1. Yeah, I do paint for a living now. Therefore the first paragraph is true!

2. I never had a dog when I was young. Therefore any reference to the deaf dog is an indicator of a false statement.

3. No, I wasn't really abducted by aliens, but I figured that a love and appreciation of realistic art is about as rare as alien abductions. Besides, since my life was actually sort of ordinary, I knew I needed some kind of embellishment. The truth was pretty boring, so I embellished the truth a little.

4. The part about my decision to major in Botany is true. Truth is stranger than fiction.

5. Yeah, I paid medical insurance claims for some years. I would do anything for a buck. Even become a software engineer. That part's true too. Actually, playing with computers is kinda fun.

6. Getting married and having a baby is true. I started painting because I was frustrated with the photographer who took my daughter's photo when she was 8 months old. Somehow, I thought he had missed her essence. So I thought I could do better with a painting myself.

7. I did get laid off from my Software Engineering position at a major aerospace company, so I kept on painting.

8. I have a dog now. You'll have to ask my family how tolerant they are about all this.