About Me - May 2013
[About Me -- as of May 2013!]
I'm Ameya. (Uh-may-uh,) meaning "limitless" or "boundless" in Sanskrit. I declared this my name (and have since been called by everyone except my elder relatives) at 14, because I wanted a name with a meaning, and I chose this one as a reminder of the limitless nature of human potential. I used to box myself up with all these limited ideas of what is "possible" or "probable" and I would get really depressed, as I am a big dreamer. So, this name became a constant reminder to myself that I truly am capable of anything, regardless of my circumstances.
The name change predates my passionate love and obsession with India by three years, which is now mildly embarrassing for me. I know I look like a major whitey wannabe who changed her name to something Indian just because "omg bollywood and henna and pretty indian clothes~~!!!!11." And while I do <3! all those things, my love of Indian language, culture, history spiritual traditions, etc is legit, and I should probably make into a separate post sometime.
Let's see. I'm 25 (09/26/87) from Dayton, Ohio (home of the Wright Brothers// AIRPLANES!) but moved to Columbus, Ohio (the capital) when I transferred to my current school, and I am absolutely in love with this city. I've also lived in Los Angeles/Valencia/Northridge (as a kid), Malibu, CA, Springfield, OH and Dalian, China.
I've been vegetarian since I was 13 (in and out of veganism all along the way). I've been a bookworm since I learned to read at 3. I grew up between my mom & grandparent's houses in Ohio and summers with my dad in Los Angeles & the Colorado River. Travel is something that is integral to who I am. I'm now a passionate couchsurfer, not only when I travel, but I'm quite active with the Columbus CS chapter & we do things together all the time.
At 15, and then again at 17 I dropped out of high school. I took acting classes in NYC (with Second City. Jennifer Lawrence was my classmate... I basicaly die of jealousy on a daily basis), made no-budget horror-comedy flicks as a teenager, and eventually moved to California to try my luck, but was stuck in a place with no ride to my auditions so I eventually came home. I now have my GED, and due to my almost-perfect GED score (the worst brag ever?) I had two years of scholarship to college. I dropped out of community college (also at 15) and university (at 21, engaged & pregnant) as well. However in May of 2013, at age 25, I FINALLY graduated with a BS in City & Regional Planning from The Ohio State University.
Next up is PhD in the same subject/department. It's a little weird because my department accepted me into the PhD program, but the university grad school wouldn't have because of my bad GPA at my first university (despite graduating from this one with a 3.4 after 2 and a half years!), so I'm currently enrolled as a Master's student until I establish a 3.0+ GPA as a grad school, in which case I'll officially apply again and get accepted into the program. However my teachers still consider me a PhD student & I will be taking PhD classes, so I tend to just call myself a PhD student. I sort of feel like a liar sometimes though. Anyway, my focus will be on Urban Design, Physical Planning & Behavior, so I'm really excited to delve into environmental psychology, spatial cognition, user psychology & user experience design, urban ecology & all the rest.
When I was 21 I got married to Jeremy. At 22 I had our son, Killian, now 3 1/2. I was a crunchy mama, I'm still all about breastfeeding/cloth diapering/attachment parenting, Montessori style parenting, etc, but I am more instinctual than dogmatic about anything. He and I separated in November 2011. Killian splits his time 50/50 between us, and he goes to the amazing daycare in my university & spends a fair amount of time with Jeremy's parents as well. Hopefully this summer (2013) J & I will finally fill out the paperwork for an official divorce (i want my last name back!) but I don't speak legalese or have the resources to have someone make sure there are no shenanigans on my behalf, so i'm dragging my feet.
What else? I have pretty severe ADD which wasn't diagnosed until I was 23, and I'm still learning to deal with, I am finally on anxiety/anti-depression medication (as of October 2012) that I've needed all my life, and I occasionally see neurologists because I suspect I may have a seizure disorder or some other neurological issue as well, as I still have fairly frequent "bad brain days" where I basically can't do anything but stare at a wall and string maybe 2 words together.
I'm currently teaching myself Hindi, mandarin & spanish and doing pre-research for my PhD. I work as an RA for grad/non-traditional students in the married&family housing apartment complex on campus, where I live (for free!), and though I really love this job, it doesn't pay much above the free rent/utilities and my long and can't-work-or-i-fail undergrad experience left me SO VERY VERY in debt. Thus, I am looking for another job I can do instead or in addition that could help me start paying this down before I graduate. I'm also journeying into the world of bulk food prep and urban homesteading (I already have been doing DIY cleaning type stuff) in an effort to reduce costs & live much greener.
I use LJ to make friends & keep up to date with each other's lives, but most of all I like being friends, not just LJ friends. So I'd love to connect on other platforms as well:
twitter (public)
twitter (private)
goodreads
snapchat - ameyawarde
skype - ameyawarde