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ltgmarsJust felt like doing this. Sometimes it seems like I know a bunch of little things about people, but not any of the basic, big things. So in case you're curious...
Name: Inez, which is theoretically a combination of my mother's nickname and my dad's name with a "z" instead of an "s", but is actually a real name. Nice try, though, parents.
Age: 22.
Hometown/Background: My hometown is South Bend, Indiana. I was born in Indonesia, in Depok (just outside of Jakarta, though it says Jakarta on my birth certificate). My mom, brother, and I moved to the US when I was six months old because my dad was already here getting his Ph.D. at Notre Dame. We've been here ever since. My parents became naturalized US citizens when I was in high school.
Occupation:
Student. I just graduated from Haverford College, a small liberal arts college that no one's ever heard of outside of Philadelphia. I majored in East Asian Studies with a concentration in Gender and Sexuality Studies, and this coming September, I'll be headed to Los Angeles to get my Master's in East Asian Studies at UCLA.
My academic interest lies mostly in gay culture within Japanese society. My senior thesis was based on a memoir by Tsubaki Ayana (a New Half talent); I looked at her work in the context of three other works within the canon of "Japanese gay literature" and then made some literary/historical/social connections. No, you can't read it. But I did get a 4.0 on it, so the department liked it, at least. :D
Relationship status: Single. I was going out with a guy two years my senior named Isaac for nearly three years (since my freshman year/his junior year), but he's currently an ALT through the JET program (and has been for two years), and the long-distance relationship was really hard on me, so I broke up with him in September. We're still on friendly terms, and the other day he sent me the last of his Arashi fan club pamphlets (yes, he joined the fan club for me, and he hit on tickets for the January Nagoya concert, but we'd broken up by then so I sold the tickets for him). He really is a good guy, and I miss him sometimes, but honestly it's been nice not being in a relationship and feeling all of that pressure and guilt for not being good at contacting him/resenting the long-distance relationship.
Parents:
My mother and father both work at Notre Dame (human resources and computer consultant/analyst respectively).
My mom and I used to have little spats while I was in high school; during that time, I typically characterized us as constantly fighting (I even gave it a percentage: 80% fighting, 20% getting along). I think our relationship really repaired itself while I was away at college. Since I've had my space and ~*~independence~*~, it feels as if she lets me be and trusts me to make my own decisions, and that's been immensely helpful. We still get into screaming matches occasionally since I get my stubbornness from her and I find her nagging terribly irritating, but I guess that's how it's supposed to be. :D? For the most part, we're pleasant and we laugh together more than we ever did when I was in high school.
My dad and I get along really well. He lectures me a lot on exercising and eating right and saving money and being productive, but I find that he's really easy to be around. Plus, we have the same kind of dorky sense of humor, so I enjoy it whenever he makes a joke that sounds like something I'd say.
Siblings: Older brother. Most people think that I'm older than he is with the way I talk about him, but he's actually 359 days older than I (we're Irish twins!). He pretty quiet and antisocial, and he's kind of a nut job who doesn't take a lot of things seriously, which is why he's going to finish college three years late even though he graduated valedictorian of his high school class. But he's really funny and clever, and incredibly smart and meticulous about the things he cares about. We have the kind of low-key relationship where we can not speak to each other for an entire semester, and then I'll come back and grunt at him and that'll be it, and then we'll go out to lunch and talk about anime and school and nothing like it hasn't been six months since we last saw each other. He lives at home with our parents and he only has one really good friend who's still local, so I get the feeling he gets lonely when I'm not around; he seems happy when I'm at home because I share his interests and hobbies, so we've been watching anime every night all summer. Mostly, I'm really grateful that we still understand each other even though we don't talk at all. We're really close in a kind of non-social way, which works out for me pretty well.
