Might as well...

[Angela]

I don't normally do these because it's so damnably hard to describe oneself, but what the hell. xD

I'm Angela, I'm 23, and I live in Seattle. I grew up in northwest Indiana (boo, hiss!), went to college in the extreme north woods of Wisconsin (hooray!), and have for the moment settled on Seattle, where my husband and I laugh at the antics of yuppies, engage in high speed chasing of Metro buses, and burn our money in large quantities in the mysterious Ceremony of Rent.

My degree's in writing, but anyone else who's tried to make a living doing that lately is probably laughing by now, so no, I admit I don't do it as a job. Heh. I'm the resident Creepy Quiet And Obsessively Type A Person at my office, where I engage in such amazing tasks as entering data, emailing people, and avoiding conversation. I'm fervently hoping to get into the UW's distance MLIS program so I can be a Creepy Quiet And Obsessively Type A Librarian sometime in the next few years. You know, and maybe a superhero at night.

Me defined by what I'm not:
I'm carfree, childfree, and antitheistic. I don't necessarily have automatic disdain for people who are the opposite of any of the above (with some particularly destructive religious philosophies being an exception) -- but I do get annoyed when people refuse to think about the reasons for and the effects of their choices after (or god forbid before) they make them. I'm not interested in most mainstream pop culture, and I almost never watch TV unless it's a program I've downloaded from National Geographic, the Discovery Channel, or some BBC science show. I don't like dogs, which probably has something to do with my being attacked by one as a child. I could not be less interested in fashion, makeup, or trends if I actively tried. I do not wear red.

I've been told I don't know what fun is, which seems rather silly. I can't cook, can't drink more than two beers without being wasted, and can't stand rude cigarette smokers. I can't read music no matter how hard I try. I can't pretend to like people I despise and I can't understand people who aren't ever interested in learning anything new. I could never live somewhere away from a large body of water. I'm not averse to being wrong, but I want to know why. I am not who you think I am. I'm not who I think I am, either.

Me defined by what I am:
I'm perpetually anxious. I am 23-going-on-35. I'm a reader, writer (especially of poetry), and red-pen wielding proofreader. I have trouble thinking and driving at the same time because I see the words in my head and get distracted. I think diagramming sentences is fun. I love writing systems and have several of my own, to the bafflement of those who try to read over my shoulder. I'm pretty liberal socially, but I form my own ideas and thus tend to be a bit more extreme in some areas and less in others than the American liberal mainstream. I've been described as "quaintly second-wave" by angry lip-gloss feminists because I am more interested in the social issues of sex and the construction of gender identity in society than whether a woman can wear a micro-mini on a plane. I am often channeling Daria. I have too many damned IQ points for my own good, and desperately wish sometimes that I could find the equations that would allow me to convert them into Common Sense points, which I sorely need. xD

I love languages, public transit, freecycle, good books, and good beer. I can't resist singing terrible karaoke to bad Japanese music, but not in public. I miss the north woods but enjoy Seattle's weather, even when it rains. Sometimes I believe the best things in life are coffee, microsuede, and long walks in the middle of the night. I daydream constantly because it makes the mundane beautiful. I am constantly changing.

[Mercurygrrl]

That's a long, but very good post. You seem really interesting :)

[aspietalk]

ah yes, the fate of the writer. obsessively talented, endlessly unique, ideas permutating and bubbling, and then your reverie is shaken by someone asking you, "can i get fries with that?" sometimes it's hard to make a living one's native talents, which seems awfully silly.

i'm totally with you on the large body of water thing, by the way.

[Star]

I think that if we ever met we could get along very well as I share many, scaringly many, of the things you used to describe yourself. Are you sure you don't have a 46-year-old twin??? Maybe it was 23-going-on-46 instead of 35? ;-)

[Amy]

Just so everyone knows, Angela is awesome. AWESOME, I SAY! :D And we are all lucky that she's here. That was an incredibly well-written introduction hon, and it summed you up perfectly. I miss you!

[bjorker]

I meant to reply to this when I first read it, but I think I was short on time. Your reply to my comment in another thread reminded me, because so much of what you've written I can really relate to. Except you word it a lot better. ;) I have trouble being concise in writing, but besides that part, I'm not used to finding people with all of those interests in common.

First of all, I too am hoping to get into UW's distance learning MLIS programme. Well, more than likely it would be distance learning. I could actually go into class and finish the degree in less time, but, well... you know. Distance learning sounds like a whole lot less bullshit and anxiety. Plus I work better in my own time, which is generally late at night.

Trends, make-up, and fashion also does nothing for me. I am endlessly baffled by such things. I do not understand its apparent importance or appeal. I'm not horribly opposed to red, though I wear it very rarely, and would probably never wear an all-red shirt... but I do NOT wear white. Ever. I can't stand white space in general, but I've managed to get used to walls. If I ever actually own my own space, I imagine the first thing I'll do is paint all the walls.

