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So this is what we're doing ...
Appearance. Height: about 5'4". Weight: couldn't say. Deceptively high -- I'm dense, is what I am. [g] Hair: dark, straight, and presently mid-back length. Eyes: dark. Complexion: quite fair, but with olive undertones. Season: Autumn. :-) I get some good-natured flak at work because I dress only in grey and black, but I do this because it's so much easier to maintain a wardrobe in which everything goes with everything else. I do own clothes in (gasp!) colors -- I only go to work five days out of the week (most weeks), after all. On Halloween I turned up in a burgundy henley, khakis, and brown shoes. My co-workers did double-takes, one by one.
I wear a watch (line drawing of Einstein on the face; hours designated 1ish, 2ish, etc.; in the 12-spot it says "Relative Time"), a class ring (fourth finger, right hand; it's a very clean-lined signet ring, no scrolls or giant stones or anything), and six earrings (all plain silver hoops with ball closures, three in the left earlobe, two in the right, one in the right ear up top). On the weekends I usually don't wear my ring, and often don't wear my watch; the earrings only come out if I have specific other earrings to put in, which is rare. I have a smallish box of other jewelry that I wear very occasionally.
I tend not to wear makeup. Occasions when I wear deliberate jewelry tend to be occasions when I wear makeup [g], and even then we're talking minimal. Lipstick and eyeliner. I can be talked into translucent powder, blush, eyebrow pencil and even eyeshadow, but I loathe mascara with a passion. This may have to do with the fact that I'm the last person alive who still wears rigid gas-permeable contact lenses. Mascara under those suckers hurts.
I have a Celtic knot tattooed on my right ankle. This is a souvenir of my year studying in Edinburgh more than any sort of symbol of Celtic-ness; I do apparently have some Scottish ancestry (though not much; my cousin describes it as "a shot of Scotch"), but this is in the general north-European muddle on that side of the family: English, Scottish, Dutch -- Calvinist, basically, and Methodist to this day. (The Methodists are Calvinists, right? I'm not crossing synapses here?) The other side is Jewish of the eastern European variety: Romanian, Polish, Austrian/Hungarian. Why don't I come back to that.
Relationships. I'm tight with my family. My parents have been married for over thirty years and have always treated us well; sometimes I barely know what to do with myself, with that kind of background. "Thank my stars" comes to mind, and regret that the fact that my childhood was trauma-free is cause for comment.
I've made some friends online, which I see as a good thing. (I've apparently also made some rather arch enemies, but that's one of life's mysteries and can't be helped.) Some of these remain online pals, and others have, like the Dixie Chicks, crossed over and become "real life" buddies as well. I preserve the distinction in the phrases "friends in the box" and "friends from the box." (See also "people in the box." That's all of y'all. [g])
I have good relationships with most of my co-workers, and rock-solid, test-of-time, lie-down-in-traffic, don't-stop-till-they-find-you-and-bring-you-home friendships with a handful of people from college, high school, and even elementary school. Wouldn't trade them for the world.
Am presently single. Hope this will not be a perpetual condition, but am not yet at the stage that could be described as "hunting." No rush. No children; hope this will not be permanent; no rush.
Creativity. Writer, musician, theatre-type person. I write prose, both fiction and non-fiction, and have dabbled in verse (but it's not really my Thing). I played piano (pretty well) and violin (quite mediocre) as a kid, and studied bagpipes while I was in Edinburgh (how could I not? [g]). As a singer: high soprano voice, trained in the lyric style but quite versatile. In theatre, I'm an actor and a director and a lighting techie.
Sexuality. I am heterosexual and wired for monogamy and not remotely ashamed to admit it. [g] (I want to be e on the Kinsey scale. Or the square root of 2. That'd be cool. And I'm certainly willing to admit that the fact that I never have been romantically or sexually attracted to a woman doesn't mean I never will.)
