Tea 101: The Intro
Apr. 11th, 2011 01:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
teaIf I'm going to be poking around and friending interesting looking people at semi-random here on DW, I better get an introductory post going!
I'm tea, and I try to keep my real name off the internets, though I'm pretty lax about it. This will be mostly a personal journal - I have a previous fannish life including a chunk of Torchwood fanfiction that is currently archived on livejournal.
Who am I? Here are some details:
tea, and I try to keep my real name off the internets, though I'm pretty lax about it. This will be mostly a personal journal - I have a previous fannish life including a chunk of Torchwood fanfiction that is currently archived on livejournal. Who am I? Here are some details:
- I'm twenty-two, and a university student. I try not to let my age get the better of me.
- I've been called a "renaissance woman", though that's more in what I love than what I'm currently capable of or educated in: I honestly love most everything, from science to art to literature to languages to politics to philosophy to economics to... well, yes. This made it rather difficult to choose a major, but after a year of philosophy I ended up switching to...
- Physics! I'm in the third year of my bachelors, with two more to go, but I hope to go on and get a Masters and probably a PhD. It's too early to say what I want to specialize in, yet, but I suspect it will be in the vast field of condensed matter. Upper year physics is the most demanding and joyful experience I've had, all at once.
- I have a boyfriend, J, who is most definitely one of the best things to ever happen to me. I met J just as I was getting out of a fairly destructive relationship (chronicled here), and he proves to me every day that I am worth loving. He's also in physics, hilarious, a poet, musician, and a mathematician, and a truly good person to the core.
- I also have two parents, and a sister who's two years younger than me. One of the greatest blessings in my life is my family: they're fabulous, and we couldn't be closer. My dad is the real renaissance man, and my mother is the sweetest, most caring woman alive. They're my friends as well as parents, something I'm so happy I can say as a young adult.
- I grew up upper-middle class, and thanks to my parents putting money away, I'm comfortable about money. This is a privilege I try to be aware of, though it's definitely the one I fail on the most. It also results in some rather poor money-management skills on my part, since I've never really had to be frugal.
- I live in Ottawa, Canada, where I was born and raised. I don't really have itchy feet, despite that, and have a very strong sense of roots to this place. I'm always proud to be Canadian, though I try not to let that translate into the self-deprecating cockiness we've perfected as a nation.
- At twenty, I was diagnosed with AD/HD-I, or inattentive-type ADHD. More commonly known as ADD - attention deficit disorder without the hyperactivity. Getting diagnosed was a huge relief, since I'd been been struggling with all aspects of my life, and couldn't explain why. I'm on ritalin, now, which is helping, and I'm working hard to get my feet back under me. I talk about this a lot, since I process best by talking and writing, and I'm still learning to integrate this new knowledge into my self-understanding.
- I used to read a lot, but with school and the ADD, that's fallen off the table. I also have no time for television either, though I'm fitting in Glee on the side.
- I love science fiction, though I've read more of the classics than the modern big series. In fiction, I also enjoy contemporary and post-modern novels. My favourite novels play with form and structure a lot.
- I am socially liberal but like a balanced budget and a working economy. My political theory is something I call "SIS", for security, innovation, and sustainability, which I believe are the three cornerstones of a healthy society. I don't quite fit into any political stripe, but I tend to vote liberal to keep the conservatives out. (Which, obviously, isn't quite doing it these days.)
- I was raised in the Presbyterian church, which I consider a good thing because the community was wonderful, and my Presbyterian church was fabulous at thoughtful, in-depth explorations of religion and faith. I'm reasonably biblically literate, but I don't consider myself a Christian, and I don't believe in any particular higher power, but I do think there's more to this life and this universe than molecular interactions.
- I'm bisexual-in-theory, though as I've always dated men more than that I can't say. I missed having any queer circles of friends growing up, and making queer friends on lj has been liberating. I'm sex-positive, thanks to growing up in fandom (where I've been since I was 12, thank you Harry Potter!) and I like to talk and write about sex.
- I don't really believe in TMI, and I really don't believe in TL;DR.
- I always, always want to meet people, and I have the propensity to be quite chatty.
