Measi's Musings

Archive for January, 2000

My name is Melissa Kathryn. I’m 30 years old, born and raised in Montana, and currently reside in the suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts, trying to figure out how the hell I became so domestic so quickly. I share an apartment with my boyfriend, Erich, and our three cats, Colley, Fizzy and Gus (less commonly known as Colorado, Mephista, and Augustus… used when they’re being brats).

I am the elder of two children. Both my brother, Scott (born 1978) and I are adopted in closed adoptions. I have knowledge of, but no contact with, my biological parents. My brother does not have any idea about his. We are not biologically related, and because of events during our childhoods, I do not feel close to him. My parents divorced on relatively good terms when I was 14. My father remarried in 1999, and he and my step-mother, Anne, live in Billings, Montana. My mother lives in Easton, Pennsylvania, with her boyfriend, Jim. They are planning to get married in the near future, but have not set a date. From my parents’ remarriages, I’ve gained three new sibs… Jonathan (three years younger than me) and Emily (six years younger), who are Anne’s children, and Brett (four years younger), who is Jim’s son.

I consider myself to be an eccentric person, and relatively private. Most of my life, I’ve been a loner, and even today I don’t consider myself as having many friends… just several acquaintences. I enjoy the time I spend with the friends that I have, but struggle with social anxiety. Mine happens to come into effect mostly when I’m in larger groups of people. So while I want to spend the time with people, I’m also struggling to keep my anxiety under control all the time. It’s a frustrating condition, but I deal with it as best as I can– and I have a boyfriend who is both understanding and helpful in preventing me from being a hermit.

During the day, I work as an administrative assistant for the design department at one of the large publishing houses in the USA. My company creates and publishes textbooks for 6th through 12th grade. My educational background is in journalism, but I’ve found that my strengths are more in editing than writing. Unfortunately, since I’ve been out of school for four years, the technology behind desktop publishing has moved past what I learned, so I had to find a back-door into the publishing industry. I’m hoping to brush up on my skills and eventually get into editing or designing of some sort. For now, though, I’m very happy where I’m at because the environment is the best I’ve come across since college. I’m still recovering from my old job that had more of an effect on my psyche than I ever could imagine one job could have.

When I have free time, I love to read, listen to music (U2, Billy Joel, Sting, etc.), go out for ethnic food, goof around on my computer, and watch TV. My lifelong hobby is penpalling– I swear I support at least a couple of postal workers’ salaries on my own. I write to other women all over the world, and at last count (although I generally don’t keep a count since it fluxuates), I was writing to approximately 90 people. For some reason, though, I can’t get into correspondance via email with anyone other than people I know in person. For letters, I still have to write them longhand!

I welcome anyone who wants to write… just drop me an email and we can exchange addresses.

(and if anyone trades fb’s, slams, etc… I do those, too.)

I am a religious person, but other than a pendant around my neck, I generally keep my beliefs and opinions about faith to myself, unless specifically asked. I am a practicing eclectic Pagan, believing in both the Goddess and God and their ongoing cycle of balance and counter-balance through the cycles of Nature. I started my path as a Wiccan, but have found my beliefs drifting to a bit less defined as of late. Like Wiccans, I try to uphold the Rede, which states “An’ it harm none, do as thou will.” A simple eight word phrase to say, but hard to follow, lemme tell ya! As with most other Wiccans, and several other Pagans, I also believe that all faiths are simply individual interpretation of an undefined Truth that’s out there. I don’t agree with the statement that there is only “one true faith,” nor that everyone must follow the one I follow. In fact, I’d rather than more people think for themselves and follow their hearts to find their own individual paths to happiness.

Me and the more immediate circle

Measi: That would be me. Age 27, 5’5″ tall, 215 lbs (but carry it as if I weigh around 180). Mid-back length blond hair, grey eyes, glasses, and day-glow white skin. Oh yeah… and a few nose freckles. *sigh* I have a bio file on another page… you can also press the “about” button to the left of this text block.

Erich: My boyfriend since late May 2001. It’s frightening how well we get along together. He’s 27, a born-and live-long Massachusetts guy (no accent, I might add), and is interested in just about all of the geekiness that I am (and then some). I love him a lot. We moved in together in September 02 (many journal entries have been written about said move). He also has his journal (talonscar.dx)

Colley: Also known by his full name, “Colorado Kat.” The big fuzzy love of my life. =) Colley’s a Norwegian Forest Cat, which normally is compared to a Maine Coon. He weighs around 13 pounds, and when he stretches out next to me, his head is next to my knee, and the tips of his toes neary hit my shoulder. He’s a lovebug, and definitely thinks he’s a human toddler. He’s also a wonderful older brother and protector of Fizzy.

Fizzy: Also known by her full name, “Mephista.” She’s the little fizzy love of my life. Fizzy is a mixed-breed kitten born in June 2001. She’s a lovebug, a strong purrbaby, and hyper as hell. She gave us quite a surprise when we took her in for neutering– we thought Fizz was a boy for the first six months of her life, and they dropped the bombshell on us that day in January ’02.

Friends and Aquaintences

JT: Male, early-forties, born and raised in Mass, married to Tan below. They live in New Hampshire. Has three kids from previous marriage. JT is the DM–that’s Dungeon Master, which is different than Game Master only in the sense that we’re talking Dungeons and Dragons rather than Heroes–of an extremely large (15 people total) gaming group nicknamed the Innburners that includes LGM, Wildcard, Avatar, Tan, myself, and many others who will be probably be added to the list. JT’s a very cool guy who helped me out a lot. He also has written some 2nd Edition D&D material and is currently doing a couple freelance projects for Wizards of the Coast and their upcoming RPG titles.