Friends:
Non-LJ friends you'll hear about with any frequency are my college friends: the good folks of Suite Executive* (Harrison, Will, Gabe) and Halley (who went to Bryn Mawr but whom I met in the Bi-College orchestra; she was my stand partner from day one, and we actually have the same birthday (fate? I think so)). I don't keep in touch with most of my high school friends with the exception of Claire and Beth, and even those two I only talk to once in a long while.
Halley's probably permanently in Seattle, and Suite Executive is probably permanently somewhere on the east coast, so I'll miss them when I end up probably permanently in California. But I'm so happy to have met them, because I feel like they're going to be people I can really depend on for the rest of my life.
*So named because senior year Gabe and I were co-chairs of Honor Council, and Harrison and Will were co-presidents of Students' Council (so basically the four of us were the heads of the two big student groups on campus), and we all lived in a suite together. Yes, it was planned, because we're awesome.
Influences:
The biggest influence on my life and politics is actually probably my thirteen years in Catholic school (grade school and high school). I'm not Catholic, but my parents decided it would be a "better education" for us. In some ways, I suppose it was (religion as a concept is really interesting stuff, and it was nice to do all different kinds of charitable things as a part of a big group), but in other ways, it's precisely because I went to Catholic school that I've come to reject a lot of what it tried to teach me. It's the reason I don't really agree with institutionalized religion. It's also the reason I'm so staunchly socially liberal and so passionate about gay rights (though the people I met in college definitely helped to shape and refine those parts of me). Living "on the cusp", per se, with the people who weren't Catholic or who were gay or who were more than happy to question authority with me, led me to resent the Church -- the systematic discrimination against the people who were so close to me -- and to find my own truth to believe in.
One of the only things that makes me angry -- really, truly angry -- is bigotry and intolerance, and that's because I grew up for thirteen years learning from intolerant people. I try my best to understand other people, to be understanding of viewpoints that I don't agree with and to sympathize with others' troubles, because for thirteen years my teachers didn't. (This is, of course, mainly about religion classes and religion teachers. I've had a lot of really wonderful, caring, open-minded teachers otherwise.)
That's not to say that I think people who practice religion are inherently bad or intolerant, just that the way my Catholic school teachers were blindly and arrogantly shoving intolerant doctrine down our throats wasn't quite to my liking. I'm a theist myself; I just prefer to believe in God the way I see him, and not the way a bunch of old men in Europe are telling me to see him.
... and since that was a really heavy way to end this, maybe one more category?
Currently: I'm currently working for my dad's boss at Engineering and Science Computing at Notre Dame. I work in my dad's office. It has really terrible reception, so I've stopped taking my cell phone to work because it just kills my battery and no one contacts me anyway.
Oh! And one more category!
Fun facts!
0. I love fun facts, apparently.
1. I'm literally the clumsiest person I know. I have a lot of stories about opening doors into my face, walking into furniture, tripping over nothing, etc.
2. I'm really easily startled, and it usually involves jumping and screaming, even if someone is right in front of me and moving very slowly. (Anecdote: Near the end of the year, we were talking in the hall, and Gabe happened to be standing at his door. About five seconds in, even though I already knew he was there participating in the conversation, the fact that he was standing there entered into my consciousness, and I screamed so loudly that one of our friends from downstairs came running up, worried.)
Hahaha, I like to talk a lot about myself, apparently. Kudos to anyone who got to the end. I'd say it's "your turn", but only if you want to. :D
Name: Inez, which is theoretically a combination of my mother's nickname and my dad's name with a "z" instead of an "s", but is actually a real name. Nice try, though, parents.
Age: 22.
Hometown/Background: My hometown is South Bend, Indiana. I was born in Indonesia, in Depok (just outside of Jakarta, though it says Jakarta on my birth certificate). My mom, brother, and I moved to the US when I was six months old because my dad was already here getting his Ph.D. at Notre Dame. We've been here ever since. My parents became naturalized US citizens when I was in high school.
