Meme: Intro-post
I've been inspired by a friend of mine on LiveJournal to write up an intro post (also, it helps me avoid homework for another hour or two). Some of you probably know all of this, some of you may know very little, but if any of you have questions, feel free to ask and I'll update!
Basics
My name is Archane. It's not my legal name, but it's the one I use around the internet-at-large. I'll also answer to it in public.
Many, many years ago now, I came across a pagan name generator online. I ran it a few times and laughed at several of the ridiculous suggestions, then out popped "Archane Nightspirit." It fit. I often feel a little outdated and more than a little obscure. I can't spell worth a damn. And I am, without a doubt, a spirit of the night.
Trivia: Unless it is in a forum specific to work, school, or government - ie: I am acting in my official capacity as [legal name] - I don't use my legal name online, ever. Partly, this is just for general safety. I don't want random internet crazies to be able to hunt me down at home (or at least I'm going to try to make it more work for them than it's worth). It's the same reason some of the info below isn't as specific as it could be. Largely, it's because I prefer a level of privacy that's becoming more and more outdated. I don't want my boss - or my boss' clients, or my instructors, or the girl next to me in class - to be able to delve into my personal life with a simple google search. I want to be able to be able to engage with people, reveal myself to them and allow them to reveal themselves to me, organically. I'm not ashamed of reading or writing fanfic, for example, but potential clients don't need to know about it because it won't affect our business relationship.
Default icons
My default icon on Dreamwidth (keyword: Grandma) is not me. As the keyword suggests, it's a picture of my grandmother. I tweaked the original colors a little to take some of the red out, but other than that the picture is unaltered. It speaks to me both as a link between my online and offline identities, and as such an iconic type of picture from the mid-1950s.
My default picutre on LiveJournal (keyword: Arizona) is part of a digital painting done by my extremely talented friend greenshadows, used with permission. It isn't really of Arizona, but that's what it reminds me of, in a way. This is only one of 12 icons that I have which were created from his paintings and photographs.
Demographics
I'm in my early 30s. Most of the time, I feel a lot younger until I stop to think about it (seriously; I never consented to this "adulthood" thing). Then I'm reminded by some of my classmates just how old I am in comparison, and it all comes crashing down.
I'm relatively average looking: average height, average weight, average proportions, average attractiveness.
I'm white. Not just white, but of Dutch heritage. If you ask most of the world, my heritage is 100% Dutch. If you ask my family, we're 75% Dutch and 25% Fries. I grew up in one of the larger Dutch areas in the United States, and I was actually a pre-teen before I realized that the majority of other white people in the U.S. aren't Dutch.
I'm female. I'm guessing this has become obvious to most of you over time, but with the internet one can never tell.
I'm queer. In casual conversation, I tend to identify myself as bisexual, but only because it's a convenient term which most people understand without a lengthy explanation. If given the chance to explain, however, I'll happily tell you that I don't personally view myself as bisexual because I despise the socially constructed gender binary (especially when even genetics has moved beyond the either/or dichotomy) and particular sex characteristics aren't among the things I look for in a partner.
I'm disabled. I have fibromyalgia and it impacts every aspect of my life. I'm increasingly reluctant to discuss details of my medical condition with strangers (and will occasionally resort to rudeness to make that clear), but if you give me half a chance, I will gladly talk your ear off about ableism, accessibility, and disability justice.
I'm a pagan. I don't have a clearly-defined set of beliefs, but can say with certainty that I have experience with a power (or possibly more than one) beyond the everyday and fitting the job description of G-d/Goddess/Allah/etc. I can also say definitively that I have fundamental personal disagreements with foundational principles Christianity and Judaism (and I haven't put any study into Islam). Hence, pagan.
Location
I live in Michigan in a mid-sized city with often feels like a big town. I've lived here all of my life, and despite a lot of problems, the longer I'm here, the more I grow to love it.
We have a very "bootstrap" mentality - everyone needs to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, not expect anyone else to make allowances for you (regardless of inequalities inherent in the system), and whatever you do don't complain. We're celebrating 12.8% unemployment because it indicates notable improvement. Our Republicans are often of the 'religious conservative' variety, and our Democrats are often of the 'blindly pro-union' variety.
We have an incredibly diverse state, both in population and in landscape. We have the largest Muslim community in the nation. We have some of the largest areas of old-growth forest outside of national parks left in the country. We have five enormous, beautiful lakes (it doesn't count as a real lake if it's small enough that I can see the other side from the shore), and at least one of them is within a three hour drive from anywhere in the state. Most people are determined to do right by their neighbors (they may need help separating "right" from "Biblical" at times, but once they learn, they're just as determined).
