I'm naturally a mousy blonde, so I dye my hair, and my eyebrows would disappear if I didn't get through at least a pencil a month.

I just like food too much, and I don't want to change. I spent so much of childhood trying to change, and I just got sick of it ... I don't want to look like Britney Spears, I just don't want to. She's hideous.

Olympia was a town crawling with music. I was new to the whole punk scene. The culture shock continued; Olympia had bagels! We didn't have bagels in Arkansas. You could order vegetarian food all over town! It was so crazy to me - a place with so many vegetarians, the restaurants made special dishes for them?

I knew that if I wanted to stop being a pushover I had to get comfortable with small rejections myself. That took some work, but because of it I can now say no to other people with a clear conscience.

I believe I owe all the best parts of my adulthood to embracing my imperfections and showcasing them.

I was given baby doll toys myself, and they proved a stark reminder that my life was expected to revolve around childbearing - just as my mom's had before me, and her mom's had before her.

There is no rule in the pink-triangle guide to coming out that you must wear a rainbow flag cap and organise a full band parade.