am very opinionated and VERY stubborn. I have a weakness for the underdog, and a strong sense of fair play that is easily assaulted. I can be overwhelmingly self-confident, and that gets me into trouble sometimes! Once I make up my mind to do something, I am relentless in pursuing my goals. I am "horribly" optimistic - personal mottos include "I didn't say it wouldn't be difficult, I just said we could do it!" and "Everything always works out, one way or the other."