Occupation:
Student. I just graduated from Haverford College, a small liberal arts college that no one's ever heard of outside of Philadelphia. I majored in East Asian Studies with a concentration in Gender and Sexuality Studies, and this coming September, I'll be headed to Los Angeles to get my Master's in East Asian Studies at UCLA.
My academic interest lies mostly in gay culture within Japanese society. My senior thesis was based on a memoir by Tsubaki Ayana (a New Half talent); I looked at her work in the context of three other works within the canon of "Japanese gay literature" and then made some literary/historical/social connections. No, you can't read it. But I did get a 4.0 on it, so the department liked it, at least. :D
Relationship status: Single. I was going out with a guy two years my senior named Isaac for nearly three years (since my freshman year/his junior year), but he's currently an ALT through the JET program (and has been for two years), and the long-distance relationship was really hard on me, so I broke up with him in September. We're still on friendly terms, and the other day he sent me the last of his Arashi fan club pamphlets (yes, he joined the fan club for me, and he hit on tickets for the January Nagoya concert, but we'd broken up by then so I sold the tickets for him). He really is a good guy, and I miss him sometimes, but honestly it's been nice not being in a relationship and feeling all of that pressure and guilt for not being good at contacting him/resenting the long-distance relationship.
Parents:
My mother and father both work at Notre Dame (human resources and computer consultant/analyst respectively).
My mom and I used to have little spats while I was in high school; during that time, I typically characterized us as constantly fighting (I even gave it a percentage: 80% fighting, 20% getting along). I think our relationship really repaired itself while I was away at college. Since I've had my space and ~*~independence~*~, it feels as if she lets me be and trusts me to make my own decisions, and that's been immensely helpful. We still get into screaming matches occasionally since I get my stubbornness from her and I find her nagging terribly irritating, but I guess that's how it's supposed to be. :D? For the most part, we're pleasant and we laugh together more than we ever did when I was in high school.
My dad and I get along really well. He lectures me a lot on exercising and eating right and saving money and being productive, but I find that he's really easy to be around. Plus, we have the same kind of dorky sense of humor, so I enjoy it whenever he makes a joke that sounds like something I'd say.
Siblings: Older brother. Most people think that I'm older than he is with the way I talk about him, but he's actually 359 days older than I (we're Irish twins!). He pretty quiet and antisocial, and he's kind of a nut job who doesn't take a lot of things seriously, which is why he's going to finish college three years late even though he graduated valedictorian of his high school class. But he's really funny and clever, and incredibly smart and meticulous about the things he cares about. We have the kind of low-key relationship where we can not speak to each other for an entire semester, and then I'll come back and grunt at him and that'll be it, and then we'll go out to lunch and talk about anime and school and nothing like it hasn't been six months since we last saw each other. He lives at home with our parents and he only has one really good friend who's still local, so I get the feeling he gets lonely when I'm not around; he seems happy when I'm at home because I share his interests and hobbies, so we've been watching anime every night all summer. Mostly, I'm really grateful that we still understand each other even though we don't talk at all. We're really close in a kind of non-social way, which works out for me pretty well.
Friends:
Non-LJ friends you'll hear about with any frequency are my college friends: the good folks of Suite Executive* (Harrison, Will, Gabe) and Halley (who went to Bryn Mawr but whom I met in the Bi-College orchestra; she was my stand partner from day one, and we actually have the same birthday (fate? I think so)). I don't keep in touch with most of my high school friends with the exception of Claire and Beth, and even those two I only talk to once in a long while.
Halley's probably permanently in Seattle, and Suite Executive is probably permanently somewhere on the east coast, so I'll miss them when I end up probably permanently in California. But I'm so happy to have met them, because I feel like they're going to be people I can really depend on for the rest of my life.
*So named because senior year Gabe and I were co-chairs of Honor Council, and Harrison and Will were co-presidents of Students' Council (so basically the four of us were the heads of the two big student groups on campus), and we all lived in a suite together. Yes, it was planned, because we're awesome.
