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Introducing, Me

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We T&S bloggers are pretty impersonal. Our posts tell about the kinds of things we think about, but we don’t share much about who we are or what we do. So here’s a bit about me.

I spent the first 18 years of my life in California — 9 in Pleasanton and 9 in Cameron Park. Now I’m 30 and, after a decade in Utah and Oregon + 2 years in Japan (Kobe mission), I’m back in California again. I’m kind of a geek. I like board games, and I play Magic (not tricks, just the CCG). I used to play Dungeons & Dragons, and probably still would except that it takes lots of time and committed players.

My angel mother made sure my siblings and I (two brothers, one sister) were engaged in productive extracurricular activities — sports, dance, music, etc. I never did much with the sports, but I still love to play the piano and write music. I ran a couple of dance studios until we had our second child, which prompted me to get a 9-to-5 job as a computer programmer (I studied modern dance and computer science at BYU).

I discovered the bloggernacle four years ago. At the time, it seemed a bit dangerous to me. I would read Times & Seasons occasionally, but thought that By Common Consent was dangerously irreverent. I had been taught to beware anything that might create questions about faith and the church. Fortunately, I had also read History of the Church, which presented enough curious tidbits to make me want to find some answers. Eventually my fear of apostatizing lost out to my desire for understanding, and here I am.

I love the distinctive doctrines of the church. I recall a sacrament meeting I attended a while back. Listening to the unremarkable talks got me to thinking, “If I knew nothing about this church other than what I’m hearing today, I wouldn’t see any reason to join it.” It was a frightening thought, and caused me to ask, why is the church important to me? The anchor I was able to fix on is the empowering doctrines of the Restoration — the nature of God, man, life, and eternity — that I find so wondrous, and so unique to our faith.

My theme in life (and as a blogger, for those of you who haven’t been keeping up with me!) is building community. That’s what I’m about. I love lots of things, but mostly I love sharing time with friends and family.

It’s hard to present oneself in a few paragraphs. I’d enjoy listing more of my favorite music (Fever Ray), games (Puerto Rico), and choreographers (Michael Hoover), but mostly I want to end on this note: thank you all who make this community alive. Thank you who lurk, for lurking lurkfully. Thank you who comment, for commenting boldly. And thank you who blog, for blogging incessantly, sincerely, and fatefully.

22 comments for “Introducing, Me”

  1. Ah, the internal struggle that wages within us all. These days, the only time I go into a Mormon chapel is when I am burying a loved one, but the church is always there in me, one way or another, just the same. I blog, too, and I haven’t got into it, but sometimes I dance on the edge, today, perhaps, more than ever. One day, I have to tell my own Mormon story. I cannot do it either by acquiescence or attack, I just have to tell it honest, as it appears to have unfolded to me.

    It ain’t gonna be easy.

  5. I am dangerously irreverent at church, too. One time I TOTALLY took the sacrament with my left hand!

  6. I sometimes attend church without underwear on. Very irreverent, but no one knows, which makes it relatively undangerous, yet diabolically secretive.

  11. Wait, you said you studied modern dance AND computer science? That is perhaps the most intriguing combination of disciplines I’ve ever contemplated.

  12. WMP beat me to the punch, but “I studied modern dance and computer science” may be the most interesting sentence ever.

  13. Echoing WMP and Julie, but thinking back over your posts I’m not completely surprised. Your interest in community combines the heart to envision better ways of living with the head to think through the practicalities.

  14. To Steve and the rest of the BCC crowd, don’t worry, I don’t fear for your souls anymore (well, except for Aaron’s soul now :shudder:).

    WMP, Julie, and Ardis, you’d be surprised how much of crossover there is between BYU’s computer and dance departments. I suppose that the hours spent in front of computer monitors ignites the desire to go do something active, although usually it’s ballroom dance (I was the anomaly in modern dance). Then again, I think almost every BYU student takes a social dance class or two, so maybe it’s not that remarkable.

  19. Back in California? I wonder if we’ve met, I live in Cameron Park now and I’ve lived in the area for a long while. If you’re around, maybe we should play Magic sometime. LoL

    I didn’t expect to see the words “Cameron Park” come in on my Bloggernacle RSS feeds.

  20. Thanks for sharing, Dane. I think this kind of navel-gazing is important for building community between among and between teh blogs.

  21. I prefer lurking. One of my few guilty pleasures. The return from piano lessons greatly outweighs the loss from karate lessons.

    Love,
    Your angel mother

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