A brief update
So, it's been about two and a half years since I really used this journal. Some pretty significant things have changed since then, and I wanted to give everyone who's still reading an update on my life.
First off, I'm now blogging at Lost in Translation, over at my website, etherjammer.com. You can also find me on Twitter as @etherjammer.
You might also be interested in my new website, Small Town Chef. It's not quite up and running yet, but you can join in the forums, follow the blog, and sign up to be notified when the site does go live.
I'm 29. I'll turn 30 in August next year.
In May 2007 I graduated from Earlham College with a Bachelor of Arts in Classical Language and Literature, with a language focus.
In June 2007 I married Holly, a fellow Classics major at Earlham, after an engagement of 16 months. The wedding was held in Lansing, MI, and we honeymooned in Orlando. We still live in Richmond, Indiana, which is where Earlham is located.
I'm still working for Johns Hopkins - we just had a paper accepted on which I'm co-author - although that ends in June 2009. Also ending in June 2009 is my contract position with the Butler Hill Group, doing work I can't talk about (I always feel like a spy when I say that). I got that job through my old friend Ben, and one of my co-workers is my rather newer (but still very, very good) friend Jess.
Even though I don't comment much, I read Livejournal pretty much daily.
I play more World of Warcraft than I should. Right now I'm focused on the last 1.2-million-XP push to 80 on my draenei priest Theande, on whom I also got the Explorer achievement today.
I don't do as much writing as I'd like to, and my art and role-playing have pretty much stalled. It'd be easy to blame that on World of Warcraft, but I'm well aware that there are a lot of underlying psychological problems that are causing the lapse, and that the WOW focus is a symptom, not a cause. For some reason I find all three (writing, art, RP) stressful enough that it seems to my subconscious mind like a better long-term solution to escape than to confront them.
In mid-September, my son Alex came to live with me after some deliberations that I'm not comfortable talking about in public without everybody else's permission. He will, however, be staying with us permanently.
We have three cats. Originally, it was Zach and Edward, whom we brought home in September 2006; in September 2007, we rescued Tippie from a construction site and ended up keeping her; and in June 2008 Edward died after a long fight with a massive respiratory infection, and we brought Finn (properly Captain Frederick Wentworth) home at the end of July.
In July of this year, I was diagnosed with gout, which I apparently inherit from my father. This month, I had an eye exam performed for the first time since late 2002, and discovered that my vision has been steadily degrading for a while; I now wear glasses (at a mild prescription, but since I also inherit eye problems from both of my parents, I'm not sure how long "mild" will last).
I don't really think there's anything more to tell about where I am now. As for my future - I'm gearing up to get back into school, studying architecture or urban planning (perhaps a Master's in UP and a doctorate in architecture). I'm looking forward to working with Holly to figure out where we want to be in the future, so that we can start planning and saving for that.
Now you know where I am in life. I don't know when I'll post again, but it probably won't be for a while, so if you want to tell me anything, comments on this post - or on Lost in Translation, or on Twitter - are the best way to get hold of me.
First off, I'm now blogging at Lost in Translation, over at my website, etherjammer.com. You can also find me on Twitter as @etherjammer.
You might also be interested in my new website, Small Town Chef. It's not quite up and running yet, but you can join in the forums, follow the blog, and sign up to be notified when the site does go live.
I'm 29. I'll turn 30 in August next year.
In May 2007 I graduated from Earlham College with a Bachelor of Arts in Classical Language and Literature, with a language focus.
In June 2007 I married Holly, a fellow Classics major at Earlham, after an engagement of 16 months. The wedding was held in Lansing, MI, and we honeymooned in Orlando. We still live in Richmond, Indiana, which is where Earlham is located.
I'm still working for Johns Hopkins - we just had a paper accepted on which I'm co-author - although that ends in June 2009. Also ending in June 2009 is my contract position with the Butler Hill Group, doing work I can't talk about (I always feel like a spy when I say that). I got that job through my old friend Ben, and one of my co-workers is my rather newer (but still very, very good) friend Jess.
Even though I don't comment much, I read Livejournal pretty much daily.
I play more World of Warcraft than I should. Right now I'm focused on the last 1.2-million-XP push to 80 on my draenei priest Theande, on whom I also got the Explorer achievement today.
I don't do as much writing as I'd like to, and my art and role-playing have pretty much stalled. It'd be easy to blame that on World of Warcraft, but I'm well aware that there are a lot of underlying psychological problems that are causing the lapse, and that the WOW focus is a symptom, not a cause. For some reason I find all three (writing, art, RP) stressful enough that it seems to my subconscious mind like a better long-term solution to escape than to confront them.
In mid-September, my son Alex came to live with me after some deliberations that I'm not comfortable talking about in public without everybody else's permission. He will, however, be staying with us permanently.
We have three cats. Originally, it was Zach and Edward, whom we brought home in September 2006; in September 2007, we rescued Tippie from a construction site and ended up keeping her; and in June 2008 Edward died after a long fight with a massive respiratory infection, and we brought Finn (properly Captain Frederick Wentworth) home at the end of July.
In July of this year, I was diagnosed with gout, which I apparently inherit from my father. This month, I had an eye exam performed for the first time since late 2002, and discovered that my vision has been steadily degrading for a while; I now wear glasses (at a mild prescription, but since I also inherit eye problems from both of my parents, I'm not sure how long "mild" will last).
I don't really think there's anything more to tell about where I am now. As for my future - I'm gearing up to get back into school, studying architecture or urban planning (perhaps a Master's in UP and a doctorate in architecture). I'm looking forward to working with Holly to figure out where we want to be in the future, so that we can start planning and saving for that.
Now you know where I am in life. I don't know when I'll post again, but it probably won't be for a while, so if you want to tell me anything, comments on this post - or on Lost in Translation, or on Twitter - are the best way to get hold of me.