Influences:
The biggest influence on my life and politics is actually probably my thirteen years in Catholic school (grade school and high school). I'm not Catholic, but my parents decided it would be a "better education" for us. In some ways, I suppose it was (religion as a concept is really interesting stuff, and it was nice to do all different kinds of charitable things as a part of a big group), but in other ways, it's precisely because I went to Catholic school that I've come to reject a lot of what it tried to teach me. It's the reason I don't really agree with institutionalized religion. It's also the reason I'm so staunchly socially liberal and so passionate about gay rights (though the people I met in college definitely helped to shape and refine those parts of me). Living "on the cusp", per se, with the people who weren't Catholic or who were gay or who were more than happy to question authority with me, led me to resent the Church -- the systematic discrimination against the people who were so close to me -- and to find my own truth to believe in.
One of the only things that makes me angry -- really, truly angry -- is bigotry and intolerance, and that's because I grew up for thirteen years learning from intolerant people. I try my best to understand other people, to be understanding of viewpoints that I don't agree with and to sympathize with others' troubles, because for thirteen years my teachers didn't. (This is, of course, mainly about religion classes and religion teachers. I've had a lot of really wonderful, caring, open-minded teachers otherwise.)
That's not to say that I think people who practice religion are inherently bad or intolerant, just that the way my Catholic school teachers were blindly and arrogantly shoving intolerant doctrine down our throats wasn't quite to my liking. I'm a theist myself; I just prefer to believe in God the way I see him, and not the way a bunch of old men in Europe are telling me to see him.
... and since that was a really heavy way to end this, maybe one more category?
Currently: I'm currently working for my dad's boss at Engineering and Science Computing at Notre Dame. I work in my dad's office. It has really terrible reception, so I've stopped taking my cell phone to work because it just kills my battery and no one contacts me anyway.
Oh! And one more category!
Fun facts!
0. I love fun facts, apparently.
1. I'm literally the clumsiest person I know. I have a lot of stories about opening doors into my face, walking into furniture, tripping over nothing, etc.
2. I'm really easily startled, and it usually involves jumping and screaming, even if someone is right in front of me and moving very slowly. (Anecdote: Near the end of the year, we were talking in the hall, and Gabe happened to be standing at his door. About five seconds in, even though I already knew he was there participating in the conversation, the fact that he was standing there entered into my consciousness, and I screamed so loudly that one of our friends from downstairs came running up, worried.)
Hahaha, I like to talk a lot about myself, apparently. Kudos to anyone who got to the end. I'd say it's "your turn", but only if you want to. :D
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no subject
Date: 2010-07-31 00:14 (UTC)The decision to split from your boyfriend was an incredibly mature one. I'm glad you two remained friends!
Your brother sounds a lot like me. >.> LOL.
I also feel really uncomfortable with institutionalized religion. Which I think is a better way of putting it than "organized religion" as I always say it, so thanks for giving me a way of expressing myself properly. LOL. ♥
And erm... I can be clumsy too. So I feel ya. :)
no subject
Date: 2010-07-31 01:33 (UTC)Breaking up was definitely the right thing to do. It wasn't fair to either of us that I was feeling as stifled as I was by the relationship. I'm glad thing ended when they did, before it got to the point where I actually started to resent him as a person.
My brother is a great person! He's one of my favorites. So. You know. Just sayin'. :3
I mean, it's not the organization that bothers me. I think the organization is great, and worshipping together is such a wonderful thing to experience (even from the outside), if that's how they choose to worship. But it's the process of institutionalizing it and of putting rules on what to believe, and how, and to what end, that really gets to me. So yeah, "institutionalized religion" it is, heh. Out of curiosity, is there a particular reason you're uncomfortable with it? It's always fun for me to pick at the brains of like-minded people, haha.
We should start a club for clumsy people! But we can't ever have meetings, because we'd all injure ourselves on each other. D:
no subject
Date: 2010-07-31 02:36 (UTC)I also identify a lot with 1 and 2. I am not proud of it, especially 3. I don't even wake up properly, especially when I'm not in my own bed. I jerk awake. It used to scare the hell out of my friends but they've gotten used to it.
