Snapshot: A Reintroduction

One of the things I have noticed about blogging is that it's a lot like a correspondence. And when you're in a correspondence, if you let things taper off, after a while it becomes more awkward to pick them back up than it is to let the conversation die. I've been trying to think of ways to write a post that would ease me back into blogging and to sort of reintroduce myself. It's been a while, there are some changes, and it's nice to have a reference point to look back to. So here's a snapshot (or two or three or so) of my life right now. Please forgive the blurry self-portrait below, I had to take it by myself and that's the least goofy looking one of the bunch. But there I am, waving hello (sans glasses, but just picture some specs on there and we'll be pretty much totally accurate).

Who I am:

• A 25 year old woman who lives with her long-term boyfriend and some housemates
• A neurotic, recovering Type-A personality
• A knitter
• A spinner
• A storyteller
• A sister
• A daughter
  
• A friend
• A musician
  

How I live:

• In beautiful (if perpetually gray) Montgomery County, PA
• With three housemates (one boyfriend, one boyfriend's sister, and one male friend)
• For the convenience of a very large, fluffy, unpredictable cat
• In interesting times

What I do:

• Laugh
• Make other people laugh
• Fix things
• Teach
• Organize
• Run herd
• Spin (I spun and knitted the delightful item you see over there to the left)
  
• Knit
• Feed people (and myself)
• Train people (all the fun of teaching, with none of the stickiness that children have)

Cast of characters in my story:

• The family--two sisters, a mom, and a dad. We're all mad, but in a fun way

• The boyfriend--six years together. We've got issues, but we're sorting them out
• The housemates, Coll and Mike (see above)
• The Jersey Girls (pictured at left, with honorary Jersey Girl [please don't tell him I called him that])--two friends I've known for 20 years. It doesn't get much better than that
• The nerdy best friend--we're not sure if we'll take over the world, or have a dramatic caps lock vocab battle to determine who can possess it
  
• The Drama Llamas--the various friends who vent their drama in my general direction
  

Locations:

• The house--beautiful, old, feels like home after four years
• The office--I've found myself working in the comic strip Dilbert
• New Jersey--the southern part, where I grew up
  

Relevant information:

• I came to blogging because I love stories. To me, the Internet's greatest power is its ability to let people from utterly different backgrounds tell their stories. It's why I read, and why I put these words out into the world
• I hate having my picture taken, because I am very vain. I've fought acne for years, and when I'm always photographed with people who have gorgeous skin (like my two sisters) I become intensely self-conscious. Thanks to Proactiv (they're not paying me to say this) my skin looks like a grown up's should, and I'm trying to reconcile myself to having my picture taken. I want to be able to look back at photos and remember things fondly
• I'm a compulsive reader. Cereal boxes, ingredient lists, trashy romance novels, hugely long classics, I love them all. It's the story thing
• Jim (the boyfriend) and I drive Jeeps. I have a fear that we're already becoming that old couple that owns the same mint green velour track suit, so it's important that we note that I bought mine first. There are also some days where we wear the same shirts (we work for the same company and our employer likes to give out shirts). I'm always dressed first.