Ever feel like most of the things you try to do in life proceed in fits and starts? Like when you do get ahead, it’s two steps forward and one step back? If so, you’re in good company! Or at least you’re in my company, because that’s how life has seemed to go for me. Well, in my case, my progress sometimes feels more a two-steps-forward-and-three-steps-back pattern. I’m not sure that can actually be called progress, but at least I’m moving! Such has again been my experience at blogging.
About a year ago, I vanished from the blogosphere. My first blog started out with my posting occasional pieces about myself, my job, or something that had caught my attention, but gradually my blogging activities came to consist of little more than posting an occasional religious video from YouTube or a humorous image. Laziness and apathy led to my dropping even those token gestures and bidding my poor little blog farewell, to languish alone and forgotten. (Hopefully it’s been able to forgive my abandonment and move on with its life. If it hasn’t, I’ll find it a good counselor—I suppose I owe it that much.)
Yet the siren call of blogging continued to tug at me. Writing has always appealed to me, and I’ve even harbored the desire to write full time. Thus far, that dream remains unfulfilled; in fact, I’ve done no writing to speak of for a dog’s age. Since writing skills, like muscles, will atrophy if left unused, I figured it’s time to get back into writing shape, hence my grand comeback to the blogosphere.
Those of you who participate in Rann’s “Sunday Snippets” meme at her blog might remember me. For those who are not one of the “Sunday Snippets” gang (though if you’re a Catholic blogger, I strongly urge you to join this wonderful group) or not one of my friends or relations, here’s a little introduction about myself.
Top 10 List of Stuff You Should Know about Me
10) I love reading science fiction and fantasy, especially the latter. If you see me staring at my e-reader, mostly likely it’s because I’m engrossed in a world of swordplay, myth, and magic.
9) I occasionally knit items (nothing too complex right now, as my knitting skills still haven’t gone beyond basic casting on, binding off, knitting, purling, and the like—but I’m trying to learn more, and I’ll probably post things about ye olde craft of knitting from time to time).
8) I was born in Atlanta, GA. And with the exception of a 3-year stint in Indiana and a 1-year stint in Costa Rica, I’ve lived in the South.
7) I’m the result of a union between a Yankee and Southerner. My father hails from Illinois, my mother from North Carolina.
6) I have one sibling, an older sister who lives in Hawaii.
5) Jobwise, I’ve worn various hats, including office assistant, telemarketer, English instructor, and insurance agent. As of this writing, my job hat bears the words “between jobs”.
4) I started college thinking I’d be lawyer, went to an evangelical seminary for a couple of years, and earned a master’s degree in English. Like my work life, my educational path has had more twists and turns, ups and downs than a roller coaster.
3) I’ve struggled with an anxiety disorder all my adult life. I wrote about it a few times on my old blog. In case you’re wondering, I’m doing relatively well today, much better than I used to be. I’m a survivor!
2) I was raised a charismatic evangelical, but for about seven years I went through what I now refer to as my “angry agnostic phase”. Largely due to the emotional turmoil I was experiencing at the time, I walked away from Christianity and declared myself agnostic. (When I told a friend of mind about my having been an “angry agnostic” for a while, he joked that he thought that would make a good name for a rock band! But seriously, I’m glad that phase is behind me, and no, I’m not proud of it.)
And finally (drumroll, please…):
1) I came into the Catholic Church on Easter 2007. For the first 3 years after entering the Church, I seriously considered the priesthood/religious life, but eventually I concluded that was not the route for me to take. I’ve remained just a regular layman, still trying to find my place in the Body of Christ.
Anything else you’d like to know before I bring my glowing introduction to a close? Oh, my name. There are some who call me… Tim. Just kidding—a little inside joke for all you Monty Python fans. My name is Evan. Well, that’s actually my middle name. I’ve never gone by my first name, but my first name’s meaning (“lives by the linden valley”) provided the inspiration for the name of my new blog.
So here I am, back in the blogosphere. And as Jed Clampett might have said if he’d been a blogger, “Let’s commence to bloggin’!”
The Linden Valley 