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Date: 2009-04-11 08:28 pm (UTC)Haha, that sounds so familiar - I think you lot learned that from the best!
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Date: 2009-04-12 01:55 am (UTC)Well, you are the motherland.
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Date: 2009-04-11 09:04 pm (UTC)I don't really believe in TMI, and I really don't believe in TL;DR.
Me either! The TL;DR always seems a bit rude to me. It might be true, but I probably wouldn't mention it. And, I read all of your intro. It was good. I learned some more about you.
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Date: 2009-04-12 01:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-11 09:54 pm (UTC)and you also made me consider the possibility of having this, as well - though i haven't done anything about it b/c i'm not only inattentive, i'm also lazy :D
-kel
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Date: 2009-04-12 01:57 am (UTC)It's worth it, though! Even if you don't want meds or any such thing, knowledge is always a good thing.
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Date: 2009-04-13 09:54 am (UTC)And, there you go. Quick idea leads to a parenthetical way bigger than the supposed main idea. And I still haven't gotten to the actual point of the comment.
Which is that I've read all this (okay, fine... skimmed some bits - as mentioned, am sleepy) and you sound pretty cool to me. Thanks for the add. :)
Highlights for me include physics, philosophy, biomaterials, that whole upper middle class thing (same here), sci fi, fiscally responsible liberal, no such thing as TMI and a big :p~~~ to TL;DR (which I've only actually seen used by... someone I realized I don't like, let's leave it at that), and being chatty and meeting new people.
All of which is to say...
Hi. :) This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Or, at the least, a reasonably pleasurable online acquaintance.
Nice to meetcha.
(I'll shut up now.)
(No, wait. First... see what I mean about what happens when I say it's going to be a quick comment? Every time. It seemed so short in my head...)
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Date: 2009-04-13 09:58 am (UTC)Tea! I'm a fan. Various grades of oolong. Jasmine. Irish breakfast. Vanilla chai. Syberian rose. Mint. Depends on the mood/whim of the moment. No milk, but must have sweetener.
What do you like? Or did you just mean a plain old cup of Lipton? Which certainly does have its place in life, too...
Uhm, okay. I clearly have a date with the couch. Excuse me. *yawn*
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Date: 2009-04-16 02:08 am (UTC)I totally remembered you from irc, being really nice to me, so thanks for adding me back!
Also, loquat = hilarious. I've only ever seen TL;DR used on not-so-nice anon memes, but even in that cage-fight format it makes me bananas. I like detail, and I like articulating things with some modicum of grace, so it's pretty antithetical to how I like to chat online.
As for tea, I will try anything once and if I had money would buy high quality loose leafs of many varieties, but since I can't afford two-three cups a day of that stuff, I mostly live off of Tetley's Earl Grey. Earl grey is my true love, really, but honestly I just love the whole class of beverages. There's something really comforting about it - coffee makes me so jittery and uneasy feeling, but tea is just so relaxing and delicious.
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Date: 2009-04-17 06:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-17 07:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-17 05:47 pm (UTC)awesomesomeone I'd like to get to know more, but I haven't got around to actually do it yet.I'd add you both here and on lj, if you don't mind.
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Date: 2009-04-17 06:02 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2009-04-17 11:35 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2009-04-17 11:42 pm (UTC)I saw that you're generally open to adds, but I always like to ask just in case it's an out-of-date thing I've looked at -- and it helps introduce us one to another, rather than phantom adds out of nowhere. ^_^ Thanks!
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Date: 2009-04-17 11:48 pm (UTC)I love dogs, and so does B, but we're (a) in too small of an apartment (b) too unstable in our lives and (c) too poor to get one right now. Hopefully some not-too-distant day!
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Date: 2009-04-17 11:52 pm (UTC)I'm a fan of people having only the pets they can afford/support and to rescue whenever possible, so I totally understand wanting to be in a slightly different situation before you take on the responsibility. I'd been pet-free for about 6 years when she popped up, but now I can't imagine life without her.
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Date: 2009-04-17 11:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-17 11:38 pm (UTC)(And thank you!)