... I may miss my friends. Btw, thanks for the More scans! Your family sounds nice and you play the violin *___* and how's your Bahasa?
no subject
Date: 2010-07-31 02:59 (UTC)You're welcome for the scans! I live for that magazine, apparently, so I'm glad people appreciate the scans. And yes, my family is nice. I love them lots. ♥ My Bahasa is pretty damn nonexistent. >_> My household was one of the ones where my parents would talk to my brother and me in Bahasa, and we'd respond in English. So our aural recognition is great, but our own oral recall leaves something -- most things, even basic things, except for regular household phrases like "eat" and "take a bath" and "you smell" -- to be desired.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-31 02:57 (UTC)I've heard of Haverford too, actually. When I was college-searching back in my senior year of highschool, it was one that came up on my list but my parents would have killed me if I went to school in Philly. I live in Baltimore, but attend school out in The Middle Of Nowhere, WV.
I admire you for being able to have that ~*independence*~! I went to school as far away from home as I could dare go, but from Indiana -> Pennsylvania -> California?? I wouldn't be able to make it. I feel like I'm moving in the opposite direction (with the exception of studying in Japan), as I intend to graduate late and then move back home to do graduate school from home/commute... OTL
no subject
Date: 2010-07-31 03:10 (UTC)See, I hadn't heard of Haverford until I went east coast college-hopping in high school with my friend, and Haverford was one of our stops. A lot of it is so circumstantial, you know? If I hadn't been friends with her, I wouldn't have heard of it, and I would have ended up somewhere else.
Yeah, the one-coast-to-another thing is kind of killing my parents, I think. I've always been an independent kind of person, which is why I started getting along with my mom better when I wasn't around her and I didn't feel like she was trying to run my life, but I think they're probably having a harder time with it than I am. But they want me to be happy, and they've supported me all this time. Somehow I ended up with parents who are that loving and selfless, and I can't help but think about how lucky I am. I get all teary-eyed and warm-fuzzy inside when I think about it for too long.
But I don't think there's anything wrong with living at home! It's been nice being home this summer and being able to spend so much time with my family without having to worry about food/rent/whatever else. This arrangement is working for my brother really well, at least, and if it's the kind of thing that'll work for you as well, more power to you.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-31 03:10 (UTC)Your brother sounds a lot like me, as odd as that is. XD; I'm a bit slow on the life train myself. Hurrrrrr.
I had other thoughts, but I just woke up and I'm all HURR DURR right now. >.> And I can't find my own intro post. :| This annoys me.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-31 03:18 (UTC)Hey, it's cool! Everyone gets to rid his own life train, so it can go at whatever pace works best. :D
"Good morning", haha. And d00d, I spent so much time this morning trying to find a post on my LJ that I swear I posted years ago, but I couldn't. And I'd already been awake for hours at that point, so I understand.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-31 06:43 (UTC)I'm joining in on the "Your brother sounds amazingly awesome" train. Primarily because I like being around people like that, where conversation isn't needed, primarily because I don't like talking, even typing to talk sometimes, though my comments always end up long... Weird...
I kind of understand the religion thing, due to some experiences I have had here involving religious people.
Ah, clumsiness. Funny thing, I was friended by someone after having a few conversations with them on LJ (ooo, it was an arama ffa too) about how I walk into walls, doors, doorknobs, and other such things regularly, and am very clumsy. XD Clumsy people unite!
no subject
Date: 2010-07-31 15:02 (UTC)The religion thing! I think spirituality is great, but it's just that it's hard to appreciate it when you have to fend off people who are so zealously religious that they've automatically condemned you to hell for not believing what they believe. In some ways, it makes it even harder to want to be religious if it's all so forced and fear-based, you know?