My mom often tells me that I "kill all the fun". Actually, I know how to have a lot of fun, and can be quite silly, but "killing all the fun" apparently means things like "Don't think or talk about all the harm that [Disney/McDonalds/whatever] actually causes society". I don't consider anything from Disney to be "fun", but I'm going to stop myself there, else I'll be ranting here for another hour.

Religion means nothing to me, personally. I think the world would be a lot better off if people could just keep their personal beliefs to themselves, and just... quit projecting. The whole concept of god or an all-powerful judgmental being just loses me completely. I really respect the Quakers, though. At least what I know about them.

Gender studies, especially gender socialization, is a huge interest of mine. I'm not a big tv watcher either, but there are a few series of shows that I think are brilliant. Namely Northern Exposure and Six Feet Under. Okay, and Roseanne-- I admit it. :) However, prime-time tv, especially current prime-time tv, and especially this whole reality tv phenomenon just make me feel ill. I get very limited channels, so I tend to often leave it on either HGTV or Northwest Cable News, because that's somehow comforting. I can't explain it. It just is.

I have always been a good editor, too. I enjoy it, but it can also frustrate me. I just can't seem to edit my own writing very well, but other people's errors are almost painful at times. Actually, I've obsessively corrected everybody since I was a kid. It took me a long time to realise that doing that is considered rude. I imagine a lot of us have experienced that, actually.

Ditto exactly to what you wrote about politics.

[Edit: holy crap, I wrote more than this, but I wrote so much that it got cut off! Oops! That figures. Sigh... I can't stand it when that happens.]

[bjorker]

This is a continuation of what I wrote above. I was able to save the part that was cut off, because I had copied it all before I posted it. I often do that because I've had too many internet troubles in the past that caused me to lose what I had written! So then I can just paste it and try posting again. Comes in handy.

----

Just about everything you wrote is something I really relate to. Like I said, I'm just not used to that!
The biggest part that stands out - I do have a child. She is about to turn 3. However, I'm not the typical mindless breeder of a parent. I research everything I possibly can before I make a decision. I already teach my child to think for herself and to be thoughtful and considerate. I obviously don't know what your specific reasoning is for not wanting children, but it doesn't really matter. That's your decision, just like anything else. I personally make the decision not to get married, which I am very adamant about for a number of reasons. That has nothing to do with the level of commitment to my partner, but that's another topic. Anyway, I'm probably just as appalled by other people's children (in general) and especially the parents that made them that way, as you are. Actually, I shouldn't assume that you are appalled at all. My point is that it was my personal decision to have one child, which was and continues to be a conscious and informed endeavor. Honestly I think the hardest part is having to associate more with people that pop out kids without putting much thought into a damn thing they do. Those kids just end up growing up and contributing to all of the crap in society. I've worked enough retail to see this happen in front of my eyes, over and over again. Thoughtless parents breed thoughtless, rude, mean children. That's not me.

Anyway, I really did not mean to ramble this long about myself.
Another thing I thought was amusing is that you work in the same town that I live in, as you said... and you look very familiar to me (going by your picture). That's also not something that I think very often. I don't remember faces very well. Although I think that's all the more reason why I'm usually mistaken when someone actually does look familiar to me... but who knows. Perhaps I have seen you somewhere.

Thanks for writing the intro post, it's nice to be able to relate to someone.

[Angela]

First of all, I too am hoping to get into UW's distance learning MLIS programme.
This is what I've been thinking. At the moment, I'm torn because the distance program is fee based and costs 12-13000 more (no resident discount). :/ Tough choice. You know how rents have been, so trying to gamble on being able to afford where you live even a year from now, let alone two or three, is rough. (I can't believe how much rents went up in Lynnwood and Edmonds in the couple of years we've been out here! It got so bad that we exceeded the low-income line when we weren't making much at all and found that we were looking at over $900 for a non-rent-controlled two bedroom. That's why we moved down to Beacon Hill...if you're going to pay that much you might as well be close to everything. xD)

Trends, make-up, and fashion also does nothing for me. I am endlessly baffled by such things. I do not understand its apparent importance or appeal. I'm not horribly opposed to red...
Good lord, you have no idea how nice it is to find another woman who says that. If I so much as bring the topic up around most females I know (saying something as casual as "I don't really get the appeal" or "I can't see myself spending so much money on that" or "I don't find it fun or fulfilling", they seem to go into an almost insanely defensive rant trying about how great and meaningful and important that stuff is. o_O Baffled is a good word for my reaction to that sort of sentiment. It's really gotten in the way of my being able to interact with most women my age, sadly. It freaks them out that I don't like "girl stuff" and they keep trying to "fix" me. -_-

My aversion to wearing red is probably due to my being a redhead. It makes me look orange, a color I truly loathe. xD

My mom often tells me that I "kill all the fun". Actually, I know how to have a lot of fun, and can be quite silly, but "killing all the fun" apparently means things like "Don't think or talk about all the harm that [Disney/McDonalds/whatever] actually causes society". I don't consider anything from Disney to be "fun", but I'm going to stop myself there, else I'll be ranting here for another hour.
Yes! I hear the same thing from my mother, usually followed by "You think too much!" I don't know about them, but in my world, thinking doesn't automatically fall outside the bounds of fun. Also agreed on Disney.