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Date: 2009-04-21 02:43 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2009-05-25 11:23 pm (UTC)-s
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Date: 2009-08-04 07:26 am (UTC)I'm Caritas. And most of what you've said, was me just about a year or two ago, including age and boyfriend situation. And I wouldn't be surprised if we have ADD in common as well, though I've never been diagnosed (perhaps I ought to, as it does kind of spoil reading for me).
What kind of teas do you enjoy? I mostly just drink lemon tea, but I've found a lemon ginger I really enjoy as well. I'm still acquiring my taste for black teas.
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Date: 2009-08-04 01:15 pm (UTC)Nice to meet you! Also, funny you mention boyfriend situation. I actually didn't crosspost it all, but I just went through a break-up-and-fix-stuff-to-get-back-together thing, hah, so when you said boyfriend situation I was wondering how specific you meant! I poked at your journal and saw you and some interesting reflections on relationships and singledom - I'll wander over and comment when I'm not at work (heh).
ADD = suxxors. It stopped me from growing for a while there, and getting the right medication and finally grasping it fully, rather than running away from it, has really opened up my life, I can't even explain how much. But it's a weird thing to diagnose and admit, especially in girls who weren't diagnosed in childhood.
I'm an Earl Grey girl, though honestly I'll drink almost anything. I was drinking coffee recently for a while because I went to Europe for five weeks and they just don't do tea there (on the continent, at least)*, but I'm reverting back to tea and I must say, my body is really happy with me for that. Coffee just makes me so damn jittery.
*However, they do have peach flavoured ice tea, which I've never seen here and sorely miss.
Also: you're from Alaska! Yay! Okay, I've never been there, but I have a big place in my heart for the North, being Canadian. What do you do? Work/student/something undefinable?
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Date: 2009-08-05 02:02 am (UTC)ADD is pretty awful, no matter who you are...but there's no reason to attach a stigma to it, of course. It's unavoidable for some people, and with treatment it's not too bad to overcome. I never understood stigmas on mental disorders and learning disabilities...so what if someone's brain is wired differently? That doesn't make them defective, especially when we have tools to help them recover any lost ability to function.
Oh, Europe! I miss it there...I've been three times, but not since I was 17. Definitely a dream of mine to go back someday! I discovered Fanta and Orangina there, which have both happily come to mainstream stores stateside...I'm surprised you'd never had peach iced tea. I actually never liked tea, but some friends bought me a bottle of peach iced tea once...to be polite, I drank it, and by the end of the bottle I'd acquired quite the taste for it!
I'm a student (though I'm still not sure if I'm going to school this fall or if I'll take a break and just work for a while) and I work as an acid digestion specialist at a fire assay company (...that sounds so fancy, but it's really not...all I do is pump acids into test tubes full of dirt samples...it breaks the dirt down so it can be analyzed for mineral and gold content).
Would it be too forward of me to add you? :) I think I'd like to keep up with what you have to say.
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Date: 2009-08-06 08:53 pm (UTC)The boyfriend's actually due to pick me up any evening for a date of sushi and walking by the river. Dating! We didn't get to do that the first time around, because we got together working at the same camp where it was like one huge family (how incestuous!) and the best you could do for a date was go into town to the casse croute and get some poutine, and then we lived three hours apart and spent every other weekend together. Dating feels so quaint and fun, now.
I think ADD is
lessmore stigmitized in boys than girls, but it's also less understood and poorly recognized in girls. Previously, getting diagnosed at my age would have been unusual because I don't have the appropriate "history" of poor grades and rambunctious behaviour in grade school, but people are beginning to realize girls present and suffer from it different. So that's good, i think.I dislike anything with carbonation (with the exception of beer, heh), so I am not a Fanta fan, but I did drink an Orangina while at a coffee house in Amsterdam. I'm not sure I was in a state-of-mind to really dislike it, though. :P I actually was NOT a fan of iced tea, but at a lot of places, it was pop or ice tea and no juice, so I gave up and got acquired to it. The peach stuff definitely became drinkable the fastest.
I do research for a professor in the summer with silk gels, which is fancier than it sounds but actually a lot of fun. Probably a similar level of routine to your tests. I think I'm sick of microcentrifuge tubes!