Best of all, most of my family is here.
Family
I have a huge family, at least by traditional (white, American) standards. I have 14 aunts and uncles, and 12 cousins. I know all of them (although some more than others). I see most of them at least once a year, along with my mom's remaining aunts and uncles, their children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. The smaller side of my family generally has about 30 people gathered for holidays, and the larger side averages between 60 and 80 people for Thanksgiving.
I also have non-biological family, including some of you (and you know who you are). These are people who have an open pass to my home and my heart, where heart-ties are at least as strong or stronger than blood-ties.
I'm the younger of two kids.
My brother and I had a pretty negative relationship when we were young, but the events of adulthood have thankfully changed that. Now, we're fairly close, and generally see each other at least once a week.
My parents are divorced. My dad and I have a passing relationship, as much by his choice as mine. It's not bad, it just is, and there are no hard feelings.
My mom died in 2005. Our relationship was complicated and ... tumultuous. She was an intelligent person who did a lot of good things for a lot of people. At the same time, she was a horrible parent to me. I've come to terms with (or rationalized) the fact that this was largely a result of her mental illness, but that doesn't make it any easier.
Currently, I live with Fiancé and my wonderful (and wonderfully infuriating) cat. When we have more space and more money, I want a pit bull in the worst way. Eventually, in our (likely never to be realized) dreams, we'd love to have 2 or 3 dogs, a cat or two, a couple of birds, and a hand-full of reptiles. I'm still arguing for ferrets, but that seems to be a losing battle, even in the imaginings.
Kids aren't on the agenda for us. We both love other people's children, but parenting is near the top of our "things not to do" list.
Work and school
I spent the majority of my adult life working in academic publishing, doing both typesetting and XML conversion. I loved the work and the people I worked with, but it's a dying industry. I was laid off in 2005.
I spent a while doing document imaging and document markup for a litigation support company, and eventually got laid off from there, too, as work dwindled.
That was the kick in the pants I needed to go back to school and get a degree. Currently, I'm on track to complete my bachelor's degree in three years, rather than four, and graduate with honors this summer.
As a side note, this is the reason I've barely been around lately. The work load is intense and exhausting, and I have a hard enough time keeping in touch with family.
I'm in the paralegal program, but I'm hoping to avoid working in a traditional law firm. Instead, I want to work in government affairs - most likely with a lobbying organization - doing rights advocacy. In my ideal world, I'll eventually end up in a government think-tank helping to write state or national policy and legislation for LGBTQ and/or disability rights.
Random trivia: I have never actually needed to formally request disability accommodations at school. This is because my school is amazing. My instructors have been happy (or at least willing, in one case) to make the relatively minor accommodations I need to do my work well. My campus is relatively new, and entirely wheelchair/mobility aid accessible. There was one problem with curb cuts in front of the new dorm which I mentioned to someone about six months ago. I don't know if anyone else ever mentioned it, but we now have four new curb cuts in front of the dorm, and between the dorm and the academic building. Although I have never noticed a related problem, we now have signs at all of the elevator doors reminding people to "be respectful; allow those who need access to the elevator to enter first." Although they use the wheelchair symbol for disability, the signs say "those who need access" and not "wheelchair users." My school rocks.
Politics
If you haven't noticed already, I have them. I am intensely political and have strong views. I'm a political junkie and have a great respect for the political process. On the whole, I'm extremely liberal socially, and relatively conservative fiscally. I can go on at length about most political topics, and I have a hard time knowing when to stop, so I won't bore you unless you ask. :)
That said, the current era of the perpetual campaign leaves me furious and exhausted. Thus far, my voting philosophy for 2012 is: "He who runs the first ad, loses."
Fandom
I haven't had any time for new fandoms, lately. Given Hawaii 5-0, this makes me sad. I keep seeing recs come across my reading lists and have to pass them up because I have too much to do.
What little fan fic I've had time to read in the last year or so has been almost exclusively Harry Potter. The fandom is extensive enough that I can find good fic that suits my mood and story tastes fairly easily without having to wade through a lot of bad!fic and stories that don't suit my reading preferences.
Before Harry Potter, there was a little bit of CSI, Popslash, and LOTRPS. Fandoms never die, for me, and I would still look up fic in these fandoms now and then if I had time, but I just ... don't.
