The Reader's Digest Version of Drew

I was born 14 September 1970 in a Seattle suburb, to Mariano Agpoon Dalire and Felicitas Indelicia Agron, Filipino immigrants. Time of birth: 7:30am. Which explains why I'm NOT a morning person, despite my supposedly cheerful and energetic demeanour.

I grew up in Kirkland, on Rose Hill, a mainly working class neighbourhood. We were one of the few families of colour that lived in my neighbourhood, which happened to be of Asian decent. I knew of two African-American families that tried to live there, and they didn't seem to last very long. But that changed when low-income housing came in the mid 1980s.

Despite trying to do everything that I was expected to do according to 'the timetable', I always seemed to stand out. Perhaps it was my upbringing, which was pretty sheltered, until I got to Junior High. I was incredibly naive. When I survived those three years, I tried to change in High School. When that failed, I suffered a long period of depression (which I didn't know I had until much later, when I became more self aware), and tried to exist in obscurity and invisibility. That is, until I came out in my Senior Year in 1988, with 9 weeks to go before graduation. More on that on a later post.

Went to Community College, inspired by my coming out, to be a journalism major. But that and being a budding gay activist, was in constant conflict, distracting me in my studies. The final straw was taking a class about the future of American mass media I was shocked and appalled. (And ironically, it went the direction the way my instructors concluded.) I dropped out of school, turned my back on activism, and moved to Portland.

That period of my life, I lovingly called my 'Seven Years of Tibet' period. Just like Brad Pitt's character in the movie, I went through many changes. It is where I 'grew up', and started to like the person I was. I gained my life's direction in this period. I went back to school and pursued a degree in Theatre at PSU.

Then I moved back to Seattle in 1999. Other than being reunited with my best friend, Mike, it was the biggest mistake of my life. Everything that did go wrong, did. Love, relationships, family, career (other than the Old Navy period). But something did change....

After talking to someone I met on AOL since 1998, I decided 3 years later to meet him. I flew to Orlando for our magical first date. I moved down 6 months later, and married him in June 2002. The next month, I started to work for Walt Disney World, at what is now known as Disney's Hollywood Studios. Never thought I'd last 7.5 years there.

I have also pursued acting, directing and producing in Orlando. I have mixed feelings about how that shaped me as a person. It has been good and bad. Check out my website at: www.drewdalire.com for a list of credits.

I also pursue other 'entertainment management experience opportunities' overseas. In Hong Kong, I'm one of the Assistant Directors for Ocean Park's Halloween Bash. It's been an OK gig, but I can get in to serious trouble for posting my true feelings in a forum like this.

I'm currently in a state of flux right now. Trying to decide whether or not I should continue to fight for a career in entertainment, or pursue a corporate life. But all will be revealed when I get back from HK in November.

So, there's the current state of things, and the Reader's Digest version of how I got to where I am now.