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Date: 2009-08-14 01:39 am (UTC)Unlike you I do believe in TMI but I'm trying to get over that, and I need to write an intro like this, since I'd like to make more friends on Dreamwidth and share more stuff. You're right: , and of course I'm *just* figuring that out. I'm always at the end of the learning curve. :/
Once I get into an intro post though, I don't know how to shorten it, either. ;) I think that drew me to your intro, too. Brevity? What's that? Let's just throw that out the window, please and thanks. (Well, when I have the energy to do so, which apparently has been scarce until recently.)
I'm a 20-year-old college/university student in the United States working on a German Studies major but I'm going to be taking a physics class next semester. I wish it were chemistry-for-dummies though; I'm a fan of chemistry, just not enough to get over all the teasing when I was in high school that I was going to be a scientist to actually do it. I'd rather learn about science and apply it into writing, as my favorite author Madeleine L'Engle did (author of A Wrinkle in Time). 'Course, I also don't write enough, either. Obviously I always have something new to strive for.
So hi! How are you today?
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Date: 2009-08-14 03:39 pm (UTC)I didn't make friends online until I started writing Torchwood fanfic, but I made some really good ones who I think will stick around even though I think I'm done with that fandom.
Watch out for my non-belief-in-TMI - I, uh, write stuff about everything from gynecological issues to random work and school stuff in here.
What were you in Europe for - semester abroad type thing? Probably in Germany? I spent 5 and a half weeks in Europe in May-June, and we stopped in Berlin, which was a fascinating city and totally unlike everywhere else in Europe to a degree that shocked me.
That sucks that you got teased for wanting to be a scientist in high school! My high school was veeery academic, and if you didn't want to go to med school or get a PhD you were in the minority! We were geeks. And had no lives.
Omg, Madeleine L'Engle!!! *freaks out* She is actually, probably, my favourite author. I have a hard time choosing a favourite book, but no other author have I sought out and read so much of their catalogue. Everything I could get from our library - I love her adult novels just as much, and sometimes more than her kids stuff. There's something magical about her books, something I only ever can describe by saying "it's like sorrow so deep it becomes joy again". Does that make sense? More in her adult books than kids, but her Vicky series has a lot of that too (Ring of Endless Light?)
I need to write more too. My thoughts have been moving from fanfic to original fiction, but I've been having trouble pinning one idea down for long enough to run with it. I need some outlining, or some focus!
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Date: 2009-08-14 06:28 pm (UTC)Yes, I spent a semester studying abroad, two months in Berlin and six in Vienna, Austria, actually. :) I had spent two weeks in Berlin prior to this and had fallen in love. It really is a very different place than everywhere else, and I kind of want to move there forever. But I also want to go back to Vienna. It grew on me, a lot. And they speak a lot slower so I can understand them more easily!
The problem in high school was that I *didn't* want to be a scientist but some kids said things like, "You look like a scientist. You're going to be a scientist even if you don't want to be!" It frustrated me that they didn't respect what I wanted, so I was determined not to get into science. I bet I would enjoy chemistry though if I wanted to. Maybe I'll go back to college and do a Chemistry major then a PhD when I'm 40. ;)
I don't know what to say except YAY! I found someone else whose favorite author is Madeleine L'Engle! This makes me very happy. :D I haven't really gotten into her adult novels as much, mostly because I'm not as aware that they exist. I should definitely find more of them, as I don't want my library of her books to grow stagnant. I know what you mean, especially from her Vicky series. I love going through A Ring of Endless Light when I'm feeling down and even just seeing the way the words dance around the page and sort of experiencing Vicky going back to joy again – it really helps a lot.
I'd go with outlining before focus. Focus is really, really hard to come by. Which is why I don't write much of anything anymore. This makes me sad. D: I'm also having some health issues that I think if they were addressed I would have focus again. So, suddenly I'm determined to get well. For the first time in my life. I have to shake my head at my sudden determination and just be grateful it exists rather than surprised it does, heh.
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Date: 2009-08-27 03:56 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2009-08-27 04:07 am (UTC)*waves*
Date: 2010-05-17 03:10 am (UTC)Re: *waves*
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