Religion means nothing to me, personally. I think the world would be a lot better off if people could just keep their personal beliefs to themselves, and just... quit projecting. The whole concept of god or an all-powerful judgmental being just loses me completely. I really respect the Quakers, though. At least what I know about them.
Yeah...I could go on about religion forever, but this is already so long that I'll save that for another time. :) But Quakers are awesome (now there is a group of people who take all the best bits of religion and turn it into social action decades or centuries ahead of its time!)

Gender studies, especially gender socialization, is a huge interest of mine. I'm not a big tv watcher either, but there are a few series of shows that I think are brilliant.
I find gender studies boundlessly interesting, but it's tough to find people who aren't made so uncomfortable by it that they can't talk about it! Even just getting people to see that gender is a construct is so hard. Bah.

I've got a couple of shows I watch (mainly on DVD) -- Bones is like a menagerie of aspies, so I enjoy that. House was okay for a few seasons but I'm starting to get tired of the character drama. I've heard good things about Northern Exposure and Six Feet Under, but never watched either. But "reality" TV? Don't even get me started. HGTV is about the only thing I miss about not having cable, to tell you the truth (can't seem to download or buy their programs, and they're great to turn on while I'm cleaning house or something). That and maybe the Weather Channel, alt

[Angela]

(..mine got cut off too. >_<)

...although I don't find it as interesting since they've gone to an actual show format instead of just the local forecasts and such.

The biggest part that stands out - I do have a child. She is about to turn 3. However, I'm not the typical mindless breeder of a parent. I research everything I possibly can before I make a decision. I already teach my child to think for herself and to be thoughtful and considerate. I obviously don't know what your specific reasoning is for not wanting children, but it doesn't really matter. That's your decision, just like anything else. I personally make the decision not to get married, which I am very adamant about for a number of reasons. That has nothing to do with the level of commitment to my partner, but that's another topic. Anyway, I'm probably just as appalled by other people's children (in general) and especially the parents that made them that way, as you are. Actually, I shouldn't assume that you are appalled at all. My point is that it was my personal decision to have one child, which was and continues to be a conscious and informed endeavor. Honestly I think the hardest part is having to associate more with people that pop out kids without putting much thought into a damn thing they do. Those kids just end up growing up and contributing to all of the crap in society. I've worked enough retail to see this happen in front of my eyes, over and over again. Thoughtless parents breed thoughtless, rude, mean children. That's not me.
See, you've hit on exactly what bothers me about most parents (particularly in America -- it's been my experience that parents abroad aren't as bad) these days (truthfully, though the behavior of children often really bothers me -- one little kid blew a big wad of snot on me on the bus recently and laughed, then ran back to his mother who laughed as well -- I realize in most cases the fault lies with the parenting). Thoughtless breeding because everyone else is doing it (without any consideration as to whether one is mentally or emotionally suited to make good decisions for a child), no realization that their behavior and attitudes affect their children, which affects us all, and a martyr/entitlement complex. If you've worked retail, I'm sure you have seen in a billion times. It bothers me because the child generally suffers for it in one way or another, because it hurts society, and because so many people believe that this one thing should define everything about a woman. I feel that if many people really thought about parenting they would realize they're betting off having a pet and volunteering with kids, and there'd be a lot less abuse, neglect, selfishness, and ignorance out there. It's like everything else in the world -- not everyone is cut out for it.

I can definitely see where you're coming from about marriage, even though I'm married myself. My husband and I spent a lot of time agonizing over that before deciding that our desire for the legal rights (particularly since we want to eventually immigrate to BC) outweighed our objections to the institution on principle. (I'm engaged in WWIII with some of my family because I kept my own finances and didn't take his name!) It's a pity our society is set up in such a way that you take such a hit if you don't have the state endorse your relationship. :/

Another thing I thought was amusing is that you work in the same town that I live in, as you said... and you look very familiar to me (going by your picture). That's also not something that I think very often. I don't remember faces very well. Although I think that's all the more reason why I'm usually mistaken when someone actually does look familiar to me... but who knows. Perhaps I have seen you somewhere.
It's certainly possible. I lived in Edmonds for six months and Lynnwood for another year, so I was around a lot. I worked retail up near Alderwood most of the time I lived up there, actually, so it's not unlikely.

[STEFANIE]

hi i was looking at your site ;how old are you
i like to chat on line