25 Things About Me

I know that in the past I have written 100 things about me, but I really can't justify that kind of time commitment right now. If you're dying for that much information, check them out here and here.

However, I figure new folks finding this blog should have a chance to get to know the now me. Or, at least, an overview.

1. I live in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago. I just recently moved here.
2. I miss my old neighborhood but I think as it warms up, this one might grow on me. It has Asian markets and lots of marginalized folks in strange outfits walking the sidewalks.
3. I am in another (God, how many can there be?) transitional period in my life.
4. I don't actually mind it that much. I fear I will become bored if my life ever looks the same for more than three years.
5. One of my greatest fears is that I will live a quiet life of desperation. I want to live a life less ordinary.
6. Using other people's poetry to describe important things does not bother me.
7. I am getting married in September.
8. That fact terrifies me and feels completely right all at the same time.
9. Jacob is the first man that I've met that I admire utterly and feel like that admiration is reciprocated.
10. I define admiration as both positive regard and the desire and ability to act on the other's behalf.
11. Reading that again, it sounds very clinical but my life experience has taught me that loving someone isn't always paired with respecting them and that being loved doesn't equate to being treated well. Admiration can never exist without respect, love and being treated well and is, therefore, a better indicator of a good partner.
12. I like going swimming at the YMCA in the morning. Umm, endorphins without sweat.
13. I will graduate from graduate school at the University of Chicago in June.
14. I do not yet have a job.
15. Currently, I work part-time at the Chicago Public Schools, working with a team that is changing policies and implementing solutions to plug the holes that kids fall through.
16. This is the ideal job for me and I'm taking steps to retain it but things aren't looking so good.
17. Every day is better that has a little crafting in it.
18. Sometimes I craft words; other days I work on a hand-pieced quilt for my brother and his new wife; sometimes inspiration hits and I make a little random lovely.
19. I spend more time than I would like to admit looking at the blogs of other crafters.
20. I am very active at my church.
21. It was a haven for me in my last transitional period when I was having a spiritual crisis of community: I never doubted God but began to doubt that I would ever find a group of people that wouldn't judge me for the way I engage God.
22. My fiance is very Jewish.
23. I see our interfaith life together as a bright shiny thing that I can't wait to create. We've done a pretty good job so far, I think.
24. I am very close to my family. I have three brothers, two sister-in-law and fabulous parents who stole my dog.
25. I am often overwhelmed by the things that have to get done but my family, Jacob and God all seem to conspire to give me the space I need to process it all. That makes life very good.