Fiber
I knit and I crochet. A lot. I've always got at least one project active, and sometimes it's two or three projects, depending on the projects, their portability, and my crafting schedule. Currently, I'm in the midst of making Christmas presents.
I first learned to crochet when I was about 7 or 8, when my mom taught me. At the time, about the only yarn we had around was Red Heart Super Saver, which is acrylic and very rough. It's gotten a lot better in the past several years, but it still feels like plastic scraping over my fingers. I'm an extremely tactile person, so this put me off of yarn for a long time.
When I was about 19, I picked it back up again. I needed something to hold my tarot cards because the box was falling apart, and I didn't feel like spending $10-$25 on a little, mass-produced bag, so I figured I'd make something myself. I picked up a crochet hook and some yarn, and I've been at it again ever since.
I learned to knit from my grandmother, originally, when I was 10 or 12, but it didn't really work for me. I suspect now that this is largely because my grandma is an English knitter and, after learning to crochet, holding the yarn in my right hand just felt wrong to me. I picked up a book about four years ago, re-taught myself, and now I'm starting on my first lace project.
I don't have a strong preference for either, it really depends on what I want to make. In general, I prefer crochet for large projects such as afghans and for color work, and I like knitting better for clothing and for texture work.
I almost always have a project with me. I knit or crochet in class when I'm not actively taking notes; while I'm reading, especially text books which can stay open by themselves; at family gatherings; while playing D&D; while I'm on the phone; as a passenger in the car on road trips; in front of the television; at the coffee shop. I have my fiber out just about anywhere I can get away with it.
Other Stuff
I read a lot, when I have the time; mostly fiction, but some non-fiction, largely science fiction and fantasy. Fiancé and I have a lot of books, and we're having a hard time reducing them to a number which will fit on our book shelves (despite the fact that that we have the equivalent in small, large, and built-in shelves to about 7 full-sized book shelves, and we're willing to double stack in some places.)
I watch a lot of television (even if I'm doing something else at the same time, usually). My weaknesses are reality shows and cop dramas. My current favorites are Survivor, The Biggest Loser, The Good Wife, Parenthood and Hawaii 5-0.
I am not nearly as interesting as I may sound. Really, my life is pretty boring. Still, if you have anything you feel like asking, I'll answer!
This entry was originally posted at http://archane.dreamwidth.org/596535.html. You can view
comments there, or add your own using an Open ID login.
Basics
My name is Archane. It's not my legal name, but it's the one I use around the internet-at-large. I'll also answer to it in public.
Many, many years ago now, I came across a pagan name generator online. I ran it a few times and laughed at several of the ridiculous suggestions, then out popped "Archane Nightspirit." It fit. I often feel a little outdated and more than a little obscure. I can't spell worth a damn. And I am, without a doubt, a spirit of the night.
Trivia: Unless it is in a forum specific to work, school, or government - ie: I am acting in my official capacity as [legal name] - I don't use my legal name online, ever. Partly, this is just for general safety. I don't want random internet crazies to be able to hunt me down at home (or at least I'm going to try to make it more work for them than it's worth). It's the same reason some of the info below isn't as specific as it could be. Largely, it's because I prefer a level of privacy that's becoming more and more outdated. I don't want my boss - or my boss' clients, or my instructors, or the girl next to me in class - to be able to delve into my personal life with a simple google search. I want to be able to be able to engage with people, reveal myself to them and allow them to reveal themselves to me, organically. I'm not ashamed of reading or writing fanfic, for example, but potential clients don't need to know about it because it won't affect our business relationship.
Default icons
My default icon on Dreamwidth (keyword: Grandma) is not me. As the keyword suggests, it's a picture of my grandmother. I tweaked the original colors a little to take some of the red out, but other than that the picture is unaltered. It speaks to me both as a link between my online and offline identities, and as such an iconic type of picture from the mid-1950s.
My default picutre on LiveJournal (keyword: Arizona) is part of a digital painting done by my extremely talented friend greenshadows, used with permission. It isn't really of Arizona, but that's what it reminds me of, in a way. This is only one of 12 icons that I have which were created from his paintings and photographs.
Demographics
I'm in my early 30s. Most of the time, I feel a lot younger until I stop to think about it (seriously; I never consented to this "adulthood" thing). Then I'm reminded by some of my classmates just how old I am in comparison, and it all comes crashing down.
I'm relatively average looking: average height, average weight, average proportions, average attractiveness.
