Please read this first upon arriving at my journal: The Complete Users Guide to Twirltopia

If you'd like to be added back, or if I deleted you in error, just comment. I'm not exactly strict about who gets added and who doesn't, I just like to know who can read what I write.

Amidst all the "zomg, LiveJournal is dying!" cries, I realize that maybe my long-established friends list... no matter how awesome is may once have been... is simply wearing thing. I remember days where I could go an hour off LJ and have 50 (or more!) entries to read. Now, I'm lucky if I get that in a day.

My LJ has always been an extension of me. I've been using it since 2002 and I'd like to stay active on it longer still. But it all feels forced if it isn't an interactive community. I need my friends list to make this journal what it is. As the posts and comments from my friends have slowly waned, I've felt my interest in journaling doing the same.

I don't fault any of my friends who have drifted away from journaling, and I can never replace them. But what I do intend to do is take my skeleton list and rebuild it. (I have the technology....) To flesh out places for new friends... new people whose lives I can share and who I can let into my own. New friends, new readers who make LiveJournal worth it for me once again.

The obvious place to look is to my own friends... the people still here who have kept me around this long. If I'm around because of them, I'm sure they've got some people worth being around, too. So if you read this, in addition to posting about yourself, PLEASE please please pass the link on as widely as you can... the more the merrier!

Preamble complete, here's the meat of this... hi! I'm Twirly. I'm kinda crazy, but it's okay, you'll get used to it. I'm a geek and a nerd, eccentric to the core, and random doesn't even BEGIN to describe me. I love things like Doctor Who, Star Wars, Star Trek, Firefly/Serenity, Law & Order SVU, Dexter, RHPS, Lord of the Rings, vampires (in general), HG2G, Wicked, Rent, Hairspray, Dead Like Me, and Spiderman. I like to read, I love to write, and I probably care more about animals than people, so don't take it personally. I currently work for the U.S. Census Bureau, but that's very temporary. When I'm not working, I spend a lot of time volunteering, and I have a passion for space exploration and you can find me at least attempting to go to pretty much every space shuttle launch. (Not that I have many opportunities left.)

I've been married since 2.7.9 to my wonderful Ducky, who is sometimes known as Paul. I live in Orlando, Florida and I am a graduate of the University of Florida. My degree in in anthropology with a specialization in archaeology and a minor in religion. No, there isn't any work in that, but I love it, anyway. Hopefully someday I'll be a museum curator, but I really need to go back to school first, and who knows how many times I'll change my mind between now and then.

I'm a Republican, but I don't really post about that much because I respect the fact that other people have varying views. My general stance is I can respect you for your views, and I expect the same in return. I'm also Catholic, and I LOVE being Catholic, but, coming from a background in religion, I find other ones extremely fascinating and love reading about them. But don't expect to define me by either one of those things because I'm full of all sorts of surprises. I DARE you to try and pigeon-hole me. ;)

Obviously, this post is public for sharing purposes, but I do post friends only and intend to continue doing so. I don't chase anyone down for comments, but entries that don't get comments make me sad, so I might whine about it a little. It's not personal, I swear. My user info has some more general information and, if you add me, once I add you back, you'll be able to read some more entries that I link to in the stickied post at the top.


For now, though - that's enough of ME! Let's hear from YOU! Tell me about yourself. Add me, if you like. Add each other if you like! Even if you don't want to add me, post a comment and let me know you were here, and maybe browse and find some other friends. This includes my current friends... you have to play, too! Oh - and please let me know where you found this entry from. My curiosity knows no bounds. :)

Welcome to the party - now, get posting!

If I have someone overlooked adding you to my friends list or if I have cut you in the past, either on purpose or by accident, now is the time to tell me because, effective immediately, this journal is friends-only, and I would like to keep all my readers.

Hurrah! I get to tell my favorite story!

Twirly carefully lays out a soft blanket on the floor, sitting cross-legged, puffing her long, flowing skirt out over her knees. Straightening up, she motions for all the standers-by to come join her on the blanket.