Spirituality. I was raised in the Unitarian Universalist church, which my parents joined when they married, so that was my direct input; the Methodism and Judaism were connecting flights. Unitarian congregations vary, just like any faith's, but by and large there's a commitment to the validity of every religion and philosophy, with the result that there is no specific Unitarian doctrine. Congregations "covenant to affirm the inherent worth and dignity of every living thing," and espouse ten or eleven other guiding principles, but these are just that -- guiding principles, not articles of faith. It was a good place to be a teenager, that church; the youthful rebellion and crisis of faith were built in.
I've always identified more with the Jewish side of my family than with the Methodist side; this happens to be my father's side, so according to strict construction of Jewish law I am not actually a Jew. This has always been fine with me, since I've never practiced the faith -- I've tended to consider myself jewish (rather than Jewish), strongly identified with the immigrant culture of my grandparents and their parents and not especially with the religion, deeply invested in the traditions and rituals and not so much with the laws. I've also spoken of Jewishness (or jewishness) rather than Judaism. This has been known to cause consternation among devout Jews, but (with the greatest respect) I'm not claiming to be something I'm not, so I don't see where it's anyone's job to decide how I should label myself. I am not claiming to be a practitioner of the Jewish faith; I am claiming to be greatly affected by the heritage that is inalienably mine.
It's a tough place to be, though, this nether-region between plus/minus "jewish". In another time, it could have caused me serious trouble. Because my mother is a Gentile, the majority of Jews don't consider me one of them; because my father is a Jew, many Gentiles consider me a Jew as well. Bit of an identity crisis? :-)
And lately, I've noted in myself a renewed interest in Judaism (and not just jewishness). The language nut in me regrets that I never learned Hebrew (or Yiddish) as a child, because even if I study them now I'll never know them the way I would if I'd acquired them then. The traditions and the rituals are very important to me, as well as the reasons behind them -- I'm interested in integrating the law with the practicalities. But I'm not sure I'm prepared to convert. For a start, a large part of me doesn't think I ought to have to, since I come by it honestly (albeit on my father's side). I'd also have to have a good hard look at the doctrine and see if it was something I could get behind. And examine why I'd be doing it: am I seeking a community of faith where I will really feel like I belong? And if so, do I want to have to change myself to belong in or to it?
Your turn. :-)
I wear a watch (line drawing of Einstein on the face; hours designated 1ish, 2ish, etc.; in the 12-spot it says "Relative Time"), a class ring (fourth finger, right hand; it's a very clean-lined signet ring, no scrolls or giant stones or anything), and six earrings (all plain silver hoops with ball closures, three in the left earlobe, two in the right, one in the right ear up top). On the weekends I usually don't wear my ring, and often don't wear my watch; the earrings only come out if I have specific other earrings to put in, which is rare. I have a smallish box of other jewelry that I wear very occasionally.
I tend not to wear makeup. Occasions when I wear deliberate jewelry tend to be occasions when I wear makeup [g], and even then we're talking minimal. Lipstick and eyeliner. I can be talked into translucent powder, blush, eyebrow pencil and even eyeshadow, but I loathe mascara with a passion. This may have to do with the fact that I'm the last person alive who still wears rigid gas-permeable contact lenses. Mascara under those suckers hurts.
I have a Celtic knot tattooed on my right ankle. This is a souvenir of my year studying in Edinburgh more than any sort of symbol of Celtic-ness; I do apparently have some Scottish ancestry (though not much; my cousin describes it as "a shot of Scotch"), but this is in the general north-European muddle on that side of the family: English, Scottish, Dutch -- Calvinist, basically, and Methodist to this day. (The Methodists are Calvinists, right? I'm not crossing synapses here?) The other side is Jewish of the eastern European variety: Romanian, Polish, Austrian/Hungarian. Why don't I come back to that.