I'm white. Not just white, but of Dutch heritage. If you ask most of the world, my heritage is 100% Dutch. If you ask my family, we're 75% Dutch and 25% Fries. I grew up in one of the larger Dutch areas in the United States, and I was actually a pre-teen before I realized that the majority of other white people in the U.S. aren't Dutch.
I'm female. I'm guessing this has become obvious to most of you over time, but with the internet one can never tell.
I'm queer. In casual conversation, I tend to identify myself as bisexual, but only because it's a convenient term which most people understand without a lengthy explanation. If given the chance to explain, however, I'll happily tell you that I don't personally view myself as bisexual because I despise the socially constructed gender binary (especially when even genetics has moved beyond the either/or dichotomy) and particular sex characteristics aren't among the things I look for in a partner.
I'm disabled. I have fibromyalgia and it impacts every aspect of my life. I'm increasingly reluctant to discuss details of my medical condition with strangers (and will occasionally resort to rudeness to make that clear), but if you give me half a chance, I will gladly talk your ear off about ableism, accessibility, and disability justice.
I'm a pagan. I don't have a clearly-defined set of beliefs, but can say with certainty that I have experience with a power (or possibly more than one) beyond the everyday and fitting the job description of G-d/Goddess/Allah/etc. I can also say definitively that I have fundamental personal disagreements with foundational principles Christianity and Judaism (and I haven't put any study into Islam). Hence, pagan.
Location
I live in Michigan in a mid-sized city with often feels like a big town. I've lived here all of my life, and despite a lot of problems, the longer I'm here, the more I grow to love it.
We have a very "bootstrap" mentality - everyone needs to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, not expect anyone else to make allowances for you (regardless of inequalities inherent in the system), and whatever you do don't complain. We're celebrating 12.8% unemployment because it indicates notable improvement. Our Republicans are often of the 'religious conservative' variety, and our Democrats are often of the 'blindly pro-union' variety.
We have an incredibly diverse state, both in population and in landscape. We have the largest Muslim community in the nation. We have some of the largest areas of old-growth forest outside of national parks left in the country. We have five enormous, beautiful lakes (it doesn't count as a real lake if it's small enough that I can see the other side from the shore), and at least one of them is within a three hour drive from anywhere in the state. Most people are determined to do right by their neighbors (they may need help separating "right" from "Biblical" at times, but once they learn, they're just as determined).
Best of all, most of my family is here.
Family
I have a huge family, at least by traditional (white, American) standards. I have 14 aunts and uncles, and 12 cousins. I know all of them (although some more than others). I see most of them at least once a year, along with my mom's remaining aunts and uncles, their children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. The smaller side of my family generally has about 30 people gathered for holidays, and the larger side averages between 60 and 80 people for Thanksgiving.
I also have non-biological family, including some of you (and you know who you are). These are people who have an open pass to my home and my heart, where heart-ties are at least as strong or stronger than blood-ties.
I'm the younger of two kids.
My brother and I had a pretty negative relationship when we were young, but the events of adulthood have thankfully changed that. Now, we're fairly close, and generally see each other at least once a week.
My parents are divorced. My dad and I have a passing relationship, as much by his choice as mine. It's not bad, it just is, and there are no hard feelings.
My mom died in 2005. Our relationship was complicated and ... tumultuous. She was an intelligent person who did a lot of good things for a lot of people. At the same time, she was a horrible parent to me. I've come to terms with (or rationalized) the fact that this was largely a result of her mental illness, but that doesn't make it any easier.
Currently, I live with Fiancé and my wonderful (and wonderfully infuriating) cat. When we have more space and more money, I want a pit bull in the worst way. Eventually, in our (likely never to be realized) dreams, we'd love to have 2 or 3 dogs, a cat or two, a couple of birds, and a hand-full of reptiles. I'm still arguing for ferrets, but that seems to be a losing battle, even in the imaginings.
Kids aren't on the agenda for us. We both love other people's children, but parenting is near the top of our "things not to do" list.
Work and school
I spent the majority of my adult life working in academic publishing, doing both typesetting and XML conversion. I loved the work and the people I worked with, but it's a dying industry. I was laid off in 2005.
I spent a while doing document imaging and document markup for a litigation support company, and eventually got laid off from there, too, as work dwindled.
That was the kick in the pants I needed to go back to school and get a degree. Currently, I'm on track to complete my bachelor's degree in three years, rather than four, and graduate with honors this summer.
As a side note, this is the reason I've barely been around lately. The work load is intense and exhausting, and I have a hard enough time keeping in touch with family.