Tan: Female, 36 (she pointed this out to me after finding my journal. *cough* consider me whacked). Wife to JT above. Has one daughter from a previous relationship that lives with the two of them. Tan’s the level-headed female of our gaming group, lots of fun, and a damn-good player. Over the past few months, JT and Tan have become very close friends of mine. If anything, I think I’ve started pulling away from the “Boston Crew” and find myself enjoying my time with them far more.

Ade: Female, 15. The eldest of JT’s children. She’s your typical teenager in just about every way, and from my mid-twenties perspective is both annoyingly cute and a blast to be around at the same time. Like me, she’s a high-school band geek. Her current crush is Legolas from Lord of the Rings. She’s part of the gaming group that JT runs with us all (see characters Raisa and Jastra, primarily). She also has a online journal.

John-John & Chris: JT’s sons from his previous marriage. John-John’s 13 and Chris is 9. They also game with us, but I don’t talk about them quite as frequently, mostly because I simply spend more time with Ade since she’s older.

Ogre (Tony): Isn’t one. But I don’t have a better name for him at the moment, so I’ll use part of his email-name. Ogre is 31, born and raised in Mass. I met him through one of my college friends, Ivy. He’s a hockey fan, a fun guy to be around, and happens to be into the BSDM scene. Someone I was interested in for a while, but the night I was going to ask him, he told me about his entrance into the “scene.” I’m a curious outsider and knew I wouldn’t be relationship material for him. I never talked to him about it, and we’ve developed a good strong friendship. Ogre is one of the rare people who actually provides comfort to people who are hurting at the same time as *gently* pointing out issues/signs that might have been missed.

Wildcard (Frank): Male, born 1976 in Columbia, adopted and raised in New York. Lives in Boston. Wildcard is, well… probably the title he holds is You Lucky Fucking Bastard. Both in and out of our roleplaying sessions. Wildcard has tons of energy, tons of curiosity, and is completely spontaneous. If you’ve ever read the DragonLance novels, Wildcard is Tasslehoff incarnate. He is in a serious relationship with Teresa (below).

Teresa: Wildcard’s girlfriend. I don’t see her very often, but when Wildcard’s at a gaming session, so is she. I don’t know her very well, but she seems to be a nice person, and a good match to keep Wildcard grounded. They share an apartment together in The Fenway section of Boston.

Avatar: Male, born 1976, raised in upper New York State. Lives in Boston. Avatar’s also an ex-roomate who moved into Egremont with LGM and I for the last year that we lived there. Avatar’s a guy’s guy… and until the last year or so was in more of an annoying college guy mode. He’s really come into his own in the last few months, and as he’s grown, I’ve liked him more and respected him more. Avatar is infamous for extremely amusing melodrama (purposely created melodrama for the sake of joking around, I might add).

Tone: One of Erich’s ex-roommates and close friends since high school. Different person than Ogre above, although they share the same name. Tone’s in his mid-twenties and shares an apartment with his girlfriend, Robin, and one of his co-workers, Dennis, in the apartment Erich moved out of to move in with me. Tone’s active in community theater, loves video games, and has one of those strong personalities that can be both fantastic and frustrating to be around at times.

Little Gray Man (LGM): Male, 26, born in NJ, grew up in Florida, now lives in the suburban wilds of NYC. Also is an adoptee. Ex-lover, ex-pseudo-boyfriend, ex-roommate (reverse that in the order that they happened). After a very rough relationship for several years, we broke ties with each other. We’re just starting to communicate again to rebuild some sort of a friendship.

Grace: Female, mid-twenties. Raised in New York state, lives in Boston. LGM’s ex-girlfriend, and a royal pain in my ass for the better part of late 2000 and much of 2001. Major drama queen, and has a fit if her ass isn’t kissed. That’s about all I have to say about her, other than my hopes that the karmic backlash on her is more than threefold.

Family

Dad and Anne: Live in Montana. Dad is an OB-GYN. Anne, my adult-onset stepmother, trains special-ed kids with horseback riding and does some other part-time work. They’ve been married since 1999. I’ve had difficulties getting along with Anne as of late. I love my dad, but feel very distant to him (from his end).

Mom and Jim: Live in Pennsylvania. They talk about marriage, and have an on-again-off-again relationship that I never quite know the status of. Mom is a real-estate agent. Jim works his ass off for the electric company.

Scott: My pain in the ass 24-year old brother. Currently living in Arizona after getting his associates in virtual-reality design. I talk to him around the holidays, and otherwise don’t really concern myself too much with him, because we have personalities that just don’t mesh. Scott is bi-polar and has had his run of legal trouble for idiot actions while in manic phases. Of course my mom still insists that we’ll be the best of friends someday.

Em and John: My step-sibs on Anne’s side. John’s the same age as Scott. Em’s a couple years younger. I’ve only seen them a few times each over holidays. John is currently in the army, and undoubtedly was called to action with everything going on in the world, but I haven’t heard much from my dad about it.

Brett: Jim’s son. Lives in Pennsylvania, and was working on his degree last I heard. I see him a couple times a year, usually around the holidays that I happen to be in Pennsylvania to celebrate. He has a girlfriend, Andrea, who he’s been dating for quite a while. He’s a nice guy, but we never really clicked on anything more than a “our parents are dating, and we’re friendly toward each other” type thing.