Ah! It's fall, my favorite time of year. Actually, I'm not sure if it's actually fall yet, but let's pretend it is for the sake of this post.
You may have noticed that I haven't been posting lately. I haven't been doing much of anything lately. All right, that's not strictly true, but I certainly haven't been writing about or taking pictures of anything I've been doing, so no blog posts.
But I'm thinking that has to change, because if there's one thing I hate, it's a blog that's never updated. I've been feeling constrained by my blog a little bit though because I've tried really hard to keep it about my creative endeavors and not much about personal matters or opinions. It's not that I want to get all poltical or touchy-feely on you, but hey, these are troubled times, and sometimes the girl has thoughts that don't have much to do with gemstones or yarn or lipgloss.
So with change in mind, I've updated my blog "theme," and I plan on expanding, at least slightly, the topics I blog about in the hope that I may be a little more prolific. Lest you think this is blogging for the sake of blogging, it's actually an attempt to write something, anything, on a regular basis, because this is a habit I simply must get into if I'm ever going to get that freakin' novel written.
Let's begin, shall we, with 5 things you may or may not know about me, but that inform many of my choices and attitudes about life:
1) I don't work for a living, which is a really cool thing. However, just like everyone else, I struggle with identity and finding a "role" for myself, which is why I'm constantly doing new things. Sometimes people use their jobs to define themselves--it's so easy to say I'm a "doctor" or "lawyer" or "teacher," but I can't do that and honestly, it makes me feel awkward.
2) I am registered as a Green Party member, but I mostly vote democratic. I considered registering as a democrat for this election, but decided against it because I still find the democratic party and many of it's politicians way too conservative for my liking. I guess I would define myself as Green, with some vague Libertarian tendencies, 'cause basically, I don't want to be fucked with by the government.
3) I am an atheist. I don't believe in God or any other "magical thinking." What I should probably say though is that there is no [scientific] evidence to support the existence of God, and so I don't believe. Since I come from a religious (Catholic) background, it might be easy to assume that I am atheist out of anger or resentment but this is simply not the case. My personal quest for truth led me to this place and I do not regret it, nor do I apologize for it.
4) I struggle with my weight and self-image. Over the last three years I have lost over 25 pounds and more or less successfully maintained the loss. For the first time since childhood I actually have a positive image of my body and in general, myself. It would've been nice if this had come about through something other than weight loss (like simply accepting myself for who I am and disregarding societal pressure to become thinner) but ultimately, I don't really care. I am proud of this accomplishment and am thankful to finally have the weight off my body and more importantly, off my mind. Which isn't to say that I don't think about it, because in order to maintain my weight I've obviously got to think about what I eat. It's just not anywhere near as punitive as it once was.
5) I am not really a feminist, except when it comes to reproductive choice issues. I am a woman who has chosen not to procreate and I believe passionately in women having easy and affordable (like free) birth control on demand. Someone told me once "If men were the ones who had children, there would be abortion on demand." Methinks this might be true. That said, I believe in pregnancy prevention, not necessarily in pregnancy termination, and folks, if you think your reproductive choice isn't at risk, you're wrong. My last doctor actually refused to prescribe me birth control on the grounds of her religious beliefs. I left the office in tears, and then felt a sort of terror.
If you have a blog it would be cool if you wrote 5 things about yourself--but dig deep--at least deeper than "my favorite color is blue." Put the link in my comments because I'd love to read them!
