Hello

Phew. Here goes.

I haven't started a new one of these since 2003. It's a little intimidating! The same thing happens when I buy a journal or notebook; if the cover is pretty, I get scared of writing in it. What if the inside isn't as awesome as the outside? But the only way to get over that is to get over it and start filling it up, so here I am.

When I first started keeping an online journal, almost nine years ago, I hand-coded it and hosted it on my own website. Some years after that, I migrated to LiveJournal because that was where the majority of my friends were. Most of them are inactive now, though, besides which...

Actually, hmm. I was about to say that the kinds of things I talk about have changed, but it's not really true! Sure, I'm a mom now and I used to be a teenager, but it's still just me talking about myself and my life. I'm still a nerd, still an artist, and still a writer, and the fact that many of my thoughts revolve around another human's bodily fluids doesn't actually change that as much as you might think. So really, I guess the theme of what I'm writing about won't be any different than it has been. The point about wanting to go where most of my friends are currently writing still holds, though.

Okay, so, anyway! I should give an introduction to / update on myself.

Here are some things I like to do: Read science fiction, read poetry, read history, read webcomics, read other stuff, write mediocre novels, write good essays, sing (especially in groups), make things with Sculpey, play board games (especially complicated ones), play or run tabletop RPGs, play console RPGs, play other awesome video games, hang out with amazing people, sit funny, eat pasta, drink juice, have an opinion, investigate your opinions, successfully navigate weighty conversations, rant about social justice, analyze things, snuggle with my baby son, go for walks, rock out, give blood, window shop, make strange noises and then laugh uproariously at 3 a.m.

Here are some things I do not like to do: Blow-dry my hair, lift heavy objects, eat vegetables, accumulate junk, waste things, be around hostile people, watch horror movies, listen to country music, bump into things all day.

Here are some other things about me: There are five kids in my family, and most of us are married. I also have 12 aunts and uncles and 25 first cousins. Growing up like that has significantly influenced my personality; I'm obsessed with communities, but am often too shy to introduce myself. I'm married to my favorite superhero, Heath, who will talk to me about anything, and who makes me funnier and smarter and nicer. We have a six-month-old son, Daniel, who is alarmingly wonderful. Motherhood is fun and awful and easy and terrifying and enlightening. I'm very religious, and work to have this always make me more pleasant and never less. I could be working harder on that. I'm anemic. I'm myopic. I'm short, but not interestingly short. I'm a(n inactive) Wikipedia admin. I have a webcomic. I have a giant birthmark on the back of my right knee that looks like a continent.

I guess that's probably enough? Probably. Next I guess I'll just jump into talking about stuff and pretend I have no backlog of things to tell. Or anyway I'll try! Writing about myself and my baby both has so far proved difficult, but I really want to be able to remember this stuff later.