This is a tale from way way back in my sophomore year of college. You know, 2005. Perhaps you've heard it before, but I shall spin the tale, nonetheless, to entertain old and new listeners alike.

It was fall semester. I was taking a class called Wildlife Issues in the New Millennium. (What? It was a science credit!) Despite the name, it was actually very interesting material. The lecture itself, however, was NOT very interesting. However, one day a week, he showed a video in class and gave us a questionnaire for each video. One question from each of these questionnaires was on the exam. Being the grade-grubber I am/was/am striving to be, I, of course, showed up to each class to make sure I had all the lecture material handy. Luckily, I'd recently acquired a free laptop to keep me entertained in the non-pertinent parts of the class.

Now, when I say it was "free," well, there was a reason. It worked, sure. Much in the way a tornado is a gust of wind, it worked. It took small amounts of ritualistic dancing and minor insect sacrifice to get it turned on everyday, but once it was going, it generally kept it up. But, it was always a crapshoot. In order to give you hard numbers with which to envision this... it was a Compaq Presario 1200. The freakin' 2100 was already outdated at the time! It choked on Windows 98.

At any rate, I was one of the few students who actually attended every class, sitting right up in the front, feigning attention while really reading LiveJournal and chatting with friends. But the professor saw me there, assumed I was attentive, and gave me leeway when I slept through the second exam appeared to like me. Plus, hey... this was 2005. Not everyone HAD a laptop yet! I was chic. I was sophisticated. My laptop, I thought, was my tool and my best friend.

Halfway through the semester, I would find out it was actually my downfall and my foe.

This one fateful day, class was ending and I was getting ready to pack up and move on to my next class. I began the lengthy process of coaxing my laptop into "sleep" mode so I could safely store it in my backpack while in transit. As it did, more often than not, it refused to be subdued. My will to fight, however, was weakened by a nagging bladder and a 15-minute class change time. In desperation, I held down the power button, but to no avail. It simply would. Not. DIE. So, cursing under my breath, I grabbed that hunk of belligerent technology and trudged toward the single-stall unisex bathroom at the front of the lecture hall.

As I entered, I realized the door did not lock. Oh well, I thought to myself, I'll just put my backpack and computer right in front of the door! That way, if someone tries to come in, they'll hit them first and I'll have time to say something to stop them! It was only later I would discover the door opened not inward, but outward, any my plans at thwarting would-be intruders were ineffective.

Now, at this point, you may think you see where this is going. Oooooh no, my friends. You would be sorely mistaken.

I dropped my drawers, both over and under, and wedged them securely around my ankles. I sat on the pot and did my thing. - brief interlude - When I was done, I reached for the toilet paper and wiped. Much to my dismay, it came back smeared with red. Shit. Is it that time of the month already? Okay, well, I have a pad in my backpack, so I'll finish cleaning myself and trudge over there.

Not wanting to soil my underpants with bloodstains, I waddled over to my backpack, drawers still around my ankles, and retrieved a pad from the pouch. As I was doing this, my laptop suddenly began emitting this piercing high-pitching WHIRR sound. Fantastic. I tucked the pad under my chin and opened up the laptop to press and hold down the power button until the infernal noise stopped. It would bow to my will this time!

At this EXACT MOMENT IN TIME, the door flies WIDE open.

There I am: naked from the waist down, pants and underpants around my ankles, feminine pad tucked under my chin, leaning over a computer (seemingly surfing the web or something, I don't know?), DIRECTLY in front of the door. With a VERY surprised college-aged male standing there staring at me from about two feet away. And two rows of students from the next class doing so from their seats. The kid who threw open the door stammered. I looked and him. He looked at me. Time froze.

After a few stunned moments, I managed to stutter, "C-C-C-CLOSE THE DOOR!" He nodded and did so. I finished up as quickly as I could and gathered up my things. I seriously considered addressing the class afterwards, explaining the situation. Surely they'd understand, right? Yeah, likely not so much. Besides... that would ensure they'd recognize me later. No, I did the wise thing- I RAN out of the bathroom and through the classroom doors, leaving the last of my dignity awash in my wake.

I didn't need it, anyway, right?