posted
Since I never posted an introductory thread (just popped into a call for lurkers to de-lurk and started posting), this landmark will be an introduction of sorts--even though I (finally) don't really feel like a newbie anymore.
Getting to Know Your Megan: A Field Guide Species Nerdus, subspecies musicus
Age: 26
Appearance: Short; round; brown hair (curly); brown eyes (nearsighted); glasses (thick). Tends to dress in business-casual type clothes on teaching days, and in whatever is clean on non-teaching days.
Environment: College campuses with schools of music (notably Indiana University and, in the past, Georgia State University). Also, one single-family house, living with spouse (James, species Nerdus, subspecies gamerus) and two dogs (Annie and Max).
Behavioral characteristics:
Eldest child of three, with most of the emotional and behavioral trappings thereof.
Tends to be somewhat reserved, if not shy, before getting to know people. Once the get-to-know-you stage is over, though, will talk at length about many, many things both serious and completely inane. This explains the long lurking period prior to any posting at Hatrack (approximately two years, on and off).
Sense of humor: relatively silly; has great appreciation for Monty Python, Veggie Tales silly songs, and puns of all kinds.
Tries to be as patient as possible with people who show that they are truly trying to (learn/do the right thing/be courteous), but often loses patience with those who (want things handed to them on a platter/expect the world to conform to them/are rude).
Believes that smiling is a great way to brighten anyone's day, including people you've never met. A friendly smile never hurt anyone, including the person doing the smiling, and it might provide someone with a reason to smile that they wouldn't have had before. Consequently, has been greeted in the school elevator with, "Hey, you're that girl who's always smiling!"
Something of a grammar/spelling nazi, although by no means perfect in that area (and is glad to take any correction necessary!). Believes that the misuse of the English language is a sign of a more general intellectual decline.
**************** So, that’s a little of me. But, in order to understand me, you have to understand the family that I come from.
My father is completely brilliant—a genius, really. He majored in math in college and went straight from college into the early days of computer programming (on punchcards!). He is always learning new things and is fascinated by how things work. He’s an excellent teacher; this always caused me a little trouble in high school math, because I’d learn ways to do things that didn’t match what was going on in class, and I wasn’t sophisticated enough to separate what was being taught in class with what my dad was teaching me at home when I asked him to help me with a math assignment. My father is a good listener, and enormously understanding. He has the kind of patience with humanity that I hope I can develop someday. He loves maps; my brother and sister and I always make sure to get him maps wherever we go. He’s also recently started collecting antique maps. He’s very, very easy going and laid back; I think he’d be happy anywhere, as long as it was doing something that interested him (and that includes a lot of stuff!). I’d like to think I got my intellectual curiosity from my father.
My mother is also brilliant, but she does not seem to know it. She is an absolutely amazing seamstress, and quilter, and painter. She can craft anything, literally. She has an enormous talent for making beautiful, wonderful things—like the tapestry quilts that hang on my walls, and the many seasonal quilted table runners that go on my table, and gorgeous, flowing senior recital dress. In addition to being greatly artistic, her work ethic is second to no one that I’ve ever met. I have never seen anyone work as hard as my mom. Unfortunately, the result is often that her employers take advantage of her, and she doesn’t think enough of herself to stand up to them and refuse to take it. She, like my father, is wonderfully understanding, and a terrific listener. I love to talk to her when I’ve had a rough day, because I can cry and tell her I don’t want to be a grown-up anymore, and she understands. Then, she tells me, “Everything’s going to be ok, because it always is. It always works out, and everything happens for a reason.” And, she’s right. I hope someday to be as caring a person as she is.
My brother, Jeff, is three years younger than me, and is, as I have often said, the nicest human being ever. No, really, he would give you the shirt off his back if you asked for it, and then say, “Hey, do you need some pants, too?” He’s the kind of guy who helps women on the escalator in the airport with their luggage. He’s unfailingly courteous and sweet, and the woman who ends up with him will be damn lucky. He’s also quite a scholar, though he has recently decided academics is not for him (and more power to him). He has a BS and an MS in cognitive psychology, and is currently trying to figure out just what he’s going to do with them. He went to UCLA for grad school, and got partially through his PhD when he realized that he really didn’t enjoy doing research anymore, so…he quit. I really admire his bravery for that, especially in the face of the fact that he has to stay there for another quarter teaching and facing the guilt and grief given to him by the rest of the department he’s leaving. Jeff has the same sort of social awkwardness that I do, that same difficulty interacting with unfamiliar people. We’ve both overcome it a bit as we get older, but we’re both still very much nerds at heart.
My sister, Leigh Ann, is eight years younger than me, and of the three of us, she is the one with the most social skills and the most poise. She was a much more “normal” teenager, though she was almost as driven academically. I recently spent two solid weeks with her, traveling to England, and really got to know her as an adult (the age difference sort of prevented that until recently). She is funny and sweet and kind and gracious, and she has a social poise and togetherness about her that isn’t common for someone who is only 18. She is a lot more girly than I am in a lot of ways; she helped me with makeup and hair and things like that, which I normally don’t put too much thought into. She’s majoring in early childhood education, and she wants to be a mother; I think she’s going to be very, very good at it, and I’ll be thrilled to be “Crazy Aunt Megan.”
My family has always been wonderfully, amazingly supportive, and I love them so much for it. They have my sense of humor, and they know all the same stories and jokes. They are part of who I am, and so belong in an introduction to me. I had a friend once who described my family as “something out of Norman Rockwell.” I replied, “Yeah, maybe if the painting was redone by M.C. Escher.” That's who they are, who we are, and I love it.
Posts: 4077 | Registered: Jun 2003
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I hope when my daughters are 26, they can say positive things about my husband and I - sounds like you have a wonderful family and it's obvious how much you love your parents -it comes through in your description of them.
Thanks for sharing that. Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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Very nice to know you! My mom is a reading/english teacher FYI, and I just wanted to say very briefly that I thought your format for a first landmark was very ingenius!
Very well done! Can't wait for 2000 though...
Posts: 1870 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Belle: They're really incredible! Unconditional love and good (and tough, when needed) advice. They really are my support system, along with Jim.
Jim-me: Hi! And, I wasn't under the impression that Hobbes's Annie was small, furry, and black and white, but if so, then my little puppy has some nifty pants somewhere she's been hiding (not to mention, you know, a double life when she gets online when I'm not looking!).
Space Opera: Thanks! Sorry, I can't give them away, although they have been known to occasionally "adopt" my friends (my very best friend in the world calls my mom "Mom").
Elizabeth: Thank you My dad is actually a programmer by vocation, but he teaches very well (including classes at work, and tormenting his children with various forms of math).
Farmgirl: I'm sure we'll meet someday...are you going to be at WenchCon? If not then, I'm sure we'll end up at a get-together some time.
fugu: Yes...but only every other weeknight. I was trying to come up with a pseudo-Latin subspecies that described him as a gamer, and I'm afraid that's the best I could do.
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You should e-mail your post to them, seriously.![[Wave]](graemlins/wave.gif)
And, I wasn't under the impression that Hobbes's Annie was small, furry, and black and white, but if so, then my little puppy has some nifty pants somewhere she's been hiding (not to mention, you know, a double life when she gets online when I'm not looking!).![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
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Aw...thanks!