Haha, it's so nice to know that other people are clumsy. It makes me feel better about myself. ♥
no subject
Date: 2010-07-31 07:05 (UTC)It looks interesting, I may (or may not) do it too xD
I've also attend Christian School all my life, but it doesn't make me change my mind about being agnostic/atheist
no subject
Date: 2010-07-31 15:11 (UTC)Haha, I don't know where I was going with that, but it's just something I find intriguing, I guess.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-31 12:04 (UTC)This is the 4th year that I'm studying in a Catholic school xD and I'm a Catholic btw, LOL xD
no subject
Date: 2010-07-31 15:12 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-31 20:16 (UTC)Religion is an odd subject for me. I'm technically Catholic, but there is a lot I don't agree with when it comes to the church. It was nice to read how your schooling has influenced your views/beliefs and how you approach faith.
Not really related but your post made me think of this, the major Catholic high school where I lived is known for having a really bad black tar heroine issue... that the school "sweeps under the rug." >:|
ANYWAY, this post was an interesting read! :]
no subject
Date: 2010-07-31 20:47 (UTC)I'm glad this was interesting. It wasn't supposed to be, but I guess it is fun to read about other people's background and beliefs.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-01 22:50 (UTC)My full name Antonia is a name-squish of my parents xp ANTONIus + Ade haha. A few of my friends' names are like that too apparently.
I used to have not little spats, but huge yelling matches. I hated being so disrespectful to an elder but I just can't control myself sometimes. The other way around for me though. I used to get in trouble for never being home, always choosing to spend time with my friends instead of family. Now that I'm anti-social (too tired + lazy, saving up money) and home all the time... I only fight with my mom once every few months instead of every few days haha. I still don't like how easily I raise my voice to my dad though... I don't even mean to do it most of the times. It just came out like that x(
Yes LDR is hard. Been there somewhat. Still don't have an anecdote of friends who made it through one :( not even the one couple who seemed like they were meant for each other, been best friends since little. 4 years officially together and it was off after a few months apart in college.
...I'll stop since that's long enough already.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-02 02:12 (UTC)Haha, I might have been underplaying it when I called them "little spats". There were definitely yelling matches in there. My mom even screamed to me once, "You may be my daughter, but fuck you!" It was awful; I was sobbing for the rest of the day. D: But we're on good terms now (not that we were ever really on terrible terms; I just think that we weren't really in a comfortable kind of relationship), so it's all good. I understand the antisocial thing, though. Or, well, none of my friends is around anyway, so. D:
I was really hoping to get through the LDR. It's such a shame, because what killed it for me wasn't a personnel issue but a circumstantial thing, which is totally the worst. I'm still not convinced that I'll find someone who's as good as he was to me, but I had to stop it before it got to the point where it was making me stop loving him, which was about where it was.
That said, I think LDR can work for the right people, and I really admire people who try it. But yeah, successful LDR are hard to come by.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-02 02:47 (UTC)Aww is he there for good? Yea that's how it is for most of my friends too (mine just pretty much cheated on me). I always get so sad cuz I think they'd all end up together if it wasn't for the distance. I guess it's really hard if you don't get to see each other every once in a while.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-02 03:08 (UTC)He's there for another year, though if we'd still been together at the end of this past school year, he'd be back in the United States to be with me. Ergh, well, I guess things happen for a reason, right? One of those things. Also, I'm sorry you got cheated on. Those guys are jerks. :(
no subject
Date: 2010-08-02 22:39 (UTC)Aww thanks bb ♥. I was at fault too though, I knew they were jerks from the beginning but I still went out with them. Couldn't help myself. Weak heart will always be my downfall =\
no subject
Date: 2010-08-11 23:38 (UTC)I also find it really cool that your name originally came about as a mix of both of your parents'. I have a friend whose name is Inelis and her name is a mix of both her parents' too and I love it. XD
no subject
Date: 2010-08-11 23:59 (UTC)Okay, Inelis is totally a cooler name than Inez, though. Officially jealous of your friend. XD