Relationships. I'm tight with my family. My parents have been married for over thirty years and have always treated us well; sometimes I barely know what to do with myself, with that kind of background. "Thank my stars" comes to mind, and regret that the fact that my childhood was trauma-free is cause for comment.
I've made some friends online, which I see as a good thing. (I've apparently also made some rather arch enemies, but that's one of life's mysteries and can't be helped.) Some of these remain online pals, and others have, like the Dixie Chicks, crossed over and become "real life" buddies as well. I preserve the distinction in the phrases "friends in the box" and "friends from the box." (See also "people in the box." That's all of y'all. [g])
I have good relationships with most of my co-workers, and rock-solid, test-of-time, lie-down-in-traffic, don't-stop-till-they-find-you-and-bring-you-home friendships with a handful of people from college, high school, and even elementary school. Wouldn't trade them for the world.
Am presently single. Hope this will not be a perpetual condition, but am not yet at the stage that could be described as "hunting." No rush. No children; hope this will not be permanent; no rush.
Creativity. Writer, musician, theatre-type person. I write prose, both fiction and non-fiction, and have dabbled in verse (but it's not really my Thing). I played piano (pretty well) and violin (quite mediocre) as a kid, and studied bagpipes while I was in Edinburgh (how could I not? [g]). As a singer: high soprano voice, trained in the lyric style but quite versatile. In theatre, I'm an actor and a director and a lighting techie.
Sexuality. I am heterosexual and wired for monogamy and not remotely ashamed to admit it. [g] (I want to be e on the Kinsey scale. Or the square root of 2. That'd be cool. And I'm certainly willing to admit that the fact that I never have been romantically or sexually attracted to a woman doesn't mean I never will.)
Spirituality. I was raised in the Unitarian Universalist church, which my parents joined when they married, so that was my direct input; the Methodism and Judaism were connecting flights. Unitarian congregations vary, just like any faith's, but by and large there's a commitment to the validity of every religion and philosophy, with the result that there is no specific Unitarian doctrine. Congregations "covenant to affirm the inherent worth and dignity of every living thing," and espouse ten or eleven other guiding principles, but these are just that -- guiding principles, not articles of faith. It was a good place to be a teenager, that church; the youthful rebellion and crisis of faith were built in.
I've always identified more with the Jewish side of my family than with the Methodist side; this happens to be my father's side, so according to strict construction of Jewish law I am not actually a Jew. This has always been fine with me, since I've never practiced the faith -- I've tended to consider myself jewish (rather than Jewish), strongly identified with the immigrant culture of my grandparents and their parents and not especially with the religion, deeply invested in the traditions and rituals and not so much with the laws. I've also spoken of Jewishness (or jewishness) rather than Judaism. This has been known to cause consternation among devout Jews, but (with the greatest respect) I'm not claiming to be something I'm not, so I don't see where it's anyone's job to decide how I should label myself. I am not claiming to be a practitioner of the Jewish faith; I am claiming to be greatly affected by the heritage that is inalienably mine.
It's a tough place to be, though, this nether-region between plus/minus "jewish". In another time, it could have caused me serious trouble. Because my mother is a Gentile, the majority of Jews don't consider me one of them; because my father is a Jew, many Gentiles consider me a Jew as well. Bit of an identity crisis? :-)
And lately, I've noted in myself a renewed interest in Judaism (and not just jewishness). The language nut in me regrets that I never learned Hebrew (or Yiddish) as a child, because even if I study them now I'll never know them the way I would if I'd acquired them then. The traditions and the rituals are very important to me, as well as the reasons behind them -- I'm interested in integrating the law with the practicalities. But I'm not sure I'm prepared to convert. For a start, a large part of me doesn't think I ought to have to, since I come by it honestly (albeit on my father's side). I'd also have to have a good hard look at the doctrine and see if it was something I could get behind. And examine why I'd be doing it: am I seeking a community of faith where I will really feel like I belong? And if so, do I want to have to change myself to belong in or to it?
Your turn. :-)
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