I'm in the paralegal program, but I'm hoping to avoid working in a traditional law firm. Instead, I want to work in government affairs - most likely with a lobbying organization - doing rights advocacy. In my ideal world, I'll eventually end up in a government think-tank helping to write state or national policy and legislation for LGBTQ and/or disability rights.
Random trivia: I have never actually needed to formally request disability accommodations at school. This is because my school is amazing. My instructors have been happy (or at least willing, in one case) to make the relatively minor accommodations I need to do my work well. My campus is relatively new, and entirely wheelchair/mobility aid accessible. There was one problem with curb cuts in front of the new dorm which I mentioned to someone about six months ago. I don't know if anyone else ever mentioned it, but we now have four new curb cuts in front of the dorm, and between the dorm and the academic building. Although I have never noticed a related problem, we now have signs at all of the elevator doors reminding people to "be respectful; allow those who need access to the elevator to enter first." Although they use the wheelchair symbol for disability, the signs say "those who need access" and not "wheelchair users." My school rocks.
Politics
If you haven't noticed already, I have them. I am intensely political and have strong views. I'm a political junkie and have a great respect for the political process. On the whole, I'm extremely liberal socially, and relatively conservative fiscally. I can go on at length about most political topics, and I have a hard time knowing when to stop, so I won't bore you unless you ask. :)
That said, the current era of the perpetual campaign leaves me furious and exhausted. Thus far, my voting philosophy for 2012 is: "He who runs the first ad, loses."
Fandom
I haven't had any time for new fandoms, lately. Given Hawaii 5-0, this makes me sad. I keep seeing recs come across my reading lists and have to pass them up because I have too much to do.
What little fan fic I've had time to read in the last year or so has been almost exclusively Harry Potter. The fandom is extensive enough that I can find good fic that suits my mood and story tastes fairly easily without having to wade through a lot of bad!fic and stories that don't suit my reading preferences.
Before Harry Potter, there was a little bit of CSI, Popslash, and LOTRPS. Fandoms never die, for me, and I would still look up fic in these fandoms now and then if I had time, but I just ... don't.
Fiber
I knit and I crochet. A lot. I've always got at least one project active, and sometimes it's two or three projects, depending on the projects, their portability, and my crafting schedule. Currently, I'm in the midst of making Christmas presents.
I first learned to crochet when I was about 7 or 8, when my mom taught me. At the time, about the only yarn we had around was Red Heart Super Saver, which is acrylic and very rough. It's gotten a lot better in the past several years, but it still feels like plastic scraping over my fingers. I'm an extremely tactile person, so this put me off of yarn for a long time.
When I was about 19, I picked it back up again. I needed something to hold my tarot cards because the box was falling apart, and I didn't feel like spending $10-$25 on a little, mass-produced bag, so I figured I'd make something myself. I picked up a crochet hook and some yarn, and I've been at it again ever since.
I learned to knit from my grandmother, originally, when I was 10 or 12, but it didn't really work for me. I suspect now that this is largely because my grandma is an English knitter and, after learning to crochet, holding the yarn in my right hand just felt wrong to me. I picked up a book about four years ago, re-taught myself, and now I'm starting on my first lace project.
I don't have a strong preference for either, it really depends on what I want to make. In general, I prefer crochet for large projects such as afghans and for color work, and I like knitting better for clothing and for texture work.
I almost always have a project with me. I knit or crochet in class when I'm not actively taking notes; while I'm reading, especially text books which can stay open by themselves; at family gatherings; while playing D&D; while I'm on the phone; as a passenger in the car on road trips; in front of the television; at the coffee shop. I have my fiber out just about anywhere I can get away with it.
Other Stuff
I read a lot, when I have the time; mostly fiction, but some non-fiction, largely science fiction and fantasy. Fiancé and I have a lot of books, and we're having a hard time reducing them to a number which will fit on our book shelves (despite the fact that that we have the equivalent in small, large, and built-in shelves to about 7 full-sized book shelves, and we're willing to double stack in some places.)
I watch a lot of television (even if I'm doing something else at the same time, usually). My weaknesses are reality shows and cop dramas. My current favorites are Survivor, The Biggest Loser, The Good Wife, Parenthood and Hawaii 5-0.
I am not nearly as interesting as I may sound. Really, my life is pretty boring. Still, if you have anything you feel like asking, I'll answer!
This entry was originally posted at http://archane.dreamwidth.org/596535.html. You can view
comments there, or add your